12 Oct Here’s what the prototype of Oculus’s new Santa Cruz headset is like
The biggest news at Facebook’s Oculus Connect event yesterday was Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement that he wants a billion virtual reality users, and the unveiling of the stand-alone Oculus Go, which is essentially a mobile-quality VR headset without the need for a phone. But Oculus also showed off the latest progress on its high-end standalone headset, code-named Santa Cruz.
I got a demo, and I was very impressed. It looks good, not quite product-ready good, but so much better than the headset with a computer and fan mounted on its back when I got a demo of Santa Cruz at Oculus Connect a year ago. Now, it’s lighter, more streamlined, and there’s no machinery visible.
if(typeof(jQuery)==”function”){(function($){$.fn.fitVids=function(){}})(jQuery)};
jwplayer(‘jwplayer_uYCjEVd5_G2hQKLvX_div’).setup(
{“playlist”:”https://content.jwplatform.com/feeds/uYCjEVd5.json”,”ph”:2}
);
More important than that, the actual experience was terrific. It felt very much like using an Oculus Rift–full positional tracking, quality wireless handheld controllers that are also positionally tracked, using a four-sensor inside-out tracking system. And really nice movement. Oculus was showing two separate demos, one a first-person shooter, the other a charming little game that lets you play with a mystical creature, pick apples off trees, throw a stick.
In both cases, the experiences very accurately reflected the movements of my body and my hands and gestures. There was a little drop-off here and there, but nothing too noticeable, and in all honesty, the same thing happens with Rift too.
The demos were short, but I walked away feeling like if I hadn’t known it wasn’t a Rift, I wouldn’t have guessed (minus the bit about not tripping over cumbersome wires).
Oculus says they’ll be putting Santa Cruz in developers’ hands within a year. Given the progress they’ve made since a year ago, I’d say that means the consumer version of the headset will be very nice indeed.
Source: Fast Company
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.