Oculus unveils standalone virtual reality headset

SAN JOSE, United States - Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday unveiled a new Oculus virtual reality headset untethered from computers as part of a vision to bring the new technology to the masses.

Oculus Go headsets will be priced at $199 when they begin shipping early next year, Zuckerberg said during a keynote presentation at an annual developers conference in the Silicon Valley city of San Jose.

Zuckerberg touted Oculus Go as the first product in a "sweet spot" between smartphones and powerful desktop computers.

"It's an all-new, standalone headset that doesn't require you to snap in a phone or plug in a cable," Zuckerberg said.

Oculus Go uses internal cameras, sensors and software to track movements that are translated into corresponding motion in virtual worlds rendered in headsets.

Facebook stressed its commitment to virtual reality, despite less than stellar adoption of headsets such as Oculus Rift which need to be plugged into computers.

"We want to get a billion people in virtual reality," Zuckerberg said.

"The road ahead won't be easy, but virtual reality will change the way we see the world and will make all of our lives a whole lot better."

Sony, HTC and Facebook-owned Oculus are the top players in virtual reality head gear, each striving to stake out territory in the budding market.

While Sony's VR headsets work with PS 4 consoles, competing gear requires computers that can handle the demand of processing rich, immersive graphics in real time. — Agence France-Presse

source: gmanetwork.com

VR games coming to Facebook soon — report

Here's something awesome coming to gamers on Facebook: virtual reality gaming.

Facebook's chief technology officer Mike Schroepfer hinted at this at the F8 Developer Conference in San Francisco, tech site Mashable reported.

"Why is VR going to work now, when it didn't work in the '80s and '90s? ... Each one of these core tracks of technology had to hit a minimum core viability...to get to that sense of presence to sense that you're truly there," Mashable quoted Schroepfer as saying.

According to Mashable, Schroepfer also said the prospect of VR gaming could come "this year," and that people may soon play games in VR on "something" shipped by Oculus.

But Mashable also quoted a Facebook spokesperson as saying this was not intended as an announcement of availability for Oculus Rift's consumer version.

"You're going to be able to do it in something shipped by Oculus. This is going to be incredible," he said.

Schroepfer also showed a demo for the game EVE: Valkyrie, where users are in the cockpit of a spaceship.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Oculus VR told Mashable, when asked if Oculus Rift would be for sale this year: "Nah. When we are ready to announce consumer, we will shout it from the mountaintops."

Oculus chief scientist Michael Abrash said during the keynote that VR done right "truly is reality, as far as the observer is concerned."

But he added VR today "is good enough to create experiences, but just barely."

He also said consumer-ready VR headsets could take "a year or two" before they are ready for realistic VR experiences. — Joel Locsin/LBG, GMA News

source: gmanetwork.com