Oculus VR today released its next-gen development kit for its Oculus Rift virtual-reality gaming headset.
The new kit, dubbed DK2, is slightly more expensive than its predecessor at $350. It's available for pre-order now and should start shipping in July. "We'll ramp up production based on interest," the company said.
DK2 will be on display at the Game Developer Conference (GDC) in San Francisco this week, where attendees can test drive its "key technical breakthroughs."
That includes "a low-persistence, high-definition display and precise, low-latency positional head tracking," the Oculus team said in a blog post.
The original Oculus Rift dev kit made a splash at last year's GDC, and the company said today that it was "a strong starting point," but had a number of shortcomings that prevented it from delivering a great virtual reality experience. In our first look at the $300 dev kit (see slideshow), PCMag came to the same conclusion; it was an intriguing device, but intended only for "gadget fanatics" and developers.
And while DK2 won't yet fly as a full consumer product, "the fundamental building blocks for great VR are there," Oculus VR said today.
"All the content developed using DK2 will work with the consumer Rift," Oculus said. "And while the overall experience still needs to improve before it's consumer-ready, we're getting closer every day — DK2 is not the Holodeck yet, but it's a major step in the right direction."
At CES, Oculus showed off its "Crystal Cove" prototype, which offered full 1080p video for each eye, an upgrade from the 720p video available in the original dev kit.
Like that Crystal Cove prototype, DK2 "uses a low persistence OLED display to eliminate motion blur and judder, two of the biggest contributors to simulator sickness," Oculus said. "Low persistence also makes the scene appear more visually stable, increasing the potential for presence. The high-definition 960-by-1,080 per-eye display reduces the screen-door effect and improves clarity, color, and contrast."
There's also a "precise, low-latency positional head tracking using an external camera that allows you to move with 6-degrees-of-freedom and opens up all sorts of new gameplay opportunities like peering around corners, leaning in to get a closer look at objects in the world, and kicking back on a virtual beach," Oculus said.
Precise head tracking is necessary to create an environment that best mimics the real world, and Oculus said it is excited to see what developers will produce. The company also promised updated orientation tracking, a built-in latency tester, an on-headset USB accessory port, new optics, elimination of the control box, a redesigned SDK, and further optimized Unity and Unreal Engine 4 integrations.
Oculus VR didn't have any additional details on a consumer release date. "There's no cutting corners or 'good enough' when it comes to VR; the consumer Rift needs to be perfect and we're dedicated to getting it right," the company said. "We're moving as fast as possible and promise it'll be worth the wait."
As of last night, Oculus has a bit of competition in the market. Sony lifted the curtain on Project Morpheus, a prototype virtual reality headset that works with the company's PlayStation 4 console to present gamers with a fully immersive gaming experience. The device will also be at GDC this week, and PCMag is there to check it out.
For more, check out PCMag Live in the video below, which discusses the Oculus Rift Development Kit 2.