UPDATED 15:02 EDT / FEBRUARY 10 2016

NEWS

Pre-order Oculus Rift PC bundles touchdown February 16: Are you VR ready?

February 16, pre-order bundles including the Oculus Rift VR headset and PCs capable of running the overwhelming entertainment peripheral, will touchdown at retailers such as Best Buy, Amazon and the Microsoft Store. These bundles feature the powerful PC hardware needed to run a VR headset as well everything needed for the VR experience: the Rift headset, sensor, remote, Xbox One controller and games EVE: Valkyrie Founder’s Pack and Lucky’s Tale.

The moniker “Oculus Ready PC” has been coined because PC hardware requires a particular minimum spec in order to drive a VR experience.

The minimum specs, as listed on Oculus’s website require at least an NVIDIA GTX 970 or AMD 290 graphics card, Intel i5-4590 and 8GB RAM.

Each of the pre-order bundles provides at least this minimum with some frills for the price.

Are you VR ready? Hopefully your pocketbook is, because VR is not inexpensive. See below for the current selection of Oculus Ready rigs already presented on the market–these prices are lower because they do not include the Oculus Rift, keep reading for the details on the February 16 pre-order bundles.

Here's some Oculus certified pre-order rigs (not bundles) that show the basic specs needed to run the VR headset. All of the pre-order Rift bundles include something comparable to machines in this image.

Here’s some Oculus certified pre-order rigs (not bundles) that show the basic specs needed to run the VR headset. All of the pre-order Rift bundles include something comparable to machines in this image.

Desktop packages for every price point (except under $1,000)

The prices on the Best Buy pre-order Oculus Ready rigs start at $1,499 for the minimum package which includes everything listed above and an ASUS desktop with Intel Core i5 and 8GB of memory.

Going up to $1,549 adds a19.5” LED monitor package. Next in line is a stronger ASUS with 16GB of memory and a solid state drive for $1,949 and going up to $2,199 adds a 1TB hard drive for all those games.

Amazon and the Microsoft Store follow suit with the same packages as above (with minor deviations). Shoppers at Amazon can likely avail themselves of Amazon Prime reduced shipping.

Buyers can also find bundles including the Alienware and Dell desktops designed to be Oculus Ready using the powerful Alienware X51-Series desktop as the foundation and building on that from $1,599 up to $3,149 (the latter includes 16GB RAM, 2TB harddrive and a solid state drive).

One eye-popping rig is the Alienware Area 51 Bundle on Amazon featuring an i7 Intel Core 3.3 GHz processor, 16GB RAM, 2TB hard drive and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX980 graphics card. This is comparable to the same bundle on Best Buy for $3,149.

What are the games that come with the bundle?

Two games are listed as bundled with the Oculus Rift pre-orders: EVE: Valkyrie Founder’s Pack and Lucky’s Tale.

EVE: Valkyrie takes place in the universe of CCP Games (CCP hf)’s EVE Online universe–which is a massively multiplayer role playing game (MMORPG) that pits player against player in a massive universe filled with planets and starships. EVE Online is a long-running MMO that emulates a full universe economy filled with corporations, pirates and virtually eternal warfare. However, the game is played from the perspective of a capital ship captain, staring at screens of data and logistics–EVE: Valkyrie changes this perspective by putting the player in a cockpit.

In Valkyrie players will be launching from the very ships they fly in the EVE Online game and dogfight in a space fighter combat simulation designed for virtual reality. This game is akin to others on the market edging for the same space such as Elite: Dangerous and Star Citizen, but pre-alpha footage seems to show that it’s more tightly designed to just be a space combat simulator for VR.

Lucky’s Tale is a cute VR platformer game that involves an adorable little fox going on adventures developed by Playful Corp.

In Lucky’s Tale players will direct the eponymous character, Lucky, through bright, colorful worlds as he runs, jumps, climbs and spins to solve thrilling challenges. According to the company Lucky’s Tale is “built from the ground up for virtual reality” and provides a “vibrant, living world…”

Platformers are a much-loved genre in gaming, with a notable example being Nintendo Co. Ltd.’s Super Mario Brothers and all its sequels..

Featured image credit: EVE: Valkyrie by CCP Games screenshot from pre-alpha footage at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amtBUkmHS0w

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