Fandango's Vudu streaming service is now available to Oculus owners, assuming you have a Quest headset. The platform allows customers to rent and buy digital movies, then watch them on a variety of devices -- and the Oculus Quest and Quest 2 are now counted among them. This is particularly good news for headset owners who enjoy 3D movies.
Although Oculus has now almost become the biggest name in consumer VR products, it isn't the only one occupying to top tiers of that still niche market. There was a time when HTC's Vive went toe to toe with Oculus, but it seems to have faded into the background in the past year or so. Just like with its smartphones, HTC isn't calling it quits and might finally be ready to take the combined might of Oculus and Facebook this week with a new standalone VR headset as well as a new "metaverse" platform.
It's been a while since we last received an update on Resident Evil 4 VR, but today we got a big one. Not only did we get a new trailer for the game, but we also got a release date. As it turns out, release day is coming up pretty fast, so those who own an Oculus Quest 2 don't have much longer to get their hands on it.
Netflix released their first video game today, a VR title by the name of Eden Unearthed. This game is an "experience" that's not quite entirely through the full Oculus review process yet, so it's out with the group's "App Lab." There may still be "unknown issues relating to comfort, performance, or other factors," in play. The game is based on the TV series (also released by Netflix) by the name of Eden (2021).
This week Facebook and Oculus released the Oculus Quest 2 with 128GB internal storage. This device is essentially the same as the version released at the tail end of 2020, save the storage it has for data AND the included up-to-date face pad. This latest version of the Oculus Quest 2 has the same starting price as the original, with the same controllers and hardware setup as the version released before.
The latest in remote workplace action from Facebook is "Horizon Workrooms." In this bit of software, Facebook imagines that users will wear their Oculus Quest 2 and join coworkers in a virtual room "collaborate, communicate, and connect remotely." The concept of a virtual reality workspace is not entirely new - but this Horizon Workrooms attempt at said concept might just have the right combination of features to make it a reality for future workers in the new world.
The release of the Oculus Quest 2 VR headset was given a bit of a kick in the pants by reports of skin irritation on the faces of some users. Though Oculus suggests that "a very small percentage of users" reported said skin irritation where the foam portion of the facial interface rests on the skin, they're offering a replacement for all. Per the announcement from Oculus, "the safety and comfort of every customer is our top priority."
Apple's mobile ecosystem has been marked by two main pillars in the past few years. While it has been singing praises about its work on protecting users' privacy, it has also been designing its iPhones and Apple Watches to record and store health-related data, from activity tracking to biometrics monitoring. Not all activities, however, can be tracked through phones and wearables, and Facebook is reportedly looking into syncing activity data from its Oculus headsets with Apple Health for a more holistic overview of a person's fitness goals and state.
This week Oculus Passthrough API Experimental was released, giving creators a way to build and test mixed reality experiences for VR and AR devices. Since this is made by Oculus, it's pretty safe to say that the software will be aimed at Oculus devices, but the implications of what we're seeing is far more important than one platform.
Facebook's acquisition of modern VR pioneer Oculus has always been a mind-boggling one. Naturally, the social media giant wants to leave its imprint on anything that can be remotely tied to being social, including in virtual worlds. That said, it is taking some time for Oculus to add those social features to its Quest platform, but it's finally taking a big step forward in the latest software update that makes it almost trivial to get together with friends or strangers in multiplayer VR experiences.
Facebook has a sort of reverse Midas' touch where everything it touches gets stained by its own stigmas. Every product it buys or gets close to eventually gets involved in its privacy issues or, at the very least, its advertising businesses. It was the latter surprised, shocked, and even disgusted Oculus users last week when the social networking giant announced the start of its advertising tests on the VR platform. Users expressed their opposition so strongly that Blaston, the first and so far only game to test this system, has quickly pulled out from the program.
Earlier this week, we mentioned that the Oculus Quest 1 would gain support for the Air Link as part of the 30.0 update. That update is now rolling out to Oculus users, and the release notes detailing some of the key features for the update are available. One of the biggest enhancements in build 30.0 is a microphone management system.