See the world in a whole new way
THERE’S no denying that virtual reality has yet to set the public’s imagination ablaze. It’s been years since the idea that we can trick the mind into believing it is in another world, was realised in primitive form.
That technology has been refined, and those making it truly believe that we will eventually, one day, arrive at a solution that overcomes all the barriers to mass adoption.
Maybe we saw that solution when Facebook unveiled its latest stab at VR, the Oculus Quest 2.
The second version of the social giant’s stand-alone headset is where it is laying all its bets.
Oculus’s other headset – the Rift S – will be discontinued next year. It is powerful, but needs to be connected to a computer. And while it’s not too pricey (£399), the cost of the relatively powerful PC required to run it meant the cost was eventually somewhat prohibitive.
And in a nutshell we have the two major problems VR has to tackle – the inconvenience of wearing a cumbersome headset that needs to be wired up to a computer, and the price.
These are the two issues the Quest seeks to solve. It was revealed at this year’s online versions of Facebook’s Connect developer conferences last week.
The Quest 2 is an upgrade on last year’s first stab at a VR headset that is a stand-alone device without the need for wires to tether it to a computer. It is better in almost every way than the device it replaces – it’s got a faster processor, more memory, better battery life and it’s lighter.
And the actual visuals have also improved – 1832 x 1920 pixels per eye compared to the old version’s 1440 x 1600, with a faster refresh rate.
Since the launch of the first
Quest, the ecosystem surrounding the device has improved – there are more and better games, and a ‘link’ option has been added which allows you to plug the device into a PC if you still want to play the more powerful computer-driven games and experiences.
The ‘link’ option is built in to the Quest 2 and will come out of its beta phase around the time of the device’s release, which is perhaps why Oculus feels confident in discontinuing the Rift S –The Quest 2 should offer the best of both worlds.
The list of launch software for the device is also pretty impressive.
Titles like Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge, Myst, Jurassic World Aftermath, The Climb 2, and Rez Infinite are being added to an already excellent and varied line-up.
But it’s not just about games – Oculus is also marketing the Quest 2 as a tool for business. There are already some ‘virtual office’ apps
– like Spatial, which allows you to create meetings with people from all over the world in a 3D virtual space using avatars you can create to represent yourself – but a new service called Infinite Office makes strides in bringing a new kind of workplace into the world.
It’s essentially a series of services that allows you to create a virtual office anywhere – in the VR world you can see and manipulate an infinite number of screens to complete work-related tasks.
You remain connected to the real world though passthrough video – so even while you have the VR set on, you can still see the room you are in through the headset’s outward facing cameras.
The Quest 2’s base model with a healthy 64GB of on-board storage costs £299 and can be ordered now ready for the release date on October 13. £399 boosts storage to 256GB.