Oculus and Samsung unveil new Gear VR for $ 99

Monday, 28 September 2015 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Facebook Inc’s (FB.O) Oculus and Samsung Electronics Ltd. unveiled a new version of Gear VR virtual reality headset for $ 99, half the price of the previous “Innovator Edition”, and said the product would be available in the United States in time for Black Friday and globally shortly after.

The headset is 22% lighter than the previous version and will work with all of Samsung’s 2015 line of smartphones, including the Galaxy Note 5, Edge Plus, S6 and S6 Edge, Peter Koo, senior vice president of Samsung Mobile, said at an Oculus conference on Thursday.

Oculus also said it was partnering with Netflix Inc (NFLX.O), Hulu, Vimeo and Amazon Inc-owned Twitch, among others, to bring video content and live streaming to virtual reality over the next few months.

Oculus said it is also working with movie studios for users to buy and rent films.

The company also announced the Oculus Arcade which will bring games such as Pac-Man to virtual reality and said it partnered with publishers such as Sega, Midway Games and Bandai Namco Entertainment.