The best current hardware experience for VR is also now one of the most affordable: Oculus Rift and the Oculus Touch Controllers are reduced to just $399 for both for the remainder of the summer, or the next six weeks. The deal brings the Rift and Touch Controllers to price parity with the PlayStation VR, and undercuts significantly the HTC Vive.
The pricing isn’t permanent, but it’s available for a fairly long “limited time,” and that should give potential buyers plenty of time to decide whether they’re interested in picking up the Rift. For what it’s worth, the Rift and Touch combo is my favorite current overall VR experience, balancing comfort with input efficacy, visual quality and more. Of course, you’ll still need a powerful VR rig to make it all work, but the price benefit means you’re going to have more funds left over to help make that happen.
The deal is part of the ‘Summer of Rift’ promotion Oculus is running, which also has a lot of games discounted. Basically, it’s probably the best time to get into PC-based VR in terms of overall cost.
There are some exciting hardware developments on the horizon in VR, including Steam’s Knuckles controllers, which look like they’ll offer even more versatility than Oculus Touch, but those are still a ways out from consumer release.