Microsoft announces new VR headsets for Windows 10, starting at $299
theverge.com
theverge.com
Incidently, I thought Google was doing a good job with the Google VR SDK. But I now am very skeptical since it appears (just my humble, personal opinion) they are more focused on their Daydream platform than they are on wide availability across vendor devices.
I did Glass too, and again, HoloLens outpriced my acceptable "stupid expense to be on the leading edge" budget. :D
Also shipping the headset only, should be less pricey than it was on that comparably huge VIVE box set.
I'm quite confident there will be room-scale enabled (foveated) 4k resolution class headsets in the next two years for $500 or less.
Although the money saved will then still have to go towards a more capable GPU than something currently available in the $200 price range.
The Rift may be better now given Zuckerberg's demo and the shipping touch controls, but I ended up selling it. Playing with an Xbox One controller was a pretty bad experience (with the one exception being the space game) and it was overall pretty disappointing compared to the Vive.
The Vive with room scale is something different - it's really impressive. The touch controllers work well and the movement feels natural. The content right now though is pretty limited and Oculus has tied up a lot with software exclusives.
Maybe Oculus will do well with the social stuff they're working on (demo was cool) and GearVR might save them, but the Vive is a much better product right now and worth playing with if you can.
MS is probably selling this at a development loss (probably not a raw materials loss; betting the parts are <=$100 at scale fabrication) just like consoles. They can afford it too, and even if it fails, it's not like it's a large amount of money consumers would lose like with the Glass.
I have a hard time believing the augmentation is as clear as they portray it to be, and you can't really tell without the product either (like trying to show off how good UHD is on a 1080p screen).
I think it'd be interesting if within 4 years, we see versions of this products that are the same size as the holobands from the Caprica tv series.
The viewing angle can't be more than 1/2 a steradian, and everything has this washed-out and prototype-y feel. I would never buy one of these in their current state.
IO-Glasses were great for Dark Forces though. And a motion sickness after 20+ minutes or so.
Between the stale demo, the lack of technical details, and no release date, I wouldn't be surprised if the headset doesn't actually work all that well yet.