Excitement about VR is cyclical and the cycle is short. One minute we’re excited about the potential, the next we’re dwelling on its obstacles to success.
A real dark day, particularly for Australians, was the day Oculus announced pricing for the Oculus Rift.
How has that impacted your plans? Are you still buying into VR?
On the broader side of things, I see this as an opportunity for PlayStation VR, or even Gear VR to move in and establish themselves. But considering that the Oculus Rift was, for so long, the default brand of VR, it could be damaging to all types of VR headsets.
Anyway, keen to hear your thoughts.
Comments
74 responses to “The Big Question: Are You Buying An Oculus Rift?”
I was never going to get the OR until the HTC option came out with a price so I could make a reasonable comparison, but even then I doubt the HTC will come in at a better price so I’m probably going to have to skip this round of VR.
Thanks to price I can’t even look at impulse buying one.
I GOT NO MONEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Price turned me off.
Price turned me off.
I’ve pre-ordered. Whether I had enough on my credit card when its billed is another matter.
I can’t afford to upgrade to a New 3DS XL…
I know that feeling.
🙁
Price turned me on 😉 But I’m a recovering masochist so I’m gonna have to pass.
The idiot I have chosen to attach myself to wants it for porn…so I’ll have one either way…
Eew.
Same reason, right here.
Yeha I’m with these guys, $600 AUD was a bit more than impulse trigger buy, but doable, $1400 is way out of the question.
and from these prices I don’t see any price reduction in the near future, maybe I’ll buy my mates old one when he get’s the new one (he was a kickstarter backer)
How would it go in our climate?
The writing and videos from gaming pundits surrounding the Oculus Rift itself borders on advocacy /for/ the device more than VR and while that’s disappointing, it’s to be expected.
Scribblers for car magazines have to test-drive (literally) all manner of things, so of course there’s an element of personal feeling in the writing. This is a two-way street though (no pun intended) when it comes to consumer grade electronics and software though.
Case in point, I have asked and asked countless times if prolonged use of such a device causes discomfort around the eyes (ie sweat and gunk as if you’re wearing protective gear while using power tools) – yet none of the evangelists seem to want to mention anything about this.
To say nothing of the risk of eye infection ugh.
I find it too sweaty for prolonged use where I live. I have a slightly pronounced brow, and the rift rarely fogs up, but it does become ‘wet’ with use, and in summer I find it too uncomfortable to use for more than 15 mins or so, and am sweaty after that.
I’m not some sweaty weirdo either, every adult I have tried it with has emerged very ‘wet’ after using it for three or four long demo titles. The aircon doesn’t really reach my computer room all that well, but it isn’t horridly hot in there.
So yes, it is an issue, you have heat generating tech strapped to your face, and though there are vents it gets hot, and I imagine with prolonged use, (and if you didn’t wash your face before use) the edges could get pretty grungy.
DK2 is pritty darn comfortable when you get rid of hair and dont worry bout the pressure…. the foam is such that it doesnt itch or tingle… smells a bit tho… and the strap is a bit sensitive around the top of the ear… but its good for long periods especially if you have it set right
Thank you very much you two!
Nope, but I probably wouldn’t be even at a third of the price. A quarter of the price? Maybe.
Absolutely, 100% Yes, Yes, YES!!!! Until I saw the price – so…… no.
I am, but not at launch. Need to upgrade my PC first and since there’s no big AAA release on PC I really want to play for another 6 months or so (Deus Ex is the next one) I’m hoping to hold off on the GPU upgrade until nVIDIA get their new Pascal GPUs out into the market.
Think I’m going to be all back o the club and shit on this one……..just see how it plays out.
I will definitely be getting some sort of VR this year (or early next) but will wait for the options to be available and see what apps there are for each device, price point etc before making my decision.
You are right though, until the price dropped for the oculus I was actually considering getting all options (yes I have disposable income). It has definitely dampened my enthusiasm for getting all three but not for VR in general.
The small answer: No. 🙂
I want to want to, but after the Kinect I won’t be buying into a hardware ecosystem until ongoing software support is actually demonstrable and decent, and a better price point would help.
Kinect, PS move, 3D gaming… Im with you. Been burnt a few to many times.
No, nor will I buy any others VR options as I am not interested in VR.
Don’t give a shit about the price. The moment Facebook bought them out = no for me. Combined with closed standards out of sheer arrogance = even greater no.
Looking forward to the HTC Vive, hoping it’s going to use a much more open system for developers and gamers alike.
Curious about what’s so closed and horrible about Oculus as opposed to Valve. See it get mentioned a lot, but most of the time it seems to just come down to the word “open” being used in OpenVR despite not particularly meaning anything.
It’s about the way in which the oculus VR will be integrated into games from a developer standpoint, which then extends in to how it will be used by the end user. In all interviews and discussions, occulus have made it very clear they haven’t really bothered to discuss any standards with any other studio, and instead are implementing their own proprietary methods. [Complete with everything going through their own in-house marketplace].
There argument is they are the first kids on the block, so they have the power to do what they want. And, hey, thats perfectly fine of them to take that stance, good luck to them. Problem is, when the platforms mature you create fragmentation in the marketplace [which is a kick in the nuts for consumers] and holds games and gamers hostage to a single company, rather than innovative ideas and competition driving things forwards.
Plus, its facebook, a company which has built it’s fortune off a completely closed, walled garden environment for communication, which gets away with such just by being the biggest player in the game.
I don’t really see the difference though. I mean, substitute Facebook/OVR/the Oculus store for Valve/SteamVR/Steam in your post and and it’s all pretty much the same thing isn’t it? Far as I can tell anyway.
I’m more worried about the games themselves. What I mean is, if you have one particular VR hardware device [occulus, vive, whatever], will you have games which are Occulus VR only, or Vive VR only?
If each VR system has it’s own independant API for developers to use, it’s going to create a situation where they may only be able to afford to use one [from both a cost of time to develop/test/QA, as well as licensing costs]. I would really hate to see a situation where games with VR are locked to certain pieces of hardware.
Imagine if PC games were released which only supported nVidia hardware? Or only AMD hardware?
Funny thing is, you don’t have to imagine. 3dfx were the leaders in the 3D accelerator game when 3D acceleration was hot new tech, and they had their own Glide API which was proprietary to their own cards. nVidia and ATI used openGL and Direct3D for their APIs, and the rest is history.
3D acceleration has shown what happens to hardware exclusive APIs, I don’t want to see the same situation happen again with VR as well.
I don’t really see what the big deal is, since we already have games that are exclusive to one platform or another and the sky hasn’t fallen in. I mean there’s already games that are exclusive to Steam, why does it matter if some will be exclusive to Oculus too? Besides, they’ve been stressing all along that support for other platforms is a concern for a later stage, and rightly so that they should only be concerned about keeping their own house in order when trying to launch a new platform like this. You don’t waste time making sure dessert is perfect when your entrée isn’t even started yet.
Oculus doesn’t have any licensing fees to develop for, and as far as I know nor does Vive. It’s just the cost of hardware, which is pretty much nothing compared to what devkits would typically cost in years gone by, so that at least should be null on both parts.
Admittedly I’m not too knowledgeable on the history of APIs and such, but surely these things didn’t just emerge on the scene with a standard to begin with? It would take time and experimentation to figure out what is the best way to do things and what should become the standard. And even then, wasn’t there already the whole Direct3D vs OpenGL thing as two competing APIs? And as far as I’m aware (again, not too knowledgeable on this since I’ve always been a Nintendo guy so this is just what I’ve picked up by osmosis and observation), D3D tended to be the more favoured one up until only fairly recent years, so a whole bunch of games were exclusive of non-Microsoft systems there too.
I dunno, most discussions like this about VR in general it seems like people want things to be beginning at the end, and somehow magically skip over all the time it takes for things to actually develop out of the early experimental stages into that end state. The Rift project alone has changed so much from what it began as, and has taken years and years to get to the stage its at now. I’m sure the rest of the scene is going to be much the same too.
They don’t have to. Of course that’s their choice.
HTC and Valve are in the same position, but have actively made a choice to try and create some sort of standard for hardware to comply with, to make it easier on the developers and consumers.
I’m more than willing to spend $1K+ on PC hardware. But I can say right now that if it was only able to play half of the games, I’d probably reconsider.
But hey, the VR wars haven’t even begun yet and there’s already lots to talk about. Only time will tell which way it will all go.
All I’m saying is, if history is anything to go by, I know who I’d put my money behind 😉
I was all up on it till the price was released, then nope not at that price no chance.
I am going with Playstation VR for games if the price is reasonable, and phone/cardboard for everything else. In a year or so there will be “Made for VR” phones with nice 4K OLED screens, sensors and processors, that when combined with a Googles/IPhone version of Gear will be pretty awesome for all other VR experiences.
Nah. That price hit not only killed my enthusiasm for the Rift but possibly all of VR.
Yes but no. But yes 😛
Like my PC could even run it.
HAHAHAHAHA!
can it run crysis?
I’m going to hold off until I know more about the alternatives. All three of the big ones look promising, but if the Rift’s priceis any indication of the others’, it means going with one option and sticking with it. Want to see how things pan out before I jump in.
I’m planning on buying one eventually, but definitely not for a while. Though I have a computer that could run it, I am still paying off said computer and $1100 is a bit steep currently. Not only that, but the fact that it comes with things I do not need (ie. the Xbox controller) that are adding to the price and I’d rather wait for a kit that is just the headset itself.
Yes. Preordered Rift for now and waiting for HTC Vive price announcement. Most likely will jump ship to Vive since Valve will push developers for VR enabled games on steam.
As someone who is more than willing to point out the flaws with the Rift as a VR system I’ve never been that interested and I’ve always found the idea that these headsets are going to cause a media revolution pretty laughable. I think that made the price tag easier to swallow, so it’s still sitting firmly on the ‘I’ll probably get one sooner or later’ list.
the only problems with it is screen door effect and FPS… otherwise it is true VR
I’ll wait until all of the options are out before making a call. The price they are asking for it makes me want to see proper reviews before jumping in. I may skip it and go for the next generation if I can’t justify the purchase price.
I own a DK2 and i can tell you all one thing about every vr solution.
the biggest downfall, the biggest problem, is the screendoor effect. it looks like youre looking through mesh as you can see each pixel, so unless thats gone; its really not worth getting as it detracts from the immersion/ experience ALOT.
although it is still pretty damn cool so keep that in mind too.
if the resolution is not 4k, is not worth it.
It hasn’t gone. It is a bit better than the DK2, but hasn’t gone.
Price turned me off, now waiting to see cost of morpheus
I bought the DK1 and DK2 but will not be buying the release version. Palmer has forgotten why he started the Rift in the first place.
Same here. I have no idea how the Dev Kits were more approachable than the consumer product.
Oculus? No.
Playstation VR? Maybe.
Nope
Building a new gaming rig so that both my partner and I have a decent pc to use for gaming is far and away a bigger priority for me. We have 1 capable rig (i7-4790, 16gb ddr3 and a 4gb gtx 770) that will require a new gpu soon, but we can’t play at the same time together except on consoles (we have 2 x1s and a ps4).
Tbh I’m still not sold on VR in it’s current state. Even if we upgraded our gpu on the current rig, that would still only get us in the absolute lowest end of VR gaming (which I hear is nauseating and unpleasant). If I wanted to play any AAA games at a decent framerate and res, I’d need a monster. While I am planning on building a monster around the end of this year, I’m building it for traditional gaming or even multiscreen gaming and video editing rather than VR. Im gonna wait a generation of the product or 2 before jumping in. From what I’ve seen in videos, the games aren’t really my cup if tea yet, not that there is anything wrong with indies, I just prefer the (supposed) polish that comes from studios like Rockstar.
The concept of VR is fantastic, as a trekkie I dream of the days when the holodeck will be possible, current exection isn’t something I’m interested in.
I’m buying an 11K VR headset in 2018-2020 once Samsung have brought the panel out for it. Current VR tech is pathetic and nowhere near worth $1100. I will not be jumping on this hype train.
Probably same answer as almost everyone else – I was tempted to buy one when it looks like it was going to cost between $500 and $700 AUD. But $1,100? That’s a joke. lol.
Well! As a Kickstarter backer, not so much “buying” as “getting for free”! BOOYAH!! (☞゚∀゚)☞
*looks around for people to high-five… shrinks away from scowls*
On a serious note though, until I heard that news, definitely not right away, no. In all probability, I would’ve waited until the Vive came out, tried both, then pulled the trigger on the best offering when the price dropped a bit.
I didnt know you could back on Kickstarter for free?!?! Why didn’t the 7 billion people on the planet kickstart it then?
Their crystal balls were foggy.
Ooooh, so salty! I probably deserved that (although my smugness remains undiminished)
🙂 Have fun Moomew!
*high-fives*
waiting to see how the vive turns out before i make up my mind, though i’m leaning toward Oculus.
From what u can gather, they are both evenly matched and will give you a fantastic vr experience.
The Sitting vs Room setup is the biggest factor for me so far. but i do like the oculus touch controllers more.
PSVR is not even an option for me as i like the flexibilty of pc.
I just have a rubbish little craptop, so between the price of the unit and a new PC… no.
I was going to until the price announcement i was on board at the $500 range but 1100 is too rich for my blood just can’t afford such an expenditure.
Yes, but not first gen. I’m waiting until second or third where they realise “wow we priced ourself out of the market we revolutionized”, get smart about it and wake up and come to the market with something more sensibly priced.
Assuming there is a 2nd or 3rd generation.
I had 850 AUD to get a CV1
price was 1400 AUD
I got a DK2 thanx…. its good enough not worth 1400 for the difference from 1080 to 1200p
If it wasn’t so expensive i would.
Almost definitely, just don’t know when.
I have a DK2 already, and as a developer it is so much fun to make games for it. I probably won’t get a retail one for awhile until our dollar gets better.
Won’t touch any of them until its clear there will be no hardware exclusivity to the games. The problem with VR at the moment is the lack of a uniform standard or platform. Buying now will be like paying a big premium for a bluray player at launch and not knowing if you’ll be able to get movie for it in 2 years time.
Not a chance. Forget about the price of the system itself, but how many thousands do you need to spend on a pc to run it properly? Bugger off! I may invest in the PS VR down the track, all depends on price and games.
Not that much, you should be able to get a Rift-spec PC for around $1200 building from scratch.
Still a lot of money unfortunately, as much fun as it looks, it’s a bit of a stretch. It will come down in price one day. 🙂
Given that it costs as much as an actual PC or two new consoles… no. I’d rather spend the money on fifteen new games.
If we assume those on Kotaku are relatively hard-core video game players and more likely than average to get a VR headset, we can probably expect the market for the Oculus is no more than about a tenth of the total market.
So: A tenth the sales, a tenth the revenue – we won’t be seeing any specialised AAA games on the platform soon. Most titles are likely to be basically modified versions of mainstream titles.
So unless Sony’s offering does better it will be basically a niche market – as in, sales lower than games sold only for the Vita or Kinect. (Or the New 3DS.)