Fans have been looking forward to when the Oculus Rift Virtual reality system will launch. However, a bit of a bad news floated recently. Apparently, fans will have to deal with having an incomplete set at first, as the Touch controllers will release much later than the Oculus Rift headset itself.
According to the announcement on the official Oculus website, the scheduled launch of the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset for the first quarter this year is still on track, and pre-orders for the headgear will go live soon. Although there was no indication on when the pre-orders will start, the post mentions that it will be "very soon."
Meanwhile, the post announced that the other accessory for the VR system, the Touch controllers, will roll out later in the year. There is no mention of when the controllers will start to roll out from the production line, but Oculus hinted that it will come in the second half of 2016. As with the Oculus Rift headgear, pre-orders will go live prior to launch of the Touch controllers.
However, Oculus decided to announce the specific dates for pre-orders and release for later announcements, adding that "On the path to perfecting Touch, we've decided that we need more time before release, and we'll now be shipping Touch in the second half of 2016. Pre-orders will open a few months prior to launch."
The post highlights that when the Touch finally releases later in the year, it will be significantly improved over the previous versions that some reviewers and developers have received.
Oculus also added that the improvements done on the Touch are some of the things they considered in pushing back the release of the controllers. Apparently, the new Touch will release as a "more comfortable, reliable, and natural" controller.
In addition, Oculus stated that, "We're also implementing changes that improve hand pose recognition."
