There's been some commotion about the price of the new Oculus Rift pre-order bundle, and although nearly doubling the infamous '$350 ballpark' estimate given out by company founder Palmer Luckey (for which he apologized), we thought this quick high-level breakdown might help clarify what you're getting for hard earned cash. Headset, Optics, and Display Making things comfortable is important, and Oculus has focused their resources on improving the headset’s overall balance and stability, choosing to evolve the front-heavy ski goggle design seen in both previous developer kits. The headset is light, and having now had the chance to wear CV1 engineering samples for 20-30 mins at a time, it's easy to see multi-hour gameplay passing with little complaint. There is no active ventilation present on the headset however. [caption id="attachment_40748" align="aligncenter" width="680"] See Also: Oculus Rift Manufacturing Overview Reveals 200+ Custom Parts, IPD Adjustment Mechanism[/caption] Although we're waiting on an iFixit breakdown of the entire system when it arrives to consumers in late March, Oculus says that the headset is sporting two built-for-VR Samsung OLED displays with a 1080 × 1200 per-eye resolution - 90Hz global refresh pushing 233 million pixels per second. Displays are specially treated to reduce perceived screen door effect, or the visible spaces between pixels. If you've used the Rift DK1 or DK2, you'll be surprised at how diminished the screen door effect has become. On the underside of the headset, is a small slider, designed to shift lenses and displays to match the unique distance between your pupils, crucial for a comfortable VR experience. IPD range hasn't been officially confirmed, but should be good for all but 5% of the population with either extremely low or high IPDs. Founder Palmer Luckey says the custom hybrid Fresnel lenses used in the headset are "more complex to manufacture than many high end DSLR lenses." Luckey also told us in an interview that they've "managed to push optics technology pretty far to make that happen." See Also: Oculus Rift Pre-Order ETA is Now June for New Orders High-End Integrated Audio The integrated headphones are designed by Carbon, the same industrial design house responsible for the original Xbox controller, so they know a thing or two about ergonomics. [caption id="attachment_29908" align="alignleft" width="288"] A close-up of the detachable headphone[/caption] Having a light, well-fitting integrated solution means no added weight pressing down on top of your head, and certainly no more 2-step 'put on the headset, then put on the headphones' song and dance. Again, this is something that helps keep you in the the VR experience, and not subconsciously blocking out any discomfort. Both headphones can be removed however, but we're betting most people will opt to use them based on convenience factor alone. In line with Oculus' belief (and their founder's audiophile roots), the company have incorporated a custom in line DAC (Digital to Analog Converter) and amplifier, designed to deliver what Oculus claims is the cleanest, flattest response from the audio hardware pipeline as possible. In a hands-on focusing on audio, editor Paul James found the Rift's headphones to be "clear, crisp and transparent. It seems to me that the drivers found on the Rift are designed for purity and transparency – i.e. reproducing audio frequencies as accurately as possible avoiding colouration or added ‘character’ introduced by the hardware." An integrated microphone on the headset guarantees a uniform audio experience when it comes to voice comms in virtual reality. No specs have been released yet on the Rift's microphone. IR Tracking Sensor and 'Constellation' Array Constellation is the name, and tracking headsets (and the recently delayed Oculus Touch) is the game. Facing away from the tracking sensor in a DK2 means one thing: breaking positional tracking. Oculus' new 360 Constellation Tracking System has set to correct this by providing tracking LEDs not only on the front and side of the headset, but also in the back so that you can turn around without fear of obscuring any part of the headset from the supplied tracking sensor. Of course, Constellation would be a useless clump of pulsing IR LEDs without a sensor to capture them, so Oculus is including a sleek-looking device designed specifically for the task. With a wide FOV that gives you a reasonably large tracking area (decidedly less than two HTC Vive Lighthouse trackers can provide) to stand up in, the tracking sensor can be mounted practically anywhere due to the sensor's 1/4 20 mount—the same as most tripods. Oculus will also be selling IR tracking sensors both as a part of Touch, and on an individual basis so you can extend tracking to any devices that include it's own constellation tracking array. Limits on this are unknown, how many individual devices that can be tracked individually may have more to do with processing time to calculate each devices' constellation, but it's extremely unlikely any user would hit these theoretical limits anyway. Continue Reading on Page 2... Xbox One Controller and Wireless Receiver According to Luckey, "The Xbox controller costs us almost nothing to bundle, and people can easily resell it for profit." However, having it included in the retail package is important. Luckey has stated time and again that, although VR specific motion controllers like the Oculus Touch will eventually represent the optimal immersive input method for VR, right now most titles - some years in development - have been built for an Xbox controller from the very beginning. Giving every Oculus Rift user the base controller for the first rush of titles means developers don't have to worry about 3rd party controllers, concentrating instead on developing great content. The Oculus Remote Using technology cribbed from Oculus' co-engineered mobile headset Samsung's Gear VR, the Oculus Remote is a diminutive, sleek control device designed to "make it simple and intuitive to navigate VR experiences," - according to Oculus. It's a simple device with an integrated battery (with life up to 4000 hours in use battery life) which includes a swipe-able touchpad, 'plus', 'minus' back and 'home' buttons, all embossed for ease of use)—but don't mistake it for a Wiimote or other motion-based controller, because as Luckey put it in a recent Reddit AMA: "No gyro. It is essentially the input set of Gear VR made into a remote..." Two Bundled Games Lucky's Tale: Challenging the early assumption that immersive VR experiences should be played from the first perspective, Lucky's Tale from Playful Corp has repeatedly proven to be a fun and compelling 3D platformer. It could be argued that the gameplay is strongly derivative of classics in the genre, but the gameplay we've experiences is fluid and tight and the mechanic placing you in the virtual world as a camera, free to explore the environment around Lucky, hunting for secrets in an intuitive fashion, is both engaging and not as disconnecting as you may think. We simply haven't played enough Lucky's Tale to speak to it's longevity or overall success as a VR launch title, but as a counterpoint to its fellow pack-in title EVE: Valkyrie, it's a fresh introduction to virtual reality. EVE: Valkyrie: Born from years of development, following the evolution of the VR industry, Road to VR's Paul James described the title, after a recent set of extensive playtests as "the launch title that the Oculus Rift, and by turns virtual reality in general, deserves. A focused, well balanced, accessible and addictive title that provides a surprisingly comfortable way for users not yet used to gameplay inside a VR headset." A multiplayer, online space shooter, EVE: Valkyrie may not be to everyone's tastes, but it feels like a labor of love and feedback from people who've been participating in the recent Alpha's is very good indeed. It's a comfortable VR experience that leverages gaze mechanics unique to the format to elevate the experience from the standard 2D realm. See Also: Oculus Plans to Have Rift Demo Stations in Retail Stores for Consumer Launch Cool Carrying Case The DK1, provided as a reward for backers in Oculus' 2012 Kickstarter campaign and packaged inside a fairly sturdy, plastic carry-case, spoke to the headset's original premise - a development kit to aid transporting the developer kit headset from meeting to meeting in order to more easily demo content. When the second developer kit arrived in 2014, the carry case was sorely missed by some. With the final consumer release, it's back and in Oculus founder Palmer Luckey's words "doper than ever". Magnetic latches, fine matte finish, all the space for your VR doodads - we'll be happy if it can stand up to the abuse of the occasional drop and can fit in an airplane overhead bin. Check out more on our up close and personal look with the carrying case to find out more. Continue Reading on Page 3... Things to Consider Before Buying The Oculus Rift, once the lone bastion of the VR revolution, is joined in 2016 by two able competitors - each offering different flavors of hardware configuration, and each worth a look before you get in that long line to pre-order the Rift now pushed back to June. [caption id="attachment_40600" align="alignnone" width="640"] PSVR with 'Processing Unit'[/caption] The prices of both HTC Vive and Sony's PlayStation VR—one of the biggest factor at play—haven't been made official yet. There is one thing to be sure about though: if you own a PS4, you won't be looking at nearly as expensive start up cost as either HTC Vive or Oculus Rift - considering PSVR doesn't necessitate the purchase of an able gaming PC. With millions of PS4s already in the wild and Sony hinting at the cost as being close to the price of the console itself - lower barrier of entry is PSVR's biggest selling point. As for games: our friends over at PS4Daily are currently reporting over 50 games coming to PSVR—including EVE: Valkyrie, Final Fantasy XIV Heavensward, Trackmania Turbo, and the-ever-so-cheeky beach volleyball spin-off of Dead or Alive: XTREME 3 to name a few. See Also: Leaked $800 PlayStation VR Price Was an Error, Says Sony Sony is keeping tight-lipped for now on bundled controllers, so we're not sure if the company will be sticking with the 2010-era Sony Move controller for input, which admittedly works well enough. For more info on PSVR, keep an eye on Sony's PSVR microsite. There's still no word on release date for PSVR, but the HTC Vive is going to be available in April with one thing Oculus won't have until the second half of 2016—and that's motion controllers. Launch titles like Owlchemy Labs' fantastically weird Job Simulator and Google's Tilt Brush use the controllers exclusively, so make sure to cinch up the wrist straps. [caption id="attachment_40183" align="alignnone" width="1200"] HTC Vive Pre with Lighthouse basestations and controllers[/caption] Also in the box will be SteamVR's Lighthouse tracking system, which provides a 15 square foot tracking volume for what Valve is calling 'room-scale VR'. A pass-through camera is also coming to the consumer version of the Vive so people can keep a watchful eye out for kitty cats and innocent bystanders walking into your field of play. If 'room-scale' isn't your thing, Vive works just fine as a seated experience using a single Lighthouse basestation. Steam's prolific games distribution platform will see titles like StressLevelZero's Hover Junkers, a multiplayer ship-flying first-person shooter, and Bossa Studios' ham-handed Surgeon Simulator coming early to the headset. Pre-orders for the Vive are coming soon, February 29th to be exact with an unspecified April release. If you missed out on the Rift's pre-order line, you might wake up earlier this go around! Much more information is bound to stream out of the big three names in VR closer to their respective launch dates. Check back for more news on previews, reviews, and in depth hands-on with each of the headsets.