Oculus Go is, in many ways, the dawn of a new era in virtual reality (VR). It’s a standalone device, meaning it’s finally cut the cord from the PC needed to run its older and more powerful brother, the Oculus Rift. It’s also, of course, done away with the smartphone. You won’t be slotting anything into the Oculus Go except your face when you slip on the plush headset.
For Facebook, which owns Oculus, Oculus Go represents a brand-new way to experience VR. The company calls Oculus Go the most approachable VR product on the market, and it’s not wrong in that the headset lets you step into VR with little setup and no expensive PC requirements, all at a reasonable price.
As a piece of VR hardware, the experience on hand with Go is almost as good as the Oculus Rift. You won’t mistake one for the other, but we have been continually impressed with how good Go’s VR is, especially considering everything needed to run the headset is contained in a little gray box that sits on your face.
Looking beyond the nuts and bolts of what you get in the Oculus Go package, this headset represents a turning point for VR. This is VR for the casual gamer, the relaxed consumer of media, the person without the time, money or interest in setting up a PC to power a higher-end headset. This is VR for everyone.
By Michelle Fitzsimmons