The Oculus Rift is launched alongside the Virtual Desktop that allows you to work in VR.
(Mirror Daily, United States) – The Oculus Rift launches quietly today after the world held its breath expecting it. There will be no party, no big event, just boxes containing the much-awaited headsets arriving at the doors of the people that pre-ordered them.
Every time a new console or video game is launched, the media goes wild. There are several release events; journalists receive the product for testing a few days before so that the reviews would fly in on the day of the launching and the marketing campaign throws it all in.
But not this time. The Oculus Rift launches quietly today, Palmer Luckey being more interested in working on the new batch of headsets than parading them in front of media.
Luckey built his first pair of VR goggles 4 year ago using smartphone parts. Now, the Oculus Rift technology is the property of Facebook ever since 2014 and an improved version of the Rift is hitting the market starting today.
The first wave of products has already been sold out and those who didn’t manage to pre-order it will have to wait until this summer to get their hands on the $600 equipment. The headset is sold by itself for the moment.
According to the manufacturer, sometime this summer a controller for Xbox One and a couple of games will become available for the Rift, but they will be sold separately. The company did not mention a price for the motion-detecting devices.
The maker of the Oculus Rift expects that the life span of the device will be somewhere between a console and a phone. He also believes that there will come a day when the VR devices will be as slim as sunglasses, not ski goggles.
On April 5th, the day Civil War will hit the theaters, the new HTC Vive will also hit the market. The VR headset will cost $800, and it will be equipped with controllers that kind of look like wands, but that will offer customers the opportunity of enjoying VR while standing.
Also, this October will be marked by the launch of the PlayStation VR, a headset designed primarily for the PlayStation IV console. The cost of the equipment is estimated around $400, and it will only be compatible with the PlayStation device.
The CEO of Unity, John Riccitiello, says that the VR market is a long way from becoming an industry. He believes that the developers should make baby steps to avoid any drawbacks. If everything goes as planned, by 2019, the Rift technology will become an industry.
The Oculus Rift launches quietly today, a small step for the virtual reality community.
Image source: Wikimedia
Joe Hennessey
