At the E3 2016 Sony press conference the company has revealed the exact release date for its PlayStation VR virtual reality headset. It's also announced that 50 games will be available at launch.

The headset will be available in time for the holiday rush. Sony will release the device on 13 October this year. It will cost £349 in the UK, $399 in the States and 399 euros across Europe.

It will also be launched in Sony's native land of Japan at the same time for 44,980 yen.

The 50 launch games, ready to play on release of the headset, will include first person shooters, horror titles and more simple experiential games.

READ: PlayStation VR preview: Virtual reality for the gamers

During the conference, SIEA unveiled new PS VR experiences, including Farpoint, Star Wars Battlefront: X-Wing VR Mission, and Batman: Arkham VR.

Farpoint will be an unnerving VR space adventure that will set a new standard for immersive VR, Batman: Arkham VR is from the critically-acclaimed Rocksteady Studios and is the first virtual reality Batman experience that will allow fans to experience Gotham City through the eyes of the World's Greatest Detective in an all new Arkham mystery, and Star Wars Battlefront: X-Wing VR Mission will immerse players in one of the most dreamt about Star Wars fantasies – piloting an X-wing in the far reaches of space.

PlayStation VR titles will range from $9.99 to $59.99 according to Sony in the US. Additionally, PlayStation Move controllers will be available as a two-pack bundle for $99.99 (MSRP).

With the HTC Vive costing around £700, the PS VR is half. In addition, it doesn't require a high-end PC to operate. Instead, it will work with a standard PlayStation 4.

The Oculus Rift, at £500, is also £150 more expensive and requires a super computer to run the better experiences. Both rival headsets do have the advantage of having been available from April, however.

READ: E3 2016: All the launches, games and consoles at the show

Sony also confirmed the specifications for the headset. The display is a 5.7-inch OLED panel with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 (960 x 1080 per eye).

Refresh rate is 120Hz and 90Hz, depending on the experience. There are 360-degree tracking sensors and nine LEDs on the front for a separate PlayStation Camera to track.

Field of view is 100-degrees, while latency is less than 18ms.

As expected, players will be able to use both the DualShock 4 controller and PS Move wands to interact with different experiences and games.