Oculus Touch is a next-generation input device for the Rift

Tracking controllers to take virtual reality to the next level

by Casey Newton

Jun 11, 2015, 5:56 PM UTC

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Casey Newton is the editor of the Platformer newsletter and cohost of the Hard Fork podcast.

Taking virtual reality to the next level won’t happen with the included Xbox One controller, Oculus founder Palmer Luckey said at an event today in San Francisco. That’s why Oculus is building a next-generation input system that understands all of your gestures. The result is Oculus Touch, a forthcoming input device that understands the presence of your hands and can understand gestures such as a thumbs up.

The Touch includes an analog trigger, buttons, and analog thumb sticks. It detects a variety of finger poses including pointing and waving for additional controls. A full demo of the device will be shown at E3 next week in Los Angeles, Luckey said. “You can pull robots limb from limb,” he said. “Just a lot of fun interactions we’ve been experimenting with.”