Oculus Rift S helmet unveiled at GDC next week

According to a report by UploadVRBy quoting emails sent by Facebook to Oculus developers, rumors about Rift S helmets will be revealed next week at the GDC.

Rift S was revealed for the first time in a TechCrunch report last year on leadership reform at Oculus and the so-called evolving product plans. The report states that Facebook / Oculus has decided to cancel a larger revision of "Rift 2" in favor of a more modest update of the product called "Rift S".

A UploadVR Tonight's report quotes an email sent by Facebook to VR developers who "suggest that" Rift S "will be officially revealed at GDC 2019," the annual game developers conference to be held next week in San Francisco. Oculus is already confirmed as a participant in the event but did not say anything about the potential of a new helmet. We contacted Oculus for a comment.

Origin of rumors of Rift S

in the TechCrunch According to a report last year, citing "a source close to the file", it was stated that the Rift S would probably change the resolution of the headset and move to an inverted tracking system that would dislodge external sensors – that the headset should follow its position – in favor of on-board cameras that could do the same job while simplifying the configuration and use of the headset. Oculus has already introduced its internal tracking technology, which he calls "Insight," on his future VR standalone headset, Quest.

Last month, UploadVR code not covered in the Oculus software explicitly referencing the Rift S. Rumors regarding the updated helmet were also fueled by the false availability of stock for the original Rift helmet in recent weeks, as well as by a moderate decline in the price of headphones from $ 400 to $ 350 in January.

Original rift that remains strong despite age

The Rift is the first Oculus PC VR headset, and so far the only one. It was launched in 2016 and has a resolution of 1,080 × 1,200 and a diagonal field of view of ~ 100 degrees. At launch, the headset cost $ 600 and included an Xbox One controller as the main input device, with content primarily designed for seated gaming.

It would not be until late 2016 that Oculus would launch the new "touch-sensitive" motion controllers at the price of $ 200, which became the main input device of the headset (the Xbox One controller was finally removed entirely from the package) and swiveling the vast majority of the content is geared towards a "standing" game with motion capture.

Although the default configuration of the two included sensors offers an avant-garde game, the system supports a 360 stand-up game with opposing sensors, or a full-scale room-wide game with an optional third sensor. placed in a corner of the playing surface. Since the sensors need to be connected to the host PC, adding a third sensor to a larger gaming space can be a pain, as a cable in the room. End-to-end tracking (which removes external sensors for the headset-mounted cameras itself) would make tracking by default at the scale of the part, while simplifying configuration and use .

Microsoft and its hardware partners were the first to offer their first consumer PC VR headsets integrating an end-to-end tracking system by the end of 2017, most agreeing that the ease of use was improved. Compared to helmets equipped with external tracking equipment, Windows VR headsets simply connect to the PC from a simple clip and are ready for room-scale tracking. However, controller tracking is made more difficult with end-to-end tracking because players can more easily prevent embedded cameras from watching controllers. This can cause problems for some games that require the player to bring his hands closer to his body (or in some cases behind his back or over his shoulder).

Despite its age and lack of successor three years later, the Rift is one of the world's leading and most popular VR headsets among the headsets currently used on Steam. Oculus has regularly lowered prices on the Rift, from the initial level of $ 800 (for the helmet controller and touch controllers) up to $ 350 in January 2019. While the industrial design of the Rift has held up well, three years later Later, there is a handful of helmets offering higher resolutions and wider fields of view.

Rift S Expectations

We do not expect the Rift S to be a continuation of the original Rift as much as an update. Aside from the "Insight" tracking, it is expected that the resolution of the headset will be changed and that newer optics will be used, probably the same (or similar) as those used in Oculus Go or Quest, that the company has called them "the best."

In the resolution department, it seems likely that the Rift S will end up with the same screen as Quest (1,600 × 1,440), which would be a great step forward and put the headphones on par with the Vive Pro and the Samsung Odyssey. resolution. Alternatively, Oculus could try to beat the competition by even adopting high-resolution displays, such as the 2160 × 2160 screens seen in the next HP Copper headset, although that would mean switching OLEDs to LCDs. Until now, Oculus and others have mainly chosen OLED screens for high-end headphones, although there are still advantages and disadvantages to take into account with respect to screens LCD.

What is not supposed to change (at least not much) is the field of view of about 100 ° of the helmet. Even though Oculus itself introduced the Half Dome helmet prototype with a 140-degree field of view, widening the field of view would require more significant changes in optics and headphone displays , which may not be possible to update the "Rift S". . Pimax already offers an ultra-wide FOV VR headset, but other consumer headphones remain largely in the ~ 100 FOV category. No improvement in the field of vision could leave many adopted early, resolution and FOV being among the most requested improvements.

Eye tracking is another feature that is outstanding for Rift S. On the one hand, eye tracking is a revolutionary technology that should play a big role in the future of virtual reality. This product could provide Oculus with real-world data to perfect the technology. On the other hand, the company could suspend eye tracking until it can provide a complete set with zoom displays, as shown in Half Dome.

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GDC 2019 will be held next week from March 18 to 22 in San Francisco, California. RV Road will be on the ground to bring you the most important news of the event. Stay tuned.