14 DAY TRIAL // The Oculus Rift headset is seen by many as the future of gaming, but it seems that enthusiast adopters will have to wait quite a bit before they get their hands on a nearly finished version of the device, with a public beta apparently scheduled to take place before the summer of 2015 at the moment.
The information comes from a number of inside sources that are quoted by TechRadar, all of them with clear knowledge of the company and its plans, and they add that the plan is to only release a limited number of new devices at a time in order to test the reaction of the public.
The strategy is apparently inspired by what tech giant Google did when it decided to launch its own Google Glass platform, with a number of early adopters able to test the core technology while the company is still testing a range of changes.
Apparently the first beta units will be offered in April 2015 and those who use them will have to deliver feedback in order to improve the final experience.
At one point, the plan was to deliver a consumer version of the Oculus Rift before the end of the current year.
Virtual Reality needs to be improved
At the moment, the company is busy manufacturing and shipping the Oculus Rift Developer Kit version 2, which will be in the hands of more than 45,000 individuals or teams who placed a pre-order for it.
The company is still dealing with a range of tech-based challenges, and it says that the plan is to improve both the visual clarity of its device and to make sure that all latency associated with head tracking is no longer affecting the user experience.
Virtual reality is already used by a number of video games and has some very interesting possibilities.
Sony is exploring a similar solution for the PlayStation 4 home console with Project Morpheus, but that platform is at the moment in the prototype stage.
Samsung is also working with Oculus Rift to create a virtual reality solution based on a smartphone.
Facebook acquisition and lawsuits
The Oculus Rift parent company was acquired by social giant Facebook earlier in the year, and while the focus is set to be on video games for the next few years, there are also plans to use virtual reality to allow users to connect with one another.
The company is also dealing with a lawsuit launched by ZeniMax Media, which claims that it put money into the research and development of the core concepts used by Oculus Rift.