The VR headset race is really heating up with Sony using this year's Tokyo Game Show to give a preview of its forthcoming Virtual Reality attraction — a headset that will undercut rivals as the technology bids to enter the mainstream of the $80bn global games industry. The event is the last major showcase before the Christmas sales peak and the October 13 launch of the PlayStation VR headset — a device that will debut with a price at least $200 lower than its two principal rivals: the HTC Vive and Facebook's Oculus Rift, reports the Financial Times this morning. And this week the U.S. Patent Office revealed an invention from Google showing that they're now working on a VR headset of their own.

Google VR Headset Invention

Google notes in their patent filing that in general, virtual reality can surround and immerse a person in a computer-generated, three-dimensional (3D) environment. The person can enter this environment by interacting with and/or physically wearing specific electronic devices. Example electronic devices can include, but are not limited to, a helmet that includes a screen, glasses or goggles that a user looks through when viewing a screen (e.g., a display device or monitor), gloves fitted with sensors, and external handheld devices that include sensors. Once the person enters the VR space, the person can interact with the 3D environment in a way (e.g., a physical way) that seems real to the person.

Google's invention focuses on a system for providing a virtual reality (VR) space or headset that has the ability to interact with an Android smartphone for game play and other needed controls. The mobile computing device can be configured to execute a VR application, and provide content for display on the screen of the VR headset in the VR space. As noted above, the user can be in a VR gaming environment yet still be able to see their hands controlling game play controls set on their smartphone.

Earlier this week Patently Apple posted a report titled "Apple's Enthusiasm for Integrating Augmented Reality into Future Devices and Apps is Growing Louder." We noted in the report that Apple is leaning towards Augmented Reality over Virtual Reality at the moment. Though, like Google patent, the two companies could be aiming for Mixed Reality or "MR" instead of a pure play either way. For more on Google's patent that has many more grasphics, see our full Patently Mobile report here.