Razer OSVR open virtual reality platform

Even now, 2.5 years after the demonstration of the first Oculus Rift prototype and a successful Kickstarter campaign, virtual reality helmets / goggles still remain a hot topic and attract attention. For example, at the last CES exhibition, quite a few firms presented developments in this area. The appearance on the Razer stage did not surprise anyone. But the surprise was how they came out.

Razer OSVR (Open Source Virtual Reality) is positioned not as a regular product, but as an open and free virtual reality platform, a kind of “Android for VR” (it was with these words that the executive director formulated the idea at the presentation).

Razer OSVR - the fruit of four years of development. Now the concept is sold as an OSVR Hacker Dev Kit for $ 200. Receiving pre-orders started at CES.
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This is not a competitor to Oculus Rift, but a completely different business model. The source code of the software components and the hardware design of the Razer OSVR are open and accessible to everyone for study and experimentation.









Razer OSVR does not have its own operating system; the device works with Android, Linux and Windows.

Another point is that no specific models of gadgets are planned. It is assumed that there will be hundreds and thousands of them, just like on the Android platform. That is, the exhibition showed just a basic prototype. Everyone can download files from the official site , change the configuration and adjust the release of their own devices. At the same time, third-party modules and extensions (from input devices to game engines) promise to it: OSVR will support anything.



The platform is open, so there is not much point in presenting the technical characteristics of the “hacker” prototype. The $ 200 device has a “panoramic” FOV of 100 ° (90 ° horizontally and 90 ° vertically), a 1080p screen (401 ppi) with a refresh rate of 60 fps, and USB 3.0 interfaces.

At the same time, Razer promises to develop and maintain a free platform for the common good, as Google does with Android. Already we are working closely with game developers (Techland - Dying Light, Gearbox Software - Borderlands), creators of game engines (Unreal, Unity), equipment manufacturers (Leapmotion, Sixense).

The first “test drive” and independent review of the Razer OSVR, see here .



The open sale of the Razer OSVR is scheduled for June 2015.