VR Survey: Want to Buy an Oculus Rift or Vive This Year?

Now that HTC Vive has announced pre-order sales for $799, VR fans have a choice between buying that Valve-lead headset, or the Oculus headset from Palmer Luckey, John Carmack and crew. Please choose the option that's closest to your opinion or discuss other options in Comments!

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Comments

[Cake]

I'm far too broke to afford one, but if I had the money, I would get an Oculus for sure.

[metacam oh]

I mean there is a chance I'd buy an Oculus if money isn't too tight at the end of the year, but probably I'd wait until the price normalizes. 600 bucks for Oculus is ridiculous no matter how good it is

[Jessica Pixel]

I might buy one or the other, but I'm looking at saving up a little longer for the Vive because of it's external camera for inside-out tracking. It also depends on the software that will be available. If Oculus gets more game support, it might be a better idea to go with that.

That being said, it won't be a while before I own anything but a cheap Google Cardboard. This stuff is SO EXPENSIVE.

[Iggy]

Bought a set of headers and other accessories for a RL street rod (not a SL one) I'm building. I'd rather put money there for something I can drive to "Cars and Coffee" than on a scuba-mask that keeps me indoors.

[Clara Seller]

It's expensive, ugly, and I'm pretty pedestrian.

I'd have to be razzle dazzled with it's function before I'd consider burning that kind of money. There's not been a single person in my RL who has even mentioned this yet in conversation.

Right now, I'm about as envious of owning this technology as I am of owning my own personal colonoscope.

[Graham Mills]

Neither at that price and probably not for a couple years when I next upgrade my PC. Let's not forget either all the other hardware delights due in the next year or two (HoloLens, Magic Leap, Meta, CastAR, Google, Apple...). Distinct balkanization concerns even before you start on software environment and content.

On the other hand I have bought a plastic Cardboard HMD which works OK with my equally low-end CyanogenOS phone. Example apps: inCell VR is a fun (if vertiginous) rollercoaster-style trip/mission around a virus-infected cell while Lost in the Kismet is a brief room escape puzzler. Neither are going to strike fear into the heart of Oculus but it may well be that occasional "good enough" VR is all that most folk want. Then you get 360 degree video shorts from the likes of Chris Milk as well as the ability to take your own 360 photos with Cardboard Camera. That's not a bad ecosystem and beyond that it also plays nicely with Sketchfab and A-Frame for the non-devs among us.

[Emily]

Well, I would buy a Oculus Rift if it wasn't so darn expensive! I really wish I could afford it, though...

[FlipperPA Peregrine]

No offense meant, but I have to chuckle a bit at the "so expensive" price tag. It really isn't. It might be out of our personal budgets, but if you told me you could get a fully immersive VR headset experience for $600 a decade ago? That's half of what I paid for the Indigo sim in 2004, and that was a bargain compared to what sims started selling for soon afterwards! That's the same price as an iPad, which these days, really doesn't seem like a wholly remarkable device. I wrote about the Vuzix VR series a while back, which had a similar price tag but was light years behind what these devices offer: http://www.peregrinesalon.com/blog/2008/03/almost-lawnmower-man-introducing-the-vuzix-iwear-vr920/ It is an exciting time for VR, even if it is another hype wave!

[Kitty Revolver]

while VR is not my thing generally, I can't think of spending $500-$800 for a headset. If they wanted this to go mainstream they should have dropped the price. I would say that while people can drop money on a PS4 or Xbox, I doubt the replay value is lower on the VR than gaming consoles.

[Graham Mills]

Heh, another safety-related VR dev quote: https://twitter.com/misslivirose/status/705915700410331136