With Oculus launch, 2016 marks new era in virtual reality
Culture
Welcome to the virtual reality renaissance.
I'm Bridget Carey.
This is your CNET Update.
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For nearly three years, the virtual reality company Oculus has shown off prototypes of its Rift VR headset at trade shows.
But the company is nearly ready to sell it to the public.
Oculus, which is owned by Facebook, and now it will have a commercial version of its headgear in the first quarter of 2016.
It'll take pre-orders later this year.
So it won't be out in time for the holidays, but you know what will be?
HTCs competing VR headset called "the Vibe", and Sony is also working on it's own virtual reality for the Playstation, that's called Project Morpheus, and it may not arrive until much later next year.
We're going through something of a virtual reality renaissance.
You can experience VR through a smartphone app by putting your phone inside a special case strapped to your head, such as Samsung's Gear VR.
Even Mattel is putting virtual reality inside of the classic view-master toy, but let's take a step back.
The first Oculus headset launched as a kick starter project in 2012, it generated nearly $2 and 1/2 million dollars in pre orders for a prototype.
Last year Facebook bought the company for $2 billion dollars.
Oculus is not saying how much it's going to charge for this headset, but the one for developers to play with, that's Currently out.
It cost $350.
It may not matter which company sells one first, be a HDC Oculus of Sony, what matter is the entertainment experience and that content take time to build.
In other gaming news, Sony's Playstation now stream new service, is now coming to the Playstation 3 console next week, on May 12th.
Subscribers that pay $20 per month You can access more than 100 PS3 games.
This first launched in January on the Playstation 4, and you can also find the service on some Sony TVs and Blu-Ray players.
So you can play games without owning a Playstation, just as long as you have the right controller.
Meanwhile more television sets are coming with Roku technology inside so you do not have to buy an extra box just to stream video.
sharp is the latest TV maker to incorporate Roku software.
It'll come in two sizes, 43 inches and 50 inches And priced pretty nice at $380 and $500, respectively.
Insignia is also coming out with some new Roku TV models starting at $230 for 32 inches.
They are available for pre-order from Best Buy and will arrive in stores in the next few weeks.
That's your tech news update.
Head over to cnet.com for more and follow along on Twitter.
From our studios in New York, I'm Bridget Carey.
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