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Oculus has announced a partnership with Microsoft to bring its Rift headset to the Xbox One.
While the developer version of the Oculus Rift has been available since 2013, the firm unveiled the first consumer version at a pre-E3 press event on Thursday (June 11th).
The Oculus Rift will be available for pre-order later this year and will start shipping in early 2016. It will include a wireless Xbox controller and adapter, and gamers will also be able to directly stream Xbox One games into the headset.
Oculus also unveiled a gesture controller for the Rift. The Oculus Touch consists of a pair of plastic rings, which have joysticks and buttons situated to be used by the gamer’s thumbs, and triggers positioned near the index fingers.
The Oculus Touch has built-in sensors to recognise gestures such as pointing, waving and giving a thumbs-up. They are also wireless and offer haptic feedback.
The Oculus Touch is currently in prototype mode so no release date or price has been revealed yet.
There will be a new Rift-exclusive title called Edge of Nowhere, which is actually a third-person game, rather than the expected first-person style. The game is built by Insomniac Games and will see players jumping and climbing across snowy mountains.
CCP games will also be bringing its latest title Eve Valkyrie to Rift. Gamers will take on the role of a fighter pilot set in space.
“The low hanging fruit for virtual reality is gaming and we know there are millions of households that have invested in games consoles,” commented Ben Wood, chief of research at CCS Insight, on the announcements.
“Virtual reality will deliver enhancements that affluent, developed market console owners won’t find hard to be tempted by to add a new dimension to their gaming experience.”
Wood believes that it’s not just gaming that the Oculus is hoping to make a big splash in: “It won’t be long before every new blockbuster film has a fully 360-degree trailer to go with it. Who wouldn’t want to be sitting in the back seat of the car being driven by James Bond or Jason Bourne in a high speed chase through a city?”
