Pre-orders fulfilled
Some good news for VR enthusiasts who have been waiting impatiently for their order of the Oculus Rift Virtual Reality Headset to arrive. Oculus has confirmed this week in a blog announcement that all the pre-orders for the virtual reality headset have shipped. Orders placed through the company website will be shipped within the next 2 to 4 business days.
Excitement among fans
The Rift was launched on March 28 this year, following a year of excitement building up among eager customers. But the young company behind the cutting edge product was quickly overwhelmed by the demand, and has been trying desperately to fill a backlog of orders for the past three and a half months. The delay was the cause of great anguish among fans of the headset. Even the removal of shipping cost on pre-orders did little to mollify the community, who demanded better communication and a specific statement of apology from the makers.
An apology from Microsoft
Thus, the announcement of the updated pre-orders was also accompanied by a formal apology from the tech giant, in which the founders not only asked for pardon, but also thanked customers for their patience and acknowledged their role in bringing the technology to the production stage.
Hand controllers
The one piece of news missing from the announcement is any update on the arrival of Oculus Touch, the motion sensing hand controllers of the Rift. As far as the possibility of further announcements are concerned, Oculus has indicated that the hand controllers will be available sometime later this year, but refused to go into specifics.
Oculus Connect
Also part of the announcement was the return of Oculus Connect, a three-day convention focusing on the company’s products. The headset’s retail availability has been fixed for July 2016 in Microsoft stores, and expansion of The Rift’s Best Buy presence to 500 stores in the fall.
