Oculus Rift preorders start at $599, with first units shipping March 28

Just over three years ago, Palmer Luckey started a new business called Oculus with the mission that it would bring affordable virtual reality to the masses. This initial list of territories consists of the likes of the USA, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan and more, though there are some notable omissions.

Game Reactor is reporting that the kit won’t be available in Portugal and “other countries” until 2017, though these other regions were not specified.

During that time, many outlets were repeating the “Rift is $1500!” line, and I was frustrated by how many people thought that was the price of the headset itself.

Oculus, the virtual reality company owned by Facebook, said the Rift, its much-awaited virtual reality headset, was priced at $599.

Of course, forking out the AUD$1,000 or so it costs to get an Oculus Rift to Australia isn’t quite enough; early adopters will also need a high-end gaming PC to power the headset.

Oculus has officially opened up the flood-gates on pre-order for the Rift, though the price-point is somewhat steeper than originally expected, with a tag of approximately $599.

“Wow, people really want Rifts, Luckey tweeted”. “Aside from gamers – and not even all of them – very few people have PCs with the specifications (high-end GPU, for example) needed”.

Plenty of VR adult sites are popping up across the web and the Oculus Rift will offer a full HD experience. Medical training, travel marketing, construction and design are other areas where virtual reality promises great potential, and a number of organizations have already been experimenting with such technologies, he said.