The highly anticipated Oculus Rift virtual reality headset is finally ready to go live and become available for preorder, and it's expected to raise lots of interest.
After a good while of wondering when the Oculus Rift will finally become available, Oculus recently announced that it will start taking preorders for the VR headset at 8 a.m. PT on Wednesday.
Despite the official announcement, however, some questions still remained unanswered. Oculus promised to offer more information as preorders go live, but let's try to come up with the answers beforehand.
Oculus Rift Price
While the company set a preorder date and offered a release window, it made no mention of how much the gadget will cost. The price will likely remain unconfirmed until the Oculus Rift actually hits the market in the first quarter of this year, but we can take a shot at estimating how much it will cost. If the previous developer kit versions are any indication, the Oculus Rift should cost somewhere around $350 and $400.
Further bolstering this theory is the fact that back in late May, Oculus' CEO Brendan Iribe said that the Oculus Rift and a PC should not cost more than $1,500 total. Most Oculus Ready PCs have a starting price of roughly $1,000 or more, so a $350 – $400 price point for the VR headset would fit the bill.
Oculus Rift Features
The Oculus Rift VR headset comes with two OLED displays that rock a combined 2,160 x 1,200 pixel resolution, boasting a 90Hz refresh rate. It also packs a slew of sensors, including an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a magnetometer, and a constellation array, among the highlights.
The gadget supports both Xbox controllers, as well as the Oculus Touch controller, albeit the latter will only ship in the second half of this year.
Oculus Rift Compatibility Requirements
As one can imagine, the full Oculus Rift experience will not be possible with just any machine. The VR headset will truly shine when combined with a hefty rig, requiring an Nvidia GTX 970 or AMD 290 and an Intel i5-4590 or greater (or the equivalent). It also requires a minimum of 8 GB of RAM, three USB 3.0 ports, HDMI 1.3 output, and Windows 7 Service Pack 1 or later.
Oculus Rift Bundles
The Oculus Rift will ship with a free copy of Eve: Valkyrie, one of its flagship launch titles. Additionally, preorder units will also include Playful Corp's Lucky's Tale. Some other goodies may be in store as well, but it remains to be seen what else will be included with the consumer version bundle.
Judging by the first developer kits, the package should include the headset itself, two pairs of vision lenses, a camera for tracking position, a USB cable for the external camera, an HDMI-DVI adapter, a power cord with a USB adapter, and a sync cable.
When Will It Arrive?
This one question has yet to receive a definite answer, as Oculus offered a rather vague release time frame: sometime during the first quarter of this year. With this in mind, the Oculus Rift should ship to customers by March 31 at the latest, but that's all we've got so far.
