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Oculus Rift now priced at... $600
Chris Katko
Member #1,881
January 2002
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https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/3zt7ul/i_am_palmer_luckey_founder_of_oculus_and_designer/

$600 for a product they say they expect to last 1-3 years before the next gen comes out. "Basically a cellphone lifespan."

HA. HA HA HA. $600 for a toy that only one person can use at a time? I was sold at $350. $600? Who has that kind of money?

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type568
Member #8,381
March 2007
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How much does a last iPhone cost with a decent storage on it?

Bruce Pascoe
Member #15,931
April 2015
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I wasn't even willing to spend $600 on a game console (PS3 launch price), no way I can see dropping that kind of cash on a peripheral. Especially when you already need a pretty high-end PC to even use it.

Of course I'm not particularly sold on the whole "Virtual reality gaming is teh FUTURE!" thing, so I'm probably biased.

Chris Katko
Member #1,881
January 2002
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type568 said:

How much does a last iPhone cost with a decent storage on it?

This is the dumbest argument on Reddit. "Hey, something else costs that much money, so it's basically the same thing."

An iPhone has a variety of actual functional uses. This is a toy. An electronic toy with zero market penetration. Most people cannot afford $600 on something with such a specialized use. Nobody is running out to buy $600 thermal cameras for Christmas. Pretty much nobody is spending $600 on a drone.

They dropped the ball on expected price vs actual and only the biggest die-hard fans refuse to believe it.

Perfect GIF:

http://i.imgur.com/Tsj7PQy.gifv

Of course I'm not particularly sold on the whole "Virtual reality gaming is teh FUTURE!" thing, so I'm probably biased.

I was 100% onboard at $350. There's no way I can afford $600. I could buy a DAMN GOOD musical instrument for that price. I could buy a 60" 4K TV that everyone in my house can watch at the same time.

The 3-D effect is amazing but I simply don't care for that price. They basically went from "somewhat expensive, great new technolgy" to "might as well be a hydraulic powered chair for formula 1 racing in my basement" in terms of inaccessibility.

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"Political Correctness is fascism disguised as manners" --George Carlin

FMC
Member #4,431
March 2004
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I completely agree, I was very willing to buy one for 350$, but not now. I don't really get the logic behind this choice, I would have expected the first generation to be dirty cheap to encourage people to try it out.
I'm a geek, I have a job and I'll never give them that kind of money.. so who are they selling it to? ???

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Mark Oates
Member #1,146
March 2001
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The hype for this thing is off the charts.

I think it will change the world as we know it similar to the effect the cell phone had.

To put it into perspective, here's a list of companies that want in:
{"name":"phpapqc9y.jpg","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/e\/9\/e9ad475f692f76cac8f3643d791abe32.jpg","w":970,"h":542,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/e\/9\/e9ad475f692f76cac8f3643d791abe32"}phpapqc9y.jpg

And here's a picture from the annual conference of a company that hasn't released a product yet:
{"name":"Oculus-Connect-2-Brendan-Iribe.jpg","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/5\/4\/540aebd0a8aa56412d63470a8753479d.jpg","w":1435,"h":775,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/5\/4\/540aebd0a8aa56412d63470a8753479d"}Oculus-Connect-2-Brendan-Iribe.jpg

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Chris Katko
Member #1,881
January 2002
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I absolutely believe it's a game-changer (no pun intended). It's the price that's absurd. I even remarked to Palmer at his AMA that it would have been much more reasonable to have a lower model that could be "upgraded" to the full model (even if the full model is cheaper than upgrading the pieces). People bought tons of "arcade" Xbox and PS3/4's and then later bought hard drives. Having a bare-bones ~$200-350 Rift that had only enough features to make it "good enough", it would have been almost free advertising for the higher model. (see loss leader) Now they've restrained their most vocal supporters (who will act as marketing to their friends and family) to only the rich ones.

$599 was a ridiculous price for a console, and now they want us to pay for JUST a screen that also needs a ~$1200 PC to run? Does anyone remember the $599 Playstation 3 debacle? And the Playstation could play Blu-Rays (at a time when Blu-Ray players were almost as much) and play tons of games. People will still furious. This is just a screen that ONE person can use at a time.

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/oculus-rift-will-be-affordable-says-creator/1100-6418068/

Quote:

Oculus Rift will be "affordable" says creator

"We're not looking to make a rich person's toy," says Palmer Luckey about consumer price for upcoming virtual reality headset.

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“Programs should be written for people to read, and only incidentally for machines to execute.” - Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs
"Political Correctness is fascism disguised as manners" --George Carlin

Mark Oates
Member #1,146
March 2001
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I absolutely believe it's a game-changer

I think it will put a lot of things into perspective.

{"name":"610032","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/6\/0\/6070bab6b785d4588ec65547366a417a.jpg","w":500,"h":457,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/6\/0\/6070bab6b785d4588ec65547366a417a"}610032

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Bruce Pascoe
Member #15,931
April 2015
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The funny thing about the PS3 is, the whole "Hey, it's a Blu-ray player!" gimmick might have even sold me on the $599 pricetag--if we hadn't been in the midst of a format war. Blu-ray's victory was far from certain at that point in time, making it hard to justify the purchase of a player at all.

Also, I'm pretty sure Mark's just trolling us now. ::)

Mark Oates
Member #1,146
March 2001
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Also, I'm pretty sure Mark's just trolling us now. ::)

Either way, I think this whole discussion is virtually pointless.

{"name":"610032","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/6\/0\/6070bab6b785d4588ec65547366a417a.jpg","w":500,"h":457,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/6\/0\/6070bab6b785d4588ec65547366a417a"}610032

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Specter Phoenix
Member #1,425
July 2001
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I wasn't interested in the Rift to begin with, but at $600 no. Don't get me wrong, I bought the PS3 at $600, but that was when I had a steady job. The thing is that it is $600 in the US, in Australia it is more due to shipping and handling and I believe another fee they have to pay. On top of that if your computer fails the compatibility test (which both my laptop and desktop do) then you have to buy the hardware or new PC in order to use it properly. I'm scraping just to get the $350 to get a PS4 in February or March so I don't see me getting the Rift in this lifetime.

I didn't have any interest in VR, but the pricing makes it clear that it is a niche market as you have to have some serious money to be able to even afford it.

To be clear, above I'm referring to it as a gamer. Though, the pricing and not knowing if the consumer base is going to be large enough also makes me not see it as a viable device to develop for. This is just my personal view of it though.

Mark Oates
Member #1,146
March 2001
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the pricing makes it clear that it is a niche market

VR is definitely not going to be a niche market.

Here are some companies making VR headsets:

Sony
Microsoft
Occulus
Google
Samsung
...

Occulus is the only company that seems to be doing it right, though.

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Chris Katko
Member #1,881
January 2002
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Nobody else has really released a product yet since Oculus had at least a year or two head start. Nobody realized it was a market (except Oculus) until the Kickstarter hit a bajillion dollars and all a sudden game companies remembered 3-D existed.

I wanted one as a developer. The simplist tech demos with Google Cardboard (which are out of focus and not lined up with my eyes) were really impressive. Really close things, like a lever in a minecart that you're in, and really far things like mountains (and looking down from heights!) look real. As in, you didn't realize you were looking at the VHS equivalent of life until someone finally shows you real 3-D.

But that price officially takes me out of the run. They have to be freaking insane to think we're not still in a recession and people don't have money to blow on new, UNPROVEN technology.

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"Political Correctness is fascism disguised as manners" --George Carlin

Derezo
Member #1,666
April 2001
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Your reaction would seem to be a bit exaggerated. They have a huge following and have been testing for years trying to get it just right. There will be plenty of VR options launching this year and this one promises to be the very best flagship product type of experience.

Personally, my love for the Oculus Rift died when it was bought by Facebook, and I moved on overnight. My lack of desire made me stop hearing about it entirely until I bought a PS4 and read about Sony's VR option which was compared to the Oculus Rift.

I've got a PS4 now and my laptop is just the basic intel integrated graphics. The Oculus feels like Duke Nukem Forever. Too late.

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Elias
Member #358
May 2000

We had some Oculus Rifts at my previous job (for creating flight simulations) - they are quite impressive. We could never solve the problem of the pilot not actually seeing their hands and all the cockpit control buttons though, so we never actually used them in a production environment while I was still there :P Our other simulators used actual cockpit replicas where you would sit inside and had projectors displaying the scene on a screen around the room - so that version cost way more than $600 :P

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Mark Oates
Member #1,146
March 2001
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The oculus I used had a kinekt-like sensor bar on the front that would detect your hands. It worked surprisingly well in that it successfully created an illusion that it was your hands in the scene. Except, sometimes your fingers would jump around, sometimes crossing over each other and getting out of wack. And, you had to keep them relatively in front of you the whole time - like Luigi touching boobies - so you couldn't really reach out and press buttons or use a complex IRL-like UI.

Edit
Yea, here's the picture of me in said boobie-touching formation:
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Specter Phoenix
Member #1,425
July 2001
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VR is definitely not going to be a niche market.

It is a niche market, a market where the gamer and developer can blow anywhere between $600 and $1600. Just to get the Rift and upgrade my desktop to meet bare minimum requirements I'm looking at $1188 and that is without tax or shipping.

Showing that several companies are making VRs just tells me that the market is going to have several VRs that die due to no one wanting them or liking them.

someone972
Member #7,719
August 2006
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Seeing as I just put together a computer that (amazingly) beats the requirements they recommend, I'm actually pretty interested in it. Especially after trying out the devkit 1, which although impressive, was certainly lacking in resolution and other departments that have very much improved. I'm not too surprised by the price, it's pretty much a high end display, and the monitor I bought was around $800 so I'm not surprised.

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jhuuskon
Member #302
April 2000
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$600? It's not that much for a piece of hobby kit. Everything seems expensive untill you try equestrianism. Then again, equestrianism seems expensive until you try motorsports.

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piccolo
Member #3,163
January 2003
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@Chris Katko

I agree. Plus we are programs we can find a way to m as make money off of it.

Edit

@Elias
EAST.. Just pare with the xbox camera.

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Erin Maus
Member #7,537
July 2006
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I could buy a 60" 4K TV that everyone in my house can watch at the same time.

The first 4K TVs were incredibly expensive when they launched, but more competition popped up and advances in the manufacturing process made them relatively affordable within a year or two. So yes, you can buy a 4K TV now for $600ish (though it'll probably have a crappy panel, come with few inputs, and provide a low-end "Smart TV experience" with a system-on-a-chip on par with a Z80...), but you couldn't have when it launched--not even close.

The Rift is bleeding-edge and has a bleeding-edge price (though I don't think $600 is unreasonable at the end of the day when people spend an order of a magnitude more on multiple 1440p [or higher] 144 Hz [or higher] monitors with G-Sync [or whatever the AMD alternative is, I don't remember]).

Like all new and interesting tech, it will come down in price while improving in quality...

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Matthew Leverton
Supreme Loser
January 1999
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I'm going to buy one just to blend it.

Gideon Weems
Member #3,925
October 2003

On what basis is $600 expensive? Are manufacturing costs significantly lower? Would you rather have a $600 4K television set (considered "affordable") or a $600 virtual reality headset? Which weighs more, a pound of feathers, a pound of rocks, or a pound of John Carmack?

Questions abound.

Enno Rehling
Member #16,141
January 2016
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Just because there are multiple companies making VR kit right now is not a guarantee that it's ever going to be a mainstream product. How many companies made 3D television sets a few years ago? Remember those being wall-to-wall in every store, and how nobody wanted one? Speaking for myself, I definitely don't have that kind of money for a toy that doesn't have a lot of applications, and for which I haven't seen a compelling product. I've always thought that the best use of VR is not in the home, but in arcades, Disneyland, or similar establishments, where you can build custom experiences, like that bird flying simulator that showed up in my newsfeed a few months ago, and actually seemed kind of neat (lost the link, of course). Which would make them interesting for bespoke development, not mass-market consumer games. But Occulus and many other players seem to be convinced that it's a consumer product, and trying very hard to convince consumers that they want it (though not succeeding, IMHO, and definitely not at this price point).

Specter Phoenix
Member #1,425
July 2001
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Yeah, I had made my arguments and just stumbled upon this video tonight (actually listening to it while typing this). I enjoy AlphaOmegaSin's videos....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Xj3Y_JTFUg

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