Oculus has finally given details on the release of its VR headset, the Oculus Rift, coming early next year. The final release of the headset has been improved in almost all aspects. The plastic and fabrics used in production are now of higher quality and it will ship with a pair of headphones, that you can detach.
They haven’t given any details on the specs of the machine yet, but they did say that the device is not yet wireless and so will require a cable and a decent gaming PC. They have also added a small slider, needed to adjust the distance between the lenses.
The device will require a camera that you’ll need to plug in, in order to track your head movements and the device will use a pair of OLED displays. CEO Brendan Iribe has said that the displays will have “no motion blur, no judder, no pixels.” A definite improvement on previous devices, if true. The display is also removable, in case you need to install a different pair of lenses or you wear glasses.
Oculus also described the details of the recent partnership with Microsoft, every Oculus will ship with an Xbox One controller and the, newly announced, wireless adapter. Windows 10 will also include native support for the Oculus Rift and the wireless adapter. The Windows 10, Xbox One game streaming feature will also be supported.
But the Oculus Rift won’t offer traditional VR support for Xbox One games. Instead the player will be present in a 3D environment, not unlike a cinema, and then have the 2D display of the game displayed inside. Not impressive, but interesting all the same.
Oculus also announced that it was working on its own motion controller: the Oculus Touch. A pair of controllers that wrap around each of your hands. Each controller has its own analogue stick, two triggers and two buttons.
The Oculus Touch controllers feature in-built sensors and support for the camera supplied by the Rift in order to be tracked, in a VR environment. All of these tracking features actually allow the controllers to recognise basic gestures the user can make, such as waving. They should be released not long after the headset is released next year, no price was stated.
Oculus is expected to release more details on the gaming experience at E3. Hopefully with a few playable demos. Oculus has also said that it’ll help indie developers make games for the Rift with a $10,000,000 contribution. It seems that the VR dream is very quickly becoming a reality.
