During a conference for developers in San Jose, the CEO and founder of the social network, Mark Zuckerberg, has revealed that Oculus was working on a new version of its mobile virtual reality helmet.
Unlike the “Rift” has been marketed since this year, the device responding to the code name of “Santa Cruz” will not need to be plugged into a computer. “We are still working on it“, he pointed out, however, warning that it was at this stage that a prototype.
In an interview with the AFP, Max Cohen, in charge of mobile at Oculus, has noted the character “critically important” to have a headset and mobile working independently, costing, ideally less expensive than an iPad tablet, to ensure the take-off of the virtual reality.
“there are limitations to the mobile phone (which usually consists of today to adjust glasses on your smartphone, editor’s NOTE), and there will be people who will not want to buy a PC for the virtual reality, even if it is cheap,” he said.
“A format (headphones) operating independently will be one of the formats most powerful and the most accessible for the mass market“, he estimated.
- More affordable –
In the meantime, consumers will see happen in the next few months, a new controller named “Touch“, an accessory key that will allow them to have “hands” in virtual worlds. It will be shipped around the world on the 6th of December, with a retail price of 199 dollars.
The boss of Oculus, Brendan Iribe, has shown a new computer that is compatible with the headset Oculus Rift. Built by the company Cyberpower and using an AMD processor, it should only cost 499 dollars, less than half of what most computers are now powerful enough to handle virtual reality environments.
Brendan Iribe has also announced alliances with notebook manufacturers Lenovo and Asus to certify this type of equipment for equipment of Oculus.
“virtual reality becomes more affordable than ever“, he assured.
This same idea of a virtual reality more affordable had already been raised earlier this week by the giant internet Google during the presentation of his Daydream View, a helmet made largely of fabric and designed to fit on a smartphone, which will be sold for 79 dollars in the United States.
for comparison, the headset Oculus Rift currently costs us $ 599, and it is necessary to add the cost of a computer powerful enough to be able to use it.
“We are here to make virtual reality the next computing platform majeure“, affirmed Mark Zuckerberg. “In Facebook, it is a thing to which we are committed really.”
The social network, which had paid about 2 billion dollars to buy Oculus in 2014, has already invested more than $ 250 million in the development of content, and has budgeted 250 million, said Mark Zuckerberg.
A series of new video games that come out in the same time that the controllers Touch were also presented at the conference.
beyond The games, Mark Zuckerberg has also sought Thursday to demonstrate the uses of “social” potential of virtual reality.
While he was on stage, he has himself put on a helmet Oculus Rift to go find virtually two of his colleagues at the bottom of the ocean and on the surface of Mars, and discuss, in the meantime, during a video call with his wife Priscilla. He also took a selfie with it in the virtual world that he has published in real time on its profile in the social network.
A notable absentee was Thursday, the co-founder of Oculus Palmer Luckey, who has sparked controversy for his donations to a group supporting the presidential candidate Donald Trump with publications offensive against Hillary Clinton on social networks. Several studios for video games had subsequently said that they were going to refuse to create content for Oculus.
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