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Oculus forcing users into mandatory Facebook accounts for full functionality
Pushing a new reality onto existing users starting in 2023
Virtual reality was beginning to feel like a big deal back in 2014, and Oculus was one of the prime players. After a successful Kickstarter campaign for the Rift VR, Facebook saw a chance to snatch the company up and purchased it for $2 billion in cash and stocks. Now after six years, Oculus is announcing that Facebook accounts will be mandatory for new users starting in October, and existing users may lose functionality if they don't merge their accounts by 2023.
Oculus discontinues the Gear VR-based Go headset
The headset could run software designed for Samsung's Gear VR
Virtual reality company Oculus used to have a tight partnership with Samsung, to the point where both company's devices shared the same software ecosystem. The Oculus Go was released in 2018 as a self-contained VR headset, with a Snapdragon 821 processor and full compatibility with games built for Samsung's Gear VR. Sadly, it's now time to say goodbye to the headset.
The VR hype train has slowed down considerably over the last couple of years, but that doesn't stop companies invested in the technology from iterating on their products. The same is true for Facebook, which announced a number of significant improvements to its VR division during its annual Oculus event on Wednesday, making advanced virtual reality experiences more accessible at lower prices. Among a plethora of changes to the platform, you can now let the Oculus Quest track your hands without additional hardware and connect it to a computer via USB, allowing you to get some of the full Rift VR experience.
If you want a virtual reality headset to kill some time with, but don't want to burden yourself with wires or a high price tag, the Oculus Go might be calling your name. It's currently available at its lowest price for both of its storage options at Amazon and Best Buy.The headset uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 and 3GB of RAM to feed content onto a 2560x1440 LCD — which should be able to produce an equivalent viewing experience of a 180" projection display — at up to 72 frames per second. It comes with a motion-tracked controller with three degrees of movement, good enough for messing about with Oculus apps and games in your personal space. It weighs just over a pound, comes with a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a 2,600mAh battery that should last at least a couple hours.
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If your Facebook app hasn't been reloading or your messages haven't been sending, you're not alone. An outage has just hit Facebook, Facebook Messenger, and Oculus, with WhatsApp's functionality affected as well. Instagram appears to be running fine.
Since the advent of virtual reality hardware, there's been a drive toward wireless. But the dream of an exceptional VR headset that doesn't tangle isn't quite there yet — the performance and graphics quality can't compare to wired systems. Facebook's Oculus seems to believe it has cracked the code, though. At Oculus Connect 5 (OC5), the new all-in-one Oculus Quest headset debuted with the advertising copy: "This is the VR experience everyone's been waiting for." In addition to the new hardware, the VR headset maker announced that its mobile app now supports the Oculus Rift, and that Oculus Go will soon gain access to YouTube VR's full library.
All the VR headsets we've seen up to this point require some other device to do all the heavy lifting. With Oculus and Vive, it's a gaming PC. With GearVR and Daydream, it's a smartphone. The Oculus Go is a fully standalone VR headset, and it can be yours today for $199.The hardware looks like a slimmed down version of the PC-based Oculus headset. Oculus Go plugs into the same content ecosystem as GearVR, and it does run Android behind the scenes. Oculus/Facebook stresses that there are already 1,000 titles available for the Oculus Go, many of which are games. The Snapdragon 821 SoC should be plenty powerful to run all those games, too.[EMBED_YT]https://youtu.be/ZAEl0WM5K5o[/EMBED_YT]The Oculus Go will not use an OLED panel like many VR headsets. Instead, it has a 2560x1440 fast-switch LCD. Most VR systems use OLED because you need the fast refresh rate for VR, but this LCD can supposedly keep up. Plus, it won't have a pentile matrix, which reduces the "screen door" effect.[EMBED_YT]https://youtu.be/B4Gd_m7h1uQ[/EMBED_YT]The Oculus Go is available today for $199 with 32GB of storage. If you want more, a 64GB version is available for $249. It's in stock on Amazon, the Oculus store, Best Buy, and more.Source: Facebook, Oculus
Many companies are still trying to make VR happen, though it feels like those couple of years when 3D TVs were being pushed and then completely disappeared. If you ask me, there's merit to the immersive experience of VR in certain situations, but the wider and easier adoption will be for AR when it's commoditized. But I digress. We've been keeping an eye on HTC's VIVE and Oculus for a while, even though they're not technically related to Android, but for the sake of information here are the two companies' CES 2018 news.
Facebook-owned Oculus is one of the two giants in VR right now, alongside HTC with its Vive headset. While Oculus is still working on the much-anticipated cordless PC headset, it announced another product today - the standalone Oculus Go.
For anyone wanting to get into VR, the number of options and different price points can be a bit overwhelming. At the lower end, you have Google's Cardboard or Daydream viewers, which can be used in conjunction with Android phones to offer a fairly basic VR experience. Devices like the Oculus Rift fill the middle tier, for those wanting a more robust ecosystem. Then at the top end, you've got the HTC VIVE. At $799 it's only ever been for those who are really serious about VR. HTC is hoping a price drop down to 9 will open it up to a wider audience.This is the first significant change HTC has made to the retail price of the headset, although there have been discounts through retailers. It comes as the Oculus Rift currently retails for $399, and it's likely HTC wants its device to be competitive. It's also worth noting that cheaper standalone Daydream headsets are coming, including a VIVE model from HTC, and the company even announced its own standalone version in China. Both of these are expected to be more affordable than the current VIVE hardware.By dropping the price of the current VIVE headset now, HTC must be hoping for some extra sales ahead of those new releases, at which point even $599 will look expensive for a unit that also requires a powerful PC to run. HTC also took the opportunity to promote upcoming games coming to VIVE, such as Fallout 4 VR and Doom VFR, and also reiterated its commitment to producing quality VR content with its range of partners. It also talked up the Viveport subscription, which is a great way of delivering content while also tying users into the ecosystem.You can pick up a VIVE VR unit at its new $599 price directly from HTC or from Amazon, among other retailers.Source: VIVE
You might recall a Daydream VR tidbit in the torrent of Google I/O news earlier this month; Daydream 2.0 will include Chromecast support. Not to be outdone, Oculus has announced that Gear VR can do that starting now, or just as soon as a new version of the Oculus app can be rolled out to Samsung devices. This makes VR just a tiny bit less antisocial.
The tale of ZeniMax vs. The World of VR is developing into a modern-day saga of Homeric proportions with each new filing. Although Oculus/Facebook was found innocent of ZeniMax's previous accusations, it did end up having to cough up around $500 million as a result of NDA violations, copyright infringements, and for lying about a few things. Even so, it seemed as if the general dance was winding down and all the monsters short of the inevitable appeals had been slain. But the Hydra's heads are many, and ZeniMax is back with a new target: Samsung.
Samsung's big announcement for today was the Galaxy Tab S3, but if you happen to be interested in virtual reality, Samsung has another product to sell to you. Oculus and Samsung have partnered up again to develop an updated Gear VR, this time with a fancy motion controller.
Those of you with a newer Samsung phone might want to take a peek at the battery usage today. Many users are reporting substantial battery drain after an update to the Oculus VR app. The only fix right now appears to be completely uninstalling the app.
Samsung announced its new $99 Gear VR portable virtual reality viewer back in September and is now ready to start shipping it to consumers. Pre-orders are open in the United States on Amazon, Best Buy, and Samsung's sites, with orders ready to ship on November 20. Units will also be available for sale in Best Buy's retail locations. A week later on November 27, T-Mobile will also offer the Gear VR for sale online and in its stores, and AT&T is supposed to join the list but no specific date has been set yet.The new Gear VR is lighter and more comfortable to wear compared to the previous Innovator Edition. It also has a better touchpad for improved control. It costs the same $99 and works with Samsung's 2015 flagships: the Galaxy S6, S6 Edge, S6 Edge+, and Note 5.Along with the headset's launch, you should expect the release of several new made-for-VR games that are optimized for the Oculus platform such as Lands End from Ustwo Games, the makers of Monument Valley. Users will also have access to video content from Samsung Milk VR, Netflix (with a subscription), and Oculus Video.At $99, the Gear VR is sure more expensive than Google's Cardboard units, but it does look more spiffy and has the backing of a more specialized company in Oculus. But it's tough to deny that both offerings are really making virtual reality more affordable and attainable to everyone.Source: Samsung Tomorrow
Samsung has been working with Oculus for a few years, but the pair just reached a new milestone in their collaboration. There's a new Gear VR coming, and it's the first "consumer-ready" version of the hardware. It'll work with all 2015 flagship Samsung phones. Oh, and it's going to sell for a much more reasonable $99.
Oculus VR has been through quite a ride since it raised nearly $2.5 million on Kickstarter in 2012. It has produced two prototypes of the Oculus Rift head-mounted display, and been acquired by Facebook along the way. Now the company has announced a release window for the first consumer version of the Rift—Q1 2016. That's almost all we know, though.
You can buy a Gear VR in the US now, but you need a Galaxy Note 4 to get any use out of the device. While the headset comes with extra sensors, much of the computing power takes place on the smartphone side of things. An update is now rolling out to the Sprint and Verizon versions of the Note 4 that get things ready to go.