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Oculus CTO John Carmack reveals what's next for Oculus Go
Oculus CTO John Carmack is known for giving an unfiltered speech on day two of Oculus' annual Connect conference, and this year is no different. Today, he talked extensively on the trials and tribulations of making Oculus' latest slate of standalone headsets, and more intriguingly, gave a sneak peek as to what expect in the next generation of the Oculus Go. He also said that current Go headsets will soon get support for microSD cards over USB, a night mode and a low-power mode.
Oculus Quest has Rift-like VR without the wires
Hugo Barra, Oculus' head of VR, said earlier this year that the standalone headset is the key to mass adoption of VR. And in 2018, the company is doubling down on that claim. A few months ago, Oculus released its first standalone headset, the Oculus Go, an affordable phone-free alternative to Samsung's Gear VR. Today, at Oculus Connect 5, the company unveiled the Oculus Quest, which promises Rift-like experiences, but without a PC. In my brief experience with it, the Quest lives up to the standalone VR promise, though it doesn't quite match up to the quality of the Rift. At least not yet.
Facebook and RED unveil their Manifold 3D VR camera
Facebook and RED are finally ready to show their 3D VR camera after months of teasing. They've revealed Manifold, a ball-shaped array that uses 16 of RED's Helium 8K sensors (with 180-degree Schneider lenses) to capture a complete, 60FPS VR video in one scene, including depth information. The The result is high-quality 360-degree video that reacts when you move your head. You might not walk directly through a video, but you wouldn't be stuck in one camera position when watching with an Oculus Quest or a similar six-degrees-of-freedom headset.
Oculus predicts a VR future that includes ultra-thin headsets
Oculus' virtual reality ambitions extend well past standalone headsets. In a talk at Oculus Connect 5, the company's Michael Abrash updated his predictions for the future of VR headset technology. Most notably, he sees an end to the bulky headsets that define the experience today. Pancake lenses (already in use with interchangeable lens cameras) could slim down headsets or lead to ultra-wide fields of view, but the real star may be waveguide displays, where light bounces down extremely thin glass plates. You could see VR headsets that are scarcely thicker than glasses, with images that are as wide as you need. Abrash showed a concept drawing (this isn't a hint at a future product, he stressed) for a headset that would make your Rift or Go look positively ancient, although he wouldn't predict just when you might see such a device.
Robots reign supreme in new VR games for Oculus headsets
As Oculus hosts its annual OC5 event in San Francisco this week, the company isn't just looking back at its five years in existence, it's looking forward. Specifically to "the latest and greatest in gaming content," Steve Arnold, head of Oculus Studio Content, told assembled reporters at a preview event held the week prior.
'Star Wars' VR experience 'Vader Immortal' will debut on Oculus Quest
Oculus Quest owners will have an exclusive Star Wars VR series to look forward to this spring: Vader Immortal. We only got a brief glimpse of it during the Oculus Connect 5 keynote today, but it looks like it'll place you on Mustafar, the volcanic planet that houses Vader's lair. The three episode series will be written by David S. Goyer, the prolific genre writer who's also working on the Secrets of the Empire, another Star Wars VR experience developed by the ILMxLAB and The Void. Vader Immortal will also tie into that series, and it's going to take place between Revenge of the Sith and Rogue One in the Star Wars universe.
Oculus' mobile app now supports the Rift headset
The Oculus mobile app is no longer just a companion to the Oculus Go -- an update to the app for Android and iOS has introduced Rift support that lets you manage your VR experience away from your PC. You can link up with friends, find events and shop the Oculus Store. This includes installing apps, too. If you want, you can start downloading a VR game while you're out at work so that it's ready to play by the time you're home.
Oculus teases 'Hybrid Apps' that merge the desktop with VR
During its Oculus Connect 5 event in San Jose, California on Wednesday, Facebook unveiled a new mid-tier Oculus Quest VR headset as well as a host of new gaming titles for the burgeoning immersive entertainment platform. But the social media company has more in store for the Oculus beyond fun and games -- it wants people to work in VR too.
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.
Oculus' major Core 2.0 update officially arrives in October
Amid a string of announcements at Oculus Connect 5, including the standalone Oculus Quest headset, Facebook revealed some updates to the Rift Core 2.0 platform, which is moving out of beta and will be available for everyone in early October. If you don't want to wait, you can access it through the Public Test Channel starting Wednesday.
Oculus has a mixed reality vision that goes far beyond Microsoft
Microsoft has been pushing the idea of mixed reality -- combining virtual and augmented reality -- for years now. But today at Oculus Connect 5, Facebook showed off a concept that pushes the notion of mixed reality even further. We caught a brief glimpse of Andrew Bosworth, the company's head of AR and VR, wearing an upcoming Oculus Quest headset. Instead of seeing an artificial VR environment, he saw a crude real-time rendering of the room around him, drawn in a cartoon-like style. As he panned his head around, the layout and furniture in the room appeared, as if it were being painted in place.
Oculus' most powerful, wireless VR headset ships spring 2019 for $399
Project Santa Cruz has left the pre-production phase. Oculus VR's powerful standalone headset is officially called Oculus Quest and it's due to hit the market in the spring of 2019 for $399 -- let's just call it an even $400. That's the starting price, for a 64GB model. Oculus Quest has a display resolution of 1600x1440 per eye. The new headset will ship with more than 50 titles, plus developers are working to bring notable Rift VR games such as Moss, The Climb and Robo Recall to it as well.
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.
