Although there was some news this month for the Quest, it also felt like that quiet period before all the Facebook Connect announcements that will release in October, where there will be a bigger stage to announce new games and hopefully hardware – if recent rumours are true.
The big news in September has come from a few leaks of a new portable headset, or Quest Pro, or Quest Plus headset. There has been a number of images leaked of a new controller that has done away with the original sensor ring and replaced IR tracking with embedded cameras in the controller. This will surely make replacing broken controllers an expensive process, but if that aids better tracking, I’m all for it.
Leakers didn’t stop there either, with people digging into recent firmware updates to find mentions of face and eye-tracking setup tutorials, extra sensors on the headset, with one camera on the headset allowing 4K 120FPS colour camera for colour passthrough and much improved mixed reality applications. The display is apparently meant to carry an improved Dual-Cell LCD display offering deeper blacks that will match OLED black quality levels. And there will be a new colourful and 3D animated startup Oculus logo when it boots up that will no longer showcase all the god rays that were in the original white startup logo.
Overall, all these additional features sound more like a whole new Quest to me, rather than a side-step upgraded Quest 2 Pro or Quest 2+. These are hardware features that developers will be able to utilise in their games, and along with the improved power inside, these will no doubt be used in future exclusive titles. Maybe ‘Pro’ is Oculus’ iPhone S like approach to acceptably releasing a new headset in October (or this year/early next year). But without bigger manufacturing leaks, other than this single controller leak, it sounds like this new headset is unlikely to release any time soon. But then again, why include it in the software already if it wasn’t soon to be widely available. One thing is for sure, next month is going to be hugely interesting, or a massive disappointment for fans eagerly awaiting a new VR headset. Facebook has to let people who may be considering the new PlayStation VR 2 or the rumoured Valve ‘Decard’ standalone headset that they have something on the horizon too.
As for tangible news/updates in September. We saw the release of firmware update v33 midway through the month. V33 update brought us updated features and improvements in clearing your Guardian history; Safe Browsing when visiting harmful sites; sharper visual improvements with Link and Air Link; improved sleep management for your Oculus controllers to make its already magical battery life even better! Multitasking improvements have also been made, along with app-level notifications preferences and an update for the system keyboard that allows auto-correct and next-word prediction, to make typing that little bit better.
Other VR Highlights:
- Last month’s pause in sales shrinks Quest 2’s lead on SteamVR
- Play classic end of pier arcade games on Quest
- ProTubeVR brings haptic module for their rifled gunstock
- Cross-platform play with Steam users comes to Beat Saber
- Netflix tie-in game Eden Unearthed appears on App Lab
- Zero Caliber gets a major quality update
- Ultrawings 2 gets officially announced for Quest & PC VR
- Video downloads and 120Hz flat game streaming comes to new Virtual Desktop update
- Resident Evil 4 VR gets a release date!
- Medal of Honor IS coming to Quest 2 – but be worried if you have a 64GB headset!
YouTube Channel
In September, I got my hands on some new accessories for Quest 2. The first was covering a new fan accessory from BOBOVR that helps to reduce heat and moisture from building up inside the headset. BestorX also returned with a newly updated halo head strap this month which greatly improved on its previous version with many new and improved features. And finally, we had two accessories from KIWI design. The first was a new compact, small footprint headset and controller VR stand, and probably one of the best Elite strap-style head straps for the Quest 2 with their hinged and very well padded head strap. I am currently looking into creating better clip-on 3D parts for the great BestorX headphones.
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 2,296 subscribers at the end of this month. I continue to appreciate all the great questions and comments that you have sent in on the Channel. 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 & Updates in September
September felt more about BIG updates than hot new releases. We saw Puzzling Places leap from App Lab to the official Oculus Store. Brink Traveler brought highly realistic photogrammetry locations of places around the world into your VR headset. And bigger titles from adventure title Ionia and roguelike shooter Sweet Surrender round up the month of new releases on the Quest.
Big updates this month came to The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners, with its updated story Aftershocks update. Space Pirate Trainer received its free 10x10m room-scale arena update. Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge had the much anticipated Last Call update, the second installment of its story campaign release this month. Puzzle title Cubism gets its Volume 2 update of extra puzzles. New tracks got added to Beat Saber from Billie Eilish. Zero Caliber received its HUGE quality update this month also, which drastically upgrades the launch version of the game. And finally, you can now control vehicles in that latest update to Rec Room, with the release of Rec Rally mode that sees you race a handful of other players in beach buggys.
Top 20 Top-Selling
So let’s look at this week’s top 20 chart positions on the Oculus Quest Store.
- Beat Saber (2)
- Job Simulator (8)
- SUPERHOT VR (5)
- Onward (7)
- The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners (11)
- Virtual Desktop (9)
- A Township Tale (3)
- Vader Immortal: Episode I (10)
- Warplanes WWI Fighters (4)
- POPULATION: ONE (13)
- The Trill of the Fight (14)
- GORN (12)
- Stride (6)
- Eleven Table Tennis (15)
- Richie’s Plank Experience (17)
- I Expect You To Die 2 (1)
- Drunkn Bar Fight (16)
- Vader Immortal: Episode III (18)
- Vader Immortal: Episode II (20)
- Creed: Rise to Glory (Re-Entry)
The number in the (bracket) is the app’s previous month’s position.
Tune in at the end of next month as we look at the movers and shakers of the Oculus Store Top-Selling.
