![]() The consumer Rift has integrated, high-end headphones, more precise tracking technology, advanced optics and, most importantly, two custom, high-density OLED displays designed specifically for VR hardware. What we have today is wildly different as a result. One of the reasons the company sold to Facebook was to make sure it had the resources to build a better Rift. "When it arrives, it has to be good." Oculus VR had been selling developer kits at a loss, and were getting worried that the prototype's flaws would ward off cautious consumers. "People don't have experience with this technology," he said. "Do not buy! Do not buy!" He calmed himself, assuring me that the DK2 was good but it wasn't good enough for consumers. "These are devkits," Oculus founder Palmer Luckey told me in 2014, after launching the Rift's second developer unit. This is going to get a little technical, but hear me out: The first two Rifts were built mostly from off-the-shelf components and surplus smartphone screens. There's a vast difference between what was inside of those development units and what Oculus put into the final consumer Rift. Doesn't that break the model? Not really, so long as you have the proper context. The original, Kickstarter-funded Rift development kit sold for a mere $300, and its higher-resolution follow-up only cost developers $350. This logic can be hard to swallow in the face of Oculus VR's own release history. Okay, a new iPhone will still cost you over $600, but at least you don't need to sign a contract anymore. Today the lowest-end Kindle costs less than $80. That's the cycle: New technology enters the market at a premium price that drops with each subsequent generation. Three years ago, a 55-inch 4K TV would have set you back $5,000 - now better sets can be had for a little over a grand. The first-generation Kindle: a shocking $400, and it wasn't even a Paperwhite. Remember how much the original iPhone cost, back in 2007? It was priced at $600 with a two-year contract. I know you're upset, but think about it for a minute: New technology is always expensive, often prohibitively so. The Oculus Rift's launch price is completely normal. Let's skip the fourth stage of grief and jump to the end: acceptance. That's denial, anger and bargaining, guys. During Palmer Luckey's evening AMA on Reddit, fans were petitioning the company to remove the Rift's audio tech and packaged Xbox One controller to bring the price down. Fans reacted quickly, shocked that the price was twice as much as the original developer kit and furious that the company was charging so much. (Mark Zuckerberg, whose Facebook bought Oculus a while back, even congratulated Martin on the distinction.) In the genre of CEOs delivering stuff to customers, it’s predictably, satisfyingly sweet.Yesterday, Oculus VR finally announced the price of its first consumer virtual reality headset: $599, plus shipping. Meanwhile, Oculus founder Palmer Luckey ventured to Anchorage, Alaska on Sunday to hand-deliver the first Oculus to pre-order customer Ross Martin. With hints of Rise of the Tomb Raider and Banjo-Kazooie, the VR versions of these classics will piggyback on their familiarity to provide a hopefully seamless transition into the new realm of gaming. Titles like EVE: Valkyrie, Lucky’s Tale, and Chronos have all been hyped for a while now, probably because they manage to look awesome without appearing intimidating. Those who do find themselves unwrapping an Oculus Rift soon will enter a gaming world that may be utterly new, but it will also look remarkably familiar. 2016 is going to be a big year for virtual reality. Both the HTC Vive and Sony’s PlayStation VR headset are set for release this year (Vive comes out in May and PlayStation VR comes out in October). So if you didn’t manage to get your order in on time or were simply waiting to see how the technology pans out in its first release, don’t fret your judicious budgeting. ![]() At $600, Oculus Rift is hardly a mass market item, especially since the device only works joined with a powerful PC. The first devices may hit the bricks Monday, but it will take months for Oculus Rift to ship all of its original orders, meaning even journalists hoping to review the devices still have to wait a little while longer (early reviews say it’s worth the wait).Īs Oculus Rift user videos begin to trickle onto Youtube, the promise of virtual reality will feel fulfilled, but in actual reality, it’s just getting started. ![]() Oculus Rift, the technology that unleashed the mad dash to virtual reality gaming four years ago, begins arriving on the doorsteps of those most eager early adopters (see: people who invested on Kickstarter) Monday, following a busy preorder window that has left a backlog that will last through the summer.
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