

That puts a big damper on what is otherwise a great and relatively inexpensive piece of VR hardware, and despite the uproar from the community we haven't seen any indication that Facebook is going to backtrack from that requirement. Needing a Facebook account just to use an Oculus headset for gaming hasn't been received well by the VR community especially since, even if you do have a Facebook account, there still might be problems getting it to work.



There's a damn long Wikipedia page about how much Facebook sucks in this regard.) This was extremely unwelcome news at a time when Facebook is facing heavy criticism for the spread of misinformation and hate speech, continued privacy concerns, and is under scrutiny by the FTC for anticompetitive conduct. Just pop it on and you can be playing a game within seconds.īut Facebook dropped a bomb on that party back in August by requiring Oculus users to have a Facebook account to use the headset. The resolution, power, and fidelity isn't as advanced as Valve's Index or the Vive Pro, but The Quest makes up for it by being so dang easy to use, an absolute breeze when compared to the fiddly setups from other headsets. The Oculus Quest 2 was released, and we've found it to be an excellent headset-lighter, faster, and less expensive than the original Quest (which itself is still great). In terms of hardware, Oculus had a big year as well, though not all of it was good. Somewhat disappointing, however, was Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond, another highly anticipated full-length VR game that, unfortunately, didn't quite deliver for critics or fans.
#New oculus vr headset 2021 simulator
But those who got to play Alyx (even on a tethered Quest headset or a Vive) were immersed in a thrilling return to the Half-Life universe: many fans bought VR gear for the first time just to play it.Īlyx wasn't the only great VR game of last year: Phasmophobia's co-op ghost hunting game was a perfect fit for VR, The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners is a challenging survival game with lots of brains, Population: One is a solid VR battle royale, Star Wars Squadrons has VR support, and Microsoft Flight Simulator added support in December. And the Index is still pretty hard to get ahold of even today due to supply problems related to the pandemic. There was a heavy demand for Valve's expensive ( and excellent) Index VR gear, which quickly sold out both online and in stores. The run-up to the release of Half-Life: Alyx wasn't without its problems, either. And most gamers still don't own a headset. Half-Life: Alyx was a fantastic game and a triumphant return to the series, with the only downside (a rather big one) that the majority of Half-Life fans couldn't play it because it was VR-only. Let’s help carry on its memory today and forever.Probably the biggest VR event last year was the release of Half-Life: Alyx, the full-length VR game from Valve and the first Half-Life game since 2007. Oculus Rift S is survived by its father Mark Zuckerberg and newborn baby cousin Oculus Quest 2. But as Kurt Cobain once said “It’s better to burn out than to fade said, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way-in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison said, “Oculus Rift S, age 1, has passed peacefully at home in Menlo Park, CA on September 16th after complications from not being able to live off of a cord, and after a year-long battle with a wire-free cousin named Quest, who has plagued our society for no more cords. We’ll never forget how you paved the way for all of the great things to come. And getting the same flexibility in your successor at a lower price was just too much to overcome. At the end of the day, people love a bargain. The non-believers would shake their heads disbelievingly and point to your power. Much like the elephant in the room that no want wants to address, your impending doom was looming and omnipresent. Said, “As soon as the Oculus Link was announced, we knew.
