Oculus Quest And Rift S Updates Bring Tracking Enhancements And Live VR Venues
Oculus launched its Oculus Quest and Rift S devices a little over two months ago. Both devices have received fairly positive reviews, but most users would like to see more content. Oculus just released new features for the Oculus Quest and Rift S, including Oculus Venues, improved tracking, and new home highlights.
Oculus Quest users will now be able to participate in Oculus Venue events. Oculus Venues allows users to watch select live events in VR. This feature had previously only been available to those who owned a Oculus Go or Gear VR device. Oculus Quest users will be able to experience “full hand presence and 6DOF tracking, so you can dance to your favorite songs, cheer for your home team, and interact with the crowd like never before.” The first event, Liverpool Football Club vs Sporting Clube de Portugal at Yankee Stadium, will start today. Users will then be able to watch Tenacious D perform their “Post-Apocalypto” show at the Palace Theatre in St. Paul, Minnesota on July 31.
Oculus has also added a few other social features. Oculus added their Gateway feature this past spring. It allows users to expand their “space and connect different themed rooms or public Homes.” These spaces included friend’s homes. Oculus has added to Gateway and users will now be able to directly link games, experiences, and others’ homes to the Special Items section of their inventory. There is also a camera so that users can take screenshots of their Home.
Last but not least, Oculus has made a few technical improvements. Their Guardian system can now more accurately the number of people using VR devices in a shared space. Users can draw their play area and adjust features like the floor height and boundary sensitivity. Oculus has also improved their controller tracking and players can now turn on Passthrough+, a true stereo-correct passthrough feature, indefinitely.
It will be particularly interesting to see how Oculus Quest users respond to Oculus Venues. Oculus Venues has received some fairly poor reviews from Oculus Go or Gear VR consumers. They have complained about everything from the feature failing to launch to needing to link their social media accounts. There are also currently few available events and many countries are not able to access the existing ones. Hopefully Oculus will continue to listen to feedback from their users and improve this particular experience.
Oculus Quest users will now be able to participate in Oculus Venue events. Oculus Venues allows users to watch select live events in VR. This feature had previously only been available to those who owned a Oculus Go or Gear VR device. Oculus Quest users will be able to experience “full hand presence and 6DOF tracking, so you can dance to your favorite songs, cheer for your home team, and interact with the crowd like never before.” The first event, Liverpool Football Club vs Sporting Clube de Portugal at Yankee Stadium, will start today. Users will then be able to watch Tenacious D perform their “Post-Apocalypto” show at the Palace Theatre in St. Paul, Minnesota on July 31.
Oculus has also added a few other social features. Oculus added their Gateway feature this past spring. It allows users to expand their “space and connect different themed rooms or public Homes.” These spaces included friend’s homes. Oculus has added to Gateway and users will now be able to directly link games, experiences, and others’ homes to the Special Items section of their inventory. There is also a camera so that users can take screenshots of their Home.
Last but not least, Oculus has made a few technical improvements. Their Guardian system can now more accurately the number of people using VR devices in a shared space. Users can draw their play area and adjust features like the floor height and boundary sensitivity. Oculus has also improved their controller tracking and players can now turn on Passthrough+, a true stereo-correct passthrough feature, indefinitely.
It will be particularly interesting to see how Oculus Quest users respond to Oculus Venues. Oculus Venues has received some fairly poor reviews from Oculus Go or Gear VR consumers. They have complained about everything from the feature failing to launch to needing to link their social media accounts. There are also currently few available events and many countries are not able to access the existing ones. Hopefully Oculus will continue to listen to feedback from their users and improve this particular experience.
