Xbox Partners with Oculus VR for the Rift, Consumer Version Unveiled

Oculus VR has unveiled the final retail version of the Oculus Rift headset and announced a major partnership with Xbox.

The virtual reality gurus at Oculus VR have made all kinds of major announcements about the consumer version of the Rift headset, including a surprise partnership with Microsoft. The company unveiled many technical details about the Rift, which includes how it tracks your movements and its OLED display. An important part of the Rift headset is its integrated headphone system that will simulate surround sound and authentic reverberations. Oculus also made the headphones removable in case you want to use your own headset. The Rift is extremely lightweight and ergonomic in order to maximize comfort. Acknowledging that everyone has a different distance between their eyes, the Rift has a dial to accommodate all kinds of faces. The Rift is surrounded in a cloth-like material to make everything feel soft and lightweight as it can slip on like a baseball cap and feel just as negligible as it's resting on your head.

Oculus VR announced that the Rift will be packaged with an Xbox One controller and adapter, making it the official peripheral to accompany the headset. Oculus VR actually brought out Xbox head Phil Spencer to announce that the Rift will natively work with Windows 10. Spencer revealed that the Oculus Rift will be able stream gameplay straight from the Xbox One. The Rift actually simulates playing Xbox One in a massive living room on a projection screen. The presentation went on to focus on the Rift's games. We got a special look at EVE: Valkyrie, which puts you in the cockpit of a spaceship going into battle. Gunfire Games (known for their upcoming HD remaster of Darksiders 2) unveiled Chronos for the Rift. Chronos will be a dungeon crawling action RPG where you must solve puzzles, explore a massive labyrinth and fight monsters. Insomniac Games, known for the Ratchet & Clank series, revealed Edge of Nowhere, which will live up to its namesake in this Rift-exclusive Tomb Raider-esque adventure.

Lastly, Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey announced a new input device that lets you grab and interact with objects in the virtual world, the Oculus Touch. The Touch is comprised of two small controllers that you hold in each hand that track your hands' movements and fingers' gestures (whether you're picking something up or throwing something away). The lightweight Touch also detects communicative gestures and has a few traditional input buttons on it as well. With the Xbox One controller being the default peripheral, we have a feeling the Touch will be sold separately.

The Oculus Rift will be coming out in Q1 2016.

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