2016 is the year that virtual reality will finally, really, truthfully start to inch its way into the world. Unfortunately, you probably can't afford it yet.
The Facebook-owned VR company Oculus has announced the official price and release date for their first consumer model of the Oculus Rift headset. It's launching on March 28, but it's going to cost you $599. That price includes the headset, a sensor, a controller and a couple of free games, but it doesn't factor in the cost of the powerful PC you'll need to run impressive virtual reality games. If you're starting from scratch, you could be looking at an investment of $1,500 or more to become an early adopter of this new technology.
If it seems expensive, well ... it is. This is the first generation of brand new technology, so you'll probably be waiting at least a couple of years before VR hits a good mass market price point.
---
If you'd rather set your sights on video games available on hardware you might already own, you might look at the next Assassin's Creed. You could be waiting awhile for that too, however, because recent rumors suggest that for the first time in a long time, there won't be a new game in the series this year.
A rumor that surfaced on the website 4chan and was corroborated by a reporter at Kotaku claims that the next Assassin's Creed, code named Empire, will be set in ancient Egypt and won't launch until 2017 in order to give the development team more time to make it something special. Kotaku suggests that the gap in Ubisoft's release schedule could be filled with Watch Dogs 2, which they've heard will be out this fall and is set in San Francisco.
---
If you've been shopping for toys based on Star Wars: The Force Awakens and wondered, "Where's Rey?" you're not alone. Despite being the central figure in what is now America's highest grossing movie of all time, toys and games featuring Daisy Ridley's character have been mysteriously absent from shelves.
One particularly egregious omission was in Hasbro's Star Wars Monopoly, which generated some social media outrage this week over its inclusion of the former Stormtrooper Finn over Rey as a game piece. It was enough to prompt at least one eight-year-old fan to write to Hasbro to ask, "What gives?" Thankfully the story has a happy ending, as the company has said that they will be including Rey in future versions of Star Wars Monopoly.
