What Did Oculus Rift Bring to CES 2015?
Since the Kickstarter for the Oculus Rift VR headset, I’ve been waiting impatiently for a consumer released version. I knew it would be a few years for it to be available to the general public and I’ve never really had the funds to purchase one of the dev kits. Not to mention that I was always concerned that my $350 would bring a disappointing experience, since I have terrible vision, wear glasses, and cannot put in contacts.
With all of that, I’ve been anxious for a finished VR product from Oculus for the better part of the last 3 years – even if it means screaming while I force contacts lenses in.
On last week’s Tech Talk, I expressed my interest to see some great things from Oculus at this year’s CES. As I expected, they didn’t announce a release date for the product. CES somehow didn’t seem like the venue that Oculus would make such a huge announcement at. I expect that Oculus will do a huge Facebook-wide announcement, considering Facebook bought them last year. However, in all of the articles and interviews from Oculus, everything has pointed to a 2015 release of the first generation of immersive, interactive entertainment.
3D Positional Audio
Oculus presented the Crescent Bay demo from this past September to CES, but included an important addition: 3D positional audio. 3D Positional audio is nothing new, but the way that Oculus has implemented it integrates with the positional head tracking to make it even more accurate to the orientation of your head in multiple directions. This feature further increases the level of immersion that is possible with the headset.
If you have been following Oculus and are interested in VR, Engadget had a great interview with the Founder of Oculus, Palmer Luckey.
These two quotes hint on a 2015 release date (or at least an announcement):
“We’re on an awesome path to consumer VR and I do think that 2015 for better, for worse is gonna be a really big year for VR. Even at CES, we’re already seeing it. 2015 is gonna be a big year for VR, whether it’s from Oculus or otherwise, and we’re excited to be a part of it.”
“I, personally, think that that resolution is high enough to be a consumer product for the beginning of the Oculus Rift. And, one thing we’ve said often, is anytime we show a feature prototype, it’s gonna be that good if not better. For me, I do think that’s good enough for the V1 of the Rift.” – Engadget Interview
Sources:
http://www.engadget.com/2015/01/07/oculus-vr-ces-2015/
