I’m away from a full blown computer this weekend, so please excuse the brevity of this post. I’m writing from my phone because I wanted to share some brief but exciting information regarding the Oculus Rift that I wrote about the other day.
I spoke briefly with PalmerTech, the guy behind the Oculus Rift HMD. As mentioned previously, the goal is to crowd-fund the project through Kickstarter. PalmerTech’s original hope was to start the funding on June 1st, but he now tells me that he intends to put it up either this weekend or to delay it until the 14th. All is pending negotiations with John Carmack (founder and technical director of Id Software, who is integrating support for the Oculus Rift in the upcoming Doom 3 BFG release) and Hillcrest Labs (from whom PalmerTech is likely sourcing the head tracking hardware which will be featured on one version of the Oculus Rift).
From what I’ve heard thus far, the initial version of the Oculus Rift will not be a consumer-ready HMD, but rather a sort of DIY kit for enthusiasts. I’ve also heard prices of $500 being thrown around, but we’ll have to wait and see about that. Update: $500 target confirmed! More info here.
John Carmack plans to give 100 copies of Doom 3 BFG to be included in the funding rewards for the Oculus Rift Kickstarter.
I’ve got my eye on this one closely and will let you know as soon as I see the Kickstarter go live!
The Oculus Rift is a head mounted display with a much more expansive field of view when compared to other commercially available HMDs. Although a low resolution is currently a limiting factor, John Carmack says that the high Fov of the Oculus Rift makes it the most immersive of several HMDs that he has tested (including the Sony HMZ-T1).