Oculus today launched a revamped version of their website to prepare for the upcoming ‘Step into the Rift‘ event later this week. With it came a slew of previously unseen photos which show, for the first time, an Oculus input controller, the ‘SID’ or Simple Input Device.
Developers have been awaiting the reveal of an Oculus input solution for quite some time. The company has acknowledged from early-on that input is important, but said they wanted to wait until they had a good solution rather than pushing something out hastily. Valve/HTC’s impressive input solution has put even more pressure on Oculus regarding the input question. Sony, Oculus’ other major competitor, also has designated the PlayStation Move controllers as their VR input solution.
Now we get a glimpse at what the company is working on for the first time. Called the ‘SID’ or Simple Input Device, according to the leaked photos, the unit is smaller and more simple than we might have expected, showing just a few buttons and a trackpad that’s similar to that of Valve’s SteamVR controllers. The controller also bears Oculus’ new logo, though it isn’t clear if it’s just a button or just a mark.
Oculus founder Palmer Luckey took to the Oculus section of reddit shortly after the leak warning that, “This is an old placeholder concept image that we accidentally leaked. Everything in it is ancient, certainly nowhere close to final (as evidenced by the GPU specs and the game named ‘war’). Enjoy checking it out, at this point, but don’t expect everything to carry through to the [Step into the Rift event] on the 11th.”