Oculus Rift + Touch Combo is Now $598

cageymaru

cageymaru

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Oculus has lowered the price of VR with a significant reduction to the cost of ownership. Now you can get an Oculus Rift HMD plus the Touch controllers for only $598. This is a savings of $200! If you need another sensor, those are now $59. For an added "touch" they are including the VR game Robo Recall for free. Finally some good news from Oculus.

That starts with making PC VR as affordable as possible. We’re excited to announce that starting today, Rift plus Touch is now only $598 (from $798). If you already have Rift, Touch is now only $99, and the price of an additional Oculus Sensor is now $59.

With this new all-in price of Rift and Touch, plus all the amazing content coming soon, this is going to be the biggest year for Rift yet.
 
Damn, that is an impressive price drop. IN BEFORE THE "VIVE is selling so well, they don't need to drop the price...clearly Oculus is doomed" posts ;)
 
I've tried the Vive, not a rift. How do they stack up, particularly with the motion controls?
 
Viper87227 said:
I've tried the Vive, not a rift. How do they stack up, particularly with the motion controls?
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The Oculus touch controllers are a little little nicer than the Vive controllers, but both work great. However the tracking is a hot mess with Oculus unless you get a third camera, and even then it doesn't stack up against the laser-precision of the Vive's lighthouse cubes. For me, tracking > input. You'll know why once you've spent some time in VR land.

However when the knuckle controller releases for the Vive and other SteamVR based HMD's (LG?), it will likely leapfrog the Oculus touch controllers, since you'll be able to have your hand open while you hold them. Apparently the knuckle controller is also what Valve is developing and iterating in conjunction with its "three firstparty VR titles".

Oculus has the more comfortable headstrap but that's also being mitigated with the "deluxe audio strap" from HTC in a few months.

You really can't go wrong with either, and a $598 pricepoint with inclusive touch controllers for the Oculus is great. Though I get the sense that the longterm defacto software and development platform will become SteamVR/OpenVR, when factoring things like Bethesda developing Fallout 4 VR and DOOM VR for the latter. Ofcourse, you'll be able to play all those titles on the Rift too.
 
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- Like the poster said above, the Vive's tracking is nicer and no matter how many cameras you add to the rift, it does not equal the accuracy or lower latency of the lighthouse / SteamVR platform. There' still software and occlusion issues with the Rift unfortunately. There's also new lighthouses in development.
Valve's work with LG was just revealed at GDC17 also, which resulted in a higher fidelity HMD than the Vive or Rift for the SteamVR platform. I'd post a link but I can't yet due to a 3 post limit.

I prefer the SteamVR / Vive's tracking method of using Lighthouses that do not need to be hooked into your PC and only require power, vs the Rift which each camera 1-3 will need to have a run to your computer.
The development environment is starting to slowly shift now also where more developers are adopting the SteamVR platform and the Vive vs Oculus's more walled in garden approach.

The Oculus touch controllers physically feel a little nicer than the Vive's first iteration of the controllers to some, but a new controller set for the Vive is being developed that straps to your palm and wrist so you can "release" the controllers and feel more free. It was shown at Steam Dev Days 2016 if you want to take a peek at early versions. Again sorry I can't post a link yet.

Personally I hope SteamVR succeeds over Facebook/Oculus's approach. I prefer a more open environment and a less Applelike walled in environment.
 
I kinda wish Oculus would've gone with Lighthouse for their tracking tech - rather than wired, USB based cameras - since Valve made it open and available to them from day one. Because the Oculus HMD + Controllers combined with Lighthouse tracking would be the best of both worlds, but only by a hair because again, both solutions are great.
 
The cheaper price point makes it a bit more palatable to get a current gen headset now instead of waiting for a future gen 4K version. I'm still not sure I'm biting though.
 
DPI said:
The Oculus touch controllers are a little little nicer than the Vive controllers, but both work great. However the tracking is a hot mess with Oculus unless you get a third camera, and even then it doesn't stack up against the laser-precision of the Vive's lighthouse cubes. For me, tracking > input. You'll know why once you've spent some time in VR land.
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I take it you've experienced both? The demo of the Vive I did was just for about 10 minutes or so, got to try three titles. First, The Lab, which my time with ended before I really figured out what I could do (nobody gave me instructions), so I didn't know I could crouch down, pick things up, etc. After that was Tilt Brush, which is really what floored me. I'm not artistic or anything, but being able to draw in the air and walk around in it, that was really impressive to me. Third was Raw Data, which by that time I figured out I could move about, crouch behind cover, etc, and again really enjoyed this.

So, my question is, experiences like these, how do they feel in the Oculus? Like with Tilt Brush... can you walk around with the Oculus? I guess I assumed, since it came with an Xbox controller, it was more of a traditional gaming experience, just with the screen stapped to your face.
 
That is some really competitive pricing...with Vive still selling at $799 and requiring another $100 for the deluxe headstrap (which is basically what Oculus already has), HTC needs to stay competitive.
 
Wait one more year for content and next gen with even lower prices.
 
Viper87227 said:
I take it you've experienced both? The demo of the Vive I did was just for about 10 minutes or so, got to try three titles. First, The Lab, which my time with ended before I really figured out what I could do (nobody gave me instructions), so I didn't know I could crouch down, pick things up, etc. After that was Tilt Brush, which is really what floored me. I'm not artistic or anything, but being able to draw in the air and walk around in it, that was really impressive to me. Third was Raw Data, which by that time I figured out I could move about, crouch behind cover, etc, and again really enjoyed this.

So, my question is, experiences like these, how do they feel in the Oculus? Like with Tilt Brush... can you walk around with the Oculus? I guess I assumed, since it came with an Xbox controller, it was more of a traditional gaming experience, just with the screen stapped to your face.
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Oculus has touch controllers now that you can get and you can also add additional cameras, You can walk around and have a similar "Room Scale" experience with the Oculus Rift and touch controllers, but not quite as good to me personally. Myself personally I prefer the feel of the Vive controllers, but a lot of others prefer the form factor of the Touch controllers.

They're both pretty cool, but the Vive's tracking and implementation is a superior room scale experience overall.
 
well it's not like they have a choice, they practically milked everyone able to spend 800$, now little price cut, milk some more to increase the TAM with a million or 2 .
price is still isn't there yet, for me to consider VR it needs to drop below 500$ and it needs to be the Vive.
 
Competitive pricing from Vive please? The financing option helps, but tack on even a modest $100 price reduction and I would have a hard time not biting.
 
Cool, still within the 45 day price match period for my recent Rift purchase. :)
 
Nice!

regarding Rift tracking, update 1.12 is out which has fixed the issues. 3 sensor setup is spot on. According to Oculus Roomscale will no longer be considered "experimental" within a few months. Extra sensor has also dropped in price.

Either Rift or Vive... time to jump in guys! VR is awesome!
 
Desperation move. They can't compete with Vive (half the sales, approximately) on the high end, and the PSVR is kicking the shit out of them for a "good enough" VR system...so all they can do is cut the price! They also are probably trying to move through inventory before the injunction hits...
 
Rahh said:
Wait one more year for content and next gen with even lower prices.
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That's what i'm doing. Some fantastic Rift games out there already with more incoming. After owning the Rift and selling it, I am going to wait for much higher resolution HMDs. I am satisfied with my PSVR for now.
 
jnemesh said:
Desperation move. They can't compete with Vive (half the sales, approximately) on the high end, and the PSVR is kicking the shit out of them for a "good enough" VR system...so all they can do is cut the price! They also are probably trying to move through inventory before the injunction hits...
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There will be no injunction. Zeni didn't even win that aspect of the case, which makes the whole thing rather puzzling. I see it as nothing more than a threat to Oculus to just pay up the 500M and shut up, or risk dragging out litigation (big surprise there).

Lots of excellent content with Rift, with lots more to come this year. Quality content.

Rift and Vive are comparable, and now the price point on Rift is more attractive. Looks more like a competitive move, not desperate. PSVR is pretty good, but it's pretty far from what the Rift and Vive provide imo.
 
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sboucher said:
Nice!

regarding Rift tracking, update 1.12 is out which has fixed the issues. 3 sensor setup is spot on. According to Oculus Roomscale will no longer be considered "experimental" within a few months. Extra sensor has also dropped in price.

Either Rift or Vive... time to jump in guys! VR is awesome!
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Yeah, I can say having 2 cameras in the "corner positions" I never had tracking issues unless I deliberately got down on the floor and obscured using my body, etc where I would never be in-game. I never had any issue with latency or tracking with my 2 camera or 3 camera setup. I have $6 bucks worth of stretchy key rings holding up the one Oculus wire (on extension cords) and I really don't care about wireless at this point, so I think those are some key advantages that Rift brings to the table at $600 bucks ($660 with a third tracking camera if you want to be absolutely sure). It's got nice lenses and good oled panels, and its controllers are extremely comfortable to hold for long periods. I get error-free roomscale from a 17x14-ish space using 3 cameras. Having just one reasonably thin cable connecting the headset makes it very comfortable to wear and easy to manage. I own one, it works damned well, better than a 1st gen consumer retail device has a right to, to be perfectly honest....its rare for Gen1 tech to 'work properly' in any genre of manufacturing, so kudos to all the teams for really delivering solid products, one of those 'good to be alive now' kinda things.

But I think it's clear Vive is the system preferred by your standard internet renegade, probably because Vive has the superior tracking technology and is more open-source minded to encourage adoptation. It does roomscale flawlessly OOTB and it's not much more expensive. It's a little more trouble with its cables but those are nits to pick. Right now there isn't enough software disparity to make me want to pick one up, but I'm sure I'd be impressed with some bits and disappointed with others. Vive is the safer bet, but right now I think Oculus Rift brings a lot to the table for $600...$660..whatever.
 
HeadRusch said:
But I think it's clear Vive is the system preferred by your standard internet renegade, probably because Vive has the superior tracking technology and is more open-source minded to encourage adoptation.
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I agree, but let's not forget that Steam lighthouse tracking is designed to work with.. you know, Steam. It's not as open as people believe. Yes you can run it with a hack on Oculus Home, but I'm starting to wonder if there is a reason it isn't officially supported by Oculus yet for reasons not of their own. I also read Iribe said in an interview recently that Oculus is working in the background to better support the Vive (unofficially) through the existing hacks.

Steam has exclusives, Origin has Exclusives, Sony PSVR has exclusives, Oculus Home has exclusives... Seems pretty similar across the board to me.

Oculus is also working with others (Valve, Nvidia, ARM, Epic, Unity, Google, Samsung, LG, Razer) to develop VR standards, which HTC has not joined yet.
 
jnemesh said:
Desperation move. They can't compete with Vive (half the sales, approximately) on the high end, and the PSVR is kicking the shit out of them for a "good enough" VR system...so all they can do is cut the price! They also are probably trying to move through inventory before the injunction hits...
Click to expand...

I'll rate this troll 3/10. Succinct, but repeated previous trolls. No points for subtlety. Also, this troll in basically unreadable in the new Chromium-based 3D VR web browser that Oculus released this week.
 
Rahh said:
Wait one more year for content and next gen with even lower prices.
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Or you can just wait forever, that's the lowest price of all.

If everyone had that attitude then this thread about VR price reductions wouldn't even exist. The tech is still in its relative infancy, yes, but the strides made in the last 18-24 months have to be experienced to be understood and believed. And the content is finally reaching the turning point this year, with a ton of development inertia and multiple AAA's on deck. According to GDC attendees, all anyone was talking about was VR.

It's already far enough along to be jaw dropping. I've been essentially bored by the minor iterations in videogames & tech for the better part of a decade, but when I finally strapped on a Vive, air suddenly felt clean again.
 
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DPI said:
Or you can just wait forever, that's the lowest price of all.

If everyone had that attitude then this thread about VR price reductions wouldn't even exist. The tech is still in its relative infancy, yes, but the strides made in the last 18-24 months have to be experienced to be understood and believed. And the content is finally reaching the turning point this year, with a ton of development inertia and multiple AAA's on deck. According to GDC attendees, all anyone was talking about was VR.

It's already far enough along to be jaw dropping. I've been essentially bored by the minor iterations in videogames & tech for the better part of a decade, but when I finally strapped on a Vive, air suddenly felt clean again.
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This.
I have not even wanted to play a game on my monitor since I got the Rift.(well my son bought it and left it for me to keep safe. :) )
I can't wait for the new versions to come out, but will keep having fun with this one.
 
HeadRusch said:
Yeah, I can say having 2 cameras in the "corner positions" I never had tracking issues unless I deliberately got down on the floor and obscured using my body, etc where I would never be in-game.
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I take it you haven't tried Fantastic Contraption then.
 
Hot damn this is great news. ....

Remember the thread I made months ago "I returned my Oculus..." Well hot golly damn.... Tomorrow I pick up my 1700X, 16GB, a board, a case, and by damn a freaking Rift and Touch combo!

All of this + Ryzen = Fuckin Win time!

and all of this = about $1200 :(
 
I'll skip out for now. Most of the VR content I've wanted was for PSVR. Not so much for me on PC. I'll probably wait for some more things to pop up and take the plunge later. Not to mention, my PC room is a mess and I don't even have room to do VR in it. Waiting on shelves.
 
" this is going to be the biggest year for Rift yet." to go bankrupt from massive lawsuit? "
Oculus ordered to pay $500 million in ZeniMax lawsuit"

I'm just wondering if this is a scramble at the last minute not to go completely under. Half a billion dollars isn't easy on a young company.
 
I'm waiting for the next gen of VR; OLED panels are getting cheaper and higher resolution and this is a win-win for VR gear.
SoC makers are developing chip sets dedicated to VR gear. All will make the next gen unit smaller, lighter, higher resolution and less expensive.
 
Tried the VIVE yesterday. It was really cool, but the resolution kinda sucked and the screen-door effect was very obvious. I'm also wondering how quickly games and demos would get boring without good AAA titles after the initial `wow` factor would wear off. It might be a lot of fun to play next to another person.
 
Vader1975 said:
" this is going to be the biggest year for Rift yet." to go bankrupt from massive lawsuit? "
Oculus ordered to pay $500 million in ZeniMax lawsuit"

I'm just wondering if this is a scramble at the last minute not to go completely under. Half a billion dollars isn't easy on a young company.
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You trollin?

Are you not aware Oculus is owned by Facebook?

Facebook paid 19 Billion for WhatsApp.

500 million is not material to their financials, at all. It is pocket change.
 
Malcador said:
Tried the VIVE yesterday. It was really cool, but the resolution kinda sucked and the screen-door effect was very obvious. I'm also wondering how quickly games and demos would get boring without good AAA titles after the initial `wow` factor would wear off. It might be a lot of fun to play next to another person.
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Most of the demos are good for about 10-15 minutes each, which is how long it takes to either beat the demo, or give up out of frustration.

A lot of the free VR games on Steam look like something a high-school student would make after day 2 of a game design class. And a few of the free games are really nicely done demos, but for a game that doesn't actually exist yet. (HVR-01 is a great example of a good premise in need of a full game)

The only game I have paid for so far, that wasn't a complete waste of money, was SoundBoxing (featured on hardocp a few days ago).

The real money wasters were Chunks (un-finished version of minecraft for VR) and Astral Domine (abandoned by the author 2 weeks after I bought it, back in May 2016)
 
sboucher said:
You trollin?

Are you not aware Oculus is owned by Facebook?

Facebook paid 19 Billion for WhatsApp.

500 million is not material to their financials, at all. It is pocket change.
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I had forgotten. Still 1yr warranty on flimsy hardware. Fragmented software base. I smell another "3D Gaming will be the next HUGE Thing!" I honestly see it taking off more in certain business applications.
 
Vader1975 said:
I had forgotten. Still 1yr warranty on flimsy hardware. Fragmented software base. I smell another "3D Gaming will be the next HUGE Thing!" I honestly see it taking off more in certain business applications.
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Apparently you missed this (time stamped where Kyle talks about VR):

 
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