Virtual reality headset shipments delayed as demand soars

Demand for Oculus Rift, the virtual reality headset that started the VR craze, has seen the shipment date blow out.

Chris Griffith tries out the HTC Vive at the CES tech show in Las Vegas.

If you haven’t pre-ordered an ­Oculus Rift virtual reality headset already, you won’t be getting it until the second half of the year even if you order now.

Demand for the headset that started the VR craze has seen the shipment date blow out from March 28, when pre-orders opened on January 6, to at least July.

Oculus Rift, a headset connected to a PC by cable, can be pre-­ordered online for $US599 ($870). You get a headset, sensor, remote, cables, Xbox One controller and two games: Eve: Valkyrie, a dogfighting shooter game, and Lucky’s Tale, featuring the adventures of Lucky the fox.

There are also touch controllers, which wrap around your fingers and let you interact with your virtual world, but they won’t be available until the second half of the year.

Content shouldn’t be a problem for Rift. Oculus VR has had developers aboard for years and in September more than 1500 attended its Oculus Connect 2 event in Hollywood. Minecraft, the racing game Trackmania 2, Iris VR’s Technolust and the adventure game Windlands are among offerings. Oculus VR promises more than 20 games this year.

You are likely to pay hundreds more for a PC powerful enough to run Oculus. Several were on display at CES in Las Vegas.

Alternatively you can modify your own PC. Oculus VR has a downloadable program which tells you if your PC or gaming rig is quick enough. Mine failed the test as it didn’t have an Nvidia GTX 900 or AMD 290 graphics card or better.

These cards will set you back $500 or more bought online. If you have a compatible Samsung phone, you can use the Gear VR, a cut down wireless version of Rift to sample content.

There are Oculus Connect 2 games, classic arcade games through Oculus Arcade, and soon more than 100 movies through Oculus Video. Vimeo, TiVo and Hulu are building content for the Gear VR, and 360-degree video posted through Facebook will be viewable on it.

The same blowout in shipment time is likely when HTC Vive, ­another headset made in partnership with gaming platform creator Valve, opens for pre-orders on February 29.

Its price is undisclosed but some reports suggest more than $US1000, or about $1450. Again, you will need a gaming or souped-up PC.

I spent time at CES with HTC Vive Pre, the second generation Vive. We’re told it’s close in design to the production model Vive.

You position two laser-based trackers which define the boundaries of a virtual room and track movement. Walking around with a headset in the virtual world adds the danger of falling down stairs, colliding with tables and other hazards in the real one.

Pre has a front-facing camera that lets you see a blurry version of the real world blended behind the virtual one. You can trigger this camera yourself, but a feature called Chaperone makes it pop up when you get too close to real-world ­obstacles.

Vive’s wand-like controllers are recreated in your virtual world minus your hands. Seeing them makes it easier to find the buttons and manoeuvre objects in the virtual world. Resolution on this newer version of the Vive was very clear.

The tie-up with Valve will see oodles of VR content made available.

Sony didn’t push its PlayStation VR too hard at CES but says it has more than 200 developers working on 100-plus games for the headset.

Unlike the Rift and the Vive, PlayStation VR doesn’t require a special high-end PC, as the headset will work with a PS4. Pre-­orders can’t be too far away given that Sony’s competition is ready to attack the market.