I hate when marketing tries to add value or justify cost with bundles, add-ons or promotional items. None of those items appeal to me and I'd rather buy a barebones kit and save $50.

I don't need a wireless xbox controller, I have 2 sitting right next to me.

I have no interest in those two games, they'll be thrown on the stack of AOL floppies, Colin McRae: Dirt download codes, and McAfee CDs I have gathering dust in the corner.

The headphones are nice I guess if you don't have wireless ones but I do so they'll be relegated to the bin.

The Oculus Remote doesn't appear to be integral, it just looks like an optional accessory you could use instead of another input means.

I wouldn't be so quick to toss the headphones.

One of the reasons I think Oculus went with an onboard DAC is to precisely sync audio, visuals, and head tracking. Using a non-Oculus audio pipeline could introduce unpredictable timing and a worse experience.

That's an interesting thought but I'm not sure that's the case. Everything I've read about VR indicates that latency capturing and interpreting input are the biggest factors in the VR experience. If output latency were a major concern then I'm not sure they'd have chosen standard HDMI to carry the audio/video signals. The DAC on the Rift is simply to take the HDMI audio and output it.

> a small hand-held controller

This doesn't include their touch controller, if that's what you mean. If it did I'd consider buying it (I'm still annoyed by 30 dollar shipping costs).

There's currently a media remote.

http://www.theverge.com/2016/1/6/10723568/oculus-rift-remote...

Yeah, that's what I meant. Honestly, for casual experiences, I expect this is going to be very nice. I can imagine sitting away from my desk in my swivel chair, using that controller instead of the gamepad, to do stuff like organize photo collages, watch videos, do teleconferencing, maybe even just meditate.

Personally, I don't mind the lack of touch controllers. I'm more interested in flying spaceships which is going to mean buying separate hardware regardless.

I do wish they'd sell it without the Xbox One controller since I already have 2x wireless 360 controllers. Nothing in the new one sounds particular worth re-buying.

I might be priced out this generation regardless. Ah well.