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Tribeca Film Festival is bringing its VR films to Oculus headsets
Just like pretty much every other event for the foreseeable future, the Tribeca Film Festival isn't taking place as it normally would after organizers postponed it from April. However, the festival is joining SXSW in making some of its programming available online. Tribeca is already streaming a new short film per day, and there's more on the way.
Sling adds social TV and movie viewing to its Oculus Go app
If you can't be with your buddies to yell at the screen at the same time during a game or watch a movie together, Sling has a new social watching option in store for you. The co-watching feature is rolling out in beta on Oculus Go -- Sling arrived on the virtual reality headset in December.
BBC releases free ‘Doctor Who’ VR short
Doctor Who fans who can't bear the long wait for the twelfth season are in for a treat. The BBC has released Doctor Who: The Runaway, an animated short VR film based on the classic British sci-fi series and voiced by its own Jodie Whittaker, who reprises her role as the show's time-traveling protagonist. Based on the BBC's description, The Runaway throws you into the topsy-turvy universe of Doctor Who right away. You wake up inside the TARDIS after being in a collision with a teenage space bomb named the Volta. In a race against time, you and Doctor Who must get Volta home to his parents before he falls prey to some dangerous distractions.
NCAA March Madness Live streams on Oculus Go
It'll be particularly easy to stream NCAA March Madness games this year, especially if you'd rather watch matches in total privacy. The NCAA and CBS are making the March Madness Live app available on 17 platforms for 2019, including first-time support for Android TV (shown above) and Oculus Go. That last addition could be particularly helpful if you live in a packed household -- you could have a big-screen game experience (including the 21 VR-native broadcasts) without monopolizing the TV or your phone.
Sling TV, ESPN and Fox Now arrive on Oculus Go
Back in June, Oculus launched Oculus TV, a way for you to watch shows and movies from a string of partners on a virtual 180-inch display. Now, Sling TV, ESPN and Fox Now are joining the fray, so you'll have more ways to watch live TV, sports and movies through the wireless headset.
The best VR gifts
Virtual reality offers all manner of immersive experiences, including short films, but gaming is where VR really shines right now. So, if you have a gamer in your life who seems to already have everything, consider giving them some of the VR gear from our holiday gift guide. They'll need some hardware to get started with, so among our six choices are three headsets -- two Oculus devices and PlayStation VR. If you opt for the latter, the PSVR Aim Controller will come in handy for certain games. Speaking of which, we've also picked a couple of quality games to help that special someone get their VR library up and running.
YouTube's VR app arrives on Oculus Go
Facebook's standalone Oculus Go headset is getting a huge dose of immersive entertainment courtesy of YouTube VR. Announced at the Oculus Connect 5 event in September, the app is now available for the entry-level device via the Oculus Store.
Oculus Go now casts your VR sessions to other devices
As promised, it's now easy to share your Oculus Go sessions with everyone else in the room. Oculus is rolling out beta support for casting Go experiences to phones and tablets using the Oculus app. So long as both the Go and the mobile device are on the same WiFi network, friends and family can watch you grapple with a VR game or marvel at a 360-degree video. You can't yet share VR to a TV, but it beats having to describe what you're seeing to curious onlookers.
Facebook's 3D photos are here
In May during its F8 conference, Facebook announced that it was working on a feature that would take a typical 2D picture and make it appear three-dimensional when posted in the News Feed. Now, it's beginning to roll out 3D photos to everyone, allowing users to "bring scenes to life with depth and movement." All you have to do is take a photo in portrait mode and then start creating a new post on Facebook. Tap the menu icon in the top right of the post screen and select "3D Photo," and that will bring you to the portrait photo folder in your phone. Once you select the photo you want, just post it as you usually would, adding a caption and sharing it to your feed.
YouTube VR and casting features are coming to Oculus Go
Your Oculus Go is about to become much more useful for immersive viewing sessions. Oculus has revealed that YouTube VR is coming to its entry-level headset, giving you a chance to watch 800,000 360-degree videos in your own virtual environment. It's not clear when you'll see it, but this is big news if you didn't want to get a Daydream headset just to watch YouTube clips.
Watch the Oculus Connect 5 keynote at 1PM ET
What's arguably the biggest VR event of the year, Oculus Connect 5, is about to kick off -- and to no one's surprise, Oculus is encouraging you to tune in. It's streaming the OC5 keynote, and you can watch the regular stream live below or on Facebook starting at 1PM Eastern. On top of that, you can watch in VR this year -- if you have an Oculus Go or Gear VR, you can spectate with fellow headset wearers using Oculus Venues.
Walmart turns to VR and Oculus Go for associates' training
Walmart is harnessing the power of virtual reality to train over a million associates across the country. The big-box retailer will deploy 17,000 Oculus Go headsets to almost all of its 5,000 stores in an effort to provide its employees the caliber of training its managers get at the Walmart Academy facilities. Walmart took VR training for a spin at those facilities using PC-tethered Oculus Rifts, but the standalone Go headsets make it so much easier to expand the program.
Firefox brings the thrills of web browsing to VR
Mozilla's headset-focused web browser is finally ready for your cranium: Firefox Reality is available for HTC Vive, Oculus and Daydream devices through their respective stores. The software is designed from the start for AR and VR hardware, with an interface that revolves around pointer control and voice search. There's a virtual keyboard if you need it, but let's face it -- you'd probably go back to a regular screen if you wanted to type more than once in a blue Moon. And yes, Mozilla knows the flat web isn't so exciting in a headset. The home screen provides fast access to 3D content like Sketchfab models, so you won't be hurting for something to take advantage of AR and VR technology.
Oculus offers another classroom VR option with new pilot program
Immersive virtual reality experiences can make learning a lot more fun for students and for anyone visiting places like museums. It'll take work to get to a point where they're widely used as a teaching tool, though, and Oculus is taking a leaf out of Google's book and planting the seeds for that future by launching educational pilot programs in Taiwan, Japan and Seattle. The company is working with local organizations, schools and educators to distribute Rift and Go headsets to libraries, museums and schools.
NASA apps take you to space with VR and selfies
NASA's apps tend to be all-business, but it's livening things up this time around -- the administration has released two apps that go beyond dry scientific explanations. The most intriguing is likely Exoplanet Excursions, a VR app for Oculus and HTC Vive headsets. The 3D experience lets you fly through the TRAPPIST-1 system and see artists' renditions of its numerous Earth-sized planets, complete with comparisons to planets around our home star.
The VR headsets (and games) that we recommend to students
After long days of lectures, quizzes and research papers, you deserve to take your mind off school for a bit. What better way to decompress than by jacking into virtual reality for a few minutes of tranquility? It doesn't have to break the bank, either. The 32GB Oculus Go will only set you back $200 and it offers the most convenient mobile VR experience you can get. Unlike the Gear VR or Google Cardboard, you don't need a phone to power the Go -- just pop the headset on and that's it. If you have some extra cash to spare (gotta love financial aid overages), you could pick up the headset responsible for starting the modern VR renaissance, the Oculus Rift. The flagship device is available as a bundle with a pair of Touch motion-control-wands and two motion sensors for $400. Sure, it costs twice as much as a Go, but if you want full-on AAA game experiences in VR it's the best option, assuming you have a capable PC. Choosing this over an HTC Vive will also save you $100, which leaves plenty of money to grab a few games. Speaking of, Downward Spiral: Horus Station should definitely be on your list. A space-thriller at heart -- you're exploring a derelict orbital station -- it should fill the gap between late-night viewings of Event Horizon and Alien quite nicely. Maybe best of all, it makes use of the Rift's built-in 360-degree soundfield incredibly well. If you were bummed that Nintendo didn't include Duck Hunt with the NES Classic Edition, there's a VR game called Duck Season with your name written all over it. Ostensibly, it's a tribute to the light-gun game of yore. There's an anthropomorphic dog, and he eagerly runs into the weeds when you've shot a duck out of the sky. Then the game takes a turn for the macabre. He returns, mouth frozen in a ghastly smile, holding the fowl by its limp neck. As the narrative progresses, it only gets creepier. Bet you didn't expect this would be a horror game, did you? It's the type of thing you should definitely bring out next time your friends are over. The downside of Duck Season's chills is your hands and face are likely to be clammy when you pass the headset. To help prevent the spread of communicable disease on campus, pick up a VR Cover starter pack. The kit comes with a detachable padded ring for the eye-side of your headset, and a generous amount of disposable liners. Humans are gross, but sharing a VR headset with people from your floor doesn't have to be. Find all of our picks for virtual reality in our 2018 back-to-school guide and while you're there, find 100-some odd picks in 13 other categories.
Microsoft's AltSpaceVR lets you build a virtual hangout
Microsoft's AltspaceVR differs drastically from other social networks by letting you share the same (virtual) space with your friends. Now, it's giving you more places to hang out with custom building kits. You start with a virtual hangout based on the popular "Campfire" and "Alien Planet" spaces, then customize it by grabbing assets from a curated library of flora, structures and shapes. You can then host muliplayer social games within your space and even add custom 3D design and sound.
Oculus Go comes to Europe and Canada
Customers in Europe have been able to place Oculus Go pre-orders for a while now, and now the VR headset will be available in a lot more places. Oculus has officially opened online purchases and brought its device to over 300 physical stores across Europe, Canada and the UK. Additionally, those who pre-ordered the Oculus Go from third-party retailers should get their headsets very soon.
Oculus TV arrives today with a promising, though questionable, start
Over a month ago at F8, Facebook announced Oculus TV, a new way to watch TV on a VR headset. Today, it's finally live, and there are plenty of entertainment partners on board already. You can use it to access existing video VR apps like Netflix, Hulu and Showtime, but the unique selling point of Oculus TV is that it unlocks newer VR offerings such as Red Bull TV, Pluto TV, and, of course, Facebook's own video shows.
'Arca's Path' is the VR puzzle game I've been waiting for
Super Monkey Ball in virtual reality, but instead of using a gamepad to control the titular sphere, movement is dictated with head-tracking -- that isn't a reductive judgment of physics-based labyrinth Arca's Path, it's just the easiest way of describing the debut game from Dream Reality Interactive.
