Oculus Rift – The Review

With virtual reality becoming the buzzword for the future of technology, few companies have had as much hype as Oculus VR’s Rift. Media and tech enthusiasts have been salivating over it for years, but now that it’s actually out, does it live up to their expectations or is it destined for the closet next to the Nintendo Power glove and Steam Machine?

To be fair, Oculus had some pretty big expectations. The company started from humble beginnings as a Kickstarter campaign back in 2012. People were hungry for new VR tech, and they raised US$2.5 million dollars. Seeing the possibilities ahead, Facebook purchased the company in March 2014 for a staggering US$2 billion which solidified its place in VR history.  Two years later, on 28 March 2016 they released the consumer version priced at US$599.

What’s in the box?

Inside the box you’ll find the headset, sensor, remote, cables, Xbox One controller, and Lucky’s Tale, a platform adventure game designed exclusively for the Rift.

Price

When you buy an Oculus Rift, you’re buying the headset, a few accessories and that’s about it. It costs US$599, which is far below what comparable competitors are offering, but it comes with one major shortcoming. The Oculus requires a high spec PC.  If you already have one,  congratulations.  If not, be prepared to shell out another grand.

Immersion

There’s no denying that Oculus is impressive. Its OLED screen is vibrant and the games look great, but without a touch controller it’s hard to be completely immersed. Many people want to walk around or have the controls feel more natural since it’s a virtual reality environment. Unlike many other models coming out, the Oculus Rift uses an Xbox One controller instead of dedicated controller, but Oculus Touch should be coming out soon… more on that later.

Oculus launched with a number of dedicated games ready to go. They range from VR experience games to RPGs. They are designed to take advantage of the VR atmosphere and are absolutely amazing. With the resolution of the Rift and amazing graphics of the games, it’s spectacularly immersive, but the controller tends to take something away from it. Rift looks best in racing and other simulation type games.

The virtual reality world looks great when seen in a cockpit, but when you’re free roaming it can lose its hold on you.

Comfort

The key to a proper VR session is to have the Rift fit correctly to your head. If it’s off center or too loose, then it can not only be nauseating, but painful over time. The angle of the screen to your eyes makes a big impact on your focus. It comes with a small tracking camera on a stand, the Xbox controller and Oculus Remote. There’s also a tether cable that connects the headset to the tracker. It’s not an issue if you’re sitting, but if you plan on being on your feet and moving around, then it can get in the way. It has to be connected to a high end PC to handle all the processing power necessary.

Moving Around

The Oculus Rift features a single camera for movement and gives you a few steps in any direction before moving out of range. You don’t know you’re about to step out of range until the whole virtual works suddenly stops responding to you. The good news is very few of the games actually require a player to move about. The headset itself is outfitted with an accelerometer and gyroscope to track movement and speeds and does a good job rendering that on the screens. There’s what seems to be a little lens flare in the corner of the screens, but it’s not too distracting.

Adult Content

It should come as no surprise that the adult entertainment industry is moving into virtual reality.  Developers are offering realistic scenarios, but don’t expect to get them via their app store, Oculus Experiences.  However, there’s a few good sites out there that will point you in the right direction.  Maybe you’re on one right now!

Oculus Touch

The Oculus Touch is launching later in 2016 and features two handset controllers designed to fit comfortably in each hand allowing the user to mimic natural hand gestures and provide seamless ‘integration’ with your virtual environment.

This is where things will start to get very interesting.  Watch the demo below of two users playing about with their toys!

Summary

Oculus looks amazing, but when other machines come out like the HTC Vive, it may be quickly overshadowed. For today’s technology, the Rift is definitely worth the money, and its Facebook backing, along with large supply of titles, makes it the current leader. If the machines of the 1990s are like the Nintendo Entertainment System, then the Rift is like the Playstation. It looks great compared to what’s out there, and probably has a decent shelf life, but it’s the first real machine to jump in feet first.

In a few years, the next generation of VR machines will come out and be even more amazing, but, for now, you can’t beat the Oculus Rift for price and capabilities.