In a surprise announcement comes the successor to the Oculus Rift. There was a number of VR headsets that came into the market but out of the plethora that either relies on your smartphone to standalone specific devices, the Oculus Rift is one of the more popular units to run with. That is if you’re gaming PC can handle it. Now that some time has passed since the original Oculus Rift has released we have a successor known as the Oculus Rift S and yes, it will be powered through your PC.
There was some speculation for a short while that Oculus may not bring out a true successor to the Oculus Rift and perhaps that Facebook would ultimately opt focus on the Oculus Go, a VR headset that didn’t rely on any outside forces to power and run games. However, that is clearly not the case as the Oculus Rift S is a VR headset that still connects to your gaming PC and it does offer some changes if you’re familiar with the original unit.
The Oculus Rift S drops the OLED for LCD displays and with it comes a bump in resolution. Instead of the 1080 x 1200, you’ll find that the new unit will come with 1280 x 1400. Frame rate receives a minor drop from 90hz to 80hz and the overall strap is altered to mimic the PlayStation VR which could provide better comfort. While on the subject of the headset itself, the company decided to drop the headphones and instead offers speakers within the strap.
This will come bundled with the motion controllers which are tweaked slightly by reversing the ring from below the controller to above it. The biggest change is that the standalone tracking cameras are gone. Instead, the Oculus Rift S will have five cameras embedded to the headset which would help focus on the guardian system to ensure you don’t run into anything and also free up those PC USB 3.0 ports.
Currently, the Oculus Rift S is slated to launch this spring though a specific release date wasn’t attached. As for the price, the new V headset will run you $399. Best of all, it looks like you don’t need to make any big PC upgrades as the requirements are the same.
