New Oculus Rift Dev Kit is Available for $350, will Probably Ship in July

oculus rift prototype 2

Despite Sony making waves in the games industry with their reveal of a bold new foray into virtual reality, the team behind the Oculus Rift have not let up in their pursuit of a perfect VR headset.

The second version of their development kit has been made available to order today, and it will set you back a cold $350 dollars. This new kit is similar to the Crystal Cove prototype in terms of all of its features and changes, although the overall finish and feel is closer to what we’ll hopefully see in the eventual retail release.


The connection between the Rift and your PC is simplified now, the cord is singular and includes both an HDMI for video and a USB for data, all of the other components are now hidden behind black plastic. The headset comes with a low-persistence OLED panel that runs at 960 by 1080 per eyeball. This low-persistence tech came into play thanks to Valve, in fact, as they managed to get low persistence going in OLED previously.

The team is also planning to add a usb port and a power connection, so that developers can connect and power external hardware (like a front facing camera), just in case you end up using peripherals with the Rift. This version of the Rift is ample enough for developers to create the final versions of their games, although new features (like the aforementioned ports) may be added later in the final version.

Oculus’ Nate Mitchell had this to say regarding the future developments of the hardware:

“With the consumer rift, we want to deliver on the dream. We think in the next five to ten years we’re going to see massive advancements in VR across the board. But we know what the threshold looks like to achieve presence and comfort, and we want to deliver that with [the retail version.]”


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