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Oculus Rift VR Headset Is Awesome, But Here’s Why Most People Won’t Have Access To It

By Val Powell
Published on: 15:26 PST, Mar 29, 2016

After years of delays and disappointments, the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset has finally begun arriving at the doorsteps of its early adopters. True enough, the high-end piece of technology is a revolutionary device that will bring forth a new era in entertainment.

After four years of development and numerous prototypes, the consumer version of the Oculus Rift has begun shipping to consumers. But what can consumers expect from the VR headset?

Great Points

Compared to VR headsets from Sony and Samsung, the Oculus Rift works almost seamlessly in providing the user with a highly interactive virtual reality experience. It is considered the world’s first high-fidelity, PC-powered and cable-tethered virtual reality headset.

The Oculus Rift is powered by two AMOLED displays with 1,200 x 1080 resolution, with a refresh rate of 90Hz, adjustable lens spacing from 58 to 72mm, and a facial interface. This unique interface includes the 1/4-20 camera mount and infrared constellation tracking, which enables the device to track the user’s eye movements.

Using the Oculus Rift, consumers can enjoy more immersive gaming, entertainment, and much more. Instead of watching the game or movie unfold through a screen or display, users can now experience the scene like they are a part of it.

The device comes with an Xbox One wireless gamepad, which is a neat addition for gamers. Other accessories will make their way to the Oculus, one of which is the Oculus Touch, which will allow users to have even more interaction between them and their virtual space.

Simply put, the Oculus Rift has been successful so far in delivering on its promise to VR fans.

Not So Great Points

While the Oculus Rift performs well in a lot of areas, making it worthy of consideration for any gamer, there are a few reasons the device may not be the VR headset most people are looking for.

The device, in its improved design, is still wired, and those wires can hinder users in whatever they are doing inside their virtual realities. The Rift has an Xbox controller included, but it still feels limiting especially when the user is seeing a lot of things he wants to interact with.

Another point of concern is the lack of supported games and software for now. Fortunately, the device comes with a number of VR games from developers.

Among the numerous reviews of the Oculus Rift, one major drawback to buying the device is its price tag. At $600, the price of VR headset may be too steep for the casual gamer. Unless kids can convince their parents to willingly splurge on the Rift, the product is better-suited for consumers with more disposable income.

Adding to the cost of the Oculus is the required hardware it needs in order to run. Based on reports, the VR headset needs a Windows-powered PC or laptop that has a video card of NVIDIA GTX 970/AMD R9 290 equivalent or greater, a CPU Intel i5-4590 equivalent or greater, and 8GB RAM of memory or more.

Summing up the cost of the PC, which is estimated at $900, plus the Oculus Rift, which is $600, the total price that consumers have to pay is around $1500.

Oculus Rift: Here’s What You’ll Experience

Announced in 2012 as a Kickstarter campaign, the Rift has definitely come a long way. After raising about $2.5 million from crowdfunding, Facebook became interested in the technology and bought the maker, Oculus, for a reported $2 billion.

Unfortunately, with the hardware requirements it has right now and with its current pricing, the Oculus Rift is a tough sell even to the most enthusiastic of VR fans.

[Image via Youtube]

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