Rift, Vive, and Virtual Reality

If the hardware is literally just that then HTC and Sony will put out $350 SKUs and you'll have a more reasonable option.
 
The hardware is literally an OLED screen, two lenses and plastic around it. They should at least release the option of buying the headset alone without all these extras at $349-400.

No it's not. It's 2 custom made oled displays. Custom displays are expensive and lead times for custom displays are long... There is the mechanism to adjust the lenses and the lenses are also custom made etc. Retail rift is not engineered from off the shelf parts. And btw. there is that fancy feel good fabric surrounding the plastic to make the rift feel better when you wear it.
 
No it's not. It's 2 custom made oled displays. Custom displays are expensive and lead times for custom displays are long... There is the mechanism to adjust the lenses and the lenses are also custom made etc. Retail rift is not engineered from off the shelf parts. And btw. there is that fancy feel good fabric surrounding the plastic to make the rift feel better when you wear it.

That and a gyro. Yeah, custom screens are expensive but it's nowhere near $500 expensive.
 
So many assumptions, so little actual information.

https://www.oculus.com/en-us/blog/powering-the-rift/
The Rift runs at 2160×1200 at 90Hz split over dual displays (OLED)
2x USB 3.0 ports
HDMI 1.3 video output supporting a 297MHz clock via a direct output architecture
6DOF Motion Tracking

If that costs $500 (plus $99 for all the added peripherals) then PSVR (120hz OLED screen + external processing unit) and Vive(more sophisticated tracking system) are going upwards of $1k, which i don't see happening.
 
I think the price will go down fairly soon. I'm just disappointed as I was planning to get one day one, and this seemed to be coming out so soon. Now I'll definitely wait until I get some good impressions from others, and take a risk that I will have to wait longer.
 
Everyone seems to be forgetting that this is firstly a very niche product - so far. And more importantly the first entry in a completely new market. The price has absolutely nothing to do with the production cost so there's really no point in making assumptions on how much it costs to produce, mainly because no one here would have the slightest idea.
 
Oh boy
4Rf03aB.jpg
 
He's not wrong though.

The rift seems reasonably priced to me. Just compare it to a decent monitor and it's in the same bracket. There's not much oculus can do about import taxes unless they want to subsidize that as well.
 
Good riddance. If it's such a premium product after all, I'll rather wait too see how Vive performs, or even StarVR.

StarVR seems really cool. One dedicated 1440p screen per eye and a 210º horizontal FOV.
If all else is equal, I'd probably pay €1200 for StarVR before paying 900€ for Occulus.
Wait for a shootout before you judge. Honestly, as a someone who has used these devices, the most important factor for performance for (stage 0/stage 1) is how it feels to the user, not what numbers it's able to spit out. If it takes a lot of money for less users to toss their lunch after using the device the better. The largest hurdle for all VR devices will of course be making the experience comfortable to the user, the less orientation required to use it the better.

Would you rather pay a very cheap price for eye surgery or something more expensive? Think about it like that. Obviously early adopters are likely to be the most burned, trying out VR devices should part of your purchasing requirement. You could not honestly tell me today how each VR device will perform with you just based upon the BOM and the price points.


With that price and that h/w requirement this thing isn't going to be relevant for a long time. And that's the problem, who wants to develop games specifically for luxury h/w that nobody is going to buy? Sony and Valve have the luxury of already owning IPs that could be translated on VR in some way, what does Facebook/Oculus have? Maybe they can include Facebook support day 1 in some way, i don't get it.

This is price point may not work for everyone for a home entertainment device (today). But that doesn't mean it's expensive. People offer 'Break Out rooms experience', if this technology is amazing and the experiences are amazing, it's not unfathomable for people to decide that there should be large scale VR experiences where people just pay to climb Mount Everest, or experience movies a specific way. The stronger the product the more likely we'll see it be integrated into the mainstream whether you use the devices at home, or at the experience centre (much like owning an Arcade Cabinet was way too much $$$$ back in the day, but was cheap to play at the coin op)
 
People are emotional beings, mostly. I tend not to get up in arms about stuff people say just because someone somewhere might be offended.

Who is genuinely upset that he is saying "it's not our fault, it's your country's policy to charge this fee"? And if this imaginary person is not reading that sentiment from it, then what the hell is he?
 
The only thing i really dislike about this is that they are trying to sell a peripheral as a platform. It's absurd that they are not offering a bare bones headset version of the rift, even though nobody would buy the current "package" if something like that was an option. Do enthusiasts really give a crap about an X1 controller, cheap headphones, a cheap camera and motion controls? You can make a case about the last two, but it's hard to make a case for the other peripherals, plus the retail games which are only adding to the total cost. This whole deal is what PC shouldn't be. I don't want to be buying a keyboard and a screen when i am buying a GPU.
 
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That tweet is bad PR.

Bad PR in a day of terrible PR. Palmer Luckey isn't being very bright today.
 
Personally I like it when people are candid. As a badge holding member of the public I'm happy with these relations.
 
Personally I like it when people are candid. As a badge holding member of the public I'm happy with these relations.

If by "Candid" you mean "being an ass about it" then you probably shouldn't apply for a PR position.
 
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