According to the Oculus VR website, the Rift has now got a shipping date.

This highly anticipated virtual reality hardware for gaming has been in the pre-order phase and garnered a lot of attention and excitement from gamers across the country. Pre-orders will arrive later this year followed by the equipment to start shipping in the first quarter of 2016.

For those who do not already know, the Rift is the newest enhancement to the Oculus line that offers a full immersion into the VR gaming experience, which includes highly compelling content and a full ecosystem for the gaming environment.

It will feature an improved tracking system for gaming experiences that are seated or standing. The industrial design has been modified for a more ergonomic, natural fit than the Crescent Bay prototype.

USA Today reports that the Oculus Rift sparked so much interest from VR gamers that Facebook scooped it up for a $2 billion dollar price tag. This product naturally put the VR scene on high alert in the markets and now the competition is fierce, with the likes of Samsung and other major companies launching their own product designs.

According to CNET, Oculus VR Company has been floating its prototypes around to media and developers for around three years now.

The article also said that HTC has jumped into the market now with its own VR integration, partnering with Valve. The HTC Vive is a PC VR gaming device that is expected to compete with the Oculus Rift. We can also expect to see Sony's Project Morpheus on the market soon with an enhanced 5.7-inch display and a processor that is twice as fast as its predecessor.

Just before Facebook's acquisition of Oculus last year, the market exploded and the niche is over.

"Mobile is the platform of today, and now we're also getting ready for the platforms of tomorrow," Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement on CNET. "Oculus has the chance to create the most social platform ever, and change the way we work, play, and communicate."