Big Demand Delays Oculus Rift Headset

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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Big Demand Delays Oculus Rift Headset


Your virtual reality panacea is going to take a little longer than expected.

The Oculus Rift Kickstarter was a huge success, drawing in nearly ten times its goal of $250,000 and attracting support from industry luminaries including John Carmack, Gabe Newell and Cliff Bleszinski. That's good news; the bad news is that the unanticipated demand has thrown the production schedule into disarray. Oculus Rift development kits were initially supposed to be out to everyone in December, but the team announced today that they won't actually start shipping until March of next year.

"When we launched our Kickstarter campaign in August, we hoped to sell a few hundred kits to game developers and virtual reality enthusiasts around the world. Instead, we were blown away by the overwhelming response from a community of almost 10,000 backers, who raised nearly $2.5 million dollars to help us develop the Oculus Rift," the latest Kickstarter update says. "Designing, sourcing, and manufacturing thousands of developer kits is no small feat. Since our Kickstarter, we've been up against the wall, working around the clock to produce and distribute over 7,500 units in just 4 short, crazy months. We've had to modify our original design for mass-manufacturing and, at the same time, balance additional features with our tight schedule."

The Oculus team originally wanted to have the kits sent out to backers before the holidays but with the "required changes, new features, and manufacturing duration," that's not going to happen. Instead, the headsets will begin to shop in March 2013. In a nice touch, it didn't just toss out a new date but also offered a very detailed breakdown, complete with a colorful graph and several photos of the latest prototypes, of why it's been forced to push things back. Further Kickstarter updates providing more details about the hardware are promised for the next few weeks, and plans for the consumer version of the headset are also underway.

Oculus Rift isn't the first Kickstarter project to suffer for its success: Shadowrun Returns was also pushed back [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/120782-Shadowrun-Returns-a-Little-Later-Than-Expected] from January 2013 to an estimated launch window of May or June.

Source: Kickstarter [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1523379957/oculus-rift-step-into-the-game/posts]


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J Tyran

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Dec 15, 2011
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Cant wait to see how this turns out, I know VR generally sucks but if Oculus Rift can function as a more immersive form of monitor and doesn't cost a stupid amount it could be really exciting.
 

OniaPL

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J Tyran said:
Cant wait to see how this turns out, I know VR generally sucks but if Oculus Rift can function as a more immersive form of monitor and doesn't cost a stupid amount it could be really exciting.
Too bad that the side effect of the immersion with the oculus headset is apparently a shitty, nauseating feeling in 9/10 users. Hope they will actually manage to get rid of that.
That's understandable though. Got my fingers crossed however.
 

fix-the-spade

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Feb 25, 2008
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I love it.

"We thought this would be a fun little thing to do, but now we have to do it properly, AARGH!"

I really hope this turns out as the thing Virtual Boy was imagined as to begin with.
 

Shinsei-J

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Apr 28, 2011
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They're being reasonable and responsible, I like it.
It feels quite fresh these days.
And I'm sure there backers wont mind a delay, good things take time.
 

Something Amyss

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Dec 3, 2008
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J Tyran said:
Cant wait to see how this turns out, I know VR generally sucks but if Oculus Rift can function as a more immersive form of monitor and doesn't cost a stupid amount it could be really exciting.
\

So if it can not be exactly what it is, it'll be a good thing.

I'm so baffled by that I'm not even going to touch the "immersion" thing.
 

Entitled

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Zachary Amaranth said:
J Tyran said:
Cant wait to see how this turns out, I know VR generally sucks but if Oculus Rift can function as a more immersive form of monitor and doesn't cost a stupid amount it could be really exciting.
\

So if it can not be exactly what it is, it'll be a good thing.

I'm so baffled by that I'm not even going to touch the "immersion" thing.
VR in general sucks, because no one has made a proper VR yet. The helmets with that name were all like the mobile phones from the 80's, or the touchscreens from the 90's. They had the basic theory working, but with horrible primitive execution.

We figured out the basic principle of dual screens replacing natural vision long ago, but it took the smartphone boom to develop proper cheap high res screens, motion sensors, etc. to actually produce them in any sensible quality.

So yeah. VR generally sucks, but we have all reason to hope that eventually one of them won't.
OniaPL said:
Too bad that the side effect of the immersion with the oculus headset is apparently a shitty, nauseating feeling in 9/10 users.
Citation needed. I've followed hands-on reviews pretty closely, reading dozens of them, and there were only two that described nausea on an extent that could be called a major drawback. One from Eurogamer, and another one from some noname blogger.

Most reviews seemed to describe a minor discomfort from suddenly getting used to the new control system, or something that seemed like realistic claustrophobia/agoraphobia that the accurate depth perception of Doom III is intended to evoke, but no long term headache/nausea from looking at the device itself.
 

J Tyran

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Zachary Amaranth said:
J Tyran said:
Cant wait to see how this turns out, I know VR generally sucks but if Oculus Rift can function as a more immersive form of monitor and doesn't cost a stupid amount it could be really exciting.
\

So if it can not be exactly what it is, it'll be a good thing.

I'm so baffled by that I'm not even going to touch the "immersion" thing.
You have obviously never tried VR, no matter how accurate the simulation and how well the headset works it simply sucks because the way you interact it with just feels off somehow. You cant walk in one place, you are not running when your avatar runs you have no sense of motion and no sense of vertigo when jumping.

There is a continual disconnect with what your eyes are perceiving and what you senses are feeling. This is before you count the technical problems in the past like sluggish motion sensors and gyros and low quality headset displays. So even if the Oculus Rift solves the technical challenges it can never for a home user solve the disconnect inherent in VR.

Yet if it can be used in place of a monitor it will be a lot more immersive than a monitor in the same way that surround sound enhances audio, thats about all though it will never be a real VR system for most games. Some genres like driving games will work to an extent with other peripherals but those are few and far between.
 

VanQ

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Oct 23, 2009
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Assuming that's just a headband with an LED screen strapped to the front like it appears to be, I have little interest. I know that it's asking the impossible but I will not be jumping on the VR hope train until they can genuinely interact on the cerebral level.

I'm certain that one day, Full Dive technology like in Sword Art Online will be available - and I only use that as an example because that's the vision I have for VR - but I know damn well I will never live long enough to see it. Look it up, the NervGear/AmuSphere are interesting little bits of fiction.

It's truly a shame. A Full Dive MMO is the one thing I wish I could see before I die and I know I never will.
 

dagens24

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Mar 20, 2004
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OniaPL said:
J Tyran said:
Cant wait to see how this turns out, I know VR generally sucks but if Oculus Rift can function as a more immersive form of monitor and doesn't cost a stupid amount it could be really exciting.
Too bad that the side effect of the immersion with the oculus headset is apparently a shitty, nauseating feeling in 9/10 users. Hope they will actually manage to get rid of that.
That's understandable though. Got my fingers crossed however.
Sorry but I'm wondering where you heard this.
 

Something Amyss

Aswyng and Amyss
Dec 3, 2008
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J Tyran said:
You have obviously never tried VR
Ah, the "no true scotsman" approach.

Yes, I've tried VR. And I've seen VR used as a monitor before, so THAT's supposed to be the monumentally awesome thing here?

Well, I guess if people can think the Wii or iPhone are innovative, this is probably as well.
 

J Tyran

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Zachary Amaranth said:
J Tyran said:
You have obviously never tried VR
Ah, the "no true scotsman" approach.

Yes, I've tried VR. And I've seen VR used as a monitor before, so THAT's supposed to be the monumentally awesome thing here?

Well, I guess if people can think the Wii or iPhone are innovative, this is probably as well.
Where did I say it was monumentally awesome? I just think it could be an exciting addition to a gaming rig if priced well, I also made it clear I am skeptical of it being a VR system. But if the price is £200 (considering a decent monitor is around £350) or so and its display is good quality it will be fun to play some games with a first person perspective.

If you have tried VR you are probably aware of how it will never work as just a headset, not until they are some extraordinary scifi like advances into sensory stimulation.