New Oculus Rift prototype Crescent Bay unveiled
Adds 360-degree headtracking, headphones.
The newly unveiled Oculus Rift prototype, Crescent Bay, tracks you when you stand up and turn around. This is 360-degree head tracking, and it's the headline feature. The other noticeable addition is (apparently optional) built-in headphones that provide 3D audio.
The headset's design has changed slightly to be more comfortable and weigh less. Full technical specifications for Crescent Bay aren't available but the screens are higher resolution than DK2 and have lower latency.
Crescent Bay is not the consumer version - the Oculus Rift headset that will be sold in shops. Rather it's "the latest prototype headset on the path to the consumer version".
"This is still incredibly early hardware," Oculus reminded us. "There are plenty of technical challenges left to solve for the consumer Rift, but Crescent Bay is truly the best virtual reality headset we've ever built."
Oculus VR also unveiled the Oculus Platform marketplace where it will sell games and apps and things to Oculus Rift owners. You'll browse a kind of holodeck-style store, selecting what you want to buy/try. The Samsung-Oculus VR-for-phones headset will be able to access apps there too, it sounds like.
TechCrunch was one of many sites that covered the Oculus Connect event and went hands-on with the new headset.