Virtual Reality is growing each year into the technology that people wants and expect it to be. This year Oculus announced the Oculus Rift S virtual reality headset at the Game Development Conference that took place in San Francisco.
We at Virtual Reality South Africa is very excited about the announcement of the Oculus Rift S virtual reality headset. Although it is early to tell since the Oculus Rift S virtual reality headset is only due to launch in Spring 2019 (Northern Hemisphere) all indications are that the headset is going to offer decent display quality and have various improvements over its predecessor the Oculus Rift.
One such advancement is the screen resolution. The Oculus Rift S features a 1,280 × 1,440 per eye resolution which is higher that the Oculus Rift. The display refresh rate is slightly lower at 80Hz instead of 90Hz of its predecessor. This takes some of the pressure off developers who need to get their games running at 90 FPS at 90Hz. This is not necessary a bad thing as the Oculus Quest Virtual Reality Headset and the Oculus Rift S virtual reality is going to share the same library of games and software with the possibility of minimum effort on the development side to make applications and software compatible with both devices.
The Oculus Quest is a 6DOF mobile virtual reality headset and the Oculus Rift S the higher end version of the Oculus Quest although it will still be tethered to a computer.
Oculus announced that they will keep the price of the Oculus Rift S at the same price at what the Oculus Rift is currently selling for. If you buy the Oculus Rift in the USA it currently costs $399 and so will the Oculus Rift S.
The Oculus Rift S is using 5 cameras to create room scale virtual reality and to track the controllers and the headset itself, allowing people to experience 6 DOF virtual reality without the need for extra cameras or base stations. Oculus calls their inside out tracking “Insight” tracking which if you followed the invention of this technology is quite a cool name for it!
The Oculus Rift S is not meant to be used outdoors and users should try and avoid direct sunlight on the headset or controllers when they are using the Oculus Rift S. According to Oculus users should not have a problem using the headset indoors under normal lights.
The Oculus Rift S would work in big or small spaces and you are going to be restricted to how far you can move from the cable and not necessary a specific space. It works with your environment and is not based on the limitations of outside in tracking. We cannot wait for Oculus to announce a wireless solution for the Oculus Rift S so that you can use it more freely without the hinder of a cable.