In case you’ve been living under a rock that does not offer ready access to virtual reality headsets, the Oculus Rift is a, well, virtual reality headset. It connects to your newfangled video games and lets you quite literally “live the game.” If you move your head in real life, your avatar moves it within the confines of the game. It truly has the potential to herald us into an awesome holodeck-infused wonderland in which none of us ever leave our apartments to even buy a slice of pizza. Yay!
The unit is in beta and, as such, has shipped to developers and other interested parties. We have some news on how things are going and what lays in the future for Rift owners. First of all, the company is zeroing in on their potential launch price. $300 seems to be the inevitable price when this thing hits store shelves. That’s not too bad for the level of tech presented. However, the company insists it will drop to an even lower price before long, as they form lucrative industry partnerships. Their dream is to one day even release the unit for free. Pipe dreams? Maybe. Here is hoping that they aren’t. We all need to be addicted to sweet, sweet virtual reality.
Also, the company has released a new post on their blog detailing steps developers should take to minimize the dreaded nausea that occasionally accompanies using a device like this. Call it motion sickness, call it drinking too much on a Saturday night, but this kind of full immersion can wreak havok on the the vestibular-labyrinthine apparatus of the inner ear. In short, pay more attention to the engineering of the game in question. If you want to read the actual post, have a gander.Â
