Connect 7: All the news from Facebook and Oculus’ big VR / AR event – The Verge

Facebook Connect 7: the 5 biggest announcements

2020-09-16T17:47:04-04:00

Facebook packed its Connect virtual and augmented reality conference into a single day this year, and it announced a lot of news during its two-hour keynote. That included a new VR headset, the retirement of an old headset, and a long list of upcoming games and apps.

As usual, Connect centered on Facebook's VR division Oculus. But we also learned about Facebook's plans for Ray-Ban "smart glasses," as well as a more advanced AR initiative called Aria. Here are some of the details.

The Oculus Quest 2 ships October 13th for $299

Facebook is unifying its entire VR hardware lineup into one headset: the Oculus Quest 2 all-in-one headset. The Ques …

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Oculus Quest vs. Oculus Quest 2: what’s the difference?

2020-09-16T15:42:08-04:00

Facebook just announced the Oculus Quest 2, a successor to its Quest virtual reality headset from 2019. At $299 for the base model, the new beefed-up and slimmed-down Quest is $100 cheaper than its predecessor. It's also shipping within a few weeks: preorders opened today, and it will be available for purchase in 22 countries on October 13th. Facebook will retire its Oculus Rift S next year and the original Quest supply is already sold out in many places, so the Quest 2 will soon be the only option for Oculus headset buyers.

The Quest 2 has the same basic features as the Quest. It's a self-contained VR headset that doesn't require a gaming …

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VR Assassin’s Creed and Splinter Cell games are coming

2020-09-16T14:15:31-04:00

Ubisoft has announced new Assassin's Creed and Splinter Cell games built entirely for virtual reality. The games, announced during the Facebook Connect (previously called Oculus Connect) virtual keynote on Wednesday, mark a long-rumored but still potentially exciting addition to VR.

We don't know anything else about the games, except that they'll be developed by Ubisoft's Red Storm in collaboration with Ubisoft Reflections, Ubisoft Düsseldorf, and Ubisoft Mumbai. Ubisoft has developed several VR games in the past years, including Eagle Flight, Transference, and the excellent cooperative title Star Trek: Bridge Crew. Ubisoft has also produce …

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The original Myst is coming to VR

2020-09-16T13:47:46-04:00

Myst creator Cyan Worlds is adapting its classic adventure game to virtual reality. Facebook and Cyan announced that Myst will get a VR remake for the Oculus Quest later this year, launching after the release of the upcoming Oculus Quest 2 headset.

The VR version of Myst is described as a "reimagining" of the 1993 original, which was created using Apple's HyperCard software. It includes new art, audio, and interactions, plus a randomized puzzle option for an added challenge. A trailer offers a broad reminder of what Myst is about, but it doesn't show us what the game will actually look like or how it will play.

Cyan has already made a fora …

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Facebook will let creators put their AR effects in Messenger and Portal

2020-09-16T13:30:00-04:00

Facebook is giving augmented reality effects creators more places to share their work. The company announced, as part of its Facebook Connect event today, that it'll expand third-party creators' reach to both Messenger and Portal, meaning effects they create through Spark AR, Facebook's AR program, can show up in that app and device, too. (AR effects already existed in both Messenger and Portal, but those effects will soon come from creators outside of Facebook's in-house team.) The team says it'll have updates about when the third-party effects will roll out early next year.

Facebook also combined the news with updated numbers about Spark …

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Facebook is discontinuing the Oculus Rift S

2020-09-16T13:30:00-04:00

Facebook-owned virtual reality company Oculus is ending sales of the Rift S headset next spring. It's retiring the PC-based VR device to focus on the standalone Oculus Quest 2, which can also be tethered to a computer through Oculus' Link feature.

Quest 2 product manager Prabhu Parthasarathy calls the Quest 2's release "the right moment for us to move to a single headset." Link, which uses a USB-C cable to support PC VR games on the Quest, was launched experimentally for the original Quest in 2019. The feature will emerge from beta later this year, officially making the $299 Quest 2 a dual-purpose headset.

The Quest 2 is officially converti …

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The Oculus Quest 2 has an optional, more comfortable head strap

2020-09-16T13:30:00-04:00

Facebook's Oculus Quest 2 virtual reality headset is being released alongside several optional accessories, including two head strap variants, Logitech earbuds and headphones, a "fit pack" for different head sizes, and the Link USB-C cable. As Facebook announced today, the Quest 2's base model costs $299, but getting the absolute best experience on it will cost quite a bit more.

The Quest 2 ships with a cloth strap by default. Oculus, however, is also selling a padded plastic "Elite Strap" that offers more support and a little bit of a counterweight for the headset's front-heavy bulk. The default Elite Strap costs $49, and a version with a …

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Oculus Quest 2 review: better, cheaper VR

2020-09-16T13:30:00-04:00

As someone who writes about virtual reality and has been stuck at home just like many people during the 2020 pandemic, I've gotten asked one question over and over: if virtual reality is so great and actual reality is so dangerous, why isn't everybody turning to VR? This isn't a totally fair framing, since VR usage has spiked by some measures. But it did expose a simple problem: I really couldn't recommend a headset that was friendly enough for most people to buy.

I've spent the last couple of weeks with Oculus' new Quest 2 headset, though, and that's very close to changing. The Quest 2 is a self-contained headset that's shipping on October …

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Oculus’ new Quest 2 VR headset starts at $299 and ships October 13th

2020-09-16T13:23:23-04:00

A second-generation Oculus Quest virtual reality headset, the Quest 2, is shipping next month starting at $299. Facebook opened preorders for the Quest 2 today, and it's launching the headset on October 13th in 22 countries. The Quest 2 will replace both the original Quest and the PC-tethered Rift S, thanks to the Link feature that lets it play PC VR games.

Quest 2 specs and images have circulated widely in the past few months, and today's announcement confirms most of the leaked details. Primarily, the Quest 2 is a slimmer and lighter version of the Quest. The headset weighs in at 503 grams instead of 571 grams and is slightly shallower th …

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Facebook’s first ‘smart glasses’ will be Ray-Bans, coming next year

2020-09-16T13:20:15-04:00

Facebook says its first pair of consumer "smart glasses" will be releasing next year as a branded Ray-Ban product, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced during the opening keynote of its all-virtual Facebook Connect conference. It's not clear what features the device will have, but Facebook has confirmed to The Verge that the device will not be classified as an AR device, and it will not have an integrated display of any kind. That suggests they may be closer to something like Snap Spectacles or perhaps Amazon's Echo Frames.

Facebook says the consumer smart glasses will be one step in its overall work on AR, which now includes experimental research …

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