Oculus is keeping quiet on its plans for the launch of a consumer-ready version, but we've learned that the company is planning to roll out a public 'beta' for the headset as early as April 2015.
Multiple sources with knowledge of the matter have told TechRadar and VRFocus that Oculus VR is planning to launch its finalised headset in a limited, Google Glass-style rollout. That rollout will happen "by [US] Summer next year," we've been informed.
One source told us that April 2015 had been set as a release target, but added that Oculus may push this back a few more months as the plans were still not entirely nailed down.
The company will be dealing with distribution internally, with only a pre-determined number of headsets to be made available for the initial launch phase. Apparently Oculus wants to gauge interest with both consumers and retailers before making its headset fully available to everyone, hence the limited launch.
The revolution will be low latency
Oculus VR co-founder Nate Mitchell recently revealed that the consumer model will be offered between US$200 (AU$219.68) and US$400 (AU$439.35), which is quite a wide ball park, but reassuring to anyone who thought the final model might come in significantly dearer than the Dev Kit 2.
Other co-founder Palmer Luckey also stated that the consumer system's resolution would get a "significant increase" over the DK2's 1080p display, with a refresh rate that will hit 90Hz or higher.
And while Samsung's own Gear VR headset, powered by Oculus technology, is soon to be on the market, it's the Rift that's on the wish list of the VR purists - and having played with DK2 ourselves, it's no secret that the headset is on the home stretch.
Oculus VR refused to comment on this story.
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