Oculus Launches Next-Gen Rift S VR Headset

Oculus is launching its newest VR headset today. The company’s Rift S is its new VR headset part of the Rift lineup, and it introduces some major changes.

Firstly, Oculus is building the Rift S in partnership with Lenovo. That means the design of the Rift S is vastly different from the Rift and Oculus’ other headsets, and it’s more inspired by what Lenovo does with its own VR headsets. Oculus says Lenovo co-designed the Rift S for “increased comfort, better weight distribution, and improved light blocking”. The new Rift S also packs a single-cable system so your set up doesn’t get too messy.

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The Rift S comes with some improvements to the displays. There’s been a small bump in resolution to 1280×1440 pixels per eye, though the frame rate of the displays is dropping from 90hz to 80hz. Oculus is also using LCD panels instead of the OLED panels now.

As TechCrunch reports, the new Rift S comes with a “slightly larger” field-of-view than the Rift, which should improve the VR experience. It doesn’t come with on-ear headphones, however.  Instead, Lenovo has opted for integrated speakers and a headphone jack that lets you use your own headphones.

The device also comes with built-in tracking, called Oculus Insight. So you will no longer need external sensors, and considering the fact that Oculus is bringing the same tech to its other headsets like the standalone Oculus Quest, that’s no surprise.

Oculus Rift S will sell for $399, and it will be available for purchase this Spring.

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Conversation 5 comments

  • DaveHelps

    Premium Member
    20 March, 2019 - 12:49 pm

    <p>Question to readers: I am considering getting a headset like this, or some other Windows MR headset.</p><p>I mostly game on Xbox, but play a few things on PC (8700K,16GB,nvidia 1070)</p><p><br></p><p>The games I play on PC are:</p><p>Halo Wars 2</p><p>Forza Horizon 4</p><p>X-Wing, Tie Fighter</p><p>C&amp;C, Tiberian Sun, Generals</p><p>Total War</p><p>OpenTTD</p><p>and soon, Halo MCC</p><p><br></p><p>If I get one of these, can I expect to just plug it in and it’ll just work? Older games will treat it as a simple screen, newer games understand it’s VR and respond to head-turning?</p><p><br></p>

    • Tirith

      Premium Member
      20 March, 2019 - 5:52 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#414049">In reply to DaveHelps:</a></em></blockquote><p>X-wing/Tie-Fighter would be amazing in VR, even if it just simple flat screens. Even then if you collide with something I can image that triggering an "empty stomach" level event. </p>

      • DaveHelps

        Premium Member
        21 March, 2019 - 9:48 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#414123">In reply to Tirith:</a></em></blockquote><p>We can dream! :)</p><p><br></p>

    • Vladimir Carli

      Premium Member
      20 March, 2019 - 7:31 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#414049">In reply to DaveHelps:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>absolutely not, unfortunately. The game should support VR natively to use it. There are some workarounds, for some games, but they are not good. If the games you play don't support VR your experience will be very disappointing.</p><p>V.</p>

      • DaveHelps

        Premium Member
        21 March, 2019 - 9:49 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#414139">In reply to Vladimir:</a></em></blockquote><p>Thanks! Appreciate the insight.</p>

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