The Oculus Rift: Virtual Reality’s Newest Star

Did you ever think you would be able to ride a rollercoaster from your own home?  What about taking a stroll in Tuscany, or a tour of the planets?  Well, you soon may be able to thanks to a brand new device that’s taking the tech world by storm:  the Oculus Rift.

Oculus VR rose to fame in fall 2012 with an extremely successful fundraising campaign on the crowd-sourcing website KickStarter.  Promising a higher field-of-view, faster response time, and lower price point than almost every virtual reality headset that has come before, and backed by many big names in the video game industry, Oculus VR sold around 6,000 development kits and raised almost 2.5 million dollars during the drive.

So does Oculus deserve the hype?  The Rift features a diagonal field of view of 90 degrees (110 degrees horizontal), more than double that of most competitors.  In the developer kit, Oculus uses a 250 Hz head tracker, which has very low input lag.  The consumer version will utilize a new specially designed 1000 Hz tracker which Oculus promises will reduce lag even further.  At the moment, the two main complaints are the poor resolution and the lack of positional tracking. However, both of these concerns will be addressed by the consumer version, which promises at least 1080p resolution and added positional tracking.  All of this adds up to an incredible user experience which may have to be seen to believe.  Oculus has hopes that their device can be utilized outside of the world of gaming as well.  Other applications could include the use of modeling software for engineers or architects to visualize their work in a realistic 3D environment, or as an educational tool for demonstrational purposes.

So you’re probably thinking that the Rift will cost thousands of dollars right? Wrong.  The developer kit is selling for $300, and they are hoping to release the consumer version for the same price.  There’s no specific date for the consumer model as of yet, but Palmer Luckey, the 20-year old founder of the company, has stated that he believes it will be months rather than years.  As the hype builds to greater and greater heights, only time will tell if the Rift is the breakthrough that VR enthusiasts have been longing for.  But if the predictions made by many in the industry come true, we may all be enjoying a new form of entertainment in the years to come.  Until then, keep an eye on Oculus VR and the Rift.