After a wave of early demonstrations, the first Oculus Rift developer kits are going out, and the question of how the Rift will be used for real-life games is becoming more important. Over at MTBS3D, a forum member unearthed an EA request for a student researcher to look into "VR technology in games," with specific mention of the Oculus Rift. Since then, site president Neil Schneider has gotten confirmation that while nothing is certain, EA is indeed weighing support for the Oculus Rift on its Frostbite engine — which is used in the Battlefield series as well as upcoming Dragon Age and Mass Effect titles.

"I am really eager to see how the Oculus Rift works with Frostbite," says Frank Vitz, who heads the Frostbite creative team at EA studio Dice. "There are multiple titles in the works that would be awesome with the Rift." Vitz makes no promises, but he says his team has several developer kits on order, and it's the first indication that EA is interested in supporting the Rift.

"I am really eager to see how the Oculus Rift works with Frostbite."

Vitz stressed that "it will be the responsibility of each game team to ensure that their game works in S3D and with the Rift if it proves to be viable," and individual games could theoretically work on the Rift without a wider EA effort. But integrating Rift support into Frostbite would make it easier to build a strong game lineup, one of the biggest concerns for the Rift at this point. Vitz says that while he's still waiting for his developer kit, he believes basic integration should be "pretty straightforward" to add. "The thesis work will be about how to make it work really well," he says.