Facebook Connect Announcements: Oculus Quest 2, Project Aria and more

Facebook has made a couple of announcements during their Facebook Connect event (formerly known as Oculus Connect) including the new Oculus Quest 2, Project Aria and much more.

Oculus Quest 2

Oculus has announced the successor to its all-in-one VR headset with the new Quest 2.

The Quest 2 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 platform which includes higher AI capabilities along with 6GB of RAM.

The headset features a new display that is 1832 x 1920 pixels per eye, which is 50% more than the original Quest. The display in the new headset is capable of a 90Hz refresh rate.

The Quest 2 is 10% lighter than the original and has a soft-touch fabric finish. The headset also features a built-in IPD (interpupillary distance) adjustment with three settings for visual comfort.

The Touch controllers have been improved for better ergonomic and are inspired by the original Touch controllers. The battery life of the new Touch controllers is four times longer.

In terms of titles, the Quest 2 is can play all of the current Quest games as well as upcoming titles like Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge, Myst, Jurassic World Aftermath, Warhammer 40,000 Battle Sister, Pistol Whip: 2089, The Climb 2 and Rez Infinite.

Just like the original Quest, the Quest 2 supports Oculus Link, so you can play PC-based VR titles. In other news, Oculus Link will be exiting beta later this year.

There will also be a number of accessories available for the Quest 2 including the Elite Strap (with optional battery) and carrying case.

The Elite Strap is designed for improved comfort and retails for $79 CAD. The Elite Strap with Battery adds a built-in battery back to extend your playtime and retails for $209 CAD with the Carrying Case.

The Quest 2 Carrying Case on its own will go for $79 CAD. There’s also a Fit Pack for Quest 2 costs $59 CAD and that adds a pair of light blockers and two interchangeable facial interfaces for wider or narrower face shapes.

The Oculus Quest 2 is launching on October 13th and comes in 64GB and 256GB capacities. The 64GB model is $459 CAD while the 256GB model is $629 CAD.

For comparison, the original Quest was $549 CAD for the 64GB model and $699 CAD for the 128GB version.

Pre-orders are available today from Oculus’ website.

As Facebook and Oculus shifts focus the Quest 2, sales for the Rift S will be ending in 2021.

Titles coming to Oculus

Oculus also announced a few titles coming to Oculus.

Ubisoft will be bringing two new VR titles based in the Assassin’s Creed and Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell universes.

The games are being developed from the ground up by Ubisoft’s Red Storm in collaboration with Ubisoft Reflections, Ubisoft Dusseldorf, and Ubisoft Mumbai.

Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge

The previously announced, Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge from ILMxLAB has shown off the teaser trailer for their title.

Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge is coming this holiday season for the Quest platform.

Jurassic World Aftermath

Jurassic World Aftermath is another title coming soon to the Quest platform.

According to Universal Games,

Set two years after the fall of Jurassic World, the suspenseful Jurassic World Aftermath sends you back to Isla Nublar in search of confidential research materials lost in the evacuation. The problem? A crash landing has left you stranded in the rundown ruins of a now-abandoned research facility—and deadly Velociraptors stalk your every move. You’ll have to rely on your wits (and a bit of luck) to escape the island alive in this tense.

Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond

POPULATION: ONE

Beat Saber Multiplayer mode

Multiplayer comes to Beat Saber on October 13th for Quest and Rift platforms.

Myst

The Climb 2

Pistol Whip 2089

You can read more about all the titles coming to the Quest platform on the Oculus blog.

Project Aria

Project Aria is Facebook’s first wearable AR device. It’s basically a pair of glasses that “add a 3D layer of useful, contextually-relevant and meaningful information on top of the physical world.”

According to Facebook, “As a research device, the glasses will use sensors to capture video and audio from the wearer’s point of view, as well as eye movement and location data to help our engineers and programmers figure out how AR can work in practice. The glasses will encrypt, compress, and store data until it’s uploaded to our separate, designated back-end storage systems.”

As of right now, Project Aria is a research device that will help Facebook Reality Labs understand how to build the hardware and software necessary for AR glasses.

Facebook & EssilorLuxottica Smart Glasses

In addition to Project Aria, Facebook announced a partnership with EssilorLuxottica (the parent company of Ray-Ban, Oakley, Sunglass Hut, LensCrafters) to develop a pair of smart glasses.

“We’re passionate about exploring devices that can give people better ways to connect with those closest to them. Wearables have the potential to do that. With EssilorLuxottica we have an equally ambitious partner who’ll lend their expertise and world-class brand catalogue to the first truly fashionable smart glasses,” said Andrew Bosworth, Vice President of Facebook Reality Labs.

The partnership between the two companies will see Facebook bring their apps and technologies and Luxottica’s brands and Essilor’s advanced lens technology “to help people stay better connected to their friends and family.”

The first product under the partnership will be under the Ray-Ban name and scheduled to launch in 2021. The product name, specs, software capabilities, pricing, and other details will be shared closer to launch.

Source: Facebook