The Oculus Rift aims to bring virtual reality gaming to the common gamer for an affordable price.
INNOVATION: Video games have been taken to a new level with Oculus Rift’s virtual reality.
By Cole Nelson, Staff Writer
With wireless controllers, motion sensing consuls and portable gaming devices, it seems as if the gaming community can’t come out with too many more ways for teenage boys to virtually maim and mutilate their friends. Fortunately for these violent adolescents, Palmer Luckey—founder of Oculus—has raised the bar for futuristic technologies by creating the Rift, a headset that allows gamers to virtually experience their video games in a whole new way.
The Oculus Rift is a virtual reality headset created specifically for video gamers by video gamers in order to play in a more controlled, yet realistic environment. This is done through the combination of high definition visuals with a larger-than-ever optical range of 110 degrees of viewing pleasure. In contrast, other virtual reality headsets only provide about 40 degrees of viewing range. In addition, what sets the Rift apart from other virtual reality headsets is the cheap consumer pricing that is affordable to nearly any gamer, whereas some headsets can cost several thousand dollars, well out of the price range for any average buyer. Luckey is providing a, “[…] high end virtual reality experience available to the average gamer.”
The Oculus project began when Palmer Luckey, while in his parents’ garage in Long Beach, California, mind you, was in search to find the next big thing in gaming. Unsatisfied with the inability to fully immerse oneself into a video game, Luckey sought to create just that: a virtual creation that allows a player to become a part of the game. Soon enough, John Carmack–game programmer and Co-founder of id Software–viewed some of Palmer’s work and immediately hopped on board. At the 2012 E3 video game expo, Carmack, when asked about the Oculus Rift, stated that, “What I’ve got now, is, I honestly think the best VR demo probably the world has ever seen […] We’re certainly going to take this into our future projects.” Palmer Luckey then created a Kick Starter account, a website where aspiring inventors and creators go to raise money, wishing to fund his project through “backers” who aid the construction of the Rift. On September 1st 2012, Oculus reached its goal of $250,000. Oculus has currently raised over two million dollars through 9,522 “backers” who generously donated large sums of money.
An Oculus Rift prototype and Early Developer Kit–which includes John Carmack’s creation of Doom 3, the first ever game to incorporate and adapt the 3D technology of a virtual headset– have been produced since the E3 announcement. Therefore, Oculus is giving a free copy of Doom 3 to all those who pre-ordered the Developer Kit. Palmer Luckey and the Oculus team estimate that the product will be ready for shipment in December 2012.
In just a short amount of time, Palmer and his team have made previously futuristic technologies obsolete, raising the bar for innovative gaming devices.
Courtesy of www.offdutygamers.com