Oculus Rift preorders Live! VR you sure yet? Update: Price confirmed $599 U.S. Dollars

Edit 2: Apparently they sold out of day one (March) stock in 14 minutes. It looks like if you go to pre order now you'll be pushed back to May. I guess that could change as more orders are placed.

Edit: Rift preorders are live on Oculus site. The price is $599 U.S. dollars and expected ship date is March 2016. You can also reserve your spot to pre order an Oculus Touch (after preordering the rift) when that becomes available later in the year. Remember too, right after you add the rift to your cart there's a piece of software you can download to check you Pc's capability to use Vr.

For all those looking to get your pre orders of the Rift, Jan 06 at 8:00 PM (PT) will be the time. (At least in the U.S.) It will be available globally though. (Not sure the exact time for other areas.) Apparently It comes with two games. That Eve Valkyrie we've heard so much about (You know, the one where you shoot dudes in space ships from a spaceship yourself.) and another little project called Luckey's Tale (...I guess it's a platformer?). Also, for those who don't know, the rift will come with an Xbox one controller.

I'm very interested to see the tech. I've not been so lucky as to venture to an expo or convention where I could try out the virtual reality myself. There's no price or official release date as of now, but we should know by the time it's up to pre order. Anyways here's a link to story on Polygon. and here's a link to the PC requirements of said device. The question is how many will jump on the bandwagon for this new piece of hardware. Do you think it's just another trend, or is it the real deal? Maybe you're interested, but think you'll wait for the verdict before putting out the green for the rift. What say you?

Here are previews of the two included pieces of software shown on the Oculus website.

Sorry for the messy formatting. :)

I will be eagerly refreshing the Oculus website come 4 PM GMT (a.k.a 8 AM PT) Wednesday.

I've tried the DK2, it's great. Pixelated and slightly nauseating, but great. Everything I've heard/read about the CV1 sounds very promising.

I haven't been a day-one-buyer of new tech since the Wii, I think. (Edit: No wait, I bought the iPhone 6 on launch. But still, this is a pretty rare moment for me.)

Nah, I want to know the specs I need for a computer rig and what games they are bring (or who is making games that will be ready for launch) BEFORE I buy their headset. Nobody knows what they fuck their plan is for this, nor do we have a clear idea of the time-frame.

I think they should have gone with a press conference and stage show in February where the games media is invited to see something substantive from what they final headset looks like, to the hardware needed (CPU/GPU/RAM), and what games they will have at launch and in year one. AFTER THAT, AND ONLY AFTER THAT would be the time to start selling.

@monkeyking1969: Here's a link to the specs needed to use the rift. And I think they're going to have something around CES, so we might here more about a plan or lineup of software there. Regardless, waiting for more info is never a bad decision. I don't normally invest on hardware early on, but with this I'm making an exception.

@monkeyking1969: Oculus already demoed the final Rift CV1 to press at E3 and Gamescom. They also published official hardware recommendations on their site as well.

Soooo, how much will is cost? I'll probably wait until all of these things are out and then decide what to buy. I'm sure Rift will have the most support, but I'm not preordering anything knowing that some games and experiences only work on one headset and not others. I want to see which one has the most cool shit to play with.

Also my 970 is at the bottom of what's recommended. I don't want to risk any framerate issues, as that seems to be the most important factor in an VR experience. I'll have to see some real world benchmarks before I do anything.

It's weird they still won't reveal the price. I guess we'll find out on the 6th. It's almost certainly going to be too much for me to gamble on an unproven first-gen device.

I'm super curious what the price will be. Considering I would need to upgrade my GPU to use one, I probably won't preorder one, but I might upgrade my PC later this year.

@thatonedudenick: I have a feeling that because the systems are so similar and the API/SDKs are available that supporting all the devices would be doable. But, none of this is confirmed it is just speculation by me based on how the devices interact code wise and the publically available SDKs.

Man I can't wait for the guinea pigs early adopters to get the first batches of headsets. Once they've sorted through the biggest bugs I'll be happy to evaluate their lists of pros and cons between Oculus and Vive. Later in the year when I'm ready to plunk down the cash for a rebuild I'll likely consider buying whichever one meets my needs best.

I might get one, finally have a beefy PC after many years with a MacBook

It's hard to say. I feel like i'd rather have the Vive but i may break and pre order the Rift if it's under $500. I also want to see what the shipment date will be between the two headsets as it would be a pain to pre-order the Rift only to have it come out after the Vive.

If it's up to $500 USD (so like $750AUD) I'll bite - but no higher.

BTW, you can check if you're VR ready by running 3DMark's base Fire Strike 1.1 benchmark - any score "over 9000" (Palmer's own words) will be fine. 3DMark sets "Oculus Rift Recommended Spec" at 9271.

I'm excited for VR. I want it to succeed. I think it'll be more than just some trend. blah blah blah

However, I have yet to see anything that makes me go "I need to have that." You know what would instantly sell me on it though? Some Steel Battalion-tier crazy ass mech shit. Give me the custom controller and everything.

Having spent a lot of time with both the DK1 and DK2 I still have my reservations. I want to pre-order because both Valkyrie and Lucky's Tale look fantastic, and getting them as pack-ins is dope. But, if the resolution isn't significantly improved from the DK2 then I don't think I want one of these. It was a huge dealbreaker for me with the dev kits. Also it has to be a lot more comfortable to wear, but from everything I've seen so far that seems to be the case.

Oh, and it's also a bummer that Touch got delayed, cause that seemed super integral to everyone's CV1 experience.

It depends on hte price, if its good (around 300) I will bite otherwise wait.

Remember the DS Lite over the original DS? That's why I'm gonna wait.

LOL Everyone saying they put up the specs, go to the Oculus Reft website. Click on the Rift they scroll down that page...come on show me on their fancy webpage where they say the specs you need. They don't put it there. You have to go to the bottom of the page, and even then it doesn't say 'necessary specs' or anything. Nope, go over to support then scroll down that page and click yet another link to a spec sheet. So you need to drill down three pages and that fist drill down is hidden.

[sigh]

They are going to sell this to people in 25 hours, yet when you look at their fancy information page they HIDE what you need. Lots of sexy 'apple-like' hardware pictures and no specs, no info on anything. They show two games they will give you, no but no timeline for future release.

They know Valve and Sony are in this fight, and their strategy is launch first...that was their best option...which tells you where they stand. I respect Oculus hey are one of three companies with some sort of robust inclusive idea. But, lets be honest, they are not really ready and they are rushing out the door to be first. They are not being very clear about what buyers need to know, and because of that they WILL be burning a few people. And, burning people does not help VR catch on. Burning people who didn't research isn't retribution for their stupidity, it is just mean.

I have been super hyped for VR and plunked down Too Much Money for a DK2 for Christmas. I hate to say it, and it may be a matter of not enough content, but I have been pretty disappointed so far.

There's a fairly small area of the screen that actually stays in focus, so looking at various points by just moving your eyes doesn't work well. Text has to be quite large in order to be readable (this is due to the fairly serious pixelation/screen door effect going on). Getting a high enough framerate is pretty hard, and even short frame drops lead to nausea pretty quickly for me. Several hours of feeling gross after playing for 20 minutes is not a great ratio.

I have mentioned on these forums that my kids are super into Minecraft, so they were excited to be "in the game" but were content to go back to normal screen after 15-20 minutes and haven't asked to try it again. I have tried a bunch of Bethesda games, Borderlands, "AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAA!" (or whatever), lots of tech demos on share.oculus.com, and just haven't felt anything that hooked me.

I think the content is going to have to be VERY tailored to the device such that I would expect even games with just "VR support" to be better experienced without VR, and I have to honestly ask myself whether I want to spend hundreds of dollars to play a 3D platformer.

Man, I am really bummed to have written all that as I really hoped to have the opposite experience, but that's my personal take so far.

I hope VR takes off and is a new trend in gaming, but I'm going to squeeze another couple years out of my current pc rig, wait for the dust to settle, then upgrade and pick the most appealing VR setup.

I liked using it, but I mostly play third person games and it's pretty pixelated. There are too few pixels for them to be so close to your eyes. It needs three or four times that many, which would be too demanding and expensive. I'd rather use a vibrant, high res IPS monitor. It was also a hassle to set up. I couldn't get it working on my computer, so I only used it on my brother's for a few minutes.

It's weird that you had such a problem finding this...it took me less than five seconds. Or you can Google "Oculus Rift Recommended PC specs" and get a hundred articles all with the information right there at your fingertips.

I can't imagine very many people who are in the market for a first generation, high end VR device like the Oculus Rift not being able to figure out what the recommended specs are for themselves. This information is everywhere.

Not until I get my hands on some headsets and see how they fit over my thick ass glasses. I don't see myself buying a set until the second or third wave hits the market so I can see how they all compare, but they're pretty exciting.

My computer is a MacBook Air, so I'm not really in the Oculus Rift target market, but they're a cool company and it seems like a great device so I wish them well and I hope everyone who orders one enjoys themselves. As for me, I'm going to go ahead and order a PlayStation VR just as long as Sony confirms it can be used to watch 3D Blu-Rays - that makes it economical to me as it can stand in for a new TV and it means I'll get use out of it even if the early VR content doesn't grab me. Whether I buy one at launch or hold off depends on the price though.

So I owned the DK1 and the DK2. Sold the DK2 right before christmas for $550, hoping the CV is less than that.

Let the wild refreshing and crushing of the oculus servers BEGIN.

And their servers metled. only for $600 a piece.

Seems expensive but still about right, since Samsung Gear VR is about $600 phone +$100 goggles

Price is $599. About what I expected it to be. That excludes shipping and probably tax. You get an xbox one controller, something called an Oculus remote and those two games they announced before - Eve Valkyrie and Luckys Tale.

$600 is definitely an 'early-adopter'-caliber price tag. was hoping facebook would subsidize a bit more, but not super surprised.

$59k is a little more than I would pay for an Oculus Rift

Not for 600.

They certainly overpriced the tech for the first user generation. Its all up to the sony 3d device now to make it a mass product i guess.

That's a little more than I was hoping, but what can you say. We all had a hunch it would be pricey. I preordered mine and it came to $629.00 with shipping and tax. Remember everyone, they won't charge you until it ships.

$600 and shipping in March. I'll wait and see what info the Vive has. Maybe i'll preorder at the last minute if i dont hear anything more about the Vive by the end of February. I'm hoping they will have earlier releases out for review as well.

The price is really high, but understandable for a first-gen device. The thought of having to invest 400-600 euros towards upgrading my PC on top of buying a headset does sting a lot.

It'll be interesting to see what price the two other high-profile sets will hit. The HTC Vive could sway a lot of customers by going 100 bucks cheaper. And I think that the console audience is different enough, so that Sony can't charge this much for PlayStation VR. In fact, it'd be pretty scandalous if they were to charge more for PlayStation VR than the console itself.

I'll likely buy one of these sets next year later this year, but will definitely want to see what the reaction is to all three of them before making a choice. Also, the Rift will likely wind up being around 650-700 euros (700-750 dollars) here in Finland.

EDIT: Yep 700 euros (750 dollars) here in Finland. That means, upgrading my PC and buying one of these would be around 1200 euros. I'm not sure if I'm ready for that sort of investment, especially since I'm going to be spending a lot of money on travel this year.

My current PC is under the recommended specs, so I was thinking I would try my hand at building my own computer before I commit to the Rift.

$600 seems right-ish, if that $600 headset truly fixes some of the talked about issues (tracking, resolution, motion blur, etc.) people have talked about.

So it is probably more than a lot of people are willing to pay (understandable), but for me I was going into this thing with the mindset that I will probably spend a hefty penny to buy a new computer that could even run this thing at the recommended settings. So not now, but someday in late 2016 to 2017.

That's a lot of money.

Oh god, I hope Morpheus Playstation VR is around half of that.

People in the game industry, both on the development and press side, seem to be completely delusional about VR. This is a niche product, plain and simple. This future where everyone owns an Oculus Rift is not coming.

As my wallet gently weeps.

I gonna wait and see.

AU$918 for entry point VR.

i am so fucking bummed out right now

Delusional? Both sides of the aisle have been saying for quite a while this will be a niche market. This is where it all starts. The enthusiasts jump on as early adopters - time moves on and software accumulates - hardware becomes cheaper over time - etc. That's a best case scenario though. It'll be quite a while to see whether this thing fizzles out in the long run, like other hardware peripherals of the last decade, or sticks the landing and gains momentum. This price is certainly not very friendly to the average joe, but everything starts somewhere. Plus we still have two more Vr headsets becoming available to pre order or buy this year. They could also have a drastic effect on early adoption depending on how they handle price distribution and availability.

This price isn't the least bit surprising considering how tight lipped they have been lately. I was hoping for a little less, but i think I will bite the bullet. Cost of being an early adopter.

If I ever end up with a VR thing It would be Sony's(I pretty much only play games on PS4 these days).

That said, I look at VR and I can't help but think of every other peripheral add-on type thing and how absolutely none of them were really worth buying or ever went anywhere.

If you look at this thing like a TV or some other high end tech that starts at an unapproachable price, and eventually drops, $600 isn't a bad starting point. I could see this type of tech being cheaper, better, and more widely available by the end of 2017.

Or, this won't garner the early support it needs and it'll fizzle out with little developer support and nobody wanting to take further financial risk. I think this is pretty likely because this is, probably, the hardest new technology there has ever been to market.

You can't really get across what this is with a picture on the back of the box, the commercials have been fucking embarrassing, and it might be too expensive and niche to see on display at big box retailers. And can you imagine how quickly the display units would get destroyed at a GameStop or Walmart? Basically people are being asked to drop several hundred dollars based on word of mouth, and I can't really think of an example of that succeeding in the past.

Man.

I mean, I put my order in. BUT MAN.

At the very least I have a spot reserved and can mull this over until ship date.

Will it play Half Life 2?

Sounds about right. My problem is I'm not in a position to buy that and then upgrade the PC on top of it after overspending a bit this Christmas.

But they won't charge until it ships. Hmmmmm....