The virtual reality revolution is quickly approaching and industry front-runner Oculus has partnered with Best Buy, Amazon, and the Microsoft Store to get some relatively affordable hardware to the masses. The Oculus Rift’s immersive high fidelity computer simulated reality headset has been a long time coming for most gamers, and now on the horizon of an actual release, more retail news surfaces.
According to a recent Oculus announcement:
Today we’re excited to introduce the first Oculus Ready PCs from ASUS, Alienware, and Dell! These PCs have been battle tested and certified by Oculus to deliver an incredible Rift experience. We’re also thrilled to announce that starting February 16 at 8 am Pacific Time; you can pre-order Oculus Ready PC and Rift bundles from Best Buy, Amazon, and the Microsoft Store, starting at $1499 USD for a limited time only.”
The bundles are Oculus-certified and come with a Rift, headset, sensor, remote and a Xbox One controller. To put a cherry on this gaming sundae, the Oculus pre-order bundle will also include EVE: Valkyrie Founder’s Pack and Lucky;s Tale games. Understandably, Oculus is planning to ship the bundles in limited quantities to various countries and regions that support the aforementioned retail outlets.
Visit the various retail partners for a list of available rigs. Below is a summary of Oculus-certified set ups ready for pre-order.
While Microsoft has partnered with Oculus to provide an additional retail outlet and also provide its Xbox One controller as part of the bundle, the company is still pushing forward with its own augmented reality headset, HoloLens. With a foot in both virtual reality (the full creation of a virtual world; Oculus) and augmented reality (creating the illusion of three dimensional objects projected in the real world; HoloLens), it’ll be interesting to see which industry develops mainstream adoption.
Let us know which rig you’re leaning towards as you get ready to welcome a reinvigorated virtual reality industry.
