Apparently Microsoft and Oculus are going to be partnering up. The end result of this so far is that all Oculi(?) will come with an Xbox One controller and wireless adapter and you can play Xbox One games on Oculus but only through the Xbox to Win 10 PC streaming thing because the Xbox One itself doesn't have a way to connect to an Oculus.

Games at first understandably don't support Oculus and will only play in a "cinema" mode in the headset. MS seemed to have hinted that there will be VR games in the future but I have to wonder if those will mostly be on PC instead of Xbox because the Rift is supposed to be crazy demanding on hardware like their GTX 970 or 980 minimum video card requirement.

Smart. Hopefully a sign of more "Microsoft renewing a focus on PC" like the guys were making fun of on the podcast, but really though.

Yeah, streaming anything but a "cinema view" to a VR headset would create a whole new level of latency problems.

Dem moves.

For real this is a great move for Microsoft. They don't have to develop their own hardware but now VR on PC will automatically be associated with Microsoft.

Also takes pressure off their Hololens device to not feel like it has to beat out VR. Can be it's own thing, which it is, and work with Oculus. To me the whole thing seemed doomed when it was kind of "Well these guys have VR and Microsoft has their Hololens thing" as if it was a direct response.

Absolutely! I always considered Hololens as a tool used to facilitate a better work flow, not a gaming device, and they never talked about it as such. Now, as you said, people won't be so quick to jump the gun and make these comparisons.

On the Oculus stream in general (besides the MS thing):

1. Great to finally see some game games being made
2. Weird that some of the demos showed a third person angle?
3. Will be interesting to see AirMech (still in early acess lol) tackle the VR from an RTS viewpoint, literally.

I think this presentation has cemented it for myself into something I will definitely be trying out now, rather then something vague and nebulous in the distant future. Looks like they are on a good track.

Yeah, to me this seems less MS's answer to Sony's Morpheus and more like MS's long-term plan to keep Windows relevant and connected with VR as it matures on the PC platform. I'm not expecting that many Xbox One games if any to be coming out for Oculus.

This makes a lot of sense (on its face) for Microsoft, but I extremely doubt this is going to work well for a VR headset, with enough people giving a shit. Especially when you have to stream the Xbox games through a virtual theatre. A good move in the eyes of a large company that needs to catch up.

This isnt going to go great unless they can figure out latency. Even if they do, there's the way you'll be streaming them.

What happens to Xbox One if Morpheus is a console game changer? It could look decidedly lost and outdated.

@johnnymcginley: That's a huge 'IF' scenario but my guess would be that MS just goes all in on the PC side. There's a reason why MS seems to be getting more serious about being more invested on the PC side of things because they see the long-term potential in continued dominance in the PC realm.

I hope Xbone game devs figure a way to use the headset on Xbone because if you need an Oculus Rift PC which meets the high requirements of Rift then why would you need an Xbone?

With the hardware requirements needed for the Rift & Vive I'm having doubts the Playstation has enough power to handle a game changing experience.

I don't know but this is a huge news...
Also raise the question of what else Microsoft has planned for E3...

I wonder if this will renew Oculus support for Minecraft, since Notch didn't want to be associated with people who sell out.

Thought you needed Above-1080p, Above-120FPS for Oc to work, thats why you need GTX980ti to run it. How the hell does Xbox One do that? And while still needing a $1500 PC acting as a chrome cast between the Xbox and goggles?!

It's a good move to include the controller, but what they should do is include PC hardware that can run the Oculus. Obviously they are trying to get the mass public interested in Oculus (and they will advertise the shit out of it on Facebook), but how many will have PCs that can run the Oculus. If I were to get one, I would basically have to do a full rebuild.

Apparently it works with any Xbox One game, though more as a really up close screen to play it on rather than a VR experience.

Still a really cool move though. I'm kinda glad MS isn't jumping on the whole "making our own VR headset" train.

Hardware and accessories only matter so much, which is why the Wii died so quickly. The PS4 and X1's problem is that they have no killer software. Sony can barely make a great traditional game, so them doing VR better than Oculus, Valve, and HTC is doubtful and they'd have to make better games than them. If Morpheus is huge then MS can further partner with one of those 3 other companies I mentioned. Them pushing Windows 10, VR, and Xbox all at the same time is a surprisingly smart move from MS. The Rift looks like it'll be worth the $400 to $600 price tag. I didn't expect that much software and their version of Steam and XBL.