End Game

It's a question that's been fresh in plenty of users' minds pretty much since they even heard about an Oculus Rift in the first place: when exactly is this thing coming out? A new report presents something like bad news for those who feel the waiting too sharply already, yet at the same time, a note of good news as well. Specifically, it's going to be a while before the Oculus Rift hits commercially, but there's a good reason for the extra wait.

Basically, the Oculus Rift's makers out at Oculus VR / Facebook are specifically working to make the device better-suited to the long haul, likely knowing that once wearers get the thing on it's going to take an act of Congress, God, or sheer hunger to get the thing back off again. Reports from Bloomberg suggest that the company is “really close” to a release, but that it's still going to be a few months as the product is ultimately refined and made as comfortable as possible.

It's not just a matter of comfort, though; the company is reportedly eager to make sure the product is also easy to use, right out of the box.

The rise of the Oculus Rift is proving to be a major move indeed, as everyone looks forward to a future—hopefully a closer-term future than is currently believed—in which “Skyrim” and the like now feel so immersive that you might actually believe you're building Lakeview Manor with your own two hands instead of just tapping buttons. A future where you might smell the venison stew cooking and can enjoy the honey nut treats instead of just looking at them. A future that looks that much more like “Star Trek” than it ever has before. But some are already calling for the demise of such a system before it can even be put into play, and I can't help but think that that's a little premature.

The idea was advanced that, despite an array of reasons to suggest that wearable virtual reality (VR) would likely win, it would instead fail.