For a limited time (UploadVR claims six weeks although I don’t see where that listed on any official source) Oculus has reduced the price of the Rift + Touch VR system from $598 to $399 USD. For us Canadians out there, this translates to $549 CDN, which is about on par with the exchange rate these days. Their hope is to bring VR into the price range of a gaming console, which multi-platform gamers are (obviously, otherwise they wouldn’t be multi-platform) willing to accept.
This also puts it at almost exactly half of the price of the HTC Vive in both countries, which makes for an interesting comparison. They both offer about the same level of hardware, albeit with some minor differences, and Oculus has been pushing quite a bit of exclusive, free content, like Robo Recall. One concern that I have, however, is whether Oculus can maintain stock levels throughout the entire period, since availability was one of the areas that HTC got right, and did so long before Oculus.
The cynic in me also wonders how long it will be before HTC and Oculus VR release their second-generation consumer VR kits. All we’ve heard about from HTC is accessories, like the wireless upgrade kit and the tracker, alongside a Daydream-based standalone unit, which is a much different market than PC VR.
Either way, $399 is quite cheap for what you’re getting, so it seems like a good deal if you're interested.
Oculus = facebook = tracking
Oculus = facebook = tracking whatever you watch on that device and possibly invades your privacy on some other matter. No thanks.
Various paranoid types have
Various paranoid types have been unable to find any evidence that any head orientation telemetry is being returned to Oculus (let alone Facebook). On the other hand that same data is available and being collected by third parties [1] on both Rift, Vive and PSVR (because by very operation head pose needs to be passed to the client application) and by HTC directly [2]. Oculus and Valve have not announced any sort of native head-pose telemetry service, nor have Sony (though due the the PS4’s closed OS it is unknown if they have an non-exposed service).
[1] https://www.roadtovr.com/waltz-of-the-wizard-analytics-ghostlive-vr-stats-reveal-surprisingly-twisted-player-behaviour/
[2] http://www.pcgamer.com/htc-is-introducing-ads-inside-vive-and-will-track-when-youre-looking/
HDK2 is also
HDK2 is also $399
https://www.razerzone.com/hdk2-promo
this is the price it should
this is the price it should have started with.
but now i think it’s too bad that’s not the Vive
Waiting for this kit to hit
Waiting for this kit to hit the 85% off discount bin… in a few months.