It’s been an interesting Wednesday to say the least. The big news this morning was that the Oculus Rift finally went up for pre-order with a surprising $599 price tag that no one expected. Half of the internet believes this is an insane price, while the other half is upset at people being upset. Weird, I know. Which side am I on? Well, more on that in a bit. Let’s get to the news of the day. In today’s Gaming Daily: Final Fantasy IX will include a “no encounter” mode, Oculus Rift pre-orders went live this morning, watch Shovel Knight‘s co-op mode, Nintendo‘s NX could be revealed as early as March, and Oculus head believes the Rift is cheap for what it is.
Final Fantasy IX will include a “no encounter” mode.
Yes, Final Fantasy IX is headed to PC and mobile devices, but you already knew that. Steam updated the page for said game, and actually included some new nuggets that long-time fans of the franchise will be interested in hearing. First, the title is listed for an early 2016 launch. Second, some of the new additions to the game have been confirmed. As I predicted, the game will allow players to turn off random encounters on their adventure. Now you can get through this game even quicker.
Understandably, some of you may be confused as to how you play this RPG without random encounters. Well, if you need to develop your character, you can always re-activate the random encounters. Previous rereleases of Final Fantasy games already included this new addition, so it’s not much of a surprise. Personally, I enjoy playing classic RPGs the way they were meant to be played, so I will not be fiddling with this setting.
Image Credit: Square Enix
Oculus Rift pre-orders went live earlier today for $599.00.
Oculus teased the world earlier this week by announcing that the Rift was finally going to go up for pre-order today. What the company chose not to disclose until today was the price point. Well, there was obviously a reason for omitting this very important bit of information. An Oculus Rift headset will set you back a whopping $600. Also, if you even want to use this headset, you’ll need to make sure you have a powerful enough PC rig to use the tech, which could also set you back as much as over $1K. It’s not going to be cheap.
HT: Nerdist
Image Credit: Oculus
A clip of Shovel Knight‘s newest co-op mode.
The good folks over at Nintendo Life have posted a dope clip showing off the new co-op mode included in the Wii U version of Shovel Knight. The new mode, which is unlocked with the Shovel Knight amiibo, allows you and a friend to take over the sticks to attempt to complete the Knight’s quest together. Bosses will now have a larger health bar, and now you’ll be able to bounce on each others head. Take a gander at the action-packed video above.
Honestly, this is one of the best platformers in a long time. It’s fun, challenging, and so damn charming, I highly recommend it. As someone who has completed the game a couple of times already, this is a great way of bringing me back. It’s also a great way of easing friends into the game.
HT: Nintendo Life
Nintendo’s NX could be revealed as early as March.
Here comes more Nintendo NX speculation. A new report from Nomura Securities analyst Junko Yamamura suggests that we will see a “concept†of the upcoming console as early as March, with a full reveal coming in June. He also believes that the NX will make its way onto store shelves by the end of the year. That’s obviously very soon. This would seem very hard to believe in almost any other situation, but the Wii U has been a disaster sales wise. So, it would be smart for Nintendo to cut bait ASAP.
HT: NerdistÂ
Image Credit: NintendoÂ
Oculus founder believes the Rift is cheap for what it is.
Back to this discussion. Palmer Luckey, head of Oculus, hopped on Twitter to tell people that the Rift is “obscenely cheap” for what it is. He defends the price by saying that VR technology is expensive, and I have to agree with him:
But, let’s be real here, this price point probably means that this headset won’t become the most popular VR tech. This leaves the market wide open for PlayStation and HTC. Again, I don’t actually hate the $600 price tag. The real issue is having to own a powerful PC rig. Offering Rift/PC bundles for $1,500 is not a great solution. This will of course become a more viable choice once the technology gets cheaper in the future.
So, whether you agree with him or not, what else did you expect him to say? That’s not to say he isn’t genuine, but come on. I’m sure this discussion will rage on until competitors price their headsets.
HT: VG24/7
Image Credit: Oculus
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That’s it for today, folks. It’s great to be back in the groove of things. Make sure to keep up with all of our Rift and CES 2016 coverage. Did you guys pre-order the Rift? Do you think $600 is a reasonable price? Let us know in the comments below.
Featured Image Credit: Square Enix
