Oculus Rift
PRICE: $1100 INC. SHIPPING
When the final release date for the Rift was confirmed in January, Australian gamers were dismayed at the final price point. US$649 doesn’t initially seem that expensive, until we factor in the dismal Aussie dollar, and the price of shipping, leaving us with a final price in excess of $1100. Throw in the fact that you need at least a GTX 970 with i5-4590 or better, and the overall cost of ownership isn’t going to be cheap. But nobody said VR was going to be… well, except for Palmer Lucky, the inventor of the Rift. However, he’s since explained that he’d rather the first commercial version be slightly more expensive than anticipated to guarantee a quality experience, and I think that strategy makes sense. There’s a lot riding on the success of the Rift, and increasing the price by a couple of hundred dollars won’t deter the early adaptors shelling out for the first kit.
These are due to land in Australia in May, a couple of months after our American friends. However, if you were lucky enough to order the original Developer Kit 1 of the Rift, Oculus is sending you the commercial release in March, absolutely free of charge, which is a brilliant piece of PR. Needless to say I’m on that list, and will be sharing my experiences with you as soon as possible.
Regarding specs, it seems the OLED display will pack 2160 x 1200 pixels, but it’s split down the middle, giving each eye a 1080 x 1200 screen. It purrs along at 90Hz, which is necessary to avoid simulation sickness. I’ve tested the most recent prototype with a near identical screen, and while it goes a very long way to clearing up the screen-door effect of the first kits, still isn’t quite pixel-free; we’re going to need at least 4K screens for that. Can you imagine the system requirements necessary to drive that though? This screen delivers a 110-degree field of view, which is claimed to be identical to the Vive, but hands-on experience suggests the Rift feels a little narrower.
It will also come with built-in headphones, which will deliver virtual surround via the wonders of Head-Related Transfer Function technology. Unfortunately the promised Oculus Touch controllers won’t ship until later in 2016, and in the meantime an Xbox One controller is being packed in. The headset is also only tracked by a single camera, which means it’s limited to a seated experience. These two facts lead many to believe that the Rift is going to struggle against the Vive, and after trying both, I have to agree that the Vive does seem to be the more immersive of the two. On the other hand, the Vive also needs a large play space to make the most of its room-tracking abilities.