Oculus CEO compares Rift headset to Kinect

Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe has said VR headset Rift is "just gonna change everything", in a way that making bigger and better consoles can't - but something like Kinect could.

Speaking to GamesIndustry, Iribe said releasing more powerful hardware doesn't do enough to shake up gaming.

"When we hear about next-gen consoles, 'They're gonna be 6 or 7 times faster', great, another faster console. It's gonna be amazing, it'll have some better looking graphics, some better physics and more realistic AI, but what is that new experience? What's that new sensation that you play with and go 'Oh my god, this is incredible,'" he said.

On the other hand, new methods of interaction and control give Iribe the nice kind of heebie-jeebies.

"Microsoft is driving a lot of really cool innovation around Kinect, and that is bringing a new dimension to things. For me, when I tried Kinect, the hair on the back of my neck didn't stand up. I thought, 'This is cool, this will go somewhere, it's kind of neat,'" he added.

"When I put on the prototype of Rift, and I looked into the VR world, and I'm moving my head around, it's perfectly tracking and I'm in this 3D world, that's when I said 'Oh my god, this is incredible, this is just gonna change everything.'"

Iribe said he can't wait to play games in VR so he can feel immersed in the worlds of titles like Call of Duty, Crysis and Battlefield.

"This is really going to create a lot of excitement in the game space. You don't get somebody like Gabe Newell or Michael Abrash or John Carmack excited about too many things, and when you do you should definitely pay attention," he added.

Oculus Rift is in the closing days of its Kickstarter and has raised over $2 million.