April saw its biggest update ever for the Quest 2, since its first launch back in October. Update v28 brought with it 120Hz mode for those wishing to test out the experimental feature in some 120Hz supported Quest titles, albeit unofficially. Oculus Air Link was the bigger headliner though from the update, with many scrabbling on not only forcing the update to get it, only to find out it wasn’t yet available, but unofficial apps were being created to unlock the feature before Oculus was able to roll out the update more officially – it turns out waiting for a 100% rollout wasn’t good enough for Questers out there!
In other news on the Quest…
Ubisoft added VR Support in its in-house snowdrop engine. Just in time for VR adaptations of Assassin’s Creed and Splinter Cell, although I am sure they both were already underway either in the engine or using another VR-supported engine that the franchise was previously built on – at least for Assassin’s Creed’s case.
Quest and PCVR grow some more, with reports of 1-in-4 VR headsets being used on Steam were Oculus Quest 2 headsets. This I am sure will be even more solidified with the release of Oculus Air Link, as people test out and compare it to Virtual Desktop.
On April 21st Oculus brought its first Oculus Gaming Showcase stream event. The anticipation was super high, yet it ended up with a 25-minute trailer romp of Quest titles we already knew about or updates to titles that were either just out the gates or needed updates to really improve on their offerings. Resident Evil 4 VR remake was showcased with a little more info than its earlier reveal at a Capcom event a week prior. Multiplayer co-op zombie shooter, After The Fall, will be coming to Quest standalone! The Climb 2 gets a competitive update. Lone Echo II was confirmed as PCVR the only title, and 1080 snowboarding team was to return to VR with their new snowboarding titles Carve. Other than that, it was pretty lackluster and fingers crossed the next one will be more exciting than the first. You can read more of my impressions from the event here.
The idea/rumour of an upcoming Quest Pro or Quest 3 was soon shrugged off by Boz and Carmack in a recent interview. Yet Carmack hinted at a Controller Free SKY for a future Oculus Headset. Oculus does have a lot of things in development, but it feels like Quest 2 is here for at least a year or two-year cycle before we hear about anything else. With that said though, I am sure we might hear something after HTC VIVE has their say next month and F8 comes around once again for some possible new hardware/update announcements.
SideQuest released its Android App this past week, meaning people without a PC can sideload content to their Quest/Quest 2 via the SideQuest Android App. With App Lab making it even easier for developers to release early and experimental content on the Quest (albeit with Oculus’s permission), SideQuest will have to think out of the box to make itself shout a little louder than the more official way of getting early release apps on the Quest, and this app is certainly a positive step forward I think.
And finally, Oculus rolled out its Avatar update on the Quest. Users can now jump in and customise their new avatars using the new visual style that users of Facebook Horizon have been accustomed to over the last few months. The customisation options too a bit of a hit from users, but I thought they were a lot more varied than I was expecting from all this feedback. I would have liked to have customised the outfits individually than just have a set outfit to choose from. I am sure we will see this get deeper over the coming months, as well as more games tap into this avatar system too.
In April I got my hands on some new accessories for Quest. I looked at some must-have accessories if you use Earbuds with your Quest. If you have yet to jump into VR Cover facial interfaces because of glasses, now might be a good time to watch this video on VR Cover’s new glasses spacer. And finally, we looked at two new replacement sets from VR Cover, one standalone foam and the other was a set of Gel covers. You can check out these and more of my reviews for Quest on the OQPlay OQPlay YouTube channel.
A little more mention of our YouTube Channel. We managed to reach over 1615 subscribers at the end of the month. I continue to appreciate all the great questions and comments that you have sent in on the Channel. In I hope to continue to bring fresh new accessories and gameplay content to the channel. If you’ve not yet subscribed, please do, as it will really help the Channel grow stronger and give me the opportunity to bring you more unique VR content.
Quest Game Releases in April
April saw a handful of decent titles release onto the Quest. From hand-tracking app Hand Physics Lab, which got a recently improved hand-tracking update. Swarm gave a nostalgic-shooter-spin to a new VR game for Quest, whilst Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife arrived to scare the pants off us all as a new horror title for the Quest.
Top 20 Top-Selling
So let’s look at this week’s top 20 chart positions on the Oculus Quest Store.
- Beat Saber (1)
- Onward (3)
- SUPERHOT VR (4)
- The Trill of the Fight (10)
- Virtual Desktop (2)
- The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners (6)
- Hand Physics Lab (New Entry)
- Job Simulator (7)
- GORN (8)
- POPULATION: ONE (5)
- Real VR Fishing (Re-Entry)
- Vader Immortal: Episode I (9)
- The Climb 2 (11)
- Toppgolf with Pro Putt (Re-Entry)
- Eleven Table Tennis (12)
- Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife (New Entry)
- The Room VR: A Dark Matter (Re-Entry)
- Richie’s Plank Experience (13)
- Creed: Rise to Glory (19)
- Contractors (Re-Entry)
The number in the (bracket) is the game’s position in the previous month.
Tune in at the end of next month as we look at the movers and shakers of the Oculus Store Top-Selling.
