Oculus is coming out with an XBox One Gamepad

Frank · Jun 11, 2015

Oculus has done a deal with microsoft to supply CV1 with a controller

https://nerdist.com/xbox-and-oculus-team-up-for-the-future/

That's saved me a bit of dosh. I was going to buy one

I wonder if this means there's been experiments to get the headset to work with the XBone.

cherbert · Jun 11, 2015

Frank said:
Oculus has done a deal with microsoft to supply CV1 with a controller

https://nerdist.com/xbox-and-oculus-team-up-for-the-future/

That's saved me a bit of dosh. I was going to buy one I wonder if this means there's been experiments to get the headset to work with the XBone.

This was my first thought but I can't believe in a million years the XBone could cope with Elite Dangerous at 90fps.

CATPAIN KIRK · Jun 11, 2015

cherbert said:
This was my first thought but I can't believe in a million years the XBone could cope with Elite Dangerous at 90fps.

This, really - I used to have an Xbone and gave it to my nephew because my >3 year old PC vastly outperformed it (never bought it for gaming - hoped to use it as a bluray player and a video streaming receiver to TV from my PC - turned out to be inferior to the PS 3 at that).

Besides I hope it's an optional package - I already have an xbox controller I never use.

Well - there's always the Vive, although I expect them to announce it to launch with a steam controller soon.

jabokai · Jun 11, 2015

I bought an XBox controller just to use with the Rift - because an awful lot of existing stuff was designed with it in mind. So I can see their thinking - give VR developers a baseline and why bother reinventing the wheel when it comes to a standard gamepad. The half moon controllers are another kettle of fish and show that they are still innovating. As they've said, the gamepad is pretty useful - doesn't mean it's the end of control options, just the starting point.

Will probably get the Vive, in addition, anyway.

Asp Explorer · Jun 11, 2015

I'm somewhat curious about the "and adapter" part of that article. XB1 controller only works when plugged in to a USB port on my PC. Is this some form of XB1 wireless adapter? Or is it, as I am 99% sure, just a USB cable? I can't imagine it being much fun having the CR1 cables getting tangled up with your controller cable - which unplugs if you look at it funny

xondk · Jun 11, 2015

This seems like a mistake, though I guess I understand why, they want to make sure the controller is as widely supported as possible, and microsoft has windows platform, so yeah.

It is a shame though the DS4 controller is superior in my opinion, and has better functionality, and in vr sixasis + light bar would actually be useful would make it possible for vr to locate controller and use it for various stuff rather then just buttons.

Oh well, most likely due to lack of official DS4 support on windows, Sony really should really get moving on that.

Nagual · Jun 11, 2015

Bah. Don't need another controller, what I want is "not the extra expense" that this will no doubt add.

Frank · Jun 11, 2015

So you can play VBone games on the CV1 but only using it like a massive screen. It sounds like Microsoft are trying to FUD Sony's Morpheus. The PS4 may be slightly underpowered for VR, but it does have a chance of providing a half-decent experience seeing as the games are designed with defined hardware in mind.

jhoff80 · Jun 13, 2015

Asp Explorer said:
I'm somewhat curious about the "and adapter" part of that article. XB1 controller only works when plugged in to a USB port on my PC. Is this some form of XB1 wireless adapter? Or is it, as I am 99% sure, just a USB cable? I can't imagine it being much fun having the CR1 cables getting tangled up with your controller cable - which unplugs if you look at it funny

Microsoft is coming out with a wireless adapter for the Xbox One controller in the fall. It'll be Windows 10-only though, so for some who don't upgrade, it'll just be useless junk for them.

Asp Explorer · Jun 13, 2015

jhoff80 said:
Microsoft is coming out with a wireless adapter for the Xbox One controller in the fall. It'll be Windows 10-only though, so for some who don't upgrade, it'll just be useless junk for them.

Interesting - it might be worth a look, and I'll probably pick one up. There's only a few games I play on PC using a controller - Dyad being my favourite, and having to use the XB1 controller plugged in is just inconvenient. 360 controller is much better, being wireless, however I cant plug in the thing to charge it

PS4 controller worked ok until my Bluetooth adapter stopped working.

Khaldur · Jun 13, 2015

I think it really makes sense to bundle the Rift with a gamepad type controller, even if it annoys me becauce I already have one.

That way developers for VR games can rely on the controller as an input device everybody with a Rift is guaranteed to have. Otherwise that would be only keyboard and mouse, and those are definitely not good inputs for VR. That's why I expect the Rift won't be available without that controller. A gamepad works well with most games, as can be seen on many Oculus Rift demos. I couldn't think of a better input for Alien Isolation for example.

And when it comes to popular gamepad controllers the XBox controller is IMHO really good regarding quality and ergonomics. I also have a PS3, hate those controllers.

Of course I would have preferred the Oculus Touch controllers, but they would probably make it much more expensive and delay the release even further.