Sony spices up hardware with ‘Project Morpheus’, PlayStation TV

This year, the E3 expo was supposed to be all about the games, but it seems Sony couldn't resist throwing in a bit of hardware into the mix.

While Microsoft spent its press event showcasing all the games that were coming to the Xbox One in the next year, Sony decided that it would also throw in Project Morpheus, its virtual reality project, and PlayStation TV.

The latter allows users to remotely play games from their console on any TV in the house. The former is Sony answer to the growing interest in Oculus Rift and other virtual reality peripherals.

Announcing that Morpheus would be available on the show floor, Sony Computer Entertainment head Andrew House said sales of its PlayStation Camera had been better than expected, and Morpheus was an extension of that.

“It’s an incredible time to be part of the PlayStation family,” he said.

The company is making its PlayStation TV device available later this year in North America and Europe for $99, or as part of a $139 bundle that includes the dual shock controller, memory card, cable and voucher for Lego: the Movie game.

PlayStation TA will allow PS4 owners to stream their games to a second TV in the house, or use some of the PlayStation services. It will also play PS One and PS Vita classics, giving it a launch library of almost 1,000 games when it goes on sale.

Despite the new hardware, Sony was still very much about the games. The company kicked off the press conference with a look at hotly anticipated title Destiny, before moving on to The Order and family favourite Little Big Planet. It also showed gameplay footage for Mortal Kombat X, bringing the classic title to the next generation of consoles.

“Destiny will help define this next generation of games,” Mr House told attendees.

Coming with the title later this year is a new white PlayStation 4, with other titles such as Minecraft coming to the Vita, which will remain “a key pillar” for the company.