Since Tuesday, users can pre-order an Oculus Rift and a Rift-ready gaming PC. The bundles go from $1,499 to $3,149 depending on the PC model, which can be ASUS, Alienware or Dell. The pack also includes an Oculus Rift headset, the Rift camera, the Rift remote and an Xbox One wireless controller.
April 23 is the estimated ship date for the virtual reality (VR) bundle, according to Amazon, Best Buy and Microsoft sites. Nonetheless, the official Oculus website is offering the VR pack for July.
“Oculus partnered with top manufacturers of PC systems and components to provide a range of systems that are optimized for Rift. They’ve been designed, assembled, and tested with Rift in mind, so you can be confident they’ll deliver a great VR experience.” Said Oculus on Monday.
Pricing and equipment
The cheapest bundle comes with an Asus ASUS Oculus Ready G11CD-WS51 Desktop PC, which is equipped with an Intel core i5 6400 2.7 GHz, 8GM RAM, 1TB 7200 rpm Hard Drive and NVIDIA GeForce GTX970 graphics card.
A more astounding bundle can be acquired for $3,149, which comes with the Alienware Oculus Ready Area 51 Gaming Desktop PC, that has an Intel core i7 3.3 GHz, 16GB RAM, 2TB Hard Drive, and NVIDIA GeForce GTX980 graphics card. The Oculus rift is powered by an Intel core i7 and a 4GB NVIDIA graphic card.
Action RPGs, sci-fi shooters, puzzle games and more will be offered on the Oculus store, said Microsoft on Tuesday in a statement. Lucky’s Tale, an Oculus Studios title that has been admired by tech analysts, is included with every bundle purchase. Moreover, Eve: Valkyrie the multiplayer shooter, will also be included.
“Rift is unlike anything you’ve ever experienced. Whether you’re stepping into your favorite game, watching an immersive VR movie, jumping to a destination on the other side of the world, you’ll feel like you’re really there.” Wrote Oculus on its official website.
An industry with promising numbers
Research firms such as Tractica and Goldman Sachs have announced a great future for the virtual reality market. It is calculated that 200 million VR headsets will be in the hands of customers worldwide by 2020.
Moreover, analysts seem to suggest that the VR market was valued in $80 billion just by 2015, since brands such as Microsoft, Oculus, Sony, Samsung, Nvidia, AMD, Intel, Valve, and probably Apple, are going to invest big amounts of money in the segment. Also, content providers are already creating potent distribution platforms like Wevr, as a response to market demand.
Goldman Sachs analysts said in a note to clients on January that virtual reality and augmented reality create a brand new intuitive experience that has the potential to generate a multibillion-dollar industry that would be as powerful as the PC.
Virtual Reality will not only enhance the video games experience. The sports industry is also putting some focus on the segment. During the Super Bowl 50, Microsoft published a new campaign that recreates a futuristic way of watching the Super Bowl with the HoloLens augmented reality device, and it seems fantastic, according to Twitter users.
Source: Microsoft News