Oculus Rift officially shipping, SDK v1.3 now available

Although one lucky Oculus Rift buyer might have received his VR headset from the hands and smiling face of company founder, Palmer Luckey himself, most fans are expecting their's from a more traditional courier. Fortunately, many of them only have hours or days to wait, as the first batches of the headset are now going out to consumers.

Kickstarter units, the free, special-editions of the headset that were sent out exclusively to original DK1 Kickstarter backers, should now be arriving, with the standard editions leaving the Oculus warehouses on a consistent basis from now on. Oculus claims that all pre-orderers will receive an email 1-3 weeks before shipping to confirm it as processing and then another when the payment is taken.

To celebrate this historic event in Oculus' history, there's a full 30 games and experiences for gamers and VR fans to enjoy when their headset arrives, everything from Chronos to AirMech Command and VR Tennis. There are also apps like Oculus Video, which gives you a intuitive interface for watching 360 degree videos and look at 360 degree photos. [yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXqbcduIapM']

We're told that Oculus has curated more than 200,000 locations around the world, with detailed, 360 degree images, making it possible to take virtual tours with static imagery.

For those looking to take their first steps in VR though, there's also a number of Oculus “vignettes,” such as Farlands, where you visit a bizarre alien world and hang out with some of the creatures there. Visiting every day will see new creatures appear and new opportunities for exploration. [yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zQgUgeJuHg']

And on top of it all, Oculus VR has launched the Oculus SDK v1.3 as well. It adds asychronous timewarp, for a more comfortable VR experiences; a better VR application framework and native integration with Unity and Unreal Engine 4.

While the Rift is now available to order, rather than pre-order though, those looking to buy one now still have a multi-month wait while Oculus production catches up with demand.

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KitGuru Says: Do you have one of these headsets ordered? If so, what are you looking forward to trying/playing first?

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