Oculus confirmed that the Oculus Rift will be shipping to consumers in Q1 2016, with pre-orders later this year. Oculus kaunched a successful Kickstarter for the Rift virtual reality headset three years ago and protoypes made their appearance at E3 2012.

"The Rift delivers on the dream of consumer VR with compelling content, a full ecosystem, and a fully-integrated hardware/software tech stack designed specifically for virtual reality. It’s a system designed by a team of extremely passionate gamers, developers, and engineers to reimagine what gaming can be, "the company said.

The company is finally ready to at least give a seasonal target for that first consumer headset. The Rift will be available to consumers in "Q1 2016," Oculus announced. Pre-orders will be filled "later this year," and more information about the system's final technical specifications will be announced next week, Oculus said. More information about "hardware, software, input, and many of our unannounced made-for-VR games and experiences coming to the Rift," is promised for "the weeks ahead."

E3 is just around the corner.