As of right now, virtual reality has become a pretty big deal, and it’s something that a lot of us take for granted, as our smartphones do a pretty great job of helping us experience things we didn’t think were possible just 10 years ago. At the forefront of all of this was of course Oculus, the company which is now owned by Facebook, and sells the Oculus Rift. A high-end, PC-dependent virtual reality headset that offers some of the best immersion available, and is arguably the first name that many think of when they think “VR”. Since its initial launch earlier this year, the pricey virtual reality headset has had some teething problems getting to customers right away.
Since then of course, it’s gotten a lot easier to get your hands on either the HTC Vive or the Oculus Rift no matter where you are, but given its price tag of $599, it’s no wonder that people want to be able to experience them first before putting down all of that money. As such, it’s a good job that Oculus run a program to get these into the hands of people that want to play around with them before purchasing. For our readers across the pond, that time is now, as the Oculus Rift becomes more available in the United Kingdom and opens more places to actually try before you buy. It appears as though the Oculus Rift will be available to try in John Lewis, Curry’s PC World, GAME, and Harrods stores. Given that a lot of GAME stores are often of the smaller kind, it might be a little difficult to track one of these down, but larger Curry’s PC World stores near you might have one in to try out. Londoners appear to be getting the best luck here as there are a number of choices to try it out in the City. John Lewis has one in their Oxford Street branch, while GAME’s Westfield Stratford City branch has one as well as Peter Jones in Sloane Square.
With a price tag of £550 in the UK, the Oculus Rift is perhaps more expensive than it is in the US, but there will be those looking to part with their cash after lusting over the future of entertainment for so long. If nothing else, the expansion of the Oculus Rift in the UK does mean that there’s now more choice for our Brit readers to immerse themselves with, providing they have the requisite PC hardware, of course.