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At E3, I saw the missing pieces of the VR puzzle
The excitement around virtual reality may have started when Sony unveiled Project Morpheus last year, but last week's E3 was its coming out party. The thing is, I've been around long enough to remember the hype and subsequent commercial flatline over gaming in stereoscopic 3D. So going into this year's grand gaming gala, I was skeptical -- I had that awkward tech history footnote in mind -- and to a point, I still am. But Oculus helped me get over that a bit. All it took was a game from a trusted developer -- Insomniac Games -- and an input solution that makes VR feel less isolating.
Oculus and Microsoft sitting in a tree, R-I-F-T-I-N-G
Microsoft and Oculus are leaping into the future of virtual reality hand-in-hand. Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe today announced that the Rift will be packaged with a wireless Xbox One controller, native support on Windows 10 and the ability to play Xbox One games inside the headset itself, in a sort of virtual cinema, via Xbox-to-Windows streaming. Microsoft's Head of Xbox Phil Spencer took to the Oculus stage to lay out his plans for the Rift and Windows gaming going forward -- and there's a reason he looked so happy while doing so. In fact, there are a few reasons the Microsoft-Oculus deal should be gangbusters for both companies.
Oculus reveals its consumer Rift VR headset
Three long years after Oculus unveiled its VR headset to the world, it now finally has one ready for consumers. Say hello to the Rift headset that you can actually buy. It features two OLED screens that promises clarity, low-persistence flickering and a wide field of view. It also has a tracking system which CEO Brendan Iribe says has a very low latency movement that the company has refined over the years. They've also integrated a pair of headphones into the headset itself, which Iribe says has that 360-degree spatialized audio that's so integral to a more immersive environment (And yes, you can remove them to add your own headphones). Indeed, the entire headset has been redesigned with comfort in mind. It's lighter, it's covered in fabric for a softer touch and there's also a dial that you can use to adjust the distance between your eyes (also known as the interpupillary distance). And if you wear glasses? No problem, because you can now swap out different faceplates that fits those of us with corrective lenses as well. Interestingly, there's also now an external sensor that you can put on your desk, which replaces the webcam-like sensor from earlier Oculus headsets.
Oculus Rift and a VR-ready PC will cost $1,500, CEO says
The Oculus Rift is prepared to melt your perceived reality in early 2016 -- if you have the proper PC. If not, a new, Rift-ready PC plus the headset itself should cost around $1,500, Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe said today at the Re/code conference. "We are looking at an all-in price, if you have to go out and actually need to buy a new computer and you're going to buy the Rift... at most you should be in that $1,500 range," he said (via Re/code). He didn't provide a standalone price for the Rift, but Oculus has already divulged its recommended PC specs and they're fairly hefty.
Oculus founder sued for using confidential information
Palmer Luckey and his company, Oculus VR Inc, are being sued yet again. Total Recall Technologies, a company in Hawaii, is accusing Luckey of violating a confidentiality agreement that he signed as a former employee of the company. According to the lawsuit, he was hired about four years ago for the precise purpose of developing a head-mounted display. As such, they claim he was privy to information and feedback that he later used for the Kickstarter campaign to introduce his own version of a head-mounted display, Oculus Rift.
Oculus Rift goes mainstream early 2016
Quarter one 2016. It's the answer to a question we've asked basically every time we've spoken with Oculus VR since 2012: "When does the consumer version of the Rift come out?" Aside from that revelation, we're also getting our first look at the final design of the headset, but that's it! No word on price or launch games, experiences or Facebook apps, either. Come to think of it, "no" probably fits as an answer to any other question you might have at this point. Oculus teased that it'll have more to share soon, specifically hinting at June's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), but for now we'll just have to make do with these morsels. If Sony hoped to have early 2016 to itself in terms of VR for the masses with Project Morpheus, those dreams have effectively been dashed.
Facebook hints that the Oculus Rift will be available this year (update: or not)
In a rather off-hand comment at today's Facebook developer's conference, company CTO Mike Schroepfer dropped a hint that the Oculus Rift VR headset could come to market this year. It was during an overview talk about what VR means for the company, where Schroepfer demonstrated a sleek looking space shooter game. Following that, he said "You're going to be able to do this, this year in VR ... and in something shipped by Oculus."
The challenges ahead for Oculus VR as it creates the consumer Rift
"As always, the consumer Rift is in progress and we're making great progress," says Oculus VR Product VP Nate Mitchell. He told me that this week, but you could really pull versions of that response from any of the half dozen interviews we've done with Oculus VR in the past few years. It's the elephant in the room that Oculus brings with it from trade show to trade show: When is this thing going to be a consumer product? There's still no answer in January 2015, as of this year's CES. Will there be an answer in 2015? Maybe! Your guess is as good as ours, but Mitchell offered us something slightly more optimistic:"We're on an awesome path to consumer VR and I do think that 2015 for better, for worse is gonna be a really big year for VR. Even at CES, we're already seeing it. 2015 is gonna be a big year for VR, whether it's from Oculus or otherwise, and we're excited to be a part of it."
Oculus is buying a company that brings hands into virtual reality
Right now, the term "virtual reality" still means "headset" for most people. What we should really think when we read "virtual reality" is first-person immersion. The headset -- like Oculus VR's Rift, Sony's Project Morpheus, and Samsung's Gear VR -- is simply the first tool for creating that sense of immersion or "presence." But once you're in a headset, the first things you do are the undoable: reach out with your physical hands into virtual reality. It's not exactly surprising, then, that Oculus VR would acquire Nimble VR -- the company behind Nimble Sense, a camera and software combo that brings the world around you into virtual reality. Think of it like Kinect: cameras that are able to track your skeletal movement and create a point cloud around you, which then translate that data into a virtual representation on-the-fly.Still confused? We've got a video hands-on of Nimble VR's Sense camera from early November below the break, used in-tandem with Oculus VR's second Rift development kit (pictured above).
You can soon watch a doc about virtual reality on Oculus Rift
If you'd rather that your non-game Oculus Rift experiences be nonfiction, it looks like that wish is coming your way rather soon. Next week, Zero Point hits Steam and it offers full 360 degree views of a Department of Defense military training camp, a beach scene and even the extremely crowded LA Convention Center during E3 2013. The rub of the video is that it's the first of its kind -- a documentary about virtual reality, filmed in VR and made for the platform. It's very meta. Each scene is explorable, with either head tracking, a game controller or a mouse running the action. It's apparently compatible with all past-and-future Oculus dev kits, and will cost $15 come its October 28th release. However, IGN notes that if you purchase before November 4th it'll only run you $12. Want a preview before you buy? Of course you do; just head past the break for that.
New Oculus Rift prototype brings out the best in virtual reality
Presence. It's the ability of VR headsets to fool your mind and body into thinking that you are actually in a virtual world, and that experience is what Oculus seeks to deliver with its latest prototype. Code-named Crescent Bay, it's an evolution of the DK2 headset that only recently started making its way into the hands of developers. I got to try out the new hardware today at Oculus Connect, the company's inaugural developer conference. Come live vicariously through me, dear reader, as I tell you how it went.
The new Oculus Rift headset is Crescent Bay and has built-in audio
Oculus VR has a new headset. CEO Brendan Iribe showed the prototype, dubbed Crescent Bay, off today at the first Oculus Connect conference. It has built-in audio, it's lighter and packs 360-degree motion tracking. Iribe says that the jump between the new prototype and the previous developer kit (DK) is as dramatic as the jump between DK1 and the recently shipped DK2. Of course, it has a higher resolution screen and refresh rate, but the focus on this version though, seems to be audio. The headset sports onboard headphones that apparently can be removed if you'd rather use your own, and custom audio software (with help from the University of Maryland's RealSpace3D tech) to make "presence" much more convincing. "We're working on audio as aggressively as we're working on the vision side," Iribe said. Which makes sense, considering that sound is at least half of the experience for most entertainment.
The new $350 Oculus Rift virtual reality headset is now shipping
We were expecting to see the new iteration of the Oculus Rift arrive on developer's doorsteps earlier this month, but unfortunately it hit a couple of delays. Road to VR points out a Reddit thread where pre-orderers confirmed their credit cards have been charged ahead of shipping. Community manager cyberreality confirmed in the thread that it's happening, and the "DK2" hardware we (and Mark Zuckerberg) were so impressed by is ready to roll. The initial production run is only supposed to cover some 10,000 of the 45,000 units ordered, so for some your wait is just beginning (until next month). In the meantime, you can check out our hands-on video of the latest and greatest in virtual reality after the break (or the new X-Men related Comic-Con demo) -- hopefully Sony's Project Morpheus team responds to this as quickly as they did on Blu-ray 3D.
China's scalpers force Oculus to suspend Rift sales
With over 100,000 developer kit sales logged in its docket, it's fair to say interest in the Oculus Rift is high. While we wait for the inevitable release of the consumer model, scalpers in China snapping up developer versions at such a rate that the Facebook-owned company has been forced to suspend sales in the country. According to comments made by an Oculus representative on Reddit, the VR specialist was seeing "extreme reseller purchases," which were presumably sold at an unhealthy markup and took stock away from legitimate developers. While the company's DK2 headset is making its way to buyers, it's considered an in-development version of Rift and isn't intended for consumers.
Oculus VR and Palmer Luckey being sued by CTO's former employer (update)
Oculus VR and co-founder Palmer Luckey are being sued by Zenimax Media and id Software, the former employer of Oculus VR Chief Technical Officer John Carmack. The suit claims that Luckey and Oculus VR, which worked with Carmack while he was still employed by id Software (owned by Zenimax Media), stole and misappropriated "trade secrets relating to virtual reality technology." The suit was filed in Texas (where id Software is located), and follows up on legal claims Zenimax was already making publicly. For its part, Oculus VR denied Zenimax's previous claims in a followup response, which stated, "There is not a line of Zenimax code or any of its technology in any Oculus products." Carmack openly worked with Luckey in the lead up to the Oculus Rift's tremendously successful Kickstarter campaign, and he eventually joined the company full-time last year.
Oculus denies John Carmack stole VR tech from his former employer
When word came out last week that Oculus VR Chief Technology Officer John Carmack was being accused by his former employer of stealing intellectual property for use in his new gig, the nascent Facebook subsidiary only issued a cursory statement: "It's unfortunate, but when there's this type of transaction, people come out of the woodwork with ridiculous and absurd claims. We intend to vigorously defend Oculus and its investors to the fullest extent." The company's expanding on that statement today, and pushing back on the claims made by Zenimax.
US government approves Facebook's purchase of Oculus
We're not sure there was ever much doubt, but the US government has given the thumbs up to Facebook's $2 billion purchase of Oculus VR. The Federal Trade Commission examined the deal and found that it would not violate American antitrust laws. Now with most of the regulatory hurdles cleared, the focus can shift to the practical implications of the deal. Joining the Facebook family clearly puts a vast amount of resources at the disposal of Oculus founders like Palmer Luckey. But many in the development community are worried that the move represents something of a loss of innocence. Notch, the man behind Minecraft, in particular is apparently creeped out by Facebook and what it's business model and culture could mean for the future of the Rift. We can't pretend to know what's coming -- we're not even sure that Mark Zuckerberg or Oculus are sure what the future holds yet. All we can say is that we really hope a VR version of Facebook isn't in the cards.
Oculus VR's John Carmack sees bright future in Facebook deal
When Facebook said it would buy Oculus VR, many eyes turned to Oculus CTO John Carmack. Would Quake's co-creator be happy with the deal when Facebook sees virtual reality gaming as just the beginning? Thankfully, it looks like he's staying put. In a response to jitters about the acquisition, Carmack says that Facebook appears to "get the Big Picture" -- it understands the impact of VR and will help the technology grow. The executive also isn't worried about the social network's privacy issues. While he believes that privacy is important, he also sees data mining as a valuable tool for successful companies. The statements won't completely assuage fears that the acquisition could lead Oculus astray, but Carmack clearly believes that the company is still headed in the right direction.
Facebook is buying Oculus VR for $2 billion, plans to 'unlock new worlds for all of us'
Mark Zuckerberg is following up his Whatsapp buy with another big acquisition: virtual reality company Oculus VR for $2 billion in stock and cash (curiously, news of the talks may have leaked on Reddit a month ago). In a post on Facebook, Zuckerberg talks at length about how Facebook plans to make Oculus a platform for "completely new kinds of experiences," and gaming is only the first one. Examples he suggests include sitting courtside at a big game, studying in a classroom with other students virtually or getting a face to face doctor consultation from anywhere. The idea that virtual reality may be the next big thing gained more credibility last week when Sony showed off a prototype VR headset for developers, Project Morpheus. That also means Oculus is suddenly staring down a massive competitor -- with others likely on the way -- and now it has the resources of the social network to rely on.
The new Oculus Rift costs $350 and this is what it's like
If you're still not paying attention to Oculus VR and the Rift headset -- the folks at the forefront of virtual reality's recent rebirth -- what are you doing? Okay, we'll forgive you. It's still just a development kit after all, and even the latest prototype ("Crystal Cove") is far from the expected final product. Today though, you've got one less excuse to stay in the dark: The second Oculus Rift development kit is available for pre-order; it costs $350; and it's really, really impressive. That's two reallys.
