After four years of development Oculus Rift, a virtual reality headset developed and manufactured by Oculus, has finally make its way to consumers.
In the course of Rift’s development it has gone through various pre-production models since the Kickstarter campaign, around five of which were demonstrated to the public. Be that as it may, we now have the final consumer unit of it – ready to be shipped(see the image below).
Oculus Rift’s final consumer unit case contains(as noted on Polygon):
- The headset/head-mounted display
- A sensor with desktop stand
- A wireless Xbox One controller
- A USB extension cable for the Xbox One’s controller dongle
- The Oculus Remote
- Two AA batteries for the Xbox controller
- A tool for removing the included headphones from the Rift headset
- Two Oculus logo stickers
- A safety guide for the Rift and manual for Xbox One controller
- A lens cloth.
Yesterday, as reported on Polygon, Palmer Luckey, founder of Oculus, had taken the time to travel to Anchorage two days before the Oculus Rift’s official launch to hand-deliver the first retail unit of Oculus to a buyer named Ross Martin.
Luckey told Polygon that this wasn’t just a publicity stunt, rather it was an important part of his journey. He said:
“I said hey guys, I’ve been working on this since 2009, we’ve been working on Oculus since 2012, I’ll be damned if some random delivery guy is going to get the satisfaction of delivering the first Rift. That’s mine. So I could figure I could take a day out of the launch process and take a quick vacation in Alaska.”
As Oculus Rift is begun shipping, reviewers likewise get their unit of it and gave their thoughts on how this backbreaking work of the team turns out to be.
Here are the review scores and proclamations made by the reviewers:
(+) Great-looking industrial design
(+) A few really good seated VR games
(+) Promising future game catalog
(-) Expensive with gaming PC
(-) Not much to do outside gaming
(-) Lack of motion control
8/10
(+) Strong support for both sitting and standing experiences
(+) Feels satisfying and transformative
(+) Jumping from game to game within VR is effective and comfortable
(-) Can’t interact with real world without removing the display
(-) Uncomfortable over glasses
8.5/10
(+) Graphics, sound and head tracking feels like something out of science fiction
(+) High-quality design of headgear
(+) Well-built hardware system
(-) Complex system setup
(-) Wearing it makes less aware of outer world
(+) easy to install and use
(+) convincing design
(+) Looks premium
(-) High on Price
(-) Only for gamers and not for mainstream audiences
(-) complex and disoriented games
(+) Well-made and accessible
(+) 3-D audio makes VR experience much more riveting
(+) Well balanced and appropriately padded; comfortable to wear
(-) Lack of cool games and apps
(-) Price
9/10
If the reviews are to be considered – Oculus Rift serves great and futuristic experience but lacks in the number of games and apps. The number of games will increase indeed throughout the year as new titles makes their way to it. Rift’s focus is mostly the gamers and not the mainstream audiences. If you’re a hardcore PC gamer you’ll definitely end up buying it. But I suggest you to wait a little more, as PlayStation VR is on it’s way – with more games than the Oculus Rift.
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