When it comes to Virtual Reality in gaming, Oculus is the name that immediately comes to mind. They aren’t the only ones working on it, and they certainly weren’t the first. They are, however, the company with the most promising product at the moment – which could be threatened by other shoddy attempts from competitors.
Oculus Rift CEO Brendan Iribe expressed this fear during a Web Summit in Dublin, citing cheaper, less polished VR efforts as the main rival to the Rift. It’s not a case of being undercut from a pricing standpoint, but rather trying to compete in a market flooded by cheap, broken VR devices that taint the technology’s image.
“We’re a little worried about bigger companies putting out products that aren’t ready. Disorientation and motion sickness is the elephant in the room. We’re encouraging big companies not to put out a product before it’s ready.”
These are of course issues Oculus themselves are still trying to overcome. Their latest prototype, Crescent Bay, is apparently a massive step forward from the DK2, so Oculus is getting closer. In fact, Iribe is confident that their latest prototype is close to what the retail version will eventually be, stating that consumers only have “months” to wait.
“We’re all hungry for it to happen. We’re getting very close. It’s months, not years away, but many months.”
I gave the DK2 a shot a few months ago, and it was a massive improvement over the extreme motion sickness inducing first prototype. I still got sick eventually, and the device is still extremely uncomfortable to wear, but each prototype seems to be quantum leaps forward instead of baby steps.
So I can definitely see the Oculus Rift reaching shelves sometime next year, but I’m still sceptical about widespread adoption. There are still major issues with input that Oculus needs to deal with – a solution that not easy to find.
Last Updated: November 6, 2014
Alien Emperor Trevor
November 6, 2014 at 14:05
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Hammersteyn
November 6, 2014 at 14:09
Broken vinyl? I don’t get it 😛
Alien Emperor Trevor
November 6, 2014 at 14:12
Whoops, I meant to say Don’t support DRM. Or something like that 😉
Kensei Seraph Never Forget
November 6, 2014 at 14:26
http://media.giphy.com/media/nADZYfVoBYz16/giphy.gif
Corrie
November 6, 2014 at 14:32
Instead it see’s you :p
damn I’m out of Kinect jokes
Admiral Chief 0
November 6, 2014 at 14:10
XD
Captain JJ the pout
November 6, 2014 at 14:31
Don’t break the vinyl. Except if it’s some Bieber kak. Then break it. On his face.
Kensei Seraph Never Forget
November 6, 2014 at 14:33
Oh god I just imagined a hipster listening to Bieber on a gramophone.
Captain JJ the pout
November 6, 2014 at 14:41
And why would you tell me? Now I am too. O_o
RinceThis
November 6, 2014 at 14:32
Broken hipster?
Kensei Seraph Never Forget
November 6, 2014 at 14:24
So we have confirmation that the retail Occulus Rift will be release within the next 23 months.
Corrie
November 6, 2014 at 14:29
“So I can definitely see the Oculus Rift reaching shelves sometime next year”
Aswell as a increase in a booming Organ Market
Kensei Seraph Never Forget
November 6, 2014 at 14:34
I know a few people I wouldn’t mind harvesting kidneys from.
Corrie
November 6, 2014 at 14:44
I’m afraid to find out who those potential Occulus donators are
Have you considered dealing in these instead?
Kensei Seraph Never Forget Ouk
November 7, 2014 at 07:39
They don’t quite fit in the little boxes and when you take them out afterwards they don’t quite seem to function as they did before.
Dennis
November 6, 2014 at 16:04
Do you imply that the device will be expensive ? $300-400 seems fine to me
Corrie
November 6, 2014 at 16:16
Yes, yes it will.
Nvidia 970 – $325 in US , here its over roughly R6000
Nvidia 980 – $ 500 in US, here it’s roughly R10000
Google Glass – $1500 in US, here its roughly R20000+
PS4,Xbox one, high end phones and all that end up marginally overpriced here, I know we follow more EU imports but still overpriced
Can see a Oculus close, if not more than a Console price than anything.
Dennis
November 6, 2014 at 17:15
An oculus ready gpu (about $350 average for gtx 970) so you can comfortably play all next gen games in the rift and the device itself (about $300) is barely overpriced if you consider the average smartphone cost of $500 in the states. The experience will be more than worth it anyway. I’d rather spend about $650 to upgrade my pc and play vr games than spend $400 for a playstation 4 for example.
Corrie
November 6, 2014 at 17:35
Like I said earlier in a nutshell, those prices in dollars almost are double here, so you may want to spend $650 to upgrade your PC but in reality your not looking at roughly R7267,03 your looking at at least R8200-R9000 which if you go back is roughly $850 , see what I mean
No matter how much it costs there it costs sooo much more here, where regular Americans know its going to be $300-$400 , they can save and easily purchase something while over here we never know how much it will be when or if it arrives here(i.e OUYA,MOGA Controllers,Shield Tablets or general Nexus devices) or if it does end up here we’re taken for a ride
Dennis
November 6, 2014 at 18:46
you can still import tho, right ? like buy from overseas
Maxiviper117
November 7, 2014 at 11:40
Import duties and tariffs would bump up the price to the same level so thats not really an option
Ghost In The Rift
November 6, 2014 at 14:51
When this gets out do you think nerds are gonna loose their virginity’s??:/
Alien Emperor Trevor
November 6, 2014 at 15:23
It’s virtually guaranteed.
Ghost In The Rift
November 6, 2014 at 15:32
haha
BacchusZA
November 6, 2014 at 16:29
**Golfclap