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Oculus Social Alpha delivers group watching to virtual reality
Oculus announced a "multiplayer mode" for its Cinema app was on the way, and today it has arrived. Currently available in the Oculus Store for any of Samsung's Gear VR devices (make sure you update your Oculus Video app too) the Oculus Social Alpha lets up to five people watch a Twitch or Vimeo stream in a virtual home theater setting. As seen in earlier previews the viewers are represented by head-tracked avatar disembodied avatars. When I tried it, the effect was slightly disconcerting, but the video stream on the screen looked just about as good as Twitch can, and the heads turned and represented each viewer realistically enough that conversation wasn't awkward.
Fox is bringing more than 100 movies to the Oculus VR Cinema
While gaming and other fully immersive experiences have already flourished on VR, at least one studios is jumping in with a way to watch movies on the big (small) screen. Fox confirmed today at the Oculus Connect 2 event that the company is bringing more than 100 of its movies to the Oculus Store at launch. You'll watch the movies in the Oculus VR Cinema app, where you can watch movies in 2D or 3D on a huge virtual screen (you can see what it looks like after the break). Movies that are coming include Alien, Birdman, Taken, Die Hard, Office Space and more.
For $200, Samsung's latest Gear VR headset is a no-brainer
If you're the owner of a new Samsung Galaxy S6 or S6 Edge, an extra $200 will get you Samsung's Gear VR Innovator Edition, one of the first virtual reality headsets available to the public. Like others following the Oculus Rift story, I assumed that all VR headsets still presented issues like nausea and lag and weren't yet consumer-friendly. But I wanted to see for myself what the fuss was all about, and since I already have an S6 Edge, I decided to splurge on one. In a few short days, my prejudices have melted away: The Gear VR isn't perfect, but it already does plenty of things, and does them well.
'Oculus Cinema' will let friends watch movies 'together'
If you've ever peered into a VR headset, you'll know it can be a pretty lonely experience -- much like going to an empty cinema in the real world. VR heavyweight Oculus will kill these two birds, with a forthcoming "multiplayer" mode for its virtual movie theater app Oculus Cinema. The update for the app lets friends enjoy films at the same time, and see them next to you in the same virtual cinema. Features like this are part of the push to make virtual reality a little bit more social, something Oculus-owners Facebook has been eager to do ever since it snapped up the virtual reality hardware company.
