Oculus Rift Release Date, Price, Features, System Requirements And Everything Else You Need To Know
Facebook-owned virtual reality device Oculus Rift will start shipping this March.
Presumably on March 28 as earlier promised by the device's inventor and founder Palmer Luckey at the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) 2016.
Oculus Rift is not a stand-alone device. It requires a high-performance PC running Microsoft Windows in order to function.
Other recommended system requirements include, PC with a GPU equivalent in power with the NVidia GTX 970 or AMD 290 or greater; Intel i5-4590 equivalent processor or equivalent or greater; at least 8GB of RAM; Windows 7 Service Pack 1 and 2 USB 3.0 ports.
Upon its release date, the device will be shipped with the Oculus Touch, a set of two wireless controllers that allows smooth operation by sensing grip on the palms and the index fingers.
In addition, it also has traditional buttons along with a thumb stick.
The built-in positional tracking offers a physically haptic feedback that allows users to pick up or interact with virtual objects as they would do so in real life.
The device can also detect simple gestures such as a thumbs-up and pointing at directions.
The Oculus Rift will also extend compatibility with the Xbox One Controller for windows - an expected byproduct of the company's partnership with Microsoft.
In another move designed to please the developer community, the company announced that it has integrated both the Unreal Engine 4 and Unity game creation tools into the software.
The device will use a dedicated software platform called Oculus Home to display all the content.
Oculus Rift will carry built-in earphones but they can be easily detached if users want to replace them with other compatible earphones. The earphones can be adjusted for comfort.
While waiting for the official release date, Oculus Rift is already available for pre-order at a price of $599.
Even though much higher than the originally anticipated price of approximately $350, Luckey insists that consumers will get more than their money's worth, YouTube channel Tested reported.