The Oculus Rift Virtual Reality will be made available in the first quarter of 2016. The virtual reality technology has come a long way since its Kickstarter ended in January 2013. This kickstarter raised $2.3 million with the help of over 9,500 backers.
YouTube Gamers like Pewdiepie and Hank Green have featured it on their channels numerous times, and first person games like the Five Nights at Freddy’s trilogy have been adapted to work on the gaming console.
Currently, on Oculus.com there is the Development Kit 1 which is sold out, and there is the Development Kit 2 which is on sale for $350.00. This is only intended for game producers to have a look at the product, and allow them to work on creating their own games for when the Oculus Rift is officially released for gamers.
VP of product at Oculus VR Nate Mitchell tweeted “Extremely excited to announce that the Oculus Rift will be shipping Q1 2016! We can’t wait to get it in your hands.”
A prototype of the product was created by Crescent Bay in September 2014. In a blogpost by Oculus, they described this prototype as having, “360 [degree] head tracking, expanded positional tracking volume, dramatically improved weight ergonomics, and high-quality integrated audio.”
The brand was purchased by Facebook in March 2014 for $2.3 billion and since has been making big strides in the gaming field. The release date for the Oculus Rift is vague so far, but interested buyers can expect to see it later into 2015.
The Oculus Team said, “Virtual reality is going to transform gaming, film, entertainment, communication, and much more.”
A similar virtual reality gaming technology is the Samsung Gear VR, and it will be available through the Oculus Store.
As of right now, there are a few differences between the Samsung Gear VR and the Oculus Rift Development Kit 2. The field of view is four degree wider than the Samsung Gear VR, and the Oculus Rift allows for people who have glasses to wear them under the glasses. The specifications for the Oculus Rift that is being officially sold haven’t been released yet, so only time will tell which will actually be better.
As of right now, the Samsung Gear VR has it’s own version of the Development Kit called the Innovator Edition. They have two separate ones, one is compatible with the Samsung GALAXY Note 4 and the Samsung Galaxy S6.
For those who don’t feel like they can wait until the Oculus Rift is released, the Samsung Gear VR has a release date of Dec. 8.
Other companies have been trying to catch up in the virtual reality world.
According to Thesudburystar.com, “To reach a big audience, content producers want to know that there will be a sizable number of consumers who have compatible VR devices.”
The Oculus Team describes it as, “the rift delivers on the dream of consumer VR with compelling content, a full ecosystem, and a fully-integreated hardware/software tech stack designed specifically for virtual reality.”
Expect to see more details released as the weeks go on. For those hoping to get an up close and personal look at the Oculus Rift before it’s even on sale, it will be showcased at E3 in June.
E3 is a convention for technology, games and the people who play them.
It will also be shown off at Gamescom. This is an event that showcases interactive games.
According to the blogpost made by Oculus, “In the weeks ahead, we’ll be revealing the details around hardware, software, input, and man of our unannounced made-for-VR games and experiences coming to the Rift.”
