Facebook-owned Oculus has a new virtual reality headset to show off. The Oculus Quest sits between the portable Oculus Go and the PC-connected Oculus Rift in the range, needs no connecting wires or external sensors, and is arriving at the start of next year for $399.
Alongside the Go and Rift, the Oculus Quest finishes off the "first generation" of Oculus VR headsets, the company has said. It brings a lot of the benefits of the Oculus Go, including wire-free operation and on-board computing power, without quite reaching the high graphics performance of the Oculus Rift.
As yet we don't have any details on the performance limits of the Oculus Quest, but we do know it's going to be able to run several Rift-ready games, including Robo Recall, The Climb, and Moss. It will also come bundled with Touch Controllers, like the Rift.
The new headset will pack the same 1600 x 1440 resolution (per eye) optics of the Oculus Go, but presumably significantly more powerful components under the hood. One key feature is the inclusion of six degrees of freedom (6DOF) sensors – essentially, you'll be able to be tracked in 3D space without any sensors stuck to the walls around you.
Other than that, we know the headset will come with a lens adjustment mechanism to keep everything in focus, and "improved" built-in audio.
"Oculus Go remains the easiest and most affordable way to get into VR, while Oculus Rift leverages the power of your PC to push the limits of what's possible," explained Oculus in a press statement. "Thanks to Oculus Quest, we're now able to combine the best of both worlds and welcome even more people into the VR community."
With no wires, no need to buy a separate gaming PC, and everything you need in the box, Oculus (and owner Facebook) will be hoping the Quest headset has enough to tempt more casual gamers into virtual reality. Considering it runs more or less the same software and games as the Rift, it should be able to produce some top-quality experiences (though maybe at lower frame rates).
We should get more on the specs of the device between now and "spring" (in the US) next year – let's hope there are no production delays along the way either. The $399 we quoted above is for a model with 64 GB of storage on board, but we don't know any more details of configurations yet.
Check out a video promo for the Oculus Quest below.
Source: Oculus
