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Oculus Rift available for preorder for $599.99, shipping in March

I was expecting it to be $500+ and it turns out to be the case. I don't understand how anyone thought VR was going to be less than $500.
 
Why would you want to live there?

That and the "2nd job" price is indefensible. They're just going to help kill their product with such bad attitudes. Oh well not like we've not been through this many times before where companies can learn from their mistakes.

Is Palmer the same idiot who said that for the X1 back then?...unbelievable.
 
I don't like how many are making the argument that this is similar to touch screen phones.

When those phones came out... primarily the iPhone models...most people couldn't afford the premium brands so they got the super price reduced touch screen phones from their carriers. Most of these people have always been a generation behind since then.

Oculus has nothing like that where the price is subsidized. This is VR and not essential for most people, the mainstream see it as a gaming thing. This observation is from my own experience asking family members about their thoughts on VR during winter holidays. Phones on the other hand are used for communication through calls and internet making them essential for most if not all people. The Oculus isn't essential, therefore, most people might overlook it because of that and the price tag.This in turn may delay VR for at least a few years it it gets a negative stigma from the mainstream ages 25+.
 
You know a excuse/damage control is bad, when you can apply it to any argument. If Oculus Rift was 4999 dollars, the same, flimsy rhetoric and excuses could be used, without changing a single word or letter. Hence why they arent working at all.

Instead of selling to a niche, they are now selling to a niche of a niche.

Oculus Rift and mainstream was always a non pro basketball player chucking a ball from half court blindfolded. Now with this price, he is wearing boxing gloves and the rim has been moved to the locker room bathroom.
 
But customs fees implies not shipped from EU...
Yes. Not shipped from EU but fees are included in the price.
That doesn't confirm shipping from the EU, just their storefront pricing scheme. I mean it sounds like they're saying your import taxes are covered, but if they ship units from the US you could be liable for import tax regardless of what the storefront is charging (or claiming to cover).

Needs to be cleared up asap.

Why would you be liable for anything if it's handled? That's the entire point of them handling the import fees/taxes. That's the way it has always worked for me when I've ordered something from outside the EU. We're not talking about an ebay scammer here, they're owned by Facebook.
 
The "oh shit this is VR and it's awesome" feeling early on is absolutely there with all the main players. However, as someone who's had a DK1 since launch and a DK2 since launch and who has used everything else available since, that feeling alone doesn't keep the headset on you. Don't get me wrong, PSVR is a lot of fun and totally worthwhile and Sony looks like it's backing it solidly with software development too, and I could see myself playing through games on it, no question. It's obviously a more budget minded solution, and the capabilities reflect that, but it's still cool and will be worth buying. The cost of entry for people who don't already have high end gaming PCs but have a PS4 will be hilariously, astronomically different. By all means, get a PSVR instead.

But, after the "OMG THIS IS VR" fades to the background, as it has for me a long time since, I can barely be assed to even put a Samsung Gear VR on my head. The only thing I'm still actually craving is more time on the consumer Rift with high fidelity gaming experiences. I want to plug it into Assetto Corsa and grind on the Nurburgring and feel what I've felt in real life there in ways that are impossible on my 80" tv. I want more experiences like Edge of Nowhere. The Rift captivates on a different level.

This makes me pause and realise how it can be small, simple experiences that really make VR worthwhile. I can imagine fewer games to be fine,bit spending more time with each one. Just the sound of that Nurburgring drive makes me wish I could anything close to the feeling I had driving a lotus exige around thruxton. Maybe I can take my VR fund and spend it on a new wheel or HOTAS setup now that I'm getting a free OR..
 
Yeah, but there aren't 40 million interested users of VR on PS4. I'd suspect that a larger percentage of those 13M compatible PC users are interested in the product than a subset of the PS4 user base willing to more than double the price of their console.

The marketing hype machine for PSVR hasnt even started yet..

Any retailer that sells the ps4 in the world can get a mount display, put the PSVR in it with a ps4 and demo games all day, just plugging the hardware and using games done for it.
They can then say, the ps4 is $350, the PSVR is $350 if you already have a PS4, or we have this bundle for 650 with both.

They can sell that $350 pricepoint way easier. oculus wont even try to demo this in stores, they know its niche. Sony only needs to add fuel to the fire.
 
If HTC Vive launches at same price, I can't see any reason to buy Rift.

Vive will do the same but both controllers included and with room-scale positioning.
 
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This guy is kind of a dick, huh?

The guy acting like the taxes and duties imposed by other countries are the responsibility of Oculus to cover is a huge dick.
 
And again, i'm sure the experience is downgraded compared to oculus. But to act like PSVR isn't even a competitor or somehow a very botched experience is simply asinine.

I never did that. The PSVR will be great and i'm sure priced great, but I think some people in this thread don't realise the advantages the Rift has over the PSVR.
 
Yes. Not shipped from EU but fees are included in the price.


Why would you be liable for anything if it's handled? That's the entire point of them handling the import fees/taxes. That's the way it has always worked for me when I've ordered something from outside the EU. We're not talking about an ebay scammer here, they're owned by Facebook.

You'd have expected his response on twitter not to be blame your country but why have you said 900-1000 euros when we cover import fully?

That's why there is confusion. No one should be paying 900+ euros if import is covered.
 
I was expecting it to be $500+ and it turns out to be the case. I don't understand how anyone thought VR was going to be less than $500.

Well I expected 500€ and was willing to buy one for max 550. But ~900€ is just crazy in my eyes.
 
If HTC Vive launches at same price, I can't see any reason to buy Rift.

Vive will do the same but both controllers included and with room-scale positioning.
If Vive launches at the same price point then it's game over for Rift, who will pay the same for a midrange product.
 
I don't like how many are making the argument that this is similar to touch screen phones.

When those phones came out... primarily the iPhone models...most people couldn't afford the premium brands so they got the super price reduced touch screen phones from their carriers. Most of these people have always been a generation behind since then.

Oculus has nothing like that where the price is subsidized. This is VR and not essential for most people, the mainstream see it as a gaming thing. This observation is from my own experience asking family members about their thoughts on VR during winter holidays. Phones on the other hand are used for communication through calls and internet making them essential for most if not all people. The Oculus isn't essential, therefore, most people might overlook it because of that and the price tag.This in turn may delay VR for at least a few years it it gets a negative stigma from the mainstream ages 25+.

If you're comparing it to the iPhone 1, that was $599 and worth it day one, so hopefully this will be too.
 
iPhones don't require a $1200 gaming PC to run.

Enthusiasts who are following PC gaming and VR for the past few years likely have a PC at or above those requirements.

If people can't fathom this expenditure they will have the PSVR to fall back on. They will have a much lower VR experience for a much lower cost.

No reason to dumb down the premium products for the masses yet.
 
I don't use my DK2 regularly. I pretty much take it out every 3-4 months to try the handful of new experiences that have released since the late time I used the device, and then I throw it back in the box for another 3-4 months. The 'WOW' factor is definitely still there every time I put on the headset after a long layoff though. But he's right, like all technologies in existence - that short lived feeling isn't a replacement for continual quality content.

I would also caution anyone whose susceptible to car sickness, sea sickness or motion sickness to try a VR device before jumping in at $599. If you're susceptible to motion sickness, VR can potentially fuck you up. I literally have to damn near OD on medication (dramamine) just to try out some VR experiences, and it's definitely not something that you really get used to.

Thanks for the heads up Harson.
 
Thanks but no thanks, $599 is simply way way too much money for VR. Even if Vive and Sony price theirs at $299 it's simply to expensive for me, I would rather upgrade my GPU than buy a VR helmet
 
Anyone go through the process to see the full Aussie price, I'm up to $920 without shipping. So it will be over $1000.......

$1000 that's insane....
 
I never said they were did I? If you don't cater to people when your product launches, even if it's expensive, people will eventually lose interest if it takes too much to be accessible to even the less casual.
You said you have tons of casual friends who don't care. I think that implies that you think they're expecting it to sell like crazy asap. I apologize if I misunderstood though.

The thing is, they're not catering to those casual friends of yours. They're catering to the enthusiasts. And clearly, they are already buying it.

And seriously, VR is hardly comparable to the motion controls (at least in the way most people try to compare them). VR isn't in the level of waggling, VR is called VR because it tricks your brain to think you're in a different place (even if you consciously know you're not) - it's not a small thing at all. Nothing wrong with discussing if they'll manage to convey that feeling to the bigger market once they really start going for it, but kneejerk responses like your post was are just silly (no offense).
 
The price is a little higher than I expected. Well, there's always an expectation there there would be a VR unit priced in this tier, but I wasn't expecting Oculus VR to be the one. Back in the era of its inception, didn't they build their platform and messaging in the spirit of affordable VR experiences? Sorry if this was all covered in the previous Palmer Luckey VR cost thread, but it seems reality dawned on them at some point and this is where we are now.

Well, I guess wait and see how the other VR units from competing companies will be priced.
 
The question is how much different the experience will be. Obviously the resolution is lower, and most games will be running at 60 and reprojected at 120hz. But will people still feel presence? Will the move controllers still give you the sense that you can manipulate the 3D space in front of you?

I think the biggest issue PSVR faces is it's use of a single screen. There is no mechanical/physical eye width (IPD) adjustment on the current units and it's likely to be an inferior experience for people with bigger or smaller IPD's than the presumed one-size-fits-all 64mm average the unit is actually designed for. Both Rift and Vive use 2 screens that physically shift to account for the user's IPD, which reportedly effects how you gauge scale and distance. My IPD is 59mm and having owned DK1 and DK2 since their first batches, they just look like a big, wide FOV 3D display strapped to my face. Across hundreds of demos, scale has never come close to mimicking how I expect it in reality, and I have never had even a hint of presence.
 
Meaning? Are you acting like EviLore is some kind of authority on VR?
There's plenty of impressions of PSVR out there. Nearly all of them extremely positive. That's all i'm saying.

I brought it up because he's used all of them and can give a comparison. What did you think I mean?
 
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