Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg spoke about the idea of a ‘Quest Pro’ headset back in May, saying that it could include sensors for both face and eye tracking. The v32 firmware release for Oculus Quest last month ostensibly confirms that the company is moving forward with the device, as it contains hidden reference to an “Oculus Quest Pro” headset along with text mentioning both eye and face-tracking.
Reddit user ‘Reggy04’ did some deep-dive sleuthing and has posted a number of strings found within the Quest v32 firmware which not only includes Quest Pro by name, but also notes a few features that would mean a dramatic increase in the number of sensors embedded within the alleged headset.
Sensors are said to improve hand tracking, something that feels a bit like a hit and miss on current-day Quests.
“QUEST PRO ESTIMATES YOUR HAND SIZE AND HOW THEY MOVE SO YOU USE YOUR HANDS INSTEAD OF CONTROLLERS IN VR.\””
Eye-tracking sensors, which can be used for a number of tasks like foveated rendering and smarter UI navigation, are also supposedly onboard. This string of text below refers to an eye-tracking setup which, like many such calibration tests, requires you to look and hold your gaze on virtual objects so the system can correctly model your unique eye movement.
“\”FOLLOW THE TARGET WITH YOUR GAZE\””
“\”EYE CALIBRATION FAILED\””
“\”EYE MOVEMENT ESTIMATION COMPLETE\””
Mentions of facial tracking, which is important to social VR interactions, are also found in the v32 firmware. It seems a calibration test is needed here too to get a good bead on how you smile, frown, bare your teeth in anger, and act surprised.
“COPY THE DIFFERENT EXPRESSIONS\””
“\”SMILE NATURALLY UNTIL THE CALIBRATION IS COMPLETE. YOU MAY NEED TO HOLD THIS POSE FOR A FEW SECONDS.\””
“\”SHOW AN ANGRY EXPRESSION UNTIL THE CALIBRATION IS COMPLETE. YOU MAY NEED TO HOLD THIS POSE FOR A FEW SECONDS.\””
“\”FROWN NATURALLY UNTIL THE CALIBRATION IS COMPLETE. YOU MAY NEED TO HOLD THIS POSE FOR A FEW SECONDS.\””
“\”SHOW A SURPRISED EXPRESSION UNTIL THE CALIBRATION IS COMPLETE. YOU MAY NEED TO HOLD THIS POSE FOR A FEW SECONDS.\””
“\”FAILED TO CALIBRATE THE EXPRESSION. RETRYING…\””
“\”FACE MOVEMENT ESTIMATION COMPLETE\””
Further in the firmware, Reggy04 also find mention of sliding lenses, which could denote that Quest Pro will include some form of interpupillary distance (IPD) hardware adjustment that, much like the original Oculus Rift, will require you to move the lenses to get a clear picture.
“\”SLIDE THE LENSES CLOSER TOGETHER OR FURTHER APART TO IMPROVE VISUAL CLARITY.\””
There’s mention of depth adjustment too, which sounds similar to how it’s done in Rift S. Reggy04 notes that the string below was specifically added in v32, so it’s possible it’s also referring to Oculus Quest Pro too.
“\”PRESS AND HOLD THE DEPTH BUTTON AND MOVE THE HEADSET CLOSER OR FURTHER AWAY FROM YOUR FACE. THE LENSES SHOULD BE CLOSE TO YOUR EYES, BUT NOT CAUSE DISCOMFORT.\””
“\”ADJUST LENS DEPTH\””
“\”TURN THE WHEEL LEFT OR RIGHT TO ADJUST TIGHTNESS. THE FRONT PADDING SHOULD FIT DIRECTLY OVER YOUR FOREHEAD.\””
An all-digital version of Facebook Connect, the company’s AR/VR developer conference, is coming October 28th. We’re hoping to learn more then since Connect has been a historic venue for insights into the company’s research.
Facebook today announced that its XR conference, Facebook Connect (previously called Oculus Connect) will be held on October 28th. This is the second year running that the event has been in an online format due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Facebook Connect is the company’s annual conference for AR and VR developers. It’s also often used as a platform for the company to make major announcements relating to its XR initiatives.
While prior versions of the event have been an on-site multi-day affair, for the second year running the event will be hosted online. The company announced today that Facebook Connect will happen on October 28th, likely comprised of pre-recorded video segments.
Beyond the date and confirmation that this year’s event will once again happen online, there’s no information yet about the event’s program, with the official website asking visitors to “check back for registration and event updates.”
By my recollection, October 28th is the latest in the year that the event has ever been held. In 2020 it happened on October 13th and in 2019 it kicked off on September 25th.
Considering that the event is being hosted online, Facebook doesn’t have to contend with venue schedules, which likely means the company carefully picked late October to align with its strategic objectives. The holiday shopping period has been huge for Quest and Quest 2 in years past; a late October event seems poised to generate excitement on the run up to the holidays.
Last year Facebook announced Quest 2 at Facebook Connect. It was somewhat surprising considering that the company had just shipped the original Quest the year before, and it was unclear whether they would follow up so quickly with a successor (especially during the pandemic chaos).
If anything, Facebook’s greatest interest in upgrades to Quest 2 right now is likely focused on upgrading its cameras to support the headset’s experimental AR capabilities.
Facebook will host the 2021 edition of its “Connect” developer conference on October 28.
The event will occur virtually with more updates, like registration details, to come soon. The date was posted to the FacebookConnect.com website.
Facebook typically holds its F8 developer conference early in the year for updates on tools for its existing social networking service while the “Connect” conference has been held late in the year for deep-dive updates related to the company’s ambitions in VR and AR. The conference, originally called Oculus Connect, was first held in 2014 after Facebook acquired the Oculus startup. Last year it was rebranded to “Facebook Connect”.
In previous years Connect has served as a platform for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to lay out his vision for VR and AR technology — he personally announced the unmatchable price of Oculus Quest at one of the events — while Facebook’s research experts often lay out the long-term path to technologies like codec avatars, varifocal optics, and haptic hands. Meanwhile, product leads at Facebook often host sessions to explain the tools the company plans to offer developers in the coming year.
Facebook is firing on all cylinders with Quest 2 selling soon at $299 with upgraded storage capacity and ambitions toward a “Quest Pro” device that’s likely to put more sensors inside a VR headset. The company is working on making VR headsets and eventually AR glasses a generalized personal computing platform. So Facebook Connect on October 28, 2021 will offer the world a glimpse at the company’s next steps.
Jurassic World Aftermath gets you up close and personal with some terrifying dinosaurs, but just how good is this Quest-exclusive stealth game? Here’s our full Jurassic World Aftermath review.
Revealed earlier this year at Facebook Connect, Jurassic World Aftermath is a Quest-exclusive stealth game that ties in with the most recent Jurassic Park films, Jurassic World and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. The game is set on Isle Nublar two years after the events of Fallen Kingdom and so, spoiler warning for the film, the destruction of the island and research facilities means that dinosaurs have overrun the island.
Jurrasic World Aftermath Review – The Facts
What is it?: A single-player stealth game. Platforms: Oculus Quest (exclusive) Release Date: December 18th, 2020 (Part 2 coming 2021 as paid DLC) Price: $24.99
After a quick introduction that sees your plane crash land on the island, you’ll soon need to find a way to escape or make contact with the mainland. While you explore the facility, you’ll be guided by Jurassic World engineer Mia, who speaks to you over radio and provides some semblance of a story.
At various points, Mia will play you audio logs that go over her time at the park before it was overrun, including interactions with some prominent characters from the Jurassic Park franchise. Yes, both Jeff Goldblum and B. D. Wong reprise their roles from the films, but only in very brief audio form in the aforementioned recordings.
Don’t get too excited — not even Jeff Goldblum’s sweet dulcet tones can elevate an otherwise unremarkable story. But let’s be honest — you’re not here for the story, you’re here for the dinosaurs. When considered in context, it doesn’t really matter that the story is decidedly average — it’s mostly unobtrusive and you’ll forget about it completely during the tense stealth sequences.
Gameplay
Speaking of stealth sequences, this game truly takes the genre and strips it down to its most basic form. For most of the game, you’re simply avoiding dinosaurs or distracting them to reach another area. There’s no way to harm the dinosaurs, only scare or distract them, so the game basically boils down to sneaking across rooms from one point to another.
It’s a thrilling premise and a perfect fit for the Jurassic Park franchise. However, if it sounds a little repetitive, well… it is. There are some puzzle activities as well — think Half-Life: Alyx’s puzzle minigames, but much simpler — but much of the game uses the same basic structure over and over again, only getting slightly harder or more complicated.
Each mechanic is introduced at a steady pace so that you can get familiar with them before they’re mixed together. But even when the puzzles are combined with dinosaur evasion, it never feels like a proper evolution of the gameplay — it’s just more of the same stuff, but now happening at the same time or with less leeway for error.
There are a couple of dinosaurs you’ll encounter throughout the game, but really only two types that you go up against as ‘enemies’. However, there’s no denying that the velociraptor is the star of the show here. Everything about them is fantastic — they look terrifying, their animations are excellent and their screeches will give you goosebumps.
To sneak past them undetected, you can hide behind environmental objects and use other specifically-designed hiding spots such as desk cavities or storage lockers. The velociraptors won’t be able to see you while you’re in these spots, even if you’re technically within their line of sight. The game makes excellent use of visual cues in this regard — when hiding under a desk, for example, the game world will turn a slight shade of blue to mark you as hidden. Similarly, when caught by a velociraptor, everything will turn a heavy shade of red to alert you that you’re in danger.
If you’re caught by a velociraptor with no escape, it will run at you full speed and leap into your face, freezing the frame milliseconds before it reaches you, its mouth wide open. It’s an appropriately scary game over screen that sent chills down my body each time.
The game does give you a few more tools to ‘manage’ the dinosaurs in stealth sequences. You unlock a device that can turn on environmental objects as distractions, drawing the dinosaurs towards them and giving you an easier path through a room. By the time you reach the end of the campaign (or part one of the campaign — more on that later), you’ll be mixing stealth, puzzles and distractions in what can be some truly terrifyingly tense moments.
There’s a good balance between the gameplay being challenging, scary and thrilling at the same time. However, the main problem is that by the time you start to feel like you’ve mastered all the mechanics, the game is over. A lot of the velociraptor sequences feel very repetitive as well, using the same gameplay loop in a new, but similar setting. There’s one completely different section in the middle, featuring a new environment and a different type of dinosaur enemy (which I won’t spoil), but I found it a little tedious, much less challenging and not enough to make the rest of the game feel less repetitive.
Jurassic Park Aftermath Review – Comfort
In terms of controls and comfort, the game is smooth locomotion only — there’s no option for teleport movement, but there are several adjustable comfort options, including vignettes, for those that are sensitive to motion sickness.
Visuals and Sounds
Watching the reveal trailer for Aftermath back in September, I was a bit unconvinced by the cell-shaded visuals. Obviously there’s significant benefit to using such a style on Quest over something more photo realistic — it’s probably more likely to run within the Quest’s hardware limitations and it’s much easier to develop than a full photo realistic Jurassic World game.
Thankfully, despite my concerns, the visuals of Jurassic World Aftermath look absolutely spectacular in VR. Despite not being photo realistic, there’s something about the comic book-inspired look that almost helps immersion — instead of being hung up on how everything looks compared to reality, you’re immediately immersed in a terrifying comic book world littered with dinosaurs.
The environments and levels are hit and miss in terms of aesthetics — some of them are fantastic and unique, while others look incredibly similar to each other and are quite forgettable.
The soundtrack is also noticeably lush, featuring an orchestral arrangement reminiscent of the iconic soundtrack to the original Jurassic Park films. It’s a refreshing change to the electronic-leaning music so often found in VR, and really helps the game feel like part of the movie franchise.
Length and Episodic Campaign
We’ve talked about some of the issues surrounding Aftermath’s release elsewhere already, but I’ll touch on it in context of the game. Jurassic Park Aftermath will be released in two parts — the first is available now, is around 3 hours in length and is what I’m reviewing right now. However, the game somewhat abruptly ends on a cliffhanger, revealing that “the story will continue in 2021”. The messaging before and during the release wasn’t very clear about this point, but the conclusion to the Aftermath story will come next year as paid DLC.
As Jamie said in his editorial, there’s nothing wrong with an episodic release. That being said, the game was not marketed as such in the same way that titles like Vader Immortal were. Even worse, in this case the episodic split feels like it harms Aftermath more than it helps it.
We can’t know what went on behind the scenes during development, but it does feel like this game was originally meant to release as one whole portion, not two. That’s speculation on our part, but even if that wasn’t the original plan, the game feels oddly paced and weirdly structured thanks to the episodic cut-off.
You’ll really only be fighting two types of dinosaurs in this 3 hour portion of the story. Aftermath would have benefited by releasing as one whole, complete story, with several levels that each focus on a new challenge or new type of dinosaur. Instead, the gameplay focuses predominantly on evading velociraptors over and over again, with a very brief interlude featuring a different dinosaur in the middle.
Regardless of whether an episodic release was always the plan, this first installment feels rushed, repetitive and oddly-paced, featuring a unresolved narrative that abruptly ends on a cliffhanger.
Jurassic World Aftermath Review: Final Verdict
There’s a lot to love in Jurassic World Aftermath. It’s visually stunning and properly thrilling to be sneaking around velociraptors and other dinosaurs. While the story is nothing to write home about, it serves its purpose as a vague excuse to carry out activities around the facility, and the stealth mechanics are basic but still entertaining. The main problem that stops Aftermath from being a real show stopper and one of the best stealth games on the Quest is its repetition. The game plays out with little variation, using many of the same mechanics and situations over and over again. The difficulty does increase, but it errs the line of just becoming more frustrating as opposed to more challenging.
While 3 hours is pretty short for a (half-finished) campaign, it almost feels like the game could have benefited from packing more action and variety into the same amount of time. The game isn’t too long, it’s just too much of the same thing. Had the game released with a finished (and slightly tighter) story, spread across 3 or 4 hours and with more than just two type of dinosaur enemies, I think I would have come away much more satisfied.
For fans of the stealth genre or the Jurassic Park franchise, it’s still definitely worth picking up — don’t get me wrong, the key gameplay loop of avoiding the velociraptors is very fun. However, it feels a bit half-baked. Ultimately, in its half-finished state, Aftermath has some satisfying stealth moments but as a full game it feels pretty vapid and repeats it’s main tricks just a few too many times.
The BTS music pack for Beat Saber is available from today for all platforms.
This latest set of DLC for the ever-popular rhythm game was initially announced back at Facebook Connect in September. The news came alongside a release date for the much anticipated multiplayer update, which then launched on October 13. All of the songs in the BTS music pack will be compatible with multiplayer too.
The pack features 12 of the band’s songs, making it the biggest Beat Saber music pack so far. The tracklist is as follows:
Blood Sweat & Tears
Boy With Luv (Feat. Halsey)
Burning Up (FIRE)
Dionysus
DNA
DOPE
Dynamite
FAKE LOVE
IDOL
MIC Drop (Steve Aoki Remix)
Not Today
UGH!
The BTS pack will also feature ‘TinyTan characters’, which are little animated characters representing each of the members of the band. As players run through the music pack, they will encounter the TinyTan character, which Oculus says will “bring comfort and inspire appreciation of the little things in life.”
In 2019, Facebook acquired developer Beat Games, and the rate of release (and prestige) of the DLC music packs has increased quite significantly ever since. The BTS music pack is one just many recent high-profile releases, including the Panic! At The Disco pack, the Green Day pack, the Imagine Dragons pack, the Linkin Park pack, the Timbaland pack.
If you’re new to Beat Saber and want to know which music packs are the best, we’ve ranked our the top five best ones here. While we haven’t had a chance to try the BTS pack yet, the list will give you a good idea of the best packs released so far.
The BTS Beat Saber music pack is available from today across all platforms.
John Carmack made some comments on Twitter indicating new features are on the way for Oculus Browser in the new year, and that Facebook is “serious about making it a viable work platform.”
The comments came in response to a Twitter user who was running Wolfenstein 3D on Oculus Browser (by using a DOS emulator) on a Quest, which Carmack replied to. Here’s what he had to say (emphasis is our own):
“If the Oculus Browser dies under your torture, @jacobrossi is the PM to fix it. There are a lot of good things coming to the browser next year — we are serious about making it a viable work platform.“
We already know that Infinite Office is coming to the Quest 2 as an extension to Oculus Browser, offering an adjustable passthrough and Logitech wireless keyboard integration. This no doubt will significantly improve the Quest’s remote work capabilities, however that was already scheduled for a release this winter.
Given Carmack’s point about features specifically coming next year, it could be that Infinite Office has been delayed slightly and pushed back to 2021. Alternatively, Carmack may be referring to even more unannounced features that are in development.
Earlier in the year at Facebook Connect, Carmack noted in his unscripted annual keynote that he was ‘embarrassed‘ about Facebook’s social VR offering on Quest over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Following on from these comments and his new ones about new features coming to Oculus Browser, it seems Carmack is keen to expand the Quest’s native social and remote work features over the next year.
John Carmack made some comments on Twitter indicating new features are on the way for Oculus Browser in the new year, and that Facebook is “serious about making it a viable work platform.”
The comments came in response to a Twitter user who was running Wolfenstein 3D on Oculus Browser (by using a DOS emulator) on a Quest, which Carmack replied to. Here’s what he had to say (emphasis is our own):
“If the Oculus Browser dies under your torture, @jacobrossi is the PM to fix it. There are a lot of good things coming to the browser next year — we are serious about making it a viable work platform.“
We already know that Infinite Office is coming to the Quest 2 as an extension to Oculus Browser, offering an adjustable passthrough and Logitech wireless keyboard integration. This no doubt will significantly improve the Quest’s remote work capabilities, however that was already scheduled for a release this winter.
Given Carmack’s point about features specifically coming next year, it could be that Infinite Office has been delayed slightly and pushed back to 2021. Alternatively, Carmack may be referring to even more unannounced features that are in development.
Earlier in the year at Facebook Connect, Carmack noted in his unscripted annual keynote that he was ‘embarrassed‘ about Facebook’s social VR offering on Quest over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Following on from these comments and his new ones about new features coming to Oculus Browser, it seems Carmack is keen to expand the Quest’s native social and remote work features over the next year.
John Carmack made some comments on Twitter indicating new features are on the way for Oculus Browser in the new year, and that Facebook is “serious about making it a viable work platform.”
The comments came in response to a Twitter user who was running Wolfenstein 3D on Oculus Browser (by using a DOS emulator) on a Quest, which Carmack replied to. Here’s what he had to say (emphasis is our own):
“If the Oculus Browser dies under your torture, @jacobrossi is the PM to fix it. There are a lot of good things coming to the browser next year — we are serious about making it a viable work platform.“
We already know that Infinite Office is coming to the Quest 2 as an extension to Oculus Browser, offering an adjustable passthrough and Logitech wireless keyboard integration. This no doubt will significantly improve the Quest’s remote work capabilities, however that was already scheduled for a release this winter.
Given Carmack’s point about features specifically coming next year, it could be that Infinite Office has been delayed slightly and pushed back to 2021. Alternatively, Carmack may be referring to even more unannounced features that are in development.
Earlier in the year at Facebook Connect, Carmack noted in his unscripted annual keynote that he was ‘embarrassed‘ about Facebook’s social VR offering on Quest over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Following on from these comments and his new ones about new features coming to Oculus Browser, it seems Carmack is keen to expand the Quest’s native social and remote work features over the next year.
The multiplayer update for Beat Saber is finally available for PC VR and Oculus Quest players! Sadly, PSVR players will have to wait a bit longer, as the update has been delayed on that platform.
It’s been years in the making, but now up to five Beat Saber players will be able to compete in tracks together thanks to multiplayer support. Multiplayer functionality was promised by Beat Games many years ago, but we had heard nothing new until last month.
As part of Facebook Connect, Beat Games announced that multiplayer support would release on October 13, to coincide with the launch of Facebook’s new standalone headset, Oculus Quest 2.
Unfortunately, the PS4 version will be delayed, but we’re working hard on it! Please bear with us as we will be sharing more updates from the development regularly. Thank you for your understanding guys!
Multiplayer functionality was not the only Beat Saber announcement at Facebook Connect — a BTS music pack was also announced, which will release later this year. The South Korean boy band is the latest in a bunch of Beat Saber DLC releases, including Linkin Park, Green Day and Imagine Dragons packs. There’s been so many lately that we’ve even ranked the best ones!
The Beat Saber Multiplayer update is available now for PC VR and Oculus Quest, to coincide with the launch of the Oculus Quest 2. You can read our review of the new headset here.
Zuckerberg reiterated that five months ago, there were 10 developers who had made more than $2 million in revenue from Quest content alone. As of last week, there are now 35 developers who have made over $1 million in revenue from Quest content alone.
Back in March, 20 titles had passed the $1 million mark in revenue on Quest — this means that in 6 months, 15 more developers reached that milestone. That being said, given the wording of ‘developers’ vs ‘titles’, there could be some overlap — some developers with multiple Quest titles may have passed $1 million in revenue on Quest across more than just one game.
We also know that some apps are doing even better than shown these figures — Virtual Desktop has generated more than $3 million in revenue on Quest alone so far. Overall, it seems that the Quest platform is still growing and continues to be a viable avenue for many VR developers.
According to Zuckerberg, users have spent a total of over $150 million on Quest content. “This ecosystem is growing,” said Zuckerberg. “And now with Quest 2 priced at just $299, a lot more people are going to be able to experience VR soon. This is becoming a self-sustaining ecosystem now and a lot of the success comes down to developers building great experiences.”
