Oculus has been on a mission to bring VR to the mass market ever since its successful Kickstarter campaign. With goals of selling millions upon millions of Rift headsets, the company needed to find ways to make adoption simple for the average user and for developers alike. It believes that familiarity is key to making the transition to VR experiences as seamless as possible.
To make this happen, Oculus partnered with Xbox to ensure that the input device used for Rift games is standardized. The two companies announced today that an Xbox One controller, along with a wireless adapter for Windows, will be included in the box of every Oculus Rift.
While that in itself is exciting news, the big bombshell announcement came when Phil Spencer of Xbox announced that Xbox One games will be playable on Oculus Rift. Microsoft previously said that Xbox One games would be playable on Windows 10-based PCs and tablets, and with a Windows 10-based gaming PC hooked up to the Rift, it will be possible to play Xbox One games from a virtual private theater. Windows 10 will be required to stream games from an Xbox One, and it will natively support the VR headset. The retail Rift should be detected upon plugging it in to a PC with Windows 10 installed.
With Microsoft's Hololens being developed, the company sees the two products as complementary devices that enhance the scope of gaming options. Each offers a very different experience, which are mutually exclusive. Hololens is a mixed-reality system that projects hologram onto the real world, whereas VR immerses players entirely into a virtual world, blocking out the real one.
Microsoft believes that each has its place and is embracing both platforms.
The company teased that more information will be revealed next week at E3 and suggested tuning in to watch the keynote. We'll be there live and in person to bring you all the big announcements from the show.
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