Oculus Rift VR headset Kickstarter launches
August 2, 2012
(Credit: Oculus)
James Iliff recently described Palmer Luckey’s amazing Oculus Rift stereoscopic head-mounted VR display in the KurzweilAI blog and mentioned a Kickstarter was in the works.
The goal of the Oculus Rift Kickstarter is to to “speed the distribution of early development kits to game developers and enthusiasts around the world” for this new virtual reality (VR) headset, which is designed specifically for video games.
The funding goal is $250,000.
“With an incredibly wide field of view, high resolution display, and ultra-low latency head tracking, the Rift provides a truly immersive experience that allows you to step inside your favorite game and explore new worlds like never before.
“The Rift takes 3D gaming to the next level. There are a number of VR headsets out there, but none that deliver a truly immersive gaming experience. Most products either lack the technical features required for believable immersion or sit at a very high price-point ($20,000+) reserved for the military or scientific community.
“We set out to change all that with the Rift, which is designed to maximize immersion, comfort, and pure, uninhibited fun, at a price everyone can afford.”
Oculus says it’s including a copy of DOOM 3 BFG Edition, the first Oculus-ready game, with every Rift dev kit on Kickstarter. (John Carmack showed DOOM 3 BFG at E3, stunning the press and creating incredible anticipation for the release.)
“What I’ve got now, is, I honestly think the best VR demo probably the world has ever seen.” — John Carmack, id Software
Technical specs of the Dev Kit (subject to change)
Head tracking: 6 degrees of freedom (DOF) ultra low latency
Field of view: 110 degrees diagonal / 90 degrees horizontal
Resolution: 1280×800 (640×800 per eye)
Inputs: DVI/HDMI and USB
Platforms: PC and mobile
Weight: ~0.22 kilograms
The developer kits acquired through Kickstarter will include access to the Oculus Developer Center, a community for Oculus developers. The Oculus Rift SDK will include code, samples, and documentation to facilitate integration with any new or existing games, initially on PCs and mobiles, with consoles to follow.
Oculus says it will be showcasing the Rift at a number of upcoming tradeshows, including Quakecon, Siggraph, GDC Europe, gamescom and Unite.
Any developer or publisher interested in meeting with Oculus should email rift@oculusvr.com. For more information, visit:www.oculusvr.com
comments 8
by Ian
This is pretty cool. The sort of thing that might actually get me interested in gaming.
by 2012Revolution
VR + Euclideon + Imagination Engines.
The ultimate synthesis.
by Durabys
@2012Revolution
If you think that it is such a brillinat idea then send all three of them an email, informing them about the others existance. A match made in heaven. Indeed. :D
by ThePhi
almost 1 million $ ! This is enormous.
Finally something different with gaming! Eventually!
by Matthew Fuller
Once the full retail version is released, expect gaming to be changed forever.
http://www.roadtovr.com/2012/07/07/oculus-rift-2-0-a-1080p-high-fov-hmd-by-2013-under-1000/
Finally! A real change in game immersion.
—
Just realized something…how is the occulus team going to assemble hundreds, maybe thousands of kits? That sounds like a LOT of work.
by Predictor
Luckey says that the Kickstarter for the Oculus Rift will have the capacity to scale from 100 units to “tens of thousands”, so I wouldn’t be too worried.
by GatorALLin
..wow….. first 24 hours and over 3,400 backers and 3x their original pledge goal already. Gamers Unite! This is what Iove about kickstarter and the combo of a viral idea, the ability to crowdsource and make it happen and be part of the launch and creation. Cool, rock on kickstarter!! The games are the obvious things to get developed from this new VR headset, but I am more interested in the non-gaming applications that might come from the development with this!
by Predictor
PC gamer article, mentions the Wrap 1200VR which retails for twice the price and with much smaller FoV. Great value here.
http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/08/01/oculus-rift-the-vr-headset-carmack-showed-at-e3-kickstarted-into-dev-kit-production/