Oculus Rift: Available for pre-order • Hacker News Board

Re: Oculus Rift: Available for pre-order

#191

Post by paulmd » Wed, Jan 06, 2016, 5:34 PM UTC

mortenjorck wrote: post #49

$599 may seem like a perilously steep price to debut at, but right now, Oculus faces a much bigger risk than low sales volume: Poor reception. If this was the MSRP required to ensure a comfortable, nausea-free experience, it's far better to have a killer product at a high price point than a "don't buy the first generation" product at the price point people were expecting. The former can lead to a cheaper gen 2, but t…

Well, the $599 price is close to double their "ballpark price" of $350. It also comes just days after they announced they're giving away ~7,000 free Rift units as a special thank-you to those who Kickstarted the devkits.

Right now they have a serious expectation management problem with their price - they're turning off customers because they nearly doubled their asking price overnight. Those free units would translate into a sizeable discount for their paying retail customers, so I argue that the problem here is both real and self-inflicted.

Re: Oculus Rift: Available for pre-order

#192

Post by e28eta » Wed, Jan 06, 2016, 5:35 PM UTC

stoffie wrote: post #41

linux support was dropped, thank god I have a good reason to not give them all my money

And it looks like Mac hardware (even with bootcamp) is not supported either, so I do too.

Re: Oculus Rift: Available for pre-order

#193

Post by Strom » Wed, Jan 06, 2016, 5:36 PM UTC

MagnumOpus wrote: post #168

Strom wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That price includes VAT. According to google 599 USD is 557 EUR. Add VAT to that, e.g. Finnish 24%, and you get 691 EUR. Not that far from the 699 EUR listed price.

You don't add Finnish 24% VAT but the VAT of the country where the EU branch of the company is based - most likely Luxembourg with its 15% VAT rate. (All Amazon deliveries to the Eurozone come from Amazon EU SARL in Luxembourg, for instance). Which means the fair price would be EUR 640, almost 10% lower.

VAT is based on the buyer's country for digital goods/services [1], and in other cases (such as this) if the sales exceed 100 000 EUR per year. [2][3] In some countries, like Finland, the limit is even lower at 35 000 EUR per year. [4] So if Oculus expects to sell more than 50 copies of the Rift to Finland, it will have to pay the Finnish VAT.

Also, Luxembourg's VAT is 17% nowadays. [5]

[1] https://kdp.amazon.com/help?topicId=A30464Q6OVH578

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union_value_added_tax...

[3] https://www.gov.uk/guidance/vat-what-to-do-if-youre-an-overs...

[4] http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/resources/documents/tax...

[5] http://www.vatlive.com/european-news/luxembourg-vat-rise-17-...

Re: Oculus Rift: Available for pre-order

#194

Post by moron4hire » Wed, Jan 06, 2016, 5:36 PM UTC

keeran wrote: post #175

rhokstar wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Research and development!

That's how I justified the KickStarter.. boy has that paid off! :D

Might be a small amount of profit in someone finding DK1-backers who have gotten out of VR and don't want a CV1 and buying their free devices off of them.

Re: Oculus Rift: Available for pre-order

#195

Post by aresant » Wed, Jan 06, 2016, 5:40 PM UTC

vocatus_gate wrote: post #157

I think the biggest risk to adoption is real-world interest. I get that VR is a fun tech, and has some potentially cool possibilities. But to me and seemingly many other people, it's just not that interesting. I don't know why, maybe I'm not geek enough, but I just have zero interest. And frankly it feels kind of like a gimmick. I'm especially averse to the idea of strapping on a clumsy headset every time I want to u…

I literally feel sorry for you, not in an unfriendly way, that you haven't seen the right demo yet and can't share the insane excitement that I have for this technology.

This is the FIRST consumer release! This is the Palm Pilot 1 of VR.

Yes most of the content right now is mediocre but there are some mindblowing experiences too.

For instance Elite Dangerous + DK2 + Motion Sim.

It literally feels like you are piloting a craft in outer space.

Here's a demo - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqr8ee7GORY

I have a similar rig and I literally have to fight off the skeptics / marginally interested after they try it.

The "strap on a clumsy" headset part is going to go away quickly. Every sensor in there is being miniaturized by the day. Magic Leap (and others) are using tricks to project imagery directly onto your retina. The form factor will wind up wireless, probably look similar to google glass.

Oculus + 3D audio + input + eventual tactical is going to completely blur the lines of reality in ways we can't yet imagine - gaming, training, social interaction, SEX, therapy, etc, etc - it's all going to be different in 10 years because of VR.

I believe that being a student of VR at this point, which I believe will be the top mechanism to consume content in the future, is akin to being an early iphone dev.

Plus gave me a good excuse to order the CV1 :)

Re: Oculus Rift: Available for pre-order

#196

Post by DINKDINK » Wed, Jan 06, 2016, 5:41 PM UTC

owenversteeg wrote: post #106

Among the giant debate over cost and power, I'm just wondering what would've happened had they waited, say, two years to release. Suddenly, the cost (of both the device and of the desktop PC) go way down. With something like this, a poorly received first launch can torpedo not only the product but the entire VR industry, and when someone's spent over $2k to get it to work their expectations will be very high. I'm sur…

> what would've happened had they waited, say, two years to release. Suddenly, the cost (of both the device and of the desktop PC) go way down.

When is this not the case? Two years into the future, hardware will be vastly cheaper /in two more years/

Re: Oculus Rift: Available for pre-order

#197

Post by jblow » Wed, Jan 06, 2016, 5:42 PM UTC

awurts wrote: post #46

599... not to mention I have a very high end computer by today's standard but it still needs upgrades. I have one of the better AMD processors but it tells me I need an Intel, which means I will have to buy a new board and rebuild the entire thing, as well as replace the GPU... right.

Kids today.

In the late 1990s-early 2000s a decent gaming PC would cost you between $2500 and $3500, and those numbers represented more money than they do today.

A "very high end computer by today's standard", when it comes to games, would have a GPU that's substantially faster than what Oculus is requiring ... I find their requirement shockingly low and wonder if that is a tactical mistake.

Re: Oculus Rift: Available for pre-order

#198

Post by sebringj » Wed, Jan 06, 2016, 5:42 PM UTC

$399 should be an all-in-one price anyway. Not going to be mainstream till 2017-18 even but we'll see some nice kiosks and promotional booths in businesses.

Re: Oculus Rift: Available for pre-order

#199

Post by moron4hire » Wed, Jan 06, 2016, 5:44 PM UTC

theinternetman wrote: post #177

horsecaptin wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bet opinions like yours were prevalent when 3D games first came out. "This 3D thing is nice, but why don't you just concentrate on making a better videogames?".

As someone old enough to remember that time, no one said that.

As also someone old enough to remember that time, lots of SNES and Sega Genesis owners were saying that. And people were getting sick from Doom at far greater rates than they are today from Oculus Rifts.

Re: Oculus Rift: Available for pre-order

#200

Post by thescriptkiddie » Wed, Jan 06, 2016, 5:44 PM UTC

vocatus_gate wrote: post #157

I think the biggest risk to adoption is real-world interest. I get that VR is a fun tech, and has some potentially cool possibilities. But to me and seemingly many other people, it's just not that interesting. I don't know why, maybe I'm not geek enough, but I just have zero interest. And frankly it feels kind of like a gimmick. I'm especially averse to the idea of strapping on a clumsy headset every time I want to u…

Have you tried VR? It sounds like either you haven't, or you did and had a shitty experience - because it wasn't until very recently that VR was even remotely usable. You should give the Oculus a shot when you have a chance. Sure, the headset is annoying to put on. But once you've spent a few hours in a high-quality VR experience, games on a normal monitor just feel clumsy and claustrophobic.

Carmack and Newell are going back to producing quality games. Those two have been in semi-retirement for years now, and VR is the thing that finally got them excited to make things again. Those two have been dreaming about VR gaming since the day multiplayer was added to Doom.

Also, the trolls still haven't figured out how to downvote here. Don't tip them off.