Oculus Rift made a big splash at E3 2013 last week. The company, which began as a Kickstarter campaign, is working to perfect the concept of virtual reality gaming with their headset that immerses the person wearing it in a virtual world they can explore in 360 degrees as they turn their head.
Since the very first videogame, people's idea for the future of gaming has usually included virtual reality in some way. Oculus Rift is bringing this dream to gamers closer to reality than ever before.
After the Kickstarter raised $2.4 million for the game's development, USA Today reported the company shipped 7,500 developer kits for $399 each. A consumer version is expected to be available to the public in a matter of months.
At E3, Oculus Rift's technology showed off some new improvements form a previous demo earlier this year. The most important improvement was the display jumping from a 720p resolution to a 1080p resolution.
"This will be the lowest possible resolution we end up shipping to consumers," Oculus VR CEO Brendan Iribe said to PC World. "Less than a year after our Kickstarter campaign began, we're already able to offer this for the same price that we sell the [720p] developer version for."
The 360 view is made possible by a combination of a gyrometer, accelerometer and magnetometer found in the early development kit.
At E3, Oculus VR had another element to show off to developers. The team showcased a fully playable version of Epic's Elemental Demo, which ran at 60 frames per second. This showcased the new device's support for Epic's Unreal Engine 4.
The virtual reality fun does not stop there. Another feature of the Oculus VR allowed the person wearing the device to watch the "Man of Steel" trailer in a virtual movie theater, complete with exits near the front of the theater and a flickering light from the projector above.
So far, only a few titles are available to run, fully functioning, through the Oculus technology such as Minecraft. With a consumer version becoming available in the next few months, only time will tell what the new technology will meet for the future of gaming.
