Virtual Reality is Finally Real

What once was only the daydream of science fiction writers and tech enthusiasts is now a reality — one with a hefty price tag.

Virtual reality has been officially introduced to the world through Oculus Rift. For $599, consumers can now order their very own virtual reality headset system. You’ll also need a pretty powerful PC to get the headset up and running; a package deal is available for $1,500.

Palmer Luckey, 23, began the journey of Oculus Rift by creating a Kickstarter campaign in 2012. The project needed $250,000 of funding and was originally said to be not for profit. After raising more than $2 million through online backers, Luckey and his potential virtual reality headset became a big deal to the tech industry.

Later bought for $2 billion by Facebook, Oculus Rift has had an interesting journey filled with much hype from its creators, plenty of competition and a lot of speculation among market watchers. After years of product tests and development, Oculus Rift has finally launched to consumers and created a new corner of the market in the tech industry.

“Oculus’s mission is to enable you to experience the impossible. Their technology opens up the possibility of completely new kinds of experiences,” Zuckerberg stated in a Facebook post after acquiring the company. He has been, and still is, perhaps the leading cheerleader for the technology. In his post, he described a new world where people would communicate differently and use virtual reality for nearly everything in their lives.

[lz_third_party includes=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bfBV-x0ftM”]

The actual reality is a little less flattering. In a review for the Wall Street Journal, Geoffrey Fowler wrote, “Oculus Rift is the 2016 product you hope your neighbor buys… You’ll definitely want to try it, but there’s little reason to own one unless you’re a serious gamer.”

At its launch, Oculus Rift is putting nearly its entire focus on gamers. Though Zuckerberg has talked about virtual reality one day being used for business and communication between family and friends, those dreams still seem a long way off. Rift is shipped with two free games, and there are thirty more available. Games include titles like “Into the Dead,” a first person zombie story.

Fowler went on in his review to criticize the beta nature of Oculus Rift. Despite being hailed by its creators as the first step in the next big direction for technology, the product sounds premature and a little impractical.

Fowler wrote that “…using the 1.5-pound headset is about as awkward as sleeping on an airplane. It’s hard to avoid feeling queasy when virtual scenes move without your actual body…The most awkward part isn’t nausea — it’s a 13-foot cable snaking from the back of your head to the PC, a tether eerily similar to one in “The Matrix.” To avoid tripping, you must keep track of this cable’s location like a never-ending game of Pin the Tail on the Donkey.”

[lz_infobox]Prices for the systems: HTC’s Vive: $799, Oculus Rift: $599, Sony PlayStation VR: $399. [/lz_infobox]

In a separate review for The Wall Street Journal, Oculus Rift was even criticized for not being as appealing to gamers as it should. Nathan Olivarez-Giles said Oculus Rift had no “must-play titles.” He also criticized the headset for not having a motion sensing controller (you still need to use a regular game controller to move through the virtual worlds).

Other reviews have been slightly more positive, but acknowledged the shortcomings of Oculus Rift. One review for Engadget, a popular technology blog, even called Rift the definition of “elite technology,” due to the high price point and promotion towards mostly gamers and high-end tech lovers.

Oculus Rift is also already facing problems only a real product could face in the marketplace.

CEO Brendon Iribe revealed on Twitter that some headsets and packages would be shipped out much later than expected due to a parts shortage. Some orders will not be filled until May or June. It’s a hit no company wants to take right out of the gate.

[lz_third_party includes=”https://twitter.com/brendaniribe/status/716241817901993986″ width=”630px”]

Oculus Rift may be the first virtual reality headset to market, but the floodgates are now officially open. HTC is just releasing its own headset called Vive ($799), and Sony will be releasing a cheaper one ($399) in October, compatible with Playstation 4 rather than requiring a whole new virtual-reality-ready PC set.

Still, Oculus Rift has no doubt started something that can’t be stopped — virtual reality is here. It may be something only marketed to serious gamers and high-end tech enthusiasts, but expect competition and the future to bring lower price points and more applicable features for mainstream consumers.

[lz_related_box id=”46312″]

Rift has explained through blogs that the future lies not with virtual reality games, but with watching videos and films in 360 degree environments (something you can do with Rift to a small extent right now) and being able to communicate with work or people overseas.

The dreams are big, and the mixed reviews and various issues have an eerily similar feel to the failed Google Glass, another product that was supposed to change the way people live and launch us into a constantly plugged-in future.

It’s anyone’s guess whether virtual reality really will introduce a very different, bold, plugged-in future. With the rat race between companies in full steam, and literally billions of dollars on the line, Silicon Valley is certainly betting big that people will soon be ready to make virtual reality a big part of their own realities.