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Oculus will livestream its next Connect conference in VR

Get the VR convention experience without actually being there.

The VR community's biggest annual event, Oculus Connect, is just over a week away, and as you'd expect from the tech in question, you won't have to actually be there in order to enjoy proceedings. The company will livestream key OC5 moments in Oculus Venues, so you can experience keynotes, esports action and gameplay alongside other fans in the crowd, using Oculus Go or Gear VR.

Things kick off at 10am (PT) on September 26 with the OC5 keynote address, including all the latest VR and developer news, followed by esports action from 12pm until 5pm in the demo hall. Later that night, the main stage will be transformed into an esports arena for the VR League's Onward Grand Finals, with Oculus' chief technology officer John Carmack taking the stage the following day for his signature unscripted keynote. Things will wrap up on September 27 with zero-gravity sports and Echo Arena competitive play from 12pm until 4pm.

OC5 presents a number of new challenges for Oculus. "We've streamed a fair number of different types of live events in Venues, like concerts, comedy nights, and sports, but OC5 brings us both live keynotes and esports, which are new for us," says Oculus Product Manager and London Site Lead Mike LeBeau. The company is diving in headfirst, though, as it plans to blend live cameras and multiple gaming inputs, as well as debut brand new technology that creates immersive outputs from the game engines themselves, for a true 180°/360° observer view of the gameplay.

Don't have the right gear? Oculus will still be hosting 2D livestreams of the keynotes and esprots events on a number of channels, including Facebook and YouTube. Register for a physical or virtual ticket at the Oculus Connect site, but be quick if you want to attend in person -- tickets are running low.