During an interview at the Game Developers Conference at the end of March, head of Oculus’ PC VR division Brendan Iribe stated that the Rift will remain the company’s flagship VR headset for “at least the next two years”. The report by The Verge also discussed the company’s future direction for inside-out tracking and glove-free hand tracking.

Since stepping down as Oculus CEO, Brendan Iribe has lead the PC division of the company, a role focused on the day-to-day development of leading edge VR technology—so this estimated timeframe carries significant weight.

HTC has offered similar prescriptions, describing recently the likely generational cycle for VR headsets to sit somewhere between a smartphone and a games console, and there have been grand predictions for major technical advancements that are less than five years away. It seems likely that the two companies will continue to compete at the high-end of VR with similar schedules, although recent hints from HTC suggest a possible 2018 launch for next-generation hardware, such as Daniel O’Brien’s interview with Digital Trends, and Gabe Newell’s discussion about massive display advancements arriving in 2018 and 2019, and the expectation for integrated wireless by 2018.

Oculus’ ‘Santa Cruz’ prototype is a standalone VR headset. Iribe has confirmed its being developed under the company’s mobile division.

In terms of wireless, Oculus is looking at both untethering the headset as well as removing the need for external sensors, as the company recently demonstrated with their Santa Cruz prototype. This standalone VR headset is still on the way, and will be coordinated by Oculus’ mobile division, Iribe says, but he may be hinting that their Rift PC headset could embrace inside-out tracking too.

In February, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted photographs of his Oculus Research lab tour, and Iribe teased multiple breakthrough technologies “from advanced optics and display systems to revolutionary tracking and machine perception”, one of which was recently revealed as the Focal Surface Display.

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“Everything we’re doing is still research-oriented”, said Iribe, indicating that the new technology is still a long way from production spec. For example, the prototype tracking gloves worn by Zuckerberg are very unlikely to become a consumer product, as fit and comfort are difficult problems to solve. “In the future, we’re trying to pioneer natural hand gestures without gloves,” Iribe said.

Both Oculus and HTC are looking to make meaningful advancements before committing to a new generation of hardware, and it takes time for the components to reach a level of affordability and production-readiness. Iribe believes the current Rift has a long life ahead; it won’t be superseded for “at least the next two years”, and will remain relevant after the fact. “I think you’ll see even beyond that, a lot of people will be using this first [generation]”.

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Dominic Brennan
The trial version of Microsoft’s Monster Truck Madness probably had something to do with it. And certainly the original Super Mario Kart and Gran Turismo. A car nut from an early age, Dominic was always drawn to racing games above all other genres. Now a seasoned driving simulation enthusiast, and former editor of Sim Racer magazine, Dominic has followed virtual reality developments with keen interest, as cockpit-based simulation is a perfect match for the technology. Conditions could hardly be more ideal, a scientist once said. Writing about simulators lead him to Road to VR, whose broad coverage of the industry revealed the bigger picture and limitless potential of the medium. Passionate about technology and a lifelong PC gamer, Dominic suffers from the ‘tweak for days’ PC gaming condition, where he plays the same section over and over at every possible combination of visual settings to find the right balance between fidelity and performance. Based within The Fens of Lincolnshire (it’s very flat), Dominic can sometimes be found marvelling at the real world’s ‘draw distance’, wishing virtual technologies would catch up.
  • iThinkMyCatIsAFlea

    Nobody cares about Oculus. Ok, Oculus, ZeniMax and some developers may do. In other words, those that have a monetary interest in the success/failure of Oculus.

    Everyone is waiting to see what VR games Valve has been working on.

    • Todd Shephard

      Lol, no.

    • Kilroy

      I care about it and I am none of those. I would also venture you care as you are on a story about oculus commenting. You may hate the company and want them to fail so your “vive elite” mentality can be proven right. But that is still caring my friend.

    • Matthew White

      Why wouldn’t people want to see what Oculus is working on? They have the superior headset in every aspect except tracking area and FOV. They also release more high quality software than any other studio. They also have the best R&D team in VR so I wouldn’t be surprised if their 2nd gen headset is amazing and much better than the Vive 2 now that they have Facebook money.

    • Xilence

      I despise Facebook and what they stand for, but Oculus is a very powerful player on the VR market. I do want them to succeed for now as the VR market needs all the help that it can get, surely you can agree with me on that part, right?

      • NooYawker

        Zuck is scum, Palmer is scum, but yes Oculus is a major player and their success helps VR’s success.

    • Buddydudeguy

      gtfo you cuck

      • Get Schwifty!

        This made me laugh….

    • Mermado 1936

      Im not gonna buy an Oculus never so they can release whenever they want.

      • Get Schwifty!

        Double negative – so you plan on buying one…

    • Andrew Jakobs

      Nobody cares about iThinkMyCatIsAFlea because he/she has a big grudge against Oculus.

      • iThinkMyCatIsAFlea

        “I bear more grudges
        Than lonely high court judges”

        If you buy an Oculus headset or Oculus software then you’re lining Palmer’s alt-right, Trump-loving pockets.

        • Tailgun

          Sounds good to me.

  • Ian Shook

    2 years? Damn. I’ll be buying something before then. I’m certainly not going to wait around. 2 years could quickly turn into 2.5 or 3 years depending on how ‘new’ they want their headset at the time of release. I can see Vive releasing something sooner.

    • Walextheone

      Vive will probably not. But Microsoft will probably have something interesting out

      • Ian Shook

        Well we know google is working furiously on things – and one of those Daydream all-in-ones look really tempting. I’m not really interested in what Microsoft comes up with. I am from a tech viewpoint but their hololens was more of a proof of concept, and their next one will be too. It’s for other companies to take and run with. Either way, there will be a few to choose from for the next few years.

        • Xilence

          This competition is astoundingly good for VR’s success, the Metaverse is closer than we think!

      • David Herrington

        HTC will probably release Vive 2.0 in 2018. I would say summer to fall 2018, depending on the maturation of tech. HTC and Gabe have been stating that higher definition screens are already coming out that will be a lot better, and we all know that wireless (TPcast) and eye-tracking (7invensun) are almost production ready. All that is left to do is put it all together and working out the kinks! ;)

      • Meow Smith

        For all we know HTC might be planning on releasing 2.0 early on the quiet while giving Oculus a false sense of security that they have plenty of time to work on their next Rift or for that matter maybe Oculus could be doing the same thing on the quiet.

        With Microsoft etc about to nip at both their heels already its dangerous to be to complacent imo.

    • Conman_123

      The problem with releasing another headset so soon is the technical limitations of consumer hardware. The only main changes to the headset itself that I can think of are higher resolution screens (which couldn’t be much higher than they currently are because, as I mentioned before, most people’s hardware would struggle with any significantly larger resolution), or a completely reworked tracking method which would need to offer significant improvements to justify an entire new headset, controllers and whatever else is necessary.

      • Matthew White

        They’ve just gotten to where an Oculus ready PC is somewhat affordable. I don’t think they’re too eager to raise that cost of entry bar back up again.

        • Smokey_the_Bear

          Which is why foveated rendering is so important, that’s the tech that will allow a current VR ready PC, to handle a 4k per eye HMD.

          • Xron

            it might, after technic will improve, but I don’t think it will be sooner than 2/3 years from now…

          • David Herrington

            Eye-tracking for Vive (7invensun) is almost production ready. Check them out! These things will be coming sooner than you think. ;)

      • Adrian Meredith

        I don’t think thats the case at all even with an upscaled image the visual quality would be massively improved by going 4k (or at the very least) and RGB stripe as it would eliminate the screen door affect. Also simple applications such as “BigScreen” would benefit immensly

    • bschuler

      I think your right about the HTC releasing Vive 2 sooner. Where Oculus is obviously looking at Rift 2 needing completely new technology, HTC seems to be gradually improving the current Vive in production and more then willing to come out with Vive 1.2, 1.3 etc.. For example, the current Vive heasdset is actually lighter then the Rift now, they replaced the original 3 in 1 cable design, the lighthouses have been redesigned, etc.. Soon they will also have wireless and foveated rendering too. Meanwhile Oculus seems willing to sit back and release a new system in a few years.

      • ben2

        HTC will not release Vive 2 for lower price than Vive 1. Meanwhile Oculus maybe do some fine-tune on the rift (for example replacable lenses) and focus on lowering the costs of mass production so they can lower the price of the rift. At the end a superior quality Vive 2 with high hardware requirements and a “good enough” quality rift for half the price and half the hardware requirements will compete.
        Which one is gonna sell better?

        • Jeff Axline

          This would be awesome as it’s just more choices for consumers. I don’t care which would sell better as long as both systems are financially viable and thriving.

        • Joan Villora Jofré

          Superior quality, always.

          • Get Schwifty!

            Wow you don’t really believe that do you?

          • J.C.

            I’m with Schwifty on this. While *I* would want the better quality headset, the average consumer will go for the cheapest, or at least the cheapest one that isn’t COMPLETE garbage.

            The all-in-one daydream headsets will sell MUCH better than the Vive and Rift combined, because they’re likely going to be within a decent price range, are easier to set up, and aren’t dependent upon other hardware that non-tech people find to be impossibly cryptic (“What’s a 1070? Why is it more expensive than a 7970? Isn’t the 7970 way better because the number is bigger?”).

            PC VR may never take off. We may get better headsets, or they may abandon us for the higher sales of all-in-ones.

          • VirtualBro

            People keep buying iPhones and Galaxy S6-7-8s even though you can get basically and equivalent device for 20-50% less money, and if you’re willing to go for near-garbage, you can get a device with similar performance but an ugly form factor and less features for 80% discount

            So cheap doesn’t ALWAYS win.

          • Jim Cherry

            Marketing and good distribution can help overcome price.

          • NooYawker

            you need a powerful GPU to run VR. People who have powerful GPUs are willing to spend for best. Anyone looking for the cheaper option will just get a gear vr or daydream.

          • Joan Villora Jofré

            They can make the “cheap but good enough” and the “expensive but more capable” versions, with the same stuff, just like Playstation 4.

    • OkinKun

      Would you really tho? Lets say in 1.5 years, the Rift+Touch price is another 200 cheaper than it is now.. And maybe we’ll see a few competitors here and there, which will launch at a similar price at that time.. But they wont be THAT much improved over the Rift/Touch, and might be seriously lacking in other areas, in comparison. Point being, with the price drops by then, the Rift and Touch may still be competitive with the slightly improved alternatives at that time.
      Hardware wise, there REALLY isn’t a lot that can be improved in the next 2 years, beyond minor improvements and experimental early new tech.

      • dextrovix

        And, whilst SteamVR allow competition in the sense non-HTC hardware from any manufacturer can natively work, I don’t see competitors (Chinese or otherwise) making anything work officially in the Oculus camp (outside of unofficial Revive), to be able to gain a foot-hold in the market.

        • OkinKun

          Again, there’s no real reason for that, at this time.. Oculus IS working on opening up their platform, and they’ve partnered with most the other VR hardware companies out there, towards eventually building a standard for all these VR devices to work together. But the general agreement among most these companies is that it’s still too early to worry too much about that.
          VR has it’s foot-hold already, and so does Oculus for now, with or without cross compatibility, but that will come.

      • Rogue Transfer

        It’s interesting you mention another $200 cheaper than Rift+Touch – which is what the Acer Windows 10 VR HMD with vision tracked+IK controllers is going to launch at around August this year.

        At which point, the Acer will offer similar roomscale and controllers but without any need for USB external cameras; in a lighter, more ergonomic package with higher resolution(with possibly some slight blurring with fast head turning reported on the dev kit version).

        Not to forget the other 5 MR headsets coming around the same time later this year. Competition is going to be very stiff and the relevance of last year’s headsets will be greatly reduced(within a few months) to the majority market of people buying these much lower priced headsets.

        It’s inevitable that someone will write a compatibility layer for SteamVR for them too, with MS having stated they won’t be doing anything preventing it. If so, this will drive adoption of them much quicker than either the Rift or Vive had.

        It’s certainly going to be interesting to see the next year play out. Prices will need to be adjusted faster than expected, which will benefit VR as a whole.

        • daveinpublic

          I’m curious how accurate their controllers are without base stations. Well soon find out.

        • OkinKun

          Some of those competitors might come close, but the general consensus I’m seeing from people who have tried the prototypes, is that they’re not quite as good as the vive/rift. They over-promise certain features, boost others that don’t really matter..
          Also, so far, we’ve only seen 1 or 2 MR headsets, so it remains to be seen if we’ll see many others.. We heard a similar rumor last year about several companies making VR headsets, that seem to have fizzled out.. the MR idea is really cool, but these are all just developer-kits right now.. the Rift and Vive are consumer platforms, and I’m not seeing THAT being created for any of these new devices, yet.. Can’t compare dev kits to consumer hardware platforms.

    • Tenka

      I would keep your eye on the FOVE, they’ve already got Eye tracking, Foveated rendering and higher resolution.

      I wouldnt buy into Microsofts headset, FOV-only controller tracking is terrible and is going to be extremely flawed. Maybe you can mix and match the headset with Touch controllers from rift if you’re lucky.

      • Rogue Transfer

        Microsoft have been reported as saying there will be offered an optional external camera to help with situations like that. If this is the case, it could be a very nice solution for a lot less.

        • Tenka

          Thats great to hear!, I hope you’re right about it. If thats the case then its not as bad as I thought, but I would suggest to anyone who picks it up to IMMEDIATELY get the extra sensors, 2 of them at the very least (assuming it supports multiple).

  • Walextheone

    We all kund of knew it from the start. Both Vive and Oculus talking about somewhat long product cycles.

    Also LOL at mr Brain fart “iThinkMyHeadIsEmpty”

    • iThinkMyCatIsAFlea

      ;)

  • dogbite

    Anyone following VR won’t be surprised by this. I have been suggesting this for several months to anyone who says “I am going to wait for Gen2”. I have been enjoying my Rift for a year now and the software has only made it better. I am sure there will be improvements in Gen1 to come and Gen2 will no doubt require some pc horsepower we don’t have yet.
    Both Oculus and Vive have and are investing big money and neither are going away. It is the new players that will be challenged, but I welcome anything that advances the cause.
    As for fanboys-get a life.

    • Lucidfeuer

      But…you are the fanboy.

      • Andrew Jakobs

        And you quite the opposite.

        • Lucidfeuer

          Look at your comment below. There’s a point at which you can’t escape sane rationales…

          • dogbite

            Do you know how to make a point by actually making a point or are you happy to just hide behind esoteric mumbo jumbo?
            It kind of detracts from the Lucid part in your moniker.

          • Lucidfeuer

            Lucid and cryptic are not mutually exclusive, they don’t have neighbouring meanings or contrast.

          • dogbite

            lucid “express in a clear way” which seems beyond you. You either miss the point or prefer to deflect when ask questions.

          • Lucidfeuer

            Get your semantic right before talking about deflection, lucid means to “understand in a clear way”, nothing to do with expressing which would be the term “eloquent”.

            As for my point I was referring to his comment: “Next two years? I hope he’s joking, as there will be a lot of other players (‘chinese’ versions) in the meantime which will supersede the Rift in price and tech. I think most people were expecting Oculus to ship a new version by march 2018.”

            Which is right and I agree with it, but then he called me “the opposite of a fanboy” referring to my critical comments on VR. Which are why I called you a “fanboy” given how unfoundedly apologetic you are: “I have been enjoying my Rift for a year now and the software has only made it better […] Both Oculus and Vive have and are investing big money and neither are going away. It is the new players that will be challenged”.

            This to me, is fanboy bullshit.

          • Raphael

            Yes, i also refer to your long history of cliche anti-vr rhetoric. You never have anything good to say about vr.

            How old are you? “fanboy”? Are you a teen? Next you’ll be saying “butthurt” or making “your Mom” insults. Someone has a positive view of vr that differs entirely from your long history of anti-vr cliches and so you label them a “fanboy”.

            As i said last year…. You are a miserable whining mong who never has anything good to say.

            And there is nothing lucid about your “insight”. It’s like donald trump calling himself “Lovehippy”. I understand you’re trying to tell everyone you’re lucifer but the lucid part is wildly at odds with your long history of fuzzy anti-vr CLICHE rhetoric.

          • Lucidfeuer

            There are actually 3 different entities represented in my name and pic.

            As for my rhetoric being CLICHÉ, you’d have to tell me exactly where you’ve seen it repeated so many times in these terms that it has become a cliché, fan-boy.

          • Raphael

            Again with the fanboy… And you think you’re suitable to work in the vr industry? I didn’t mean you had repeated yourself… I meant that you have used stock anti-vr cliche rhetoric in your previous statements about vr going back last year.

            You clearly don’t have the capacity to process the irrelevance of the fanboy insult. I get that in your age group it’s commonplace along with “butthurt” and “gaylord” but on a purely logical point it’s nonsensical.

            With the exception of you, most people here are fans of vr…. It’s a vr news site you fucking mong. So yes…. We are boys with penises and fans of vr. So perhaps switch to a more meaningful insult?

          • Lucidfeuer

            You know that this was only used in relevancy of the OP saying “As for fanboys-get a life”?

            It’s odd that you get so hung-up on a word, which means what it means and is good at purveying it’s intended meaning, but I personally prefer “hypocrite apologist”.

            As for stock anti-vr cliché, again, I demand to see where you’ve encountered my rhetoric anywhere else but from me. But judging by your attacks, you probably never read my comments, let alone understood, as if you lack of perception for sarcasm wasn’t a clue.

          • Raphael

            Jog-on chav.

          • Lucidfeuer

            You failed once again Raphael.

          • Raphael

            Say it isn’t so lucy fur.

          • Raphael

            So it seems you have but one insult. Anyone who doesn’t have your negative view of vr is a fanboy. You might want to expand on your range of insults. As I explained…. You’re coming to a vr news site so calling everyone fanboy makes u look cuntishly stupid.

      • dogbite

        how do you figure that?

      • Raphael

        Yes he has a penis thus he’s a boy and he’s a fan vr. You on the other hand have a long history of anti-vr rhetoric and are a brainless idiot.

        • Lucidfeuer

          Imagine how stupid the people hiring me for VR must be.

          • Raphael

            They’d have to be seriously stupid or very mislead with false information.

            A mong who calls someone “fanboy” because they have a different view on vr is not someone most vr companies want to hire.

          • Sponge Bob

            Just asking (you don;t need to answer):

            how many years of “VR experience” those people require ?

            i guess you are as good as anyone else with some 3D computer graphics and basic math/physics (like all game developers)

          • Lucidfeuer

            Which people?

            VR in terms of content creation for branding or institutions is no different than typical creative agency/brand content, as you said the same art, graphic, programming skills are required for interactive/3D content, except you get to explore uncharted territories and improvise rules, that’s why I consider that besides pure VR conception it shouldn’t require any special skills.

            Like did you know that the reason why almost all VR experiences get scale wrong is because they forgot that the eye was round, not square like a screen or camera sensor. Thus the perspective on the upper part of your eye is bend upward, which is what create the impression of presence when people or objects get close, or building seem to overshadow you even though they’re straight, same for the lower part of your eye thus heights impressions, far aways object being small or the horizon-line not being straight in front of your sight convergence point.

      • Raphael

        “But…you are the fanboy.”
        “This to me is fanboy bullshit”
        “As for my rhetoric being CLICHÉ, you’d have to tell me exactly where you’ve seen it repeated so many times in these terms that it has become a cliché, fan-boy.”

        Comes to a vr website and calls people fanboy for liking vr.

        Last year he was posting a whole lot of anti-vr rhetoric here and on other vr sites.

        One of his claims was that vr has hasn’t improved since the 90s.

        If you don’t share his cliche anti-vr rhetoric then you’re labelled “fanboy”.

        Assuming it’s a young kid so perhaps i should cut him some slack.

    • Mr. New Vegas

      I would of been happy to get a dual OLED 2048×2048 HMD device or single 4K OLED.
      Right now MS offerings sound much sweeter, if the basic 300$ models beat Oculus and Vive in resolution and tracking than imagine what 500$ model will do.

  • OkinKun

    IMO, they don’t really need too.. There are some key technologies that aren’t ready yet, and probably won’t be for another couple years..
    Also, Oculus seems to be focused on lowering the cost of the Rift, and we might see further price drops. They’re focused on making VR affordable to the mass-market, not on rushing another expensive early-adopter device out.

    • Andrew Jakobs

      I might think about buying the CV1 (already have the DK2) if the price is dropping by 200, but at this time, I’m not considering buying one.

      • OkinKun

        Well, the price DID just drop by 200 a couple months back.. And supposedly they expect to drop it again around the end of the year, if rumors are true.

  • saintkamus

    not surprising, and not just because they were going for a stable platform. To me it seems more like they’re giving up on PC as a platform.

    • Get Schwifty!

      I suspect you might be right about that-

  • MW

    Nail to the coffin… If Pimax release they 8k hmd who will buy oculus in those 2-3 years?

    • GX Studio

      I will, 8k is far from everything in VR and Oculus does so many things great across the board.

    • Walextheone

      Its all about the complete package IMO. Ergonomics, price, controllers, ease of use, software, FOV, cables or not, resolution, lenses, eyetracking etc.

    • mbze430

      I own SLI Titan Xp, but it barely drives 8k. They can come out with an 8k display, but I would imagine pushing that many pixels, they would have to lower the amount of polygons. Probably end up with gfx like N64 days

      • Andrew Jakobs

        But it doesn’t have to run 8k, the headset will upscale it itself.

        • Arashi

          Exactly. Besides it’s not really 8k but 2x4k and the Pimax is 60 hz. A dual 1080 GTX setup would be able to render it natively without upscaling though.

      • Mike

        Foveated rendering.

    • NooYawker

      If a tree falls in the woods and no one is around does it make a sound?
      Don’t get caught up in specs especially ridiculous ones like 8k VR.

    • Andrew Jakobs

      8k isn’t the real interesting part, it’s what the FOV and headtracking etc will be with that headset. As far as I’ve read (but please correct me if I’m wrong, only read a few articles) the current Pimax headsets don’t have quite as good tracking as the Oculus/Vive.

      • Sponge Bob

        nolovr works with pimax

        quite accurate and cheap

        • Andrew Jakobs

          How do you know it works great, it’s not even out (and no real reviews yet). And on preorder it isn’t that cheap ($199) as they promised ($99).

          • Sponge Bob

            I will get it soon (I hope) and test it myself

            It was reviewed on this blog and was presented at last CES

            $199 is fair (if not cheap) price for full HMD tracking WITH 2 tracked controllers ($99 was just a kickstarter promotion to excite people)

            consider the fact that samsung charges $40 for one absolutely useless controller

  • Lucidfeuer

    Okay, if this is true, I dub the Oculus dead (which is a shame, but then might not be a bad thing given that Luckey is not involved anymore, but Facebook is…).

    I guess we’ll invest in additional Vive from now on, even if that’s more bulky, ugly and less straight-forward, since at least it’s easy to mod.

    After prospecting around, a third-party company launching an enticing competitive product seems unlikely so I guess for now Daydream is the road. Maybe the next Pixel will integrate the necessary components.

    • RFC_VR

      I had an interesting chat today with a key individual who does ‘some vr stuff’ (they were being very modest) for Google in London. Worldsense looks very promising, and the Vive / Google standalone head set has potential. Interesting times, no doubt!

      • Sponge Bob

        vive/google standalone ??? wtf is that ?

        totally different approaches

        • Shawn MacDonell

          HTC is collaborating with Google to produce a standalone VR headset powered by Daydream; it will feature WorldSense inside-out tracking developed by Google. It was announced at Google I/O a couple of days ago.

        • robert cole

          @disqus_PDyszClMXc:disqus

          its not really a secret that Google have been developing new VR tech in partnership with key electronics manufacturers. the new standalone Vive HMD with Worldsense has great potential. It’s all good….

    • Sponge Bob

      vive easy to mod ?

      what’s to mod there ?

      leapmotion attachment ?

      • robert cole

        @disqus_PDyszClMXc:disqus

        mods for Vive ??

        -face cushions (increased FOV and comfort)
        -headset strap (DIY, mod-tapes, or the new HTC Audio strap)
        -eye tracking inserts
        -optical correction inserts
        -wireless data transmission (no tether) i.e. TP Cast
        -3-in-1 cable extension using active cables (for cabled ‘plus’ setups)
        -Lighthouse Towers to extend tracking for “roomscale plus”
        -Linkplate for cable management in “roomscale plus”
        -Audio adapters with 0.5m leads for aftermarket Hi-Fi headphones
        -Vive tracker for peripherals
        -Motion Controlled arcade seats,etc.

        its all good….

  • Meow Smith

    Ha good luck with that.. other company’s are already getting ready to steal their customers who are itching for a headset that has a wider fov/better resolution and in Oculus’s case also better tracking than what they have to offer.

  • Mermado 1936

    Its normal… they don’t know what they are gonna to do… the camera system is not the future so they are not gonna sell another HMD with “old tracking”…

    • Get Schwifty!

      Yea ahh and you are qualified to say this?

    • whitedragon101@gmail.com

      Actually camera systems are most definitely the future. They just had a shaky start in the past. The ideal standalone system would have inside out tracking, which uses cameras. The ideal body tracking system would be an outside in marker less system, which again would involve cameras.

      This is why google, magic leap, Facebook/oculus, Microsoft, Sony are all doubling down on camera tracking systems.

      • Cl

        “The ideal standalone system would have inside out tracking, which uses cameras.” What if the ideal solution was using a sensor? You dont know and are just guessing, just like the guy above you.

        • whitedragon101@gmail.com

          Stand alone tracking is the ideal. The current available option to achieve that is camera based slam. This is being worked on by all the companies mentioned above. Google and Microsoft have already demo d inside out camera based systems in consumer products to the press releasing this year. Facebook/ Oculus have demo d their prototype Santa Cruz to the press (this again uses inside out cameras). Magic leap have also discussed their work on slam reconstruction (which uses inside out cameras) for AR. So yes there is a plethora of evidence that the technology to power the transition to inside out tracking is camera based.

          Also for outside in markerless tracking of the body the only evidence of a working system is Facebook F8 conference where they showed a working camera based skeletal markerless tracking system.

          In the further out future it’s always possible that another technological development will show another way to do it. But nothing based on evidence for now.

          Also worth mentioning that a camera is a sensor. Sensor only means device which detects, it does not refer to any specific technology. You can have ultrasonic sensors, laser sensors, visible light sensors, vibration sensors etc

          • Rogue Transfer

            It’s worth rewatching those few short clips shown at Facebook F8 – you’ll see how it is not a working solution for VR body tracking.

            Check on YouTube and turn on slow-motion to see how every few frames it either loses limbs or they suddenly cross-over at random. They focused on other video analysis uses for the tech in the talk though, which is more appropriate for it.

          • whitedragon101@gmail.com

            There is another video from the sit-down Facebook R&D day videos where Mark sat down with various R&D people to show off cool new stuff. One of the guys demoed the marker less single camera body tracking running around his room and hiding behind walls and desks (so only partial body visible ), and it seemed to do a solid job of it. I didn’t slow mo it but seemed pretty convincing. I think it was on the same day as the oculus touch hot/cold controller demo.

            I think gen 2 will still need sub mm physical hand controls but the marker less tracking could be great to bring your body in. Hopefully we will see more as time passes to see how accurate it is. Also would be interesting to see how accurate it would need to be for gross movements like feet and body position. Head we need sub mm, hands pretty much the same. I wonder if sub cm would be good enough for legs/body.

          • Cl

            Current available option? I thought we were talking about the future here. Right now lighthouse is the best tracking and what if they never get this camera based tracking perfect? Maybe for mobile vr, but if it never gets as good as lighthouse then i dont see it replacing tracking for pc. You know what I meant by sensor… my point is we don’t know what’s in store for the future.

          • whitedragon101@gmail.com

            At present in the market lighouse provides excellent tracking. You don’t have to worry about that.

            There are inside out tracking systems in the works that do not require external sensors. They use cameras. The r and d being done for improvement in this area also uses cameras. There are working prototypes of these systems today in the present and both the google and Oculus systems were described by journalists as providing tracking similar to Rift and Vive.

            Of course there could be secret projects of inside out systems that do not use cameras. However this would be a guess not based in fact.

            Ps

            Actually I am genuinely intrigued what you did mean by sensor.

          • Cl

            Think of a gyroscope or accelerometer.

          • beestee

            With tracking, inside-out could reach good enough that the balance with convenience makes perfection unnecessary.

            What’s interesting is how similar what lighthouse does to inside-out tracking but somehow inside-out is automatically dismissed as never having the potential to match current best tracking methods.

            http://www.psoih.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/IMG_20140116_110051998.jpg

            ^^This was Vive’s tracking method before Lighthouse stations were realized.

          • Sponge Bob

            yep, in this kind of room (and not bigger than 5 m) inside-out (with at least 2 cameras) would work … more or less
            do you want to have a dedicated room like that in your house ?
            I do not

          • beestee

            And yet a consumer PC based Vive would still not work in that space without external projectors despite there being an over-abundance of trackable data already present.

  • ✨EnkrowＸ✨

    Sounds good to me!
    Gen 2 will probably be a huge upgrade then.

    • Mike

      As long as they keep dropping their price appropriately and then make their next gen device better than the Vive 2, it would make sense.

    • Vrdeluxe

      And the new Deepoon E3. Their laser system is already far superior to vive

  • Andrew Jakobs

    Next two years? I hope he’s joking, as there will be a lot of other players (‘chinese’ versions) in the meantime which will supersede the Rift in price and tech. I think most people were expecting Oculus to ship a new version by march 2018.

    • Sponge Bob

      if they don’t ship next gen hmd by christmas of 2018 they are dead for sure

    • If the tech isn’t ready for a proper/meaningful jump forward in almost every area then I don’t want them to just rush out another headset because everyone else is. The next Rift has to offer a big jump in resolution, a big jump in field of view, possibly inside-out tracking (but at a quality that at least matches the current outside-in tracking), a lower price of entry, possibly be entirely self-contained, and more.

      • dudits

        True the main concerns should be Resolution (Get that shit to be as clear as me staring at my 1080 tv ya fuck that 4k horseshit 1080 is more then enough for a marker.)

        Portability (Find a way to ditch the wires and go unattached. Preferably for say 5 hours. Thats about the time frame when you fully burn yourself out gaming and want a hydrate break or something. Could even have a pad to set it on that charges it like the new phones.)

        And definitely customization. Its ok now, but Id like to see it be able to ajust itself alot more. Id like to be able to narrow the vision lens more (Helps with eye stigma’s) as well as adjust the depth itself for both glasses and to be able to take god rays into consideration. A slight lenses correction as well as spaces nearly eliminates them. Also retractable lenses. Just like the old test models I want to be able to pop em out and replace them. Again it would make vision problems much more comfortable if you could order a set of lenses to be made from a company like 39 dollar to your prescription. Add a mesh vent to the corners to combat facial heat for the steam effect.

        Lil things go a long way.

        • Spuzzum

          “Get that shit to be as clear as me staring at my 1080 tv ya fuck that 4k horseshit 1080 is more then enough for a marker.”

          The Oculus Rift DK2 is 2 screens, 960×1080 per eye.. or 1920×1080 combined. And you still have the screen door effect. The Pimax 4K.. no screen door effect. But it’s still 60hz/60fps as the Oculus Rift is. Both can use some kinda voodoo to get closer to 90hz between them though. At 60hz, some people get motion sick. At 90hz, it’s a lot smoother. They’re aiming for 4K @ 120fps. Pimax also has an 8K in the works.. with a 200° field of vision.

        • ShaneMcGrath

          1080p is no where near enough for VR, Unless you are blind!
          Screen door effect is terrible even with higher resolutions, Fully immersive it will need to be at least 4k or even higher, AMD reckons it needs to be at around 8k so we are still years away.

    • WyrdestGeek

      I agree. I mean– it’s all nice and shiny them having been first for mainstream, consumer VR and all — but from all the updates hitting Road to VR, I’m not sure if this a time when Oculus can *afford* to be all aloof and stuff.

      What is cutting edge today could be looking pretty dated even just six months from now.

      I dunno, maybe they’ll be ok since Facebook owns them… I just get the sense that this is one situation where being a “First Mover” isn’t going to get them much of an advantage at all.

    • Zybane

      All of these Chinese VR headsets coming out are junk.

      • Andrew Jakobs

        Some are junk, but some are just as good as the other players. It’s not like the current headsets are perfect.

      • JDawg

        Check out the new Pimax headsets coming out. They look amazing and the impressions from preview events are really positive.

  • victor

    Maybe gen2 2-years away from the big boys, but pretty sure there will be others to step in to fill that gap (thankfully), like Lenovo, Pimax, etc

  • RationalThought

    Timeline wise this totally makes sense. Announce next year then ramp up production and new headsets out in mid-late 2019.

  • Tim Suetens

    RIP.

  • Fear Monkey

    PSVR is good for me right now, im waiting for a price drop on the current versions or cheaper headsets more than a new model from Oculus or Vive. IF they are smart, they would offer a cheaper and more refined version of the same though.

  • theonlyrealconan

    I was going to wait for Vive 2, but not anymore. Anyone that makes a new headset that has high enough resolution to stop the screen door affect gets my money.

    • iThinkMyCatIsAFlea

      Just wait and see what VR games Valve have been developing.

      Nobody really gives a toss about VR at the moment. Save your money and wait.

      • robert cole

        I ducked out of 1st Gen a few months back after owning 2 Vive’s…now waiting and watching market developements with keen interest.

        When Valve drop their 3 games into the market, I’d be straight to purchase Vive Gen 2 in MY18, or hell…even another 1st gen but fitted with TP Cast (wireless) and audio strap would suit me just fine ;)

  • Joan Villora Jofré

    Has anyone noticed that Lenovo is making a Windows VR and a Daydream? Add two Acer 6dof Windows Holographic controllers, a TPCAST wireless link to a PC and…

  • Sponge Bob

    in other words they don’t have a clue

    from 2 cameras to 3 or 4 cameras then to inside out tracking ???

    some chinese company like pimax will eat oculus for lunch very soon

  • Just as long as there are new Rift headsets coming in the future.

  • Michigan Jay Sunde

    There’s plenty still to do in this generation. Wireless adapter directly from Oculus? New attachable headphones from OSSIC X? Huge update to Oculus Home (more customizable, like the latest Steam VR update.) 3rd-party constellation tracking for peripherals? Loads more software. XBox Scorpio compatibility? We also need a new GPU architecture like Volta for consumers. If Oculus doubled the resolution for CV2 (which they should and must) then who would have the horsepower right now to drive it? We need eye-tracking (top priority), face tracking, hand tracking, foot trackers, better depth spatialization, wider FoV, higher refresh rate… more more more. This stuff will not happen overnight – and neither can Oculus do it in a vacuum. I love VR and own both Gen.1 headsets, but it’ll take a very real leap in the technology for me to justify another credit-card-orgy like that first one.

  • Raphael

    This is absolutely hilarious. All those idiot statements from people convinced octopus 2 and vive would be released this year. From a business strategy alone it makes no sense. You create infrastructure for your existing product… A product that took years of R&D. It really shows how trivial and entitled society has become. We want it now. If you don’t give it to us right now you will pay the price. There will be cheap chinese rifts making you obsolete….

    You think VR is a sansung galaxy?

    OctopusVR and HTC want to develop significantly improved vr. They aren’t going to rushed, bullied or threatened by brainless kiddies into releasing something quickly.

    Regardless of chinese vr.

    • Sponge Bob

      volume is the key
      R&D takes time and a lot of money so with current sales it does not make any financial sense to rush to the market
      another 1.5-2 years until it explodes

      • Raphael

        Agree don’t i. Absolutely right. It’s surprising how many vr users don’t understand that and act like better vr is being held back.

  • Raphael

    Absolutely hilarious. All those peps who believed gen 2 octopus and vive were coming this year. VR isn’t a Samsung galaxy even if DK2 was based around one. It’s not something that will see a new model every year. For vr given the luxury niche peripheral pricing and the developer support it would be a very bad idea to make gen 1 obsolete this year.

    Given the targets octopusvr have set with their inside tracking and the new depth plane focus they will need a lot of time to get it all into a finished package.

    There is more to vr than increased pixel density. It doesn’t matter what comes along in the meantime from china or anywhere else.

    • Sponge Bob

      it no more pricier than galaxy itself (ok, a little more considering PC cost)
      its the sales volume and right now its severely lacking for may reasons
      lack of killer appa is one of them – no everyone is a gamer and even gamers don;’t doitch their multomonitors setups yet
      Sometime towards the end of 2018 or even 2019 VR will finally start its unrestricted (for quite some time) exponential growth
      by that time some of the key tech will be ready (4K, wireless etc)

      • Raphael

        Wireless 4k with internal tracking and the multi plane focus oculus are working on. Makes you realise the vr we have now is cave man stuff compared to what’s coming. Still fun though.

        • Sponge Bob

          inside-out tracking can’t compete with outside-in like lighthouse for ther moment, at least not without additional depth cameras
          aside from wasting cpu/gpu the accuracy is not even close
          try to get some raw (not merged with IMU data) tracking figures out of those dudes- they wont give them to you

          (lighthouse gives you 1 mm at 3-4 m and can be improved to go to 6-7 m)

          • Raphael

            I do love lasers. I used to have a 3watt IR and a 100mw green. Laser precision. Painting a room with laser light is a good method for tracking. It was one of the reasons i jumped ship to vive at pre-launch stage.

  • Zybane

    All of this other stuff is trivial. 4K resolution should be the sole focus of the CV2. That alone will make a huge difference in the quality of the VR experience.

  • ShaneMcGrath

    By the time there is a second Oculus or Vive headset, Pimax will have another one on market with better specs at a cheaper price.
    They are catching up fast and have already surpassed the others with resolution, It does make a very big difference, All they need now is to up the hz and fov and it’s game over for the other two.
    I think they already announced an 8k version with 90hz back in January!

  • Kev

    Oculus management are genuine idiots. Sounds pretty rough to say but these guys have literally squandered nearly 100% of the incredible good will they had garnered as pioneers. Remember all the “woah” videos on youtube with the rift and all the good will from the kickstarter? All gone. Today: Innovators: Nope, Pioneers: Nope, Work with other VR companies: Nope, Backtrack on a whole bunch of rather foolish and somewhat creepy decisions: Yep.

  • KHele2k

    I could care less about not needing controllers, just hand gestures. Fix the resolution and the screen door effect so the graphics are at least on par with today’s TVs. And no more “screen door effect”

  • LuridFTW

    As soon as a headset offers a much better display the first gen will be superseded. The screen door effect is so bad that it affects vision greatly, if you get a better display you’ll automatically get more kills in games, and just a more immersive experience.

    I just bought my oculus rift in December 2017, but I’d buy another if it offered a 50% increase in display. That could literally be the only upgrade for the headset and I’d still buy it and so would every other competitive gamer.

  • Benji Bear

    There are a lot of new technologies in the pipeline. Pimax 8k will be providing a modular approach. There is even a company that has a brain reader as an extra way to interface. The mobile products will be hard to beat. Some mobile phones have resolutions only useful when projected or used in VR headsets. Some of the new mobile headsets use much the same type of hardware as mobile phones. Once we have the option of a near real resolution in mobile solutions few will be satisfied with cables. Mobile systems with cameras on the headset allow for the possibility of the camera reading your hand and body movements so you may not need any controllers in your hand. There are some almost invisible devices that can detect movement, orientation etc so it will be possible to have mobile technologies so small that you may not even know someone has a VR setup on them. In a few years you will be able to buy glasses that look much like regular sunnies but have a mobile phone and augmented reality included.

  • Snirtle

    Hello two years ago yes Octopus Rift 2.5 is on release shedule June 2019.

    Do we Mixed Reality users care? Not in the slightest!