Hands On With the Impressive Oculus 'Santa Cruz' Headset

With Oculus VR's upcoming Santa Cruz headset, virtual reality fans have reason to be excited.

I had a hazard to demo the image device for almost 15 minutes at the Oculus Connect developer briefing this week, and I plant it to be the most impressive VR headset to date.

The Santa Cruz prototype does away with the cords, external sensors, and loftier-terminate gaming PC required on the existing Oculus Rift headset. With Santa Cruz, all the necessary components are built into the headset itself, and what a difference a fully wireless VR feel can make.

That sounds great, only how does Santa Cruz work in practice? Quite well. At times, I felt virtually removed from the existent world.

During a demo of the game Dead and Buried, I scrambled to avoid getting killed past zombies. In another title, Timestalled, I lunged back and forth to fend off a robot attack. The activity was nothing new for experienced VR gamers. Simply with the Santa Cruz epitome, I could play without having to worry well-nigh ripping out or tripping over a cord.

Equally a consequence, I was free to physically spin my trunk effectually, leaping and moving through the infinite with carelessness. In every instance, the Santa Cruz headset tracked my movements fairly accurately as I rotated 360 degrees.

Unfortunately, Oculus didn't allow any pictures during the demo. But the headset and the games I played encouraged me to wander well-nigh on my own two feet. So I did, feeling more than immersed in a virtual environment than I have with the company'south existing Oculus Rift headset.

The Santa Cruz epitome has certainly come up a long way since it was first previewed a year ago. During PCMag'south cursory demo in 2022, we found it to exist promising but clearly a work in progress. Back then, the device included a computer that strapped behind the user's caput, a noisy fan, and a battery that dangled from the headband.

The latest version gets rid of that clunkiness and looks and feels similar a polished product. The battery and reckoner are encased inside the headset, which comfortably fit over my caput.

Oculus has also redesigned its controllers, which I had no trouble using. During a game chosen Boundless, I fed and played fetch with a pet creature and kneeled downward to option up drawing fruit off the ground. The Santa Cruz headset read the controllers without whatever noticeable hitch.

The whole experience was so immersive that when I pulled the headset off, my brain was about surprised I was back in the real world, and my mind needed a moment to accommodate.

For now, Santa Cruz is nonetheless a prototype even though information technology's conspicuously coming into focus. But I exercise wonder about the product'south battery life and calculating power, two factors that might significantly limit how long someone can actually utilise the headset or what games they can play.

Unfortunately, Oculus isn't revealing annihilation about the device's technical specs, price, or release appointment. But the image certainly makes me optimistic for VR's future. Developers will brainstorm receiving evolution kits for the Santa Cruz headset some time adjacent year.

Source: https://sea.pcmag.com/feature/17844/hands-on-with-the-impressive-oculus-santa-cruz-headset

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