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Home / News / Better than ever: Oculus Rift 2.0 revealed with high-res display and full environment motion tracking

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Better than ever: Oculus Rift 2.0 revealed with high-res display and full environment motion tracking

Oculus just made the world's favourite VR headset even better, and we can't wait to strap in

Esat Dedezade

Sony wasn’t the only company to reveal a new VR headset today. Oculus has taken one step closer to a full retail release of the Oculus Rift by announcing the Rift Development Kit 2, or Oculus Rift 2.0 as we’ve taken to calling it.

The Rift 2.0 packs in all the improvements we saw in the Rift Crystal Cove prototype which we blew our eyeballs and brains away when we strapped into it at CES back in January.

A number of improvements are present over the original Rift model, the most important of which is arguably the elimination of motion blur.

This is a rather big deal, because motion blur from the original Rift development kit caused many users to feel nauseous – hardly the best thing when you’re trying to have fun playing game.

The Rift’s OLED screen has also received a resolution bump, with each eye now receiving 1080 x 960 pixels.

READ MORE: Sony’s VR Project Morpheus headset makes its debut, and it looks amazing

The Rift 2.0 also now has precise, low-latency head tracking.

An external camera is able to measure LED markers embedded in the Rift’s outer shell, tracking your head in its 3D environment and allowing you to carry out immersive moves like peering around corners and leaning into virtual objects to get a closer look.

US$350 Oculus Rift 2.0 revealed with high-res display and motion tracking

In the Crystal Cove prototype, the marker LEDs were clearly visible, dotted around on the outside of the Rift. Oculus has however cleverly hidden them beneath the Rift 2’s outer case in such a way, that the camera can still detect and track them.

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About

Esat has been a gadget fan ever since his tiny four-year-old brain was captivated by a sound-activated dancing sunflower. From there it was a natural progression to a Sega Mega Drive, a brief obsession with hedgehogs, and a love for all things tech. After 7 years as a writer and deputy editor for Stuff, Esat ventured out into the corporate world, spending three years as Editor of Microsoft's European News Centre. Now a freelance writer, his appetite for shiny gadgets has no bounds. Oh, and like all good human beings, he's very fond of cats.