Tag Archive

Oculus Rift Pre-Orders Open, Servers Crash Despite $600 USD Price Point

Posted on January 6, 2016 by Rae Michelle Richards

Oculus

As expected Facebook owned Oculus opened up pre-orders for their much anticipated virtual reality headset this morning. No one knew what the price point of the fledgling technology was going to be before the pre-order page went live. Potential Oculus Rift owners were greeted with a $599 USD (849.99 CDN) price point and of course there was so much traffic going to Oculus’ servers that at times the page wouldn’t load.

So what does almost a thousand dollars Canadian get you? There’s the Oculus headset of course but the slickly packaged virtual reality headset also includes several other items in its’ stylish black case. You’ll also get an Xbox One controller for Windows, the Oculus Remote which the company says “”is a new input device we designed to make it simple and intuitive to navigate VR experiences.” Also included in the $599 USD package are redeemable codes for EVE: Valkyrie and Lucky’s Tale – two of the games available for the platform at launch.

The Rift will ship to 20 countries initially starting on March 28th and of press time pre-orders placed today are expected to ship sometime in June of this year. Oculus has also announced that they will have a “limited retail presence” launching in April.

Are you excited for the prospect of Virtual Reality? Let us know in the comments section. If you’re wondering if your PC is up to snuff to run Oculus Rift here are the minimum specs as released:

  • graphics card: NVIDIA GTX 970 / AMD R9 290 equivalent or greater
  • processor: Intel i5-4590 equivalent or greater
  • memory: 8GB+ RAM
  • output: Compatible HDMI 1.3 video output
  • input: 3x USB 3.0 ports plus 1x USB 2.0 port
  • operating system: Windows 7 SP1 64 bit or newer

0

Oculus Rift To Come Bundled With EVE: Valkyrie

Posted on December 10, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards

Today Oculus and CCP announced that the commercial version of the Oculus Rift will come bundled with a free copy of CCP’s upcoming EVE: Valkyrie.

Speaking about this announcement Oculus CEO Palmer Lucky said:

“EVE: Valkyrie is one of the most anticipated virtual reality games, and one of the first true VR games to go into development. It perfectly captures the promise of immersive gaming, shooting you into a sci-fi adventure as you pilot a spaceship in search of combat. Battling your friends (and enemies) in multiplayer space dogfights is the ultimate VR thrill, and we’re excited to partner with CCP to bring this experience to Rift owners everywhere.”

EVE: Valkyrie is a multiplayer online spaceship dogfighting game powered by Unreal Engine 4 currently in development at CCP. It is being co-published by CCP and Oculus and isn’t just confirmed for the Oculus platform but will also be released on the PlayStation VR as well. Valkyrie was originally unveiled to the world in March of 2014 as a technical demonstration for the Oculus before being confirmed as a full commercial title. The development team isn’t just looking into your standard free for all death match but also team modes as well ad objective modes like capture the flag.

0

HTC Vive Will Officially Launch In April 2016

Posted on December 8, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards

The HTC Vive – a new virtual reality headset spearheaded by hardware manufacturer HTC and software behemoth Valve won’t see a limited release this year as expected. Instead of getting a “limited number” of headsets into the hands of consumers this winter HTC will launch the commercial version of the headset next April the company announced via their Facebook page today.

Over 7000 additional development kits for the HTC Vive are expected to be in the hands of developers by the beginning of next year.

Will this additional time give HTC & Valve enough breathing room to best the folks at Oculus? Expect to hear a lot more about VR as the commercial release of both products inches ever closer. It might not seem like it now but it’s starting to feel like Virtual Reality is going to make a huge wave in 2016 – here’s hoping you can see it coming.

Part of the statement HTC issued is as follows:

“In collaboration with Valve, we have been distributing the HTC Vive Developer Kits to developers and content creators, and are continuing to work with many other innovative companies to create content that spans gaming, entertainment, medical, education and retail.”

[Source]
[Header Image Credit]

0

Virtual Life: VR Games to Make You a Believer

Posted on November 3, 2015 by Renee Gittins

jobsim3

With both the SteamVR’s HTC Vive and the Oculus Rift releasing in the first quarter of 2016, virtual reality hardware has been getting a lot of attention. Yet it is the games for the platforms that really showcase the breathtaking experiences that can happen virtual reality. As a VR enthusiast who has had the pleasure of trying many VR games, both released and unreleased, on the Vive and the Rift, I wanted to share my favorite experiences.

Read More

0

Get the latest articles and news from BrokenJoysticks and a selection of excellent articles from other sources.

Simply fill out the form below and you’ll be on your way to getting our upcoming newsletter.