The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) will make a number of games available to stream on various platforms this season, giving viewers the opportunity to tune in without a traditional pay-TV service. Of particular interest is the league's plan to make some games available for streaming on Facebook's Oculus platform, meaning you'll be able to strap on your VR headset on game day.
Facebook and Oculus are pushing the Quest 2 as the pinnacle of its VR systems so far because of its versatility. While primarily a standalone headset, the Quest 2 can also run Oculus' PC-based VR content by tethering it to a desktop or laptop. The versatility, however, ends there but SideQuest now has a more mobile solution. The developers have proudly announced an Android app that brings its PC VR content to the Oculus Quest 2 without using a PC.
Capcom has plenty of original IPs but Resident Evil is perhaps its most notable in terms of disturbing imagery and stories. It's a franchise that has gone beyond just games and even has its own live-action film series. In fact, it has one more coming, a reboot that will be joined by a Netflix CGI series. Those, however, weren't the only things announced at Capcom's Resident Evil Showcase, revealing details about the next major installment in the long-running series as well as its first VR incarnation.
Oculus today announced that it's now allowing developers to offer subscriptions to their apps. While perhaps not the best fit for gaming - which Oculus was centered around at the beginning of its life - the company says that by offering subscriptions, it can offer monetization options that make Quest a better fit for other types of apps. Obviously there's no one-size-fits-all solution for subscription offerings, but in today's announcement, Oculus listed several different apps that will offer them to start.
Facebook and Oculus are investing heavily in the Quest 2 VR system, pushing it as the pinnacle of the Oculus' efforts and replacing all previous headsets, both standalone and PC-tethered like the discontinued Oculus Rift S. Its launch may have been tainted by some controversy over Facebook's new requirements but, on a technical point of view, the Quest 2 is admittedly on the road to truly becoming the one headset to rule them all, especially with version 28 of the Oculus Quest system software that opens it up to new ways of enjoying VR worlds.
Virtual reality has had the reputation for being something only for games and entertainment, a perception that VR companies and advocates are trying to dispel with more serious applications. That said, there's no denying that the technology is perfect for immersive interactive content, at least the kind that puts you in the middle of the action. To shine a spotlight on that market, Facebook-owned Oculus has announced its first-ever showcase dedicated just for VR gaming, probably to help fill in the gap left by canceled in-person events since last year.
Consumer virtual reality systems started out in two kinds. One was completely powered by a smartphone, with the headset acting as a simple holder for the phone and lens. The other was a heavier headset that, despite the heft, still needed to offload its work to a powerful PC. The likes of the Google Cardboard have silently disappeared into the background and now it might be the turn of PC-only VR headsets, starting with the disappearance of the Oculus Rift S from main retail sources.
Bethesda Softworks revealed this week that the game Doom 3: VR Edition will be available on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 this month. This version of the game is completely official, optimized for this gameplay environment with motion controls, 180-degree quick-turn functionality, and "new textures, shaders, and sound effects." It's a whole new look at a very classic game that's seen its fair share of editions, expansions, and unofficial iterations, to be sure.
Almost all the Big Tech companies have smart assistants these days except for Facebook. There have been rumors and signs that the social media giant would be coming out with its own but nothing has materialized so far. It might, however, be taking another step in that direction by pushing its own trigger phrase to activate voice commands not only on its Portal smart display but even on the Oculus Quest 2 VR headset.
Oculus Quest is getting two useful features today, particularly for instances where there are multiple people in a household using a single headset. Oculus has rolled out multi-user accounts and app sharing - two somewhat self-explanatory features that nonetheless make it easier to ensure that everyone using a headset not only has their own account, but also their own progression in games and their own privacy settings.
It has been quite a while since Facebook surprisingly acquired Oculus but, for the longest time, the social network allowed the pioneering VR platform to operate in its own bubble. That has been changing lately, and not exactly in good ways, with Facebook enforcing its account to even use the standalone Quest headsets. A side effect of that, however, is some deeper integration with Facebook's products, like those who need to keep chatting away on Messenger even in virtual reality.
Oculus fans' fears finally came true when Facebook announced that the Oculus Quest 2 would require a Facebook account to even use. That hard requirement had very significant and mostly negative implications and it seems that those will continue despite the mounting criticism and backlash. That said, the Oculus Quest 2 also came with limitations not directly related to Facebook accounts and while some of those will soon be removed, the implementation might leave users, especially families, scratching their heads in confusion.