Sony shows off 3D headset

By Fred Dutton Published 6 January, 2011

Play PS3 games in futuristic visor.

Sony has taken the wraps off an ambitious new 3D display prototype called the Headman.

It's a chunky headset that lets you view 3D content straight in front of your eyes courtesy of two separate displays – one for each eye. The visor also has headphones incorporated into the body.

Basically, imagine a cross between the Virtual Boy and those weird goggles that La Forge wears in Star Trek: The Next Generation and you're somewhere close.

There's no word on when the gadget might launch or exactly how it works, but Sony executive Hiroshi Yoshioka directly referred to the ramifications it might have for gaming during the company's CES presentation in Las Vegas.

Discussing playing Gran Turismo 5 with the headset, he said, "Nobody, not even my wife, interrupted me, so I could get the highest score."

Engadget has a few images up of Sony's new tech.

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (51) Latest comment 11 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • AaronTurner #1 1 year ago

    Headache.

  • Antwandemarco #2 1 year ago

    I guess it could be cool. Although not even Robocop goggles could make me enjoy GT5

  • TruSmiles #3 1 year ago

    By the looks of it, you wouldn't be able to wear it with glasses?

  • spiritsnake #4 1 year ago

    i have two things to say
    first even if i could afford it i would never buy such a thing, its obviously for the kiddies to look cool and boast to their school mates.
    second as the post above details, whats a bikini jacket??

  • Cyclone #5 1 year ago

    I'm not sure anyone wearing those headsets could be described as cool spiritsnake. It'll be interesting to see if they'll be able to be hooked up to the PSP2, should they mass produce the Headsman. There'd likely be a performance hit, but it could have the potential to compete with (the 3D technology in) the 3DS in at least some respects.

    EDIT: Here's a better link to the prototype: http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/06/sonys...
    Edited by Cyclone at 06/01/11 @ 05:35

  • orangpelupa #6 1 year ago

    combined with kinect could be good.

    use all of your body to go "Inside" the virtual world.
    can move around the view by moving head because the display is in eye

    just like playing "The World" in .hack series.
    Edited by orangpelupa at 06/01/11 @ 07:02

  • Phishfood #7 1 year ago

    Once again they'll price it out of my budget.

  • Dizzy #8 1 year ago

    1990 is back!

  • Bleedingplums #9 1 year ago

    A device that stops your wife bothering you. I foresee complaints to trading standards.

  • Osahi #10 1 year ago

    Seems like a recipe for situationes like having to run real hard to the loo to hurl out the contents from your stomach, but crashing in to the wall because you see shit

  • Beano #11 1 year ago

    I always wanted to look like Geordi - now I can.

  • TheTrueSpin #12 1 year ago

    Yay... virtual reality is back!!!

  • Tonne #13 1 year ago

    that visor is a brainhemorage just waiting to happen

  • w00yay #14 1 year ago

    hasn't this sort of thing been tried in the 90's and it just made people feel ill? .....and look like a twat

  • smurphs #15 1 year ago

    Re. Feeling Ill, I think the main problem with virtual reality goggles was that your head moved to control the viewpoint, making people feel sick (much like car sickness). I wouldn't have thought static viewpoint goggles would cause such problems. If they are cheaper than a big 3D TV I'd be very interested.

  • the_merchant #16 1 year ago

    It sounds cool and all, but wouldn't something like that damage your eyes?

  • GamesConnoisseur #17 1 year ago

    As you are wearing £100 glasses to view 3D on 3DTV, if the cost is sub £150 and the perceived resolution and picture quality being close or same, I ll be all for it.

    Save me shelling out on 3DTV, until the spec less 3DTV and cheaper models comes out.

  • FireMonkey #18 1 year ago

    "ambitious new 3D display"

    Were things like this not around 10 years ago with the virtual reality craze? Just seems like an up to date version of what was around then. Personally I love VR and was hoping it'd make a comeback one day.

    All those people bitching about having to wear glasses to watch 3D TV's are going to love this aren't they! /S

    EDIT: I miss read that. This is just a static display by the look of it. Not head tracking, so it's actually less impressive than the stuff 10 years ago. Hey ho.
    Edited by FireMonkey at 06/01/11 @ 09:08

  • RodHull #19 1 year ago

    Stick an Apple logo on it and it'd sell like the proverbials. Plus I'd be able to pickpocket all the bell ends wearing it on the train.

  • DoctorFraud #20 1 year ago

    More epic failery from the sony failworks.

    Reality check (non virtual) needed, stat.

  • ATNR1 #21 1 year ago

    If it is cheap enough I will be interested. I at this point cannot afford a 3D TV and if the quality is the same then why not? I will keep my curtains and doors locked and deny categorically that I own one, but hey behind those closed doors I will be laughing like a loon.
    Edited by ATNR1 at 06/01/11 @ 09:35

  • nikobe #22 1 year ago

    Is it even possible to get a "high score" in Gran Turismo 5, wouldn't it be quickest lap time or something. Sounds like something someone would say if they don't actually play games.

  • M_of_the_sys #23 1 year ago

    DoctorFraud is here. Just need TSB, des and Scotty to complete the set.

    On topic, I'm split about this. Biggest holdback would be price and the fact that it can only be viewed by one person at a time. Oh, and that no one seems to be interested in 3D.
    Edited by M_of_the_sys at 06/01/11 @ 09:59

  • PixelPirate #24 1 year ago

    t's a chunky headset that lets you view 3D content straight in front of your eyes courtesy of two separate displays – one for each eye. The visor also has headphones incorporated into the body

    but....I can view 3d content straight in-front of my eyes already by just opening them...

  • slippysloppy #25 1 year ago

    Looks like something from Back to the Future II. You know if the price is right this could tempt me, and at least bridge the gap until 3D TVs that don't require glasses are available and affordable.

  • sonicyoda #26 1 year ago

    3D without having to purchase an expensive new telly? I'm game... at the right price.

  • SandyMcD #27 1 year ago

    Eurogamer, why do we have to 'imagine' what the headset looks like? Can't you at least post the images to go with this story?

  • LazyNinjaUk #28 1 year ago

    Like the idea, don't like the name. "Headman" sounds like another nickname for the elephant man or someone with a larger than average cranium.

  • Mkwone #29 1 year ago

    I like the idea, and if it had/has surround soundheadphones, could be really imersive.

    But i think it looks too bulky (based on the image, and i bet the price will be comparable to 3DTv's.

    I live in hope though.

  • Olemak #30 1 year ago

    I doubt this would work for anyone being even slightly farsighted, or in need of glasses (but contacts would work of course).

    Probably not very good for prolonged viewing or gaming. Also, forget about having a drink or a snack while wearing these beauties.

    I think maybe this is intented for engineering systems and the like, and not for casual use at home. Maybe they just threw it out there to show that they are edgy and cyberpunky and stuff, and not just churning out the exact same stuff they've been making for years.

  • Negotiator #31 1 year ago

    What a joke, first of all I don't like wearing the normal 3D specs, why the hell would I wear that crap. Sony are getting desparate, they are losing money so they are trying to push 3D are much as possible in hopes of selling TV's and Blu rays.

  • youhavenomail #32 1 year ago

    It's easy to mock, especially with memories of Virtual Boy, but if it actually works and doesn't make you feel ill, it will be awesome. AWESOME, I tell thee.

  • 3william56 #33 1 year ago

    Olemak etc: You're forgetting, you're not looking at the screen itself, but through a lens. Like binoculars, I'd expect these to have focal adjustment so glasses wearers wouldn't need the glasses; you'd just adjust the focus point for each eye.

    Smurphs: the big headache causer on the old VR sets was the lag; you'd turn your head, and the viewpoint would take half a second or so to catch up. With modern gyro sensors like in iphones and Move, that should (!) be greatly reduced. And the old sh*t resolution, which with 720p would be gone too. But, nothing will be able to solve the problem with current movies, that you can't chose what to focus on, which is the new headache causer. When Jimbo Cameron decides to go wide aperture, no force on god's earth can allow your eye to focus on the background, which causes the conflict.

    However, with games, and sensible design, everything is in focus, so should be a much smaller issue.

    If it's a hundred bucks or so, I might be interested. But, yeah, with the curtains closed...

  • obidanshinobi #34 1 year ago

    Have I travelled forward in time ? Is it April the 1st ?
    Have Sony got no foresight ! I know the tech is much different to the Virtual Boy but this will still fuck ur eyes up over time.
    It worries me when large companies such as Sony think of things such as this.
    It won't come to market and Sony would of wasted millions on it.
    3D when only really take off when autostereoscopic (no need for glasses) TVs come out at a reasonable prices.
    SONY ARE FUCKING IDIOTS !!!

  • Widge #35 1 year ago

    I believe they demoed a glassed free 3D Bravia too, 46" one.

  • The-Bodybuilder #36 1 year ago

    /walks into sony centre store
    Hot female staff: Hi, how can I help you?
    Cx: Hi, do you give head, man?
    Hot Staff: You mean the headman?
    Cx: Sure, that too.

  • dllord #37 1 year ago

    If it had head tracking so you could look round in a 3D world then i think it could be pretty cool actually, like the VR stuff from off of the 90's but better!

  • gjgjg #38 1 year ago

    Stretched vision would be cool for this, like a multi-display game (eg.Forza3 i tihnk supported this). My biggest complaint with FPS' is the lack of peripheral sight. Would also mean I can lay back in bed and play without hurting my neck to look over at a TV.

  • darleysam #39 1 year ago

    Go! Get the highest score!

  • SEVQA #40 1 year ago

    @smurphs

    It was/is not the head movements that made certain users feel ill it was partially the cause of the tiny hairs inside the ears which communicate to the brain about balance and brain telling your body something is wrong.

    Unless we can be conditioned to these sort of devices from an early age or have the actual brain signals altered this will always be an issue of concern with HMD (virtual/augmented realities).

    Id be interested in how this 3d headset addresses any of those concerns if at all!

  • HarryTuttle #41 1 year ago

    Choice of where to focus isn't the only headache causer though; the lens of the eye has to remain focused on the screen while eye alignment changes to track the virtual image you are looking at. In normal vision these two processes always work in concert; in 3D displays they almost never do. I believe this is less of a concern in a cinema than at home because you are further from the screen so the eye lens can just focus in to the distance. The screens here are right in front of your nose, (one of the problems with the virtual boy I think) but the lens in the headset will make it appear further away. Just how far away they can make it appear without distorting the image might go a fair way to determining whether this is a breakout tech or just a vomit inducing curio.

  • jefranklin18 #42 1 year ago

    Reading through the whole Endgadget article, there's been some interesting stuff announced:

    - 3D camcorder with built in projector so that you watch what you record in 3D
    - portable blu ray players with built in glasses-free 3D screens
    - glasses-free tellies

    Sony weren't kidding when they said they were going to go balls out on 3D (my words).

  • SecretStage #43 1 year ago

    Interesting,

    Vic Reeves gives a humorous demonstration of VR in this vid
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdqf_Sg1ZUw

  • obscured021 #44 1 year ago

    Looks cool, reminds me of my VFX-1 head gear (Which still works) that i used back in the day.
    hope fully sonys glasses are lighter ;)

  • DrStrangelove #45 1 year ago

    I'm excited to watch the AVGN review.

  • rprince #46 1 year ago

    Sounds exactly the same as all the cinema glasses that have been available for a decade. Also, "get the highest score" in GT5? What nonsense!

  • Jamiesan #47 1 year ago

    Surely the aim of Gran Turismo 5 is to get a low score/time?

    Hopefully this can get shrunk down into a normal looking pair of specs - imagine the awesome augmented reality type games and applications that would be possible!

  • Xboxfanuk #48 1 year ago

    Sony is stuck in the past man, Nintendo already tried this. people don't want 3D helmets, if any 3D they want it without all the glasses and accessories.

  • Goldenb19 #49 11 months ago

    Omfg I want one so bad!! Microsoft build one!!!!!

  • Goldenb19 #50 11 months ago

    If they whacked some accelerometers on it like in the iPhone it would be awsome!! Just imagine playing cod and actually being able to turn your head and look around on the map!!!!!!!! Or playin gt5 and being able to look out your car window at the next car ur overtaking this would be absolutely awsome !!!!!!

  • ithis #51 11 months ago

    Highest score in GT5? Didn't he mean lowest time?