Hasta La Gadget!

We heard late last month that the John Carmack-endorsed Oculus Rift VR headset would be hitting Kickstarter any day now, and it turns out today is that day. The project has just launched on the crowd-funding site with a goal of $250,000. To reach that, the team (led by company founder Palmer Lucky) is offering a variety pledge options, starting with posters and t-shirts for $15 and $25 (or $10 for a simple thanks), and of course the headset itself that is initially only being offered as a developer kit. It will set you back $300, which also includes a copy of Doom 3 BFG, and is expected to start shipping in December (signed kits and a complete bundle are available as well). Those that act fast can also snag one of 100 unassembled prototype kits, which run $275 and ship a month earlier in November. Despite that developer-only status, though, the project is already off to an impressive start — it’s raised over $50,000 as of this writing. You can find the usual video overview of the project after the break.

Update: The 100 prototype kits are now sold out, and the project itself has already sailed past the $100,000 $150,000 mark. John Carmack also clarified on Twitter that he’s not “backing” the project in any official capacity, only endorsing it as a “wonderful advancement in VR tech.”

Update 2: And the project has now easily met its goal on the first day. Those interested are still able to make a pledge any time over the next 30 days.

Continue reading John Carmack-endorsed Oculus Rift VR project hits Kickstarter, developer kits start at $300 (update: $250k goal met)

Filed under: Peripherals, Wearables

John Carmack-endorsed Oculus Rift VR project hits Kickstarter, developer kits start at $300 (update: $250k goal met) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Aug 2012 11:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Kickstarter  | Email this | Comments

Anticipation for the Oculus Rift has been building ever since we were first introduced to it back at E3, and today we got a look at a very early prototype. Creator Palmer Luckey shared the image you see below, and even though it isn’t the prettiest of devices, it will do a lot to get followers of the project excited. Road to VR points out that the headset in the image won’t be meant for ordinary consumers – that will be the Oculus Rift 2.0, which is scheduled to launch in 2013. Instead, this first device is aimed at die-hard VR fans and developers. Have a look:

Of course, it’s important to remember that isn’t necessarily the finished product. Its design could change greatly by the time everything is said and done, and Luckey is expected to share some new renders of the headset when the Kickstarter campaign for the Oculus Rift gets underway. That Kickstarter campaign should be launching soon, but at the moment we don’t have a solid kick-off date.

Luckey also announced that there will be an Oculus Rift SDK available to interested developers. Developing for Oculus Rift isn’t going to be a cake walk, however, as developers will have to overcome challenges that are unique to the world of virtual reality. There can be all sorts of issues with head tracking, for instance, and there’s also the fact that the output needs to warped in order to provide users with a wider field of view. The Rift SDK will hopefully make the obstacles a bit easier for developers to deal with, as Luckey says that the goal is making the development process hard on the device itself, not the developers.

In other news, the Oculus Rift will have a booth at QuakeCon later this week, where the unit will be displayed and presumably demoed. The write-up on Road to VR suggests that the Kickstarter campaign may be launching before QuakeCon kicks off on Thusday, August 2, so keep an eye out for that one. We’re definitely excited to see where this goes, so keep it tuned to SlashGear for more information on the Oculus Rift!

Early Oculus Rift prototype revealed is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

A team from the University of Southern California have started Project Holodeck and are working to create full-body 360-degree virtual reality simulator in an accessible consumer gaming platform that could be comparable to the Star Trek Holodeck. It will allow users to play in a large digital space while physically operating in a small one.

A player’s movement will be tracked with a PlayStation Move sensor and uses gaming headsets that have a 105-degree three-dimensional view. A Razer Hydra Sixense motion controller will track six-axis hand movements to completely immerse the player into the game. “This isn’t like watching a floating television – this is true immersion in a virtual world with simulated peripheral vision,” one of the team members explained.

They’re even integrating haptic feedback by using fans linked to the game server, which are designed to simulate the blowing wind when moving throughout the game. The team is apparently in talks with a few gaming companies and even Disney to hopefully make it a real product one day.

[via Verge]

Project Holodeck aims to bring full 3D virtual reality to gaming is written by Elise Moreau & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.