 The Oculus Touch controllers are finally here, which means that the Rift can finally and more properly compete with the HTC Vive. What does this mean for the Rift and the virtual reality community as a whole? Actually a lot. This is a big deal and you should be excited no matter which team you're on. I'll explain why after we take a look at the controllers themselves and the Rift's experience with the new members of the family. TunnelBear is the simple VPN app that makes it easy to browse privately and enjoy a more open internet. Try TunnelBear for free at the link below. First off, if you have any questions about the Rift headset itself, check out this video from about 4 months ago reviewing the Rift without the touch controllers just by itself. Not much has changed on the headset side of things other than the inclusion of the sensor that comes with the touch controllers, but I'll talk about tracking and occlusion later on. For now, controller ergonomics and the degree to which you can have hand presence in VR. The touch controllers just feel amazing in your hands. You know when you put your hands down on a familiar keyboard and mouse setup, your fingers and palm just naturally form to them. The fingers on your left hand comfortably rest on W, A, and D because you're probably a gamer, and your right thumb finds its comfortable back button for efficient web browsing. It feels like home. This is similar to the touch controller experience, but it's like that from the first time that you ever try them. They're so naturally comfortable that I rarely even need to tell people the control bindings for games, even when games don't do it themselves. They just play because the touch controllers feel like a natural extension of your hands. The thumbstick and buttons on the top of the controller feel solid. The grip button on the side of the controller is very light and feels great when you're actually trying to hold something in the game because it fades away into the body of the controller just so well. The trigger does leave a little to be desired in shooter games. It could be described as squishy, but in other games like say The Unspoken where you're casting spells, it feels great. And overall, I think they found a happy medium here considering other titles on the platform like, well, medium, which isn't combat focused at all. I personally think that they found the right balance. Wrapping up the physical impressions, the touch controllers are also very light, which can be a good or bad thing depending on what experience you're in. They've got this really cool magnetic release cover for the single AA battery per controller, which seems to last about 30 freaking hours, which is more than any reasonable person could possibly need in one play session. Not a challenge, by the way. Not a challenge. And finally, easily one of the most interesting features is the capacitive touch that is seemingly everywhere that your hand will actually be, even the thumbstick. This makes it so that the controller not only knows how far down you're pulling the trigger, but whether or not your hand is on it at all, or any other part of the controller for that matter, which makes it so that you can do more complex hand gestures like pointing, waving, thumbs up, or even the crowd favorite, giving someone the finger. This is more important than it seems at first as it deepens your immersion in VR and makes you feel more connected to your character, which matters a lot. Now don't get me wrong here, the Vive wands were great and they came out like eight months before the touch controllers. This gave Vive users the greater part of a year to enjoy hand presence in VR before Oculus even showed up to the damn party. But now they're here and they're better. But that being said, Valve hasn't been asleep for eight months either. They've been working on their own prototype controllers that ditch the donut formation on top for a sensor bar that wraps around the back of your hand. This is a very early demo, but it includes things like the halfway closed hand and various other hand gestures that we saw on the touch controllers. Also included in the box with the touch controllers is an additional sensor. So if you've bought the headset and the controller separately, you now have two. So that means that in Oculus's recommended desk mount configuration, you can move around a little bit, but you can't really turn around. They also support 360 degree tracking with two controllers, but they don't recommend that you stand while trying it and you just put the sensors in opposing corner configuration. But for the best experience, a third sensor purchased separately is recommended. Then you can stand and turn around. Radical. The superior three sensor configuration will get you to a play space of 8.2 by 8.2 feet. By comparison, the Vive's maximum tracking area is 11.5 feet by 11.5 feet or 15 by 15 if you go with Alan Yates. Now, assuming you have the space for it and can drill into your walls or find some other solution, the Vive out of the box is still a better experience than the Rift tracking wise. That being said, there is content online with people showing off that four Rift sensors works very well if you've got an additional $80 beyond the already 80 extra dollars that you've paid for the third one. So for the first time ever, I feel like I have both the finished Vive and the finished Rift with which to craft a conclusion. There are many positives and negatives in each direction. I personally prefer the ergonomics of the Oculus Touch controllers a great deal. The included headphones on the Rift are great. The ergonomics of the Rift, particularly its lower weight, are great, but its tether is too short and the Vive's tracking out of the box is considerably better. You can also hook the Vive into a backpack rig while the Rift sensors need to be plugged into the USB ports of the computer running the Rift so that's not a realistic option. With those trade-offs in mind, the choice is yours. Instead of it being a clear decision like it was in the past, I see very justifiable reasons to go with either experience. And as most people don't have massive areas that they can clear out for VR games, I suspect many will go with the Rift. But there's one last thing to bring up. The Touch controllers are launching alongside over 50 made-for-VR titles, a few of which are bundled with the Touch controllers, which is pretty damn cool. These games were a highly controversial topic when I wrote my Rift review back in the day, where Oculus was paying developers to launch on their platform first. But the word first being key here, it doesn't mean exclusive. The Touch controllers finally launching is great for Rift users, obviously, but it's great for Vive users as well. Not only because Valve is trying to make theirs more similar, which is better in my opinion, but because the huge group of developers working on their games for the Touch launch may be able to start developing for Vive. If you want that to happen, hit your favorite game developer up on Twitter and let them know you're interested. I know I sure will. Vertigear sells racing chairs and gaming-styled chairs. They have two main racing lineups as well as their new Trigger series of gaming chairs. They're easy to assemble and they glide smoothly on any surface. They have adjustable seat heights and the seats themselves can be locked into five different tilted positions. The chairs are made with steel frames, which helps keep the chair stable while also keeping it lightweight. Most mechanical parts are covered by leather, which makes the chair easy to clean, and the plus line is designed for comfort, giving the user more space inside of the chair. The S-line is smaller and more ergonomic. You can check them out in the link in the video description. Thank you guys for watching. It's an exciting time for VR, even though most people are off the bandwagon, but I understand that. If you like the video, like it. If you dislike the video, dislike it. Get subscribed. Comment down below and hit us up on the forum where you can talk to other people that aren't YouTube commenters about things and stuff, which is a phrase that Linus absolutely hates. Stuff and things, I think, is more specifically what he hates. I kept it out of the main body of the video. I brought it up in the conclusion. It's fine. Don't worry about it. Down below, you can go to Amazon and buy some stuff, including a shirt like hashtag out of ideas. This is possibly my favorite shirt out of like all the ones we've made so far. If you want to watch another video, check out this one. It is my Rift review, just the headset that I mentioned earlier in this very video. I will see you next time.