I realize that not all of you are obsessively following the launch of the Rift like I am, so I thought I would try to get people up to date!

On March 28th, the press embargo was released and Kickstarter backers started receiving their Rifts. The press reviews have been overwhelmingly positive as have the reviews by the first to receive the product. The headset is light, the audio is great, the optics are wonderful, the tracking volume is massive (room scale with one camera), and the software is robust and varied!

Most of the negatives from the press are actually from those who have not received the Rift yet. As a result they are venting their frustrations via articles. More on that in a second. The other negatives of the device itself are the fact that it didn't come bundled with the Touch controllers (the press who had tried Touch are craving more) and a slight "halo" effect in the peripheral in high contrast scenes (bright on a black background). While most of the people who actually have Rifts said it wasn't a big issue, since a majority of people don't have their Rift yet, a big deal was made about it. Time will tell how big of an issue it is, but I haven't seen it mentioned in any of the actual press reviews.

Now on to the launch itself. A LOT of people had a March ETA for their shipment. A LOT of those people still don't have a shipping date. As a matter of fact, only half of them have received an email that stated their deliver would take place in "1 to 3 weeks". This has caused a lot of concern for people who assumed they'd be in the first "March 28th" batch. While Oculus has been completely quiet on the issue, an all but verified Oculus insider implied the issue is with a third party company doing the payment processing. Part of the "partnership" with that company is that they aren't allowed to even say that there is a problem hence the silence.

As a result, currently preorders are trickling out a lot slower than expected since items won't be shipped until they've been paid for. It's assumed if the payment issues are resolved, shipments will be sped up considerably. It's all still speculation at this point, however, as nothing is confirmed.

Basically, GETTING a Rift at this point is the bad. Once you get it, it's all good from there!

Figured I would repost this since the other list got deleted in the Great Server Crash of 2016...

ADR1FT   March 28   $19.99
Adventure Time: Magic Man’s Head Games   March 28   $4.99
AirMech: Command   March 28   $39.99
Albino Lullaby   March 28   $9.99
Audio Arena   March 28   $9.99
Project CARS   March 28   $49.99
Chronos   March 28   $49.99
Darknet   March 28   $9.99
Dead Secret   March 28   $14.99
Defense Grid 2 Enhanced VR Edition   March 28   $29.99
Dreadhalls   March 28   $9.99
Elite Dangerous: Deluxe Edition   March 28   $59.99
Esper 2   March 28   $9.99
EVE Valkyrie Founder’s Pack   March 28   $59.99
Fly to KUMA   March 28   $14.99
EVE Gunjack   March 28   $9.99
Herobound SC   March 28   $9.99
Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes   March 28   $14.99
Lucky’s Tale   March 28   Bundled
Omega Agent   March 28   $14.99
Radial G   March 28   $24.99
Rooms   March 28   $14.99
Shufflepuck Cantina Deluxe VR   March 28   $9.99
Smashing the Battle   March 28   $19.99
Vanishing of Ethan Carter   March 28   Not Announced
Windlands   March 28   $19.99
BlazeRush   March 28   $19.99
VR Tennis Online   March 28   $24.99
Pinball FX2 VR   March 28   $14.99
The Climb   April   $49.99

That’s the launch window line up, but there are a selection of titles with prices or launch dates yet to be announced on their way too. Here they are:

Title   Launch Date   Price
Dead & Buried   TBA   TBA
Fantastic Contraption   TBA   TBA
I Expect You to Die   TBA   TBA
Job Simulator   TBA   TBA
Rock Band VR   TBA   TBA
VR Sports   TBA   TBA
Damaged Core   TBA   TBA
Dragon Front   TBA   TBA
Eagle Flight   TBA   TBA
Edge of Nowhere   TBA   TBA

*BOLD is multiplayer games!

Anyone else planning on getting one? This is the one that has been recommended:

http://www.amazon.com/Thrustmaster-T-Flight-Hotas-Flight-Playstation-3/dp/B001CXYMFS?ie=UTF8&colid=1ZPKEZICPJLIJ&coliid=I3VG25RZA9GQ63&ref_=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl

I just purchased it!

0.7 of the Oculus PC SDK will launch on August 20th, and introduces architecture changes that bring increased stability, performance, and a new ‘Direct Driver Mode’ developed in collaboration with NVIDIA and AMD. However, as a result of these updates, the 0.7 runtime won’t support applications built with 0.5 or earlier, including all content built with Unity 4.x. This means the majority of existing Rift games and applications will need to be updated to 0.7 (or at least 0.6.0.1) to work with the new 0.7 runtime.

Direct Driver Mode is the most robust and reliable solution for interfacing with the Rift to date. Rather than inserting VR functionality between the OS and the graphics driver, headset awareness is added directly to the driver. As a result, Direct Driver Mode avoids many of the latency challenges of Extended Mode and also significantly reduces the number of conflicts between the Oculus SDK and third party applications.

We’re targeting a November release for the Oculus PC SDK 1.0. Future updates to the runtime post-1.0 will continue to support games and applications built using 1.0 (or any later release).

Full article: https://developer.oculus.com/blog/upcoming-oculus-pc-sdk-0-7-compatibility-changes/

Oculus hasn't come up with a compatible runtime yet for Windows 10. Here's a work around!

https://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/3f8g9d/oculus_dk2_windows_10_fix_it_works/

Oculus' Blog Post

We’re excited to announce that we’ve entered into an agreement to acquire Pebbles Interfaces — one of the leading teams in depth sensing technology and computer vision.

Based in Israel, Pebbles Interfaces has spent the past five years developing technology that uses custom optics, sensor systems and algorithms to detect and track hand movement. Over time, technology breakthroughs in sensors will unlock new human interaction methods in VR and revolutionize the way people communicate in virtual worlds.

Pebbles Interfaces will be joining the hardware engineering and computer vision teams at Oculus to help advance virtual reality, tracking, and human-computer interactions.

Nadav Grossinger, CTO of Pebbles Interfaces, wanted to share a few words:

“At Pebbles Interfaces, we’ve been focused on pushing the limits of digital sensing technology to accelerate the future of human-computer interaction. Through micro-optics and computer vision, we hope to improve the information that can be extracted from optical sensors, which will help take virtual reality to the next level. We’ve always believed visual computing will be the next major platform in our lifetime, and we’re excited to join the Oculus team to achieve that vision for the future.”

http://youtu.be/WkddF7F0zvs]https://youtu.be/WkddF7F0zvs

I've been reading a lot of reviews and impressions of both CV1 and the Touch controllers. I'm going to try to summarize the best I can what information I've gleamed. This is to try and give you a clear idea of the headset you might be buying very soon.

THE OCULUS RIFT

Design of the headset

I want to talk about comfort and ease-of-use first, because it's one of the most overlooked important features that a consumer VR HMD must have. One of the issues with the DK1 and DK2 was strapping the thing to your face, getting fatigued, having the lenses fog up, and just overall discomfort when playing for extended amounts of time.

The consumer version has solved these comfort issues. It's super light, but more importantly, it's designed with rigid straps that make putting it on similar to putting on a baseball cap. The weight rests on the crown of your head and puts no pressure on your actual face. The result, apparently, is that it feels like wearing a light baseball cap. After a few minutes, it just disappears - you forget you're even wearing it.

It's also covered in a fabric that makes it breathable. This means the lenses shouldn't fog up. Your face can breathe. You don't end up with weird pressure marks on your face and it doesn't pull at your skin. Basically, you should be able to wear it for hours with no discomfort. Pretty amazing.

The Rift also comes with different face plates. You can switch them out. This allows for different sized faces and those with glasses!

The headset is still wired. It has one cord that comes out the back (I believe). I assume it will be a pretty long wire.

Quality of screen and optics

The consumer Rift uses two OLED screens in portrait mode for a combined resolution of 2160x1200. This is combined with some custom fresnel lenses that essentially eliminates the "screen door effect" that plagued the earlier generations of the headset. Text is crisp and the sweet spot is HUGE! The screens run at 90Hz with low persistence, and according to reports, is the best headset in terms of the world feeling like a rock solid place that exists out in space. This is accredited to the perfect low persistence.

Will it replace your monitor or TV screen at this resolution? I'm not sure. Despite no screen door effect, there's still only a limited number of pixels to render media. That said, "perceived resolution" has a large part to play in that, as head tracking has a magic effect of making the perceived resolution of a screen in VR higher than it actually is. Microsoft has partnered with Oculus to stream Xbox games into the Rift, so it must be pretty good!

Also, the colors are bright and clear. Blacks are very black. No odd smearing. Lots of compliments on the crispness and colors of the screen.

Tracking

Oculus announced the name "Constellation tracking" for the consumer Rift. This is a fancy term for using an optical camera to track a pattern of LED lights on the headset. The LED lights are hidden by the fabric, and are on both the front and back of the headset, creating 360 degree positional tracking. The area of tracking for the new optical cameras is apparently very wide - much bigger than the DK2. I imagine if you push your chair back a foot or two from your desk or stand, you can lean or walk a few paces in either direction with no problem. Oculus hasn't released the exact specs of this tracking, but everyone has reported no issues with the boundaries being too small.

The tracking is also extremely low latency and very precise. Despite attempts to shake the head very quickly, the tracking never lags behind. It's at the point now where it's just taken for granted.

Audio

The Rift comes with built in headphones and microphone. The microphone is hidden somewhere under the cloth of the headset, so it's completely masked. The earphones are over-the-ear, but apparently are very high quality and do a good job of overcoming ambient noise that may also be in your room. There was a social demo that people tried where they interacted with an Oculus employee who was in a different room. The microphone sounded great.

One of the best parts of the audio is the amazing positional audio. Since every Rift user will have a microphone and earphones, and everyone will also have positional audio, the groundwork has been laid for some really excellent social VR when it comes to audio. You don't have to worry about someone not having a mic or having a really weird setup. Everyone will have awesome audio be default.

That said, the earphones are easily removable if you want to replace them with a different headset. I have a wireless headset, but I have a feeling it will be much more comfortable and convenient to use Oculus' audio than to have to put on ANOTHER piece of hardware with the Rift.

Software

One of the best improvements for the Rift for DK2 users will probably be the ease of use with the software. Oculus has partnered with Microsoft (as well as GPU manufacturers) to get the Rift working PERFECT with Windows 10. Oculus is working deep within the OS, CPU, and GPU to have a direct line to what they need. Plug n play should be super easy. Instead of being detected as a new monitor, the Rift will have special recognition as a VR headset. It's a pretty big deal that EVERYTHING will be designed around VR in this aspect. You have no idea until you've dealt with so many settings try to troubleshoot to get the DK2 working.

Oculus Home is the default platform to launch games and keep track of friends. It's starting out pretty simple - an Xbox-style screen in front of you in an apartment-looking environment. It seems Oculus will keep adding elements to Home, however. One cool feature they'll already have is that games can create their own custom environment in Home. So let's say you browse to a flight sim game. When you browse to it, you may teleport into a cockpit from the game. It's a cool way of showing a preview of what the game will be like in VR before you even buy it. I hope that they incorporate this into social elements as well. Imagine going to your friend's profile and getting teleported to their "apartment" with their custom avatar. Initiate a chat and the avatar comes to life with the head, mouth, and hand movements of your friend. That'd be super cool!

Oculus and Microsoft are actually doing this with the Xbox streaming I was talking about earlier. You can stream your Xbox games to a virtual cinema/screen. If you are playing with others, their avatar can be in the same room as you, so you can chat while you play and glance at them like you are in the same living room! I believe the same will be possible with PC games. Palmer used an example of Let's Players who could have a theater full of viewers there in the room with them cheering them on. I'm not sure all of these features will be enabled at launch, but it sounds like it's definitely coming sooner rather than later.

Bundled Hardware

You get the headset, camera, and Xbox One controller. They want everyone to have a gamepad. The Oculus Touch controllers will come later in the year.

Games

These you'll have to kinda check out for yourself. Most of the launch titles are designed to work with a gamepad, which is why the Xbox One controller comes with the Rift. It'll be interesting to see what becomes popular and what doesn't. EVE:Valkyrie seems like a no brainer game to get. There are other games like Edge of Nowhere, however, that seem basic as a third-person platformer, but were getting a lot of praise from the showroom floor.I'll definitely be keeping my ear to the ground for online, multiplayer titles!

Release Date, Price, Recommended Specs

Unfortunately we're STILL waiting on specifics here. The release window is Q1 2016, so March would be the conservative estimate. Pre-orders, however, will start later this year. The PRICE will not be announced until then, so we're still holding our breath there as well. The recommended specs is almost exactly what I got last year (lucky me!). Basically you want an R9 290 or a GTX 970. Here are the exact specs:

NVIDIA GTX 970 / AMD 290 equivalent or greater
Intel i5-4590 equivalent or greater
8GB+ RAM
Compatible HDMI 1.3 video output
2x USB 3.0 ports
Windows 7 SP1 or newer

I have an AMD 290 with i5-4590, so I'm squeaking by! They don't say it, but definitely upgrade to Windows 10 - the performance gains and support packed into that OS are going to be essential as well. By Q1 2016 I imagine Windows 10 will be pretty stable (if you're worried about being an early adopter).


OCULUS TOUCH CONTROLLERS

Oculus finally unveiled their input solution. While they are launching with an Xbox gamepad, these controllers will enable more interaction and a greater immersion through "hand presence". It's important to note that they are still in the prototype phase. This version is called the Half Moon prototype.

Design

There are two controllers, one left and one right. Each has two buttons, an analog stick, an index finger trigger, and a middle finger trigger. They somewhat resemble Wii nunchucks, but with a circle of sensors around the hand. Carbon Design had a lot to do with them, so even though they are prototypes, the look and feel are great. They are super lightweight and most reporters said they completely forgot they even had controllers after a few minutes of using them.

Tracking

The Touch controllers use the same optical tracking as the Rift itself. The circle around the controller contains the Constellation LEDs. Because it's tracking as precisely as the Rift and using the same system, it's 1 to 1. Very low latency, very precise, no crazy calibration needed. Oculus was demoing them with TWO optical cameras, both facing towards the user from the front. This was to create a wider playing space and help minimize occlusion. They did not have cameras behind the users, unlike Valve's Lighthouse system, which places stations on opposite ends of the room. It's unclear whether a second camera will be NEEDED and come bundled or just RECOMMENDED.

Oculus is also tracking your FINGERS. It's unclear to what extent they are being tracked. Most reports seemed to suggest it was binary tracking. If you have your thumb placed on the top of the stick, your thumb is tracked as down. If you take your thumb off the stick, your thumb is tracked as up. Same goes for the index finger and its trigger. The middle finger trigger controls the entire rest of the hand, deciding whether there's a fist or open palm.

Usability

The main advantage the Touch controllers have over anything that has come before is "hand presence". Your hand fits around the controller naturally, and the avatar Oculus was using for the controllers were hands. They give you the ability to point, give a thumbs up, and open and close your whole hand. This is great for social VR! The middle finger trigger has also been referred to as the "grab" trigger. A combination of these triggers and natural finger movements makes you feel like it really is your hands in VR. Most reported that in less than five minutes the controls were completely intuitive and the controllers "melted away" as they manipulated the virtual "Toy Box" with their VR hands. (Toy Box was the demo Oculus was using to feature the Touch controllers).

Of course the controllers also have the analog stick and buttons, so they can be used as guns, swords, tracked controllers, etc. The idea here is that Touch will become the most UNIVERSAL VR controller - flexible enough to get just about any job done. This is the big advantage it has over the Playstation Move and Lighthouse controllers.

Haptics

Very little was written about haptics, but apparently some light haptics are already in the controller. Someone reported that Oculus had prototypes in house with much stronger haptics, so we can assume that will be a big part of the final product.

Future Features

Oculus is a little mum on what the final product will be able to do, but it was strongly hinted that the finger tracking would be more precise than just the on/off switch that it currently is. For the Toybox demo, apparently on/off was the best way to do it. It's unclear HOW Oculus is tracking the fingers or how it will evolve. As mentioned, haptics will also be a part of the controllers. 360 tracking will be interesting. How many cameras will Oculus allow you to set up to do similar tracking to Valve? Right now Oculus seems to think not many people will have full room setups and not many developers will design for it.

Release Date, Price, etc.

Palmer was kind enough to tell us that the Oculus Touch controllers will be available in H1 2016. That's a DIFFERENT release window than the Rift itself, which means the Touch controllers will NOT come with the Rift and will be a separate purchase. As with the Rift, we also don't have a price - we only know it will be an additional expense on top of whatever you've set aside for the Rift itself. One interesting fact is that both the Rift AND the Touch will be open to pre-orders AT THE SAME TIME. Perhaps there will be an incentive to pre-order them both. Just know you will not receive them at the same time.

Since the Touch controllers are pretty new, it will take a while for games and experiences to take advantage of them. You'll definitely want them when they come out, but even after you receive them, there will probably be a wait for your favorite VR experiences to start incorporating them. Time will tell!

--------

Questions? Comments? Post below! I'm sure I left some things out!