On the Oculus Developer Forums, OculusVR reports that the first batch of second-generation developer kits (DK2 or Developer Kit 2) have left the manufacturing facility and are heading to distribution centers. Around 10,000 units will be shipped from the factory in July, and the first wave should reach developers the week of July 14. More will be coming in August and September.
"We're now over 45,000 DK2 pre-orders, which is incredibly exciting," the forum post reads. "That said, we're slightly behind in manufacturing and there's currently a high chance that some developers with estimated shipping in July may not have their DK2s shipped until August. We have a team in China working on continued ramp of production at our factory, and we'll work our way through the queue as fast as we can."
According to GameSpot, OculusVR has sold more than 100,000 units between the first and second developer kits: that's quite a lot when you consider its developing technology. Compared to the first kit, this new DK2 includes 960 x 1080 (per eye) OLED screens, increased pixel density, and an external camera for tracking the head as it moves in the real world.
Customers eager to get a taste of what's to come from the Rift can purchase DK2 here for $350 USD. The kit will include two pairs of vision lenses, the external camera for positional tracking, the camera's USB cable, a sync cable, an HDMI-to-DVI adapter, and a power cord that has an adapter and three international adapters to power the USB port on the Rift.
The recommended hardware specs for the Rift include a dedicated graphics card with DVI-D or HDMI graphics output, with the capability of running current "generation 3D games at 1080p resolution at 75fps or higher." The minimum specs include Windows 7 or higher, Mac OS 10.8 or higher, or Ubuntu 12.04 LTS operating system. Also required are two USB ports (at least one powered), and a DVI-D or HDMI graphics output.
Unfortunately, there's no word on when the retail version will be offered to gamers.
Follow Kevin Parrish @exfileme. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.