Oculus Rift: consumer release – what & when?

So, Facebook bought Oculus for $2.3 million - $400 million cash, $1.6 billion Facebook stock and $300 million on Oculus meeting financial targets. What next?

The DK1 blew me (and almost everyone I showed it to) away. The DK2 has had them smiling, gripping, swaying and screaming. The consumer release is imminent. Brandan Iribe claimed that the launch is near and most commentators see it in 2015, May or November. The DK1 was good but was relatively low resolution, with a slow pixel refresh rate giving motion sickness. The DK2 was better with higher resolution and the motion sickness seemed to have gone but a more limited field of view. Then came Crescent Bay, a step up from the DK2.

Kits
Development Kit 1 had a LCD screen with1280×800 (640×800 per eye) and 3DOF (3-axis rotational tracking). Note that a DOF is simple a type of movement, either forward/back, up/down, left/right  (3DOF) or rotations (roll, yaw, pitch) – hence another 3DOF giving 6DOF in total.

Development Kit 2 has an OLED screen with higher resolution 1920×1080 (960×1080 per eye) and 6DOF (3-axis rotational tracking + 3-axis positional tracking). This additional tracking, helped by an extra, external sensor allows you to lean down to pick things up and lean round corners.

The Consumer Version will have an OLED screen but we don’t quite know what the release resolution will be, but it will be AT LEAST 1920×1080.

Sound

Built in headset with 3D sound is what Oculus are after. In demos I’ve seen so far the audio adds lots and massively enhances the experience and emotion. With 3D sound the idea is that sounds can be placed by the designer anywhere in the 3D space you’re in or dynamically in relation to the position of your head. This stuff will be a real headf**k, especially in horror games, which are already shaping up to be THE genre of choice for the Oculus. I can see the music industry responding with almost live experiences. I showed the Oculus to Lawrence Bell (signed Arctic Monkeys) and he sees its poetantial.

Controllers

Oculus bought Carbon Design Group, who created the look and feel of the Xbox 360 controller and original Kinect camera. They had been working together for some time, so the die is now cast, with Oculus likely to come out with their own controller. A games controller works fine and the Xbox 360 is as good as you get. You can zip around at a fair old lick. 

But the next step is to get something like the Razer-Hydra in place, where you can grab, lift and manipulate objects in 3D space. I’ve tried this and it works fine, Trouble is, they’re no longer in business. Something will come along here, especially with some haptic feedback.

Treadmill

For those who want to walk and run through environments, there’s the Virtuix Omni, the omnidirectional (love that word)  treadmill with a bowl shaped platform, special low friction shoes and a safety ring.

Backpack VR

With the kit on your back, you are untethered and can walk around an open space (and play zombie games.) Companies like VR Backpack provide an Oculus Rift headset with a powerful PC and hand controllers/gun peripherals. VR backpack’s latest (Version 3) uses the Oculus Rift DK2, WebVR software platform, and ultrabook laptop. An interesting problem here was getting the computers to work with the lid closed!

Conclusion
My interest is in educational applications but VR is a medium, not a gadget and there will be inroads into entertainment (film & TV), Games, healthcare and art. The Oculus Rift (and Galaxy Gear VR) is only the start of a move from 2D to 3D that will revolutionise media.