First Guy to Get Oculus Rift Virtual Reality Headset Gives His Review
Ross Martin had his headset personally delivered by Oculus founder.
— -- The first customer to receive the consumer version of Oculus Rift, which began shipping this week, has a rave review after playing with some of the virtual reality experiences offered through the headset.
"I was really impressed with the sensation of feeling like I was in a different place and kept on trying to reach out and touch things," Ross Martin, a software developer in Anchorage, Alaska, told ABC News. "I tried Oculus Dreamdeck, which places one in a variety of virtual environments like a submarine, meeting a T-Rex, and watching two anthropomorphic industrial robots interact."
After four years -- and a high profile $2 billion acquisition of the company by Facebook -- the first consumer Oculus headsets are being delivered this week.
Oculus founder Palmer Luckey hand delivered the first headset to Martin, who had the distinction of being the first customer to pre-order Oculus in January.
"Palmer told me that, though I placed the first order, there were other orders placed at the exact same second, so it was really close," Martin said.
The high price tag of $599 -- plus the requisite high performance PC needed to operate the headset -- puts Oculus in a price range that makes it still inaccessible to the masses.
Martin said the price was worth it to be one of the earliest consumers to experience virtual reality through Oculus.
"I suppose it was the appeal of being transported to different worlds. Everyone wants to be able to fly or visit the moon, and there's never been anything quite like this before," he said.