The first Oculus Rift press conference was held today, and it revealed some new information about the upcoming Virtual Reality device, including a release window, a new controller, and most importantly games.
The final version of the Oculus Rift comes out in early 2016, much like Sony's Project Morpheus. The device is still wired, but it appears to be lighter, allows users to wear it with glasses, and includes detachable headphones.
The Oculus Rift is only one part of the equation though, and VR still needs some kind of controller. At the conference, it was announced that every Oculus Rift comes with a Xbox One gamepad. But that's not the only option.
Oculus also revealed its own motion controller, the Oculus Touch. Actually, it's a pair of wireless controllers designed to wrap around the users hands, and they include analog sticks, triggers, and two face buttons. According to Oculus founder Palmer Luckey, the Touch allows the Rift to recognize specific hand gestures. The Oculus Touch also comes out in early 2016, though it may be after the Rift's launch.
As for games, the biggest one of the bunch was Edge of Nowhere. It's a third-person game with an emphasis on ice and monsters. More importantly, it's being developed by Insomniac Games exclusively for the Oculus Rift. The conference also included the dungeon crawler Chronos, a first-person hockey game, and a new EVE: Valkyrie trailer.
Nearly everyone who gets some hands-on time with the Oculus Rift comes away impressed, but that doesn't necessarily translate to the consumer market. It'll be interesting to see what kind of success the Oculus Rift can find when it comes out in Q1 2016.
