You'll soon be able to buy your very own Oculus virtual reality headset

Three years after debuting a prototype of its unwieldy yet wildly innovative virtual reality headset Oculus Rift, Oculus VR unveiled the long-awaited and notably slicker consumer version of the gadget Thursday at a news conference in San Francisco.

"This isn't science fiction," Oculus founder Palmer Luckey said. "This is reality and it's happening today." The Oculus Rift, a goggle-like headset that immerses the wearer in a 360-degree, simulated three-dimensional environment, will include removable headphones and a wireless game controller originally built for Microsoft's Xbox One.

Oculus is hoping the headset will be a boon for gamers looking for a truly immersive experience when it goes on sale sometime in the first quarter of 2016. While the company didn't give specifics on how much the device will cost, Oculus has previously said that the headset will cost less than $1,500 when it's paired with all the necessary PC hardware.

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