Oculus - Touch

The first thing you’ll have to overcome is the $200 sticker shock, which may seem like a lot until you realize that when you combine that with the cost of the Rift you’re now at the same cost as the Vive that came with the controllers. This actually makes it a nicer option for those gamers who prefer using the Xbox controller and playing from a seated position, since you aren’t being forced to buy controllers you may not want. But let’s be honest…YOU WANT THESE! Opening the box reveals only a few items resting in the foam insert including a pair of Touch controllers, a secondary sensor, a Rock Band adapter, and a pair of AA batteries. As with the Rift, the setup is elegantly simple with onscreen instructions for connecting, positioning, and calibrating your new sensor then walking you through the specific ways you can use your new Touch controllers. There is even a delightful demo that has you interacting with a cute robot. The first thing you’ll notice is just how comfortable the Touch controllers are; so comfortable you’ll soon forget you are even holding them thanks to their extreme light weight and contoured grip. The buttons are, for the most part, easy to access, although I found I would often hit the Menu button with the lower pad of my thumb when trying to press one of the lettered buttons. It took me several hours to learn to arch my thumb. The magic really happens when you load up any of the Touch-supported games or experiences. Unlike the Vive that usually shows you virtual versions of the controllers or maybe replaces them with a gun or device the Oculus Touch tends to show virtual hands that you can then use to grab guns or gadgets within the game. Through clever use of a grip trigger, index trigger, and thumbstick you can intuitively replicate realistic hand movements including pointing and grasping items or even making a fist; all of which are expertly used in the various games and experiences. Playing a game like Arizona Sunshine on the Oculus Touch just feels so much more natural when you are picking up items or gripping your gun, loading up your ammo belt, reloading your empty clip or even grabbing a grenade from your bandolier, pulling the pin, and tossing it. The hand movements are much more realistic than gripping the twin sticks of the Vive adding to the overall immersion. In a game like SUPERHOT where every microsecond counts, your ability to interact with the world around you with micro-precision is only possible with the Oculus Touch. There are dozens of other games that are either coming out specifically for the Touch or in the case of a game like The Climb being updated to support the new controllers in a way that is actually redefining the original gameplay. I enjoyed playing around with Crytek’s rock-climbing simulation but was always partly removed from the immersion because I was using a gamepad, but now with the Touch and being able to reach up and physically grab and pull myself up these cliffs the experience is exponentially better and totally realistic. There are dozens of Touch-enabled titles already available and more coming out each week. The addition of a second sensor also allows for more standing experiences, but you still don’t have the room-scale freedom that the Vive offers. This means you can’t walk around nearly as much, but it also means you don’t have to dedicate a room to the Rift. As long as you can take one or two steps in any direction and spin around you are ready to go. The bottom line is that if you own an Oculus Rift then you definitely need to get the Touch. It may be a major purchase up front, but it will make many of the games you already own and almost all of the new ones coming out infinitely better. Before the Touch you were mostly using your headset to look around a game that you were playing with a controller just like any other video game, but with the Oculus Touch you now get to physically interact with these virtual worlds on a new level of realism that will blow your mind and change the way we play games moving forward.

i sold my PSVR for the rift and wow.. i thought PSVR was great but once i put this thing on and got the controllers my mind was blown all over again.

I was very skiptial about these controllers but I tried a demo at the best buy store and these controllers really up the experience. The triggers were perfect angle, clicky, but not to much force had to be made to shoot. I would say the buttons and triggers felt like a xbox one controller but better smoothness. The side buttons of the controller were nice but my smaller hands were pressing the buttons with my middle and 3rd appendix finger. The motion, I swear, it felt 1 to 1. If you are getting an oculus rift GET THESE CONTROLLERS!!

Yes VR is very early on but this is essential to have with the oculus rift. totally changes the way you VR. without them i just wanted to grab out at things and now i can. Im sure future games will be incredible with this and shooting guns with this is so crazy! im closing one eye to help aim better and it actually works! unreal! an adults childhood dreams becoming reality. If you are techy and want to see what VR is all about and have a sick computer and can afford $800 to play with the latest and greatest, its worth it! otherwise get it and return it after 29 days lol kidding!!....................

Playing with touch on the Rift is a game changer. It makes it so much more immersive and comes with so much free content. Dead and Burried is a great game and awesome that it comes with Touch for free.

The controllers have a lot of buttons and they can seem overwhelming at first, especially since you’re effectively blindfolded from the real world in VR. It also doesn’t help that many games render virtual human hands, rather than 1:1 representations of Touch controllers. Fortunately, Oculus includes tutorials that walk you through the controller's various capabilities. These come in handy when you let newcomers try them. The controllers also have multiple capacitive zones: the index trigger, analog stick, thumb rest, and face buttons. Oculus has also implemented a system for Touch that allows you to lift your thumb off the controller to give the thumbs-up gesture in-game. Similarly, when you lift your index finger off the trigger button, your virtual index finger will point. These movements are useful when you want to congratulate your VR buddy or point at an object. Now, what i think: played a bunch of games to put the controllers to the test and am glad to say that they performed VERY well. Even with the traditional two front-facing sensor setup, the controllers rarely got obscured. The controllers would generally only occlude, or get blocked, if I turned my back towards the sensors and held them too close to my body or positioned them beneath the sensors. Tracking is also accurate. There are a lot of buttons, but once you learn the layout, it feels really natural to pick up objects, fire guns, wave at allies, and more. Playing the first-person shooter Dead and Buried, I could more accurately shoot enemies by looking down my pistol's sights. It’s so accurate that when I shoot basketballs in VR Sports Challenge, I can get a strong sense of whether shots will land before they even hit the backboard. Tagging artwork in Kingspray Graffiti Simulator, I could control the intensity of my spray can with Touch’s analog trigger, which offers different degrees of pressure. In creative tool Medium, I could use the controllers to sculpt objects in three-dimensional space with six degrees of movement. This is something that you simply can’t do with a standard gamepad. The Touch’s haptic engine is also fantastic. Playing the 1v1 wizard-dueling game The Unspoken, I could feel how powerful my charging fireballs were by how violent my controller shook. Even though the Rift’s constellation system only tracks the position of your hands and head, it’s enough data to allow developer Sanzaru Games to build a fairly sophisticated system that tracks your entire body in their game Ripcoil. This allows your online opponent to see you crouch and even dance in the robotic tennis-like game. It’s kind of amazing.

I've tried PS4 VR and Vive. Oculus touch controllers are better. Truly. They are light and comfortable and gives you a true natural feeling using of your hands in VR. Must have if you have an Oculus.

Great design and easy to handle. they are really fun.