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OCULUS UNVEILED A new prototype of its virtual reality headset. However, the VR company still isn’t ready to release a consumer edition.
The hew headset intended for creators of VR experiences is nicknamed Crescent Bay and features a higher resolution and refresh rate, integrated headphones and 360-degree head tracking.
“That was not easy,” Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe told the audience Saturday at the company’s first-ever developers conference. “It’s still not perfect. None of this is perfect yet, but it’s much, much better.”
Oculus’ headset covers a user’s eyes and can create immersive worlds that react to head movement.
The original prototype of the Oculus Rift headset was unveiled in 2012 and has received considerable attention from film and video game makers. Oculus released a second prototype headset to developers earlier this year. Iribe said 100,000 development kits have been shipped to 130 countries.
“I never expected it go this quickly,” Iribe said. “None of us did.”
The Irvine, California-based Oculus VR was acquired by Facebook earlier this year for $2 billion. Iribe said Oculus’ staff has doubled in the six months since the acquisition.
“We’re really spiriting toward the consumer version,” he said.
Oculus recently teamed up with Samsung to introduce Gear VR, a $200 headset with a slot for using the Galaxy Note 4 smartphone as a VR display.
As part of its strategy, it’s pursuing both mobile and desktop VR with Iribe saying that both will “converge, overlap, but not replace one another.” The company plans to have VR app stores on the three major OS platforms: iOS, Android and Windows Phone and a specific one for Samsung’s Gear VR, as well as a web browser experience.
Over the past two years, Oculus’ technology has been demonstrated at events like San Diego Comic-Con and the Electronic Entertainment Expo with interactive experiences that recreate scenes from the “X-Men” and “Pacific Rim” films and thrust users into an intergalactic dogfight in the game “EVE: Valkyrie.”
Iribe reiterated several times during his talk at the Oculus Connect conference that creating a sense of presence would be integral for the widespread adoption of VR technology, which continues to leave some users feeling queasy despite Oculus’ strides in creating lower latency and more realistic imagery inside the goggles.
“You should believe you’re there and feel great, even if you’re super-sensitive like me,” Iribe said.
(Additional reporting from Quinton O’Reilly)
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In 10 years we’ll probably laugh at how big and bulky it is, similar to those old Siemens bricks from years gone by. It really is amazing the advances we are making.
This will be a game changer.
Practicality aside, I have little doubt this will be technically superb. John Carmack is the godfather of 3D games programming, and having him as CTO at Oculus puts the technology in great stead.
As an analogy, for those who don’t know of Carmack, this is like hearing that an atypical and risky sounding independent movie had hired Martin Scorsese as a lead adviser — you’d have a right to think it’s in good hands.
Except Carmack hasn’t done anything relevant and noteworthy in near 20 years.
Well 20 years ago he practically created 3D gaming all by himself, and since then he’s learned aerospace engineering at home and founded an aerospace firm, at which he’s the lead engineer.
If teaching yourself a subject like that in your spare time, to the point of being a lead engineer in the field isn’t “relevant and noteworthy”, you’re standards are much higher than mine.
You do realise he didn’t just make a few games — he’s regarded as one of the world’s greatest programmers, and the final authority (if there was one) on 3D graphics (which the Oculus makes great use of). If there was anyone who was going to take on the challenge of bringing 3D to the next stage of its evolution, this is the guy in my view.
*your standards* :-)
I wonder will these be linked to increased hypnic jerking in the future?
Oh I’d say they will definitely be linked to jerking.
If they don’t get into production soon someone else will get there first. Time to get products into the shops.
Not long now before nobody will be getting out of their pyjamas or bothering to leave the house..
They’ll all be sh*t until Apple enters the fold and wipes the floor..
There isn’t a “they” here — it’s one company doing this :-)
Sony Morpheus
Was referring to the article itself. Yeah, there are other companies doing similar things though.
have your say