Today at Oculus Connect 6, CTO John Carmack dove into the work the company has done on Oculus Link, the Quest feature which will soon allow the headset to tether to PC to play Rift games. Today this requires a USB3 cable, but the natural next step, Carmack said, is that this will eventually be wireless.
Although Oculus Link requires a tether, it’s effectively a ‘remote’ rendering solution, Carmack explained today during his keynote presentation, which means the type of link between the headset and the PC doesn’t really matter so long as it has the necessary bandwidth, latency, and consistency.
While Oculus chose to go with a tether for Oculus Link as a “first step” (thanks to consistent bandwidth and latency), Carmack was up front that the work is headed toward a wireless solution.
“Clearly we’d like this to work on Wi-Fi eventually,” he said, as he went on to speak about some of the tweaks they’d likely undertake to make the Oculus Link rendering solution work best over a wirelessly.
While rotational tracking on Quest with the current Oculus Link solution is nearly identical in latency to Rift S, positional tracking and controller tracking does have some added latency, Carmack said.
Some of that could be further improved, he said, especially if Oculus can get lower level access to the headset’s underlying hardware. Doing so would allow them to build alternate video architectures which could be more suited to remote rendering, further reducing the latency. From Carmack’s discussion, it seemed this is something the company will continue to pursue.
Though Oculus is clearly happy enough with the performance of this solution when rendered by a PC in your home, cloud rendering is another matter. Carmack said that he doesn’t currently see a clear path on making VR cloud rendering viable, owed to both increased latency and more inconsistency.
During Oculus Connect 4 (OC4) renown developer Respawn Entertainment revealed that it was entering virtual reality (VR) development, following that with a tease in 2018 stating work on a ‘AAA shooter’. It was Oculus’ new VP of Content Mike Verdu who then made the big reveal during OC6, that the Oculus Rift exclusive videogame would be Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond.
While there have been many, many WWII first-person shooters (FPS) for PC and console, there haven’t been that many in VR – Front Defense comes to mind. It’s always a boon for VR when a well-known developer enters the fray but even more so when they feel a notable franchise like Medal of Honor is worth the VR treatment.
In all honesty, when the first images of Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond appeared during the keynote announcement they didn’t appear to be that impressive. The graphics seemed a little plain and scaled-down, lacking the detail and destruction of the European battlefields. Plus, there was the worry that the title would be another generic WWII shooter with some VR-style elements.
So VRFocus is happy to report that those fears were soon allayed as the demo for Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond turned out to be a lot of fun. Respawn Entertainment had certainly ensured that its first VR reveal was going to be something special, offering too much content to get through in the limited time window. There were three levels available, one inside a hotel fighting the Gestapo, another fighting troops in a French village, while the third was a snowy mountain level designed for sniping. Plus, there was a training level to get acquainted with the controls.
Plumping for the first two locations, Respawn Entertainment has gone straight in for full immersion, no messing whatsoever. No auto reloads mean expelling the empty clip, pulling another from your belt and cocking the weapon. Grenades are attached to your chest and pins can be pulled by hand (or with your teeth), and if your health is low syringes on your left wrist need to be plunged into your chest with your right hand. All very hands-on aiding that feeling you’re in a warzone.
The first level in the hotel is very much an action sequence fighting your way through the deadly troops of the secret police. The gun handling felt solid with distance aiming proving not to be a problem. You can hold each gun – pistol, machinegun, rifle) with both hands to give yourself a ‘stability bonus’ which for some reason pops up in big white letters, ruining the immersion somewhat. It’s strange that the studio did this when the rest of the design is HUD free, giving a nice clean look. Should you get stuck with what to do next – other than killing Nazi’s – your right wrist as the mission objectives, which is handy.
The enemy AI also seemed to be a little erratic at times. In some instances, it performed well with hostiles taking cover, popping back and forth to take shots. Then in other moments caution was thrown to the wind. Some troops just charged headfirst towards the dangerous end of the gun, almost tripping over as a bullet went through their face. At other points, they just stood out in the open as if they believed they were impervious, making for very easy kills.
Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond isn’t purely some mindless WWII FPS. As shown in the second demo level, Respawn Entertainment has employed some light puzzle-solving to mix up the pace, needing open a secret room with a specific piano note combination. It was nice to have some other interactive elements other than purely shooting, helping to build that sense of presence in the world. Additionally, there are lots of other items to pick up and be inventive with. This included finding a silver spoon lying around which VRFocus used to beat a Gestapo officer into submission.
From what’s been shown so far Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond will be one of the biggest VR titles to look forward to in 2020 for Oculus Rift owners. The experience wasn’t necessarily doing anything new or inventive, simply taking what’s been learnt over the last few years of VR development and combining it into one cohesive whole. VRFocus can’t wait to see how this one turns out.
There was a massive haul of announcements yesterday (believe us, just look at our front page), and while today’s keynote may not have any specific product reveals, where else can you watch legendary programmer and Oculus CTO John Carmack talk about VR until they pull his mic?
Starting today, September 26th at 10 AM PT (local time here), John Carmack will take the stage to hold another installment of his insights and off-the-cuff thoughts about his work at Oculus/Facebook.
If you’ve never seen a Carmack talk, then you’re in for a treat, as he has a special gift for explaining complex topics without need for cue cards or slides.
You’ll be able to watch it live via the Oculus page, which requires a name and email signup. If you’re wary of giving out your info and being contacted for advertising purposes, you can always catch the keynote when its done on YouTube, although it won’t be livestreamed there.
The keynote will also be available via the Oculus Facebook page and via the embedded video below. Just refresh this page at the scheduled time.
If you missed day one’s keynote and you’re looking for two hours to fill, you can watch the complete presentation here.
Back at E3 2019 earlier this year we learned that Ready at Dawn was working on an Oculus Quest port of its zero-gravity VR disc sport, Echo Arena, and would be bringing it over to the standalone VR headset in “all its glory.”
Yesterday, at Oculus Connect 6 (OC6), I got the chance to try it out for myself on Quest for the first time and I can confirm that it’s certainly a capable port of the popular game, but certainly not a perfect translation.
Generally speaking, the game runs great on Quest. The developers describe it as still being in “alpha” but for all intents and purposes it seems far more feature complete than most alphas I’ve tried. Everything works already. All the controls are the same allowing me to reach out with my hands and use wrist thrusters to glide around the arena, I can push off of objects, boost with the left stick, brake with the right, use the grip buttons to grab the disc or environment, and use the triggers to punch and block.
Like I said, this is definitely Echo Arena. It’s all here. But it’s just not quite as good, which shouldn’t be a big surprise.
This screenshot is captured from the PC version.
For starters, you can tell it’s downgraded visually pretty clearly. I haven’t played Echo Arena in months but I could still spot some differences. The lightning system seemed less remarkable specifically and I am pretty sure I could spot a tad of fixed foveated rendering around the edges of my display. Character models were lower quality as well, even in terms of the differences between my avatar and the avatars of other players. For example, my hands were articulated with individually animated fingers, but other players appeared to have a smudged glove for hands, basically.
Those are pretty minor differences when you’re in the heat of a match though and don’t actually matter. But since the Quest only has four front-facing inside-out cameras in the corners of the headset face plate, the tracking volume is much smaller than the original Rift and smaller than the Rift S. Specifically, when reaching above my head, down around the back of my waist, or behind my back.
In most VR games you usually keep your hands out in front of you, but in Echo Arena that isn’t really the case. You’ll often grab a piece of the environment without looking at it directly or hold onto the wall, then turn to look towards the disc before pushing off and launching yourself. That action was sort of hit or miss on Quest. The same goes for reaching behind my hand to wind up a throw/pass or flicking it backwards to toss. The action usually worked okay, but it often forced my arms and hands to get all distorted, which was a bit jarring.
This screenshot is captured from the PC version.
To be clear though: Echo Arena on Quest, from what I’ve seen so far, is absolutely capable, playable, and quite good. I would definitely play this version and would personally recommend it to Quest owners from what I’ve played. Not having to worry about wires is reason enough to make Echo Arena on Quest one worth keeping on your radar because it feels great to spin around without issues. That being said, it just isn’t as good as on PC VR, but that should have been expected anyway.
There is still no release date for Echo Arena on Quest, so stay tuned for more once we know!
At Oculus Connect 6 (OC6) Facebook finally revealed what Respawn Entertainment has been working on alongside Oculus and it’s called Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond. This is the first new game in the series in over seven years.
During the event we learned a lot about the game even though it’s not coming out until sometime in 2020. The demo was split across three levels, spanned about 45-minutes, and showed off lots of different guns and various mission types. We still have a lot of unanswered questions, but we did at least get to spend a good chunk of time with it ahead of the announcement.
At the event we got the chance to also attended a presentation and spoke with Peter Hirschmann, Game Director on Medal of Honor VR.
“We’re trying to make an authentic game, not necessarily a realistic one,” says Hirschmann. “If it’s fun, it goes in. Fun always wins. For us authenticity is defined by if it feels real, but we always try to be pro-player entertainment. For example, when switching weapons you just let go and it flies back to its slot.”
Other than the reloading example, you can see that sentiment carried through in the art style as well. It doesn’t feature photo-realistic character models or overly dark environments and it’s not very gory either. But at the same time it certainly has the mechanics, sound design, and general production values to feel more polished than most VR games.
“What defines Medal of Honor for us, going back to World War II, is that it’s all about analog warfare,” says Hirschmann. “It’s about the tactical relationship between you as the player and that bad guy. I really like Sid Meier’s definition of a game, in its purest form, is a series of interesting decisions. Medal of Honor is at its best when it’s you versus one, or two, or maybe three or four, bad guys with tactical decisions in real time about who to take out, analyze what weapons they have, taking an easier shot to wound them or trying to take them out and eliminate them completely. It’s about being up close and personal. Bullets matter, health matters.”
A lot of the intricate aspects of the gameplay and the intensity of hunkering down in an intense firefight I just didn’t see in my demo at all. All of the combat encounters I had were very straight forward and sometimes highlighted sub-par AI, but there is still a lot of time to work on that before release. If they can nail a smart, tactical feel without sacrificing the accessible pick-up-and-play design, that would be fantastic.
Most VR shooters right now are heavily focused on multiplayer. While it does require a healthy player-base, it means not having to design missions, creating a narrative, building AI, recording voice over, and all of the other things needed for a high-quality campaign story. But a developer of Respawn’s pedigree is of course tackling that challenge head on.
“We are contractually obligated to deliver a 10-12 hour long experience to our friends at Oculus, but we are well over that,” says Hirschmann. “When we kicked this off a couple of years ago we weren’t sure of what we’d be able to achieve…We realized what the platform was capable of, we loved to work with Oculus, so we decided to expand the scope and make it a bigger game. Usually you’re scoping down but we decided to scope up.”
According to Hirschmann Medal of Honor VR will include over 50 mission segments across three acts. Basically the way it was described to me is that each Act has a series of missions in it and each mission is split into segments, or levels. There are over 50 of those individual segments in total.
“We tried not to repeat ourselves,” says Hirschmann. “In those 50+ segments there are only a few times where we repeat a piece of geography and it’s usually only after battle damage.”
Obviously the most iconic moment from World War II, a moment that has been replicated in films, TV, and video games multiple times, is the landing on Omaha Beach at Normandy, often referred to as D-Day. I had to know if that would be included at all.
“We are doing Omaha Beach, but it’s different,” says Hirschmann. “Playing Allied Assault but in VR would have been cool on its own, but we have a rule for ourselves that we never revisit a Medal of Honor location just to do it in VR, we want to do something different. So in Above and Beyond you’re playing a Combat Engineer who is recruited into the OSS. The Combat Engineers were the first ones on the beach. They have a job, it wasn’t just to get to the top, it was to clear all those obstacles along the way…So you are planting explosives and clearing the way for the armor on the shore which was crucial to getting a foothold. It’s very scary because you’re blowing up the things that are providing you cover…Some of that actually comes from one of the veterans we interviewed. He said that getting to port before he left was some of the loneliest, quietest times he has ever had as a human being, so we wanted to capture that, not just immediately starting on the beach but building up to it.”
All things considered Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond certainly has the ingredients to be something truly special and impactful for VR, but now it’s just whether or not they can execute on that recipe. A big factor will be the quality of the actual narrative (which we haven’t experienced yet) and how deep the multiplayer components will be. All we know is that they’re included, but the team isn’t willing to share details just yet.
Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond releases exclusively for Oculus Rift platforms via Oculus Home for PC in 2020. Stay tuned to learn more in the coming weeks and months!
The Oculus Connect 6 main keynote took place earlier today.
The main keynote has been where Facebook announces most new Oculus hardware, software features, and major content. If you missed it however don’t worry, we have all the announcements here in one place!
Oculus today announced an upcoming PC tethering feature coming to Quest headsets in November. Oculus Link, as it’s called, will let users plug into VR ready PCs and play games originally designed for Rift. Oculus is calling it “the best of both worlds,” but then where does that leave their latest PC VR headset, Rift S?
Quest and Rift S, Oculus’ newest headsets, launched just six months ago, but it wasn’t until today that Oculus announced a PC tethering feature—something which customers had been asking about well before the launch of the headsets.
For many contemplating picking up one of the two headsets, the fundamental equation boiled down to this:
Rift S: Costs $400; plays high-end games connected to PC
Quest: Costs $400; plays low-end games with no PC
If you wanted the high-end experience, you’d clearly pick the Rift S. If you wanted portability and convenience, you’d pick Quest.
But today’s announcement, as near as we can tell, completely changes that equation.
Rift S: Costs $400; plays high-end games connected to PC
Quest: Costs $400; plays low-end games with no PC and plays high-end games connected to PC
So why would anyone buy a Rift S for the same price as Quest when the latter effectively has twice the functionality? Yes, there’s some technical differences between the headsets—the display tech is a bit different and so are the ergonomics—but hardly enough to be consequential in the face of mobile + PC functionality vs. PC-only functionality.
In fact, with Oculus Link, Oculus is calling Quest “the best of both worlds.” So… would you like ‘the best of both worlds for’ $400, or ‘not the best of both worlds’ for $400. The choice appears so obvious that the question itself seems an affront to your intelligence.
Granted, Oculus Link won’t come until November, and there’s still some unanswered questions about exactly how it will work, which could make things a little less clear-cut. But at present, our understanding is that Oculus Link will turn question into a full-fledged PC VR headset. Oculus has confirmed to Road to VR that Quest will not just be able to play the entire Rift library, it’ll be able to use all the same platform functionality that Rift uses, like Dash, Oculus Home, etc.
For the record, I think that Oculus is making the right choice for the future by making Oculus Link and Quest PC tethering a reality. That said, there’s no denying that it’s creating an awkward moment for its customers—many of whom had been suggesting all along that Quest should logically connect to PCs to no avail and then being shunted to buying a Rift S when Quest didn’t get have it at launch.
If Oculus Link really does turn Quest into a full featured PC VR headset, then who the hell is Rift S for?
Rift S already seemed like an awkward sibling rather than a proper sequel to the original Rift. Because many of the changes from Rift to Rift S felt like side-steps (or maybe even like downgrades) the Rift S wasn’t exactly an obvious upgrade for existing Rift owners.
The only reasonable strategy for Oculus from here may follow this line of thought: slash the price of the Rift S down to $300 or even $200, thereby turning it into the unassailable recommendation for anyone looking to take their first step into PC VR. And while they’re at it, Oculus might want to think of a way to compensate their loyal and enthusiastic early adopter customers who may have begrudgingly chose Rift S over Quest so that they could stay in the PC VR ecosystem, only to watch the other headset subsume that functionality a few months later.
So far, Oculus hasn’t said anything about plans to change pricing or strategy. The company tells Road to VR that it will continue to sell the Rift S, and that it is still positioning the headset as “the gold standard for performance, graphics and the most immersive VR gameplay,” but without qualifying that statement against the capabilities of Oculus Link on Quest.
Again, as we learn more about Oculus Link on the path to its November launch, maybe it’ll become more clear why someone would still want to choice Rift S over Quest, but from what the company has revealed thus far, it just isn’t clear.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg took the stage at Oculus Connect today where he announced that the Oculus Store has now sold over $100 million worth of content to date.
Zuckerberg maintains that the Oculus Store—which provides content for Rift, Quest, Go, and Gear VR—has topped $100 million USD combined.
The company says that more than 20% of that is from Quest alone; considering the standalone VR headset is only four months old, that’s a pretty impressive number.
Side note: the Oculus Store was opened up to paying customers back in March 2015, and first serviced Gear VR.
Although it’s uncertain how Facebook plans on counting its sales numbers when they release support for its ‘Oculus Link’ tether feature, which will allow Quest users to play Rift content by simply plugging into capable computers via USB cable, there’s bound to be more Quest-driven sales, both hardware and software, because of it.
Stormland by Insomniac Games and Asgard’s Wrath by Sanzaru Games are probably the two biggest Oculus Rift exclusives players have been waiting for this year. Now the wait is almost over as both titles made an appearance during Oculus Connect 6 (OC6) with new trailers and actual launch dates.
The first to arrive will be action fantasy adventure Asgard’s Wrath with a 10th October release date – two weeks away. Set to feature over 40 hours of gameplay, the story is based on Norse mythology with players in the role of a fledgeling god who is set several challenges by Loki. To prove their worthiness have to help preordained Heroes of the Realms fulfil their destinies. This means players get to fight not only as a mere mortal but also as a god, using their powers to gain the edge in battle. There are different character classes to choose from, Mage, Rogue and Warrior for example, with a core part of the gameplay focused on melee combat, offering finely-tuning physics to provide as real an experience as possible.
With the launch fairly imminent Asgard’s Wrath can be pre-ordered today via the Oculus Store for $39.99 USD. Pre-order and you’ll receive an exclusive sword and shield inspired by the Valkyrie warriors that control the battle arenas.
For those who prefer a more sci-fi themed experience then there’s Stormland. Confirmed to be launching 14th November, this is another big action-adventure just this time you’re a peaceful android gardener. An event thrusts you into a new role of a heroic fighter, who must traverse the lush planet finding spare parts whilst rescuing friends. Stormland also offers a multiplayer co-op experience where another player can drop in and out of the campaign or where both players can team up in treasure hunt mode.
Stormland is also available for preorder now, retailing for $39.99 on Oculus Store. Anyone who pre-orders will receive an exclusive Oculus Home statue to display in their digital home.
Check out the new trailers for both videogames below, showcasing all-new gameplay footage. VRFocus will continue its coverage of both titles, reporting back with further announcements and updates.
Speaking during the keynote at Facebook’s Oculus Connect 6 (OC6) earlier today, Oculus Hardware Product Manager Stephanie Lue said that “Oculus Go has been an entry point for many people who then upgraded to Quest.”
As a result, after many requests from users, today Oculus announced that 50+ popular Oculus Go apps will be made compatible and available to use on the Oculus Quest platform.
Unfortunately, they didn’t provide any specific details on which Oculus Go apps will be made available, so keep an eye out for more details on those at a later date.
Additionally, in the same segment of the keynote, Lue announced that users who own paid Oculus Go apps with Oculus Quest equivalents will be eligible for free upgrades. From now until the end of the year, if you own a paid app on the Go ecosystem that already exists on the Quest, you are eligible for a free upgrade from the Go version to the Quest version of the same app.
However, unlike a cross-buy system, the offer will not last forever. You only have until the end of the year to take advantage of the upgrade system, so make sure you grab the free Quest upgrade for any eligible Go apps that you own as soon as you can.
Plumping for the first two locations, Respawn Entertainment has gone straight in for full immersion, no messing whatsoever. No auto reloads mean expelling the empty clip, pulling another from your belt and cocking the weapon. Grenades are attached to your chest and pins can be pulled by hand (or with your teeth), and if your health is low syringes on your left wrist need to be plunged into your chest with your right hand. All very hands-on aiding that feeling you’re in a warzone.
