Facebook's Oculus Rift VR headset will launch without its super-cool hand controller

Oculus VR

The Oculus Rift virtual reality headset, made by Facebook subsidiary Oculus VR, is on track for release in early 2016, but its very cool Oculus Touch controller will be delayed until the last half of the year, the company said in a blog post today.

The funky-looking Oculus Touch controller is designed to actually map your hands into virtual reality.

While you're holding the paddles, you can actually wave your hands in front of your face and see it reflected in the virtual world. It grants a lot more interactivity while you're messing around in cyberspace.

So it's a huge bummer that the Oculus Rift will come with a Microsoft Xbox One controller instead, per a VentureBeat report. The Xbox One controller is good, but it's a lot more traditional compared with the futuristic Oculus Touch. 

Oculus says that the delay is because "we’re implementing many changes that make Touch even more comfortable, reliable, and natural." In other words, it's improving the thing before launch. 

Still, Oculus writes that it's ramping up the production of early Oculus Touch controllers that it can give to game developers in the shorter term. That means that when the Oculus Touch controller does come out, there will actually be games that support it. 

Oculus isn't the only one trying to redefine game controllers for the age of virtual reality: The HTC Vive has a similar controller system. It'll be interesting to see who gets theirs out first, and what impact it'll have on the future of the medium. 

When the Oculus Rift comes out, it will include free copies of games "EVE Valkyrie" and "Lucky's Tale," to go with the controller.

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