Last week during E3 2015, Re/code got a chance to chat with Oculus VR co-founder Palmer Luckey who was at the show demonstrating Oculus Rift. He hinted that virtual reality will be as big as Apple’s launch of the original iPhone. However, the difference is that mobile phones existed long before the iPhone arrived whereas builders of VR gear are starting from scratch.
“The iPhone moment is going to take longer, and it’s probably not going to be such a huge, radical jump, it’s going to be more gradual,” he said. “The Rift is not the ‘iPhone of VR.’ Nothing out there is ‘the iPhone of VR.’ They’re almost like the Palm Pilots and the Treos of virtual reality.”
Luckey also talked about the first retail version of the Oculus Rift, stating that the first two years will consist of enthusiasts and gamers who have no problems purchasing high-end machines that will support the Rift headset. Eventually the Oculus Rift will be a mainstream device.
“You just don’t have the horsepower to make it happen on a device, much less a cheap enough and comfortable enough device that a normal consumer is going to want to have,” he said. “There’s also going to be more diverse content. Right now, it’s almost entirely games, because only the games industry has the tools and the talent to make immersive 3-D worlds.”
The consumer version of the Oculus Rift is slated to arrive during the first quarter of 2016. The minimum system requirements are somewhat steep and consist of an Intel Core i5-4590 or greater CPU, 8 GB of RAM or more, HDMI 1.3 video output, two USB 3.0 ports and Windows 7 SP1 or greater. On the GPU front, gamers will need a Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 or greater, or an AMD Radeon 290 or greater.
That said, the Oculus Rift will sell between $200 and $400. Throw in a capable desktop and customers are looking at spending around $1500.
“It’s not what we want the price to be. But currently … we put out our recommended specs,” he said. “That’s a known quantity. We want you to be able to buy a Rift and a PC for around that price. People imagine that we’re targeting that price, but it’s not — it’s just a reality. And we’re trying to be honest with people.”
To read the full interview, head here.
From maximumpc
from http://bit.ly/1Jb3LbR
