If you've been following virtual reality gaming as of late, you've no doubt heard the buzz surrounding a prototype device known as the Oculus Rift. Yes, this is the same VR headset that John Carmack of id Software was raving about at E3 earlier this year. During the show we were told that inventor Palmer Luckey would be taking to Kickstarter later this year to help fund the development of this revolutionary gaming accessory.
The Oculus Rift finally hit Kickstarter yesterday with a goal of raising $250,000 over a 30-day period in order to fund the creation of a developer kit. This is a necessary step before mass production as developers would need time with the headset in order to produce games for it.
The Oculus Rift is built on three key design principles. First, the unit has an incredibly wide field of view. Most consumer VR headsets have a diagonal field of view of about 30-40 degrees. The Oculus Rift features 110 degrees of diagonal view which is said to really help immerse you in the VR world. This immersion is further fueled by a 1,280 x 800 resolution display (640 x 800 per eye) and the fact that the unit operates with extremely low latency.
In addition to id Software, the headset is being backed by some serious players in the gaming industry including Epic Games and Valve, just to name a few. Needless to say, the $250,000 goal was reached in no time. After only one day into the campaign, the project has received pledges of nearly $1 million as of writing.