Oculus Press Event: Step into the Rift

 

E3 has begun, Well we think so anyway as the first news worthy conference comes to an end.

We got an hour presentation to get a good look at the Oculus Rift’s final form and some pretty ground breaking news to accompany the Oculus.

So first up we’re introduced with a brief on how we all love gaming, but something is missing from it. It’s good, but 2D, flat screens kill the immersion of the experience. We’re shown a screenshot of a T-Rex to emphasize the point. Then with a brief one liner of “The begining of VR Gaming” we’re shown an Oculus introduction video:

• We’re told that it features 2 OLED screens and boasts no motion blur and no pixels.
• Wide field of view
• Constellation tracking system for low latency movement
• Sensor for desks
• Will feature seated & standing experiences
• Removable headphones
• Adjustable lens distance
• Accommodates glasses

Now for the first bombshell. The control input device for it will be the XboxOne controller. And when Oculus retails XboxOne controllers will be bundled with the device.

Phil Spencer takes the staget to officially start E3 season by announcing a partnership between Microsoft and Oculus that will result in streaming games from XboxOne and PC on Windows 10 to Oculus Rift. If you wondered why Microsoft hadn’t thrown their hat into the VR busines to compete with Sony and Morpheus, here’s your answer why.

 

Next we’re shown the games.

CCP took to the stage to show off EVE:Valkyrie

 

Gun Fire Games up next to introduce us to CHRONOS, which is an atmospheric RPG:

 

Insomniac Games made a surprising apperance to showcase Edge of Nowhere:

 

And a notice about other developers on board for Oculus:

• Unity 5 & Unreal Engine 4 Engine compatible
• $10m Investment into indie games for the Rift
• Oculus Home – Let’s you preview games in VR. There will be a 2D interface for Oculus home too

And a final input method for the Rift was shown. Oculus Touch AkA Project Half Moon. They are a pair of track controllers, that feature buttons, an analogue stick and trigger for each hand. It can detect hand gestures made via the tracking band that surrounds the control. There will be a demo at E3 in Toybox which is Oculus’s touch demo.

So that’s that. Conference one is done, and it was quite the surprise thanks to Microsoft and the reveal of Oculus touch. Here’s to Sunday for the next E3 conference.

– Murr