Oculus Connect 6 Announcements: Hand Tracking for Quest, Facebook Horizon & more

At Oculus’ sixth annual Connect conference, the company made a couple of announcements during their keynote.

Hand Tracking on Oculus Quest

Coming in early 2020, Oculus will be adding hand tracking to Quest. That means that the standalone headset will allow users to use their hands instead of a controller, external sensors or gloves.

The Hand Tracking capabilities for Quest will be an experimental feature for consumers and an SDK for developers at launch. The company also says this could help in the future when it comes to input for AR glasses.

Oculus Link

Oculus Link will offer a new way to use a Quest to play Rift compatible games. All you’ll need to do is connect your Quest to your gaming PC via a USB 3 cable.

The company will be offering a premium optical fiber cable to connect your Quest to your PC. The feature is set to launch in beta form in November.

Oculus Go Apps on Quest

If you’ve purchased any Oculus Go apps, you’ll get a free upgrade to a Quest version with more than 50 Go titles available.

Facebook Horizon

Facebook Horizon is a new social platform that allows you to explore new places, play games, build communities and more.

The World Builder in Horizon will let you create new experiences without any coding skills.

Facebook Horizon beta is set to launch in early 2020 but sign-ups are available now.

Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond

Respawn Entertainment and Oculus Studios have teamed up for Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond.

“From the beginning, Medal of Honor has taught gamers about the tremendous sacrifice and heroic efforts made by earlier generations to safeguard our freedom,” says Peter Hirschmann, writer of the original Medal of Honor who’s returned to direct this new addition to the franchise. “Thanks to VR, we can actually put a player in the boots of a WWII soldier with Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond—the immersion that the Rift Platform provides lets us tell that story in a really meaningful way, sharing the full impact of the sacrifices and camaraderie of our shared history. Interviewing veterans of WWII was an immense privilege and allowed us to ensure its respect and faithfulness to those who served. They’re helping us drive home the full emotional and historical weight of this subject matter with players in a way that really resonates.”

The game will feature a full narrative campaign and multiplayer modes.

Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond is set to launch for the Rift Platform in 2020.

Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series – Episode II

Episode II of ILMxLAB’s Vader Immortal VR series is now available. In Episode II, players return to Mustafar to learn the ways of the Force—including new powers and lightsaber skills—from the legendary Sith Lord himself.

Both episodes are available on Oculus Quest and Rift Platform.

Source: Oculus