Tag: Oculus

How to Play Steam VR Games Wirelessly on Oculus Quest

Posted on by C. M. Costa

Steam VR Games on Oculus Quest

Want to play Steam VR games like Skyrim, No Man’s Sky, and Fallout 4 (FO4VR) on your wireless headset? By unlocking developer mode and enabling side-loading on your Oculus Quest, you can install an application that allows you to do just that.

Air Light VR (ALVR) is a free opensource app that lets you connect your Oculus Quest to your PC wirelessly. It creates a server between an app on the Quest and a desktop application on your PC.

There are other applications which can also get the task done. VRidge: Riftcat is not free, but allows for 5 minute demos to see if it’s worth paying for. There’s also Virtual Desktop (for Oculus Quest)—I bought the Oculus Rift version a while back, but rarely had reason to use it after Oculus and Steam VR made virtual desktops a feature of their own software. I’ve tried Riftcat, but found that ALVR had better latency for me, and since it was free it was the easy choice.

A couple of caveats, you’ll need to be connected to the same WiFi network that your PC is on to play games, and it is suggested to use a 5ghz connection for best latency. You’ll also need to have installed Steam, and Steam VR on your PC, and purchase your games through the steam store. Before you can install ALVR on your Quest you will need to enable developer mode and install SideQuest. After you’ve done that, go ahead with the rest of this post for a step-by-step rundown of how to set it up.

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How to Play Beat Saber Custom Songs on Oculus Quest

Posted on by C. M. Costa

Beat Saber Custom songs with SideQuest & BMBF

One of the best things about Beat Saber is playing custom songs mapped by a community of the games biggest fans. There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of songs to choose from ranging from Easy to Expert+, and this guide will have you taking your pick from them in no time.

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Oculus Quest: Enabling Developer Mode and using SideQuest

Posted on by C. M. Costa

Setting Up Oculus Quest for Side-loading

To unlock the full potential of your Oculus Quest headset, you need to enable developer mode and side-loading. Side-loading is just transferring files between two devices—in this case, your PC and Oculus Quest. You’ll be able to add apps and games from sources other than the Oculus Store, open up streaming options, and the ability to play some PC VR games on the Oculus Quest without having to use a wire or Oculus Link.

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VR Rhythm Games

Posted on by C. M. Costa

The top VR rhythm and dance games

One of the best things about VR gaming is its ability to make you get up and move. Whether you are interested in improving your fitness or just looking for a fun challenge, rhythm games are an excellent way to get stimulated. I’ve only played a few of these, but they all have appeal to their own audiences.

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What does Facebook acquisition of Beat Games mean for Beat Saber?

Posted on by C. M. Costa

Facebook acquired Beat Games

On Tuesday November 26th, Facebook announced that they have purchased Beat Games—the indie game company behind VR mega-hit Beat Saber—for an undisclosed sum. Beat Games will become a part of Oculus Studios, but still work on development independently from their location in Prague. 

Today we’re announcing that Beat Games is joining us in our quest to bring VR to more people around the world. They will join Oculus Studios as an independently operated studio in Prague, continuing to create new ways for people to experience music and VR gaming. Most importantly, what the community has come to love about Beat Saber will remain intact. Beat Games will continue to ship content and updates for Beat Saber across all currently supported platforms, now with even more support from Facebook.

— Oculus Blog

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Oculus Link is Awesome, Available in Beta, but Currently Not For Everybody

Posted on by C. M. Costa
Oculus Link

Oculus Link is Available in Beta

Oculus Link allows you to use the Oculus Quest—an otherwise wireless, stand-alone headset—to play Oculus Rift PC games via tethering using a USB cable. 

This allows you to expand your library and play many high quality PC VR games from the Oculus Store, and even Steam, on the mobile headset whiled plugged into your computer—great news if you want to play some massive games like Fallout 4 VR, Skyrim VR, and No Man’s Land. Two recent AAA game titles that Oculus is happy to announce working with Link are Asgard’s Wrath and Stormland. 

Basically, your PC streams to the headset using H.264 video compression, VR compositor functions are split between the headset and the computer to reduce latency, and bingo-bango you are playing PC VR on the mobile VR headset.

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No Man’s Sky, VR, and Beyond

Posted on by C. M. Costa

No man’s sky Beginning to beyond

A rocky release

I remember when I first heard about the game No Man’s Sky. In the summer of 2014 I was reading news of an indie gaming company called Hello Games creating a space exploration game with an endless universe that was full of procedurally-generated star systems, planets, and moons—each with unique life and materials to harvest. You’d be able to explore indefinitely, and even if you visited a planet per second, it would take multiple lifetimes to see everything. It promised to be the biggest sandbox game ever.

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Oculus Rift S Unveiled

Posted on by C. M. Costa

At the GDC on March 18th, Oculus shared details and gave hands on experiences with the new Oculus Rift S. Oculus teamed up with Lenovo to create the hardware that brings this updated headset to the consumer market. Here’s what’s new…

Tech Specs:

  • Single-panel fast-switching LCD with Higher Resolution: 2560×1440 (1280 x 1440 per eye)
  • Lower refresh rate down to 80hz from previous headset’s 90hz.
  • 5 camera inside-out tracking and Passthrough+
  • Single-cable setup connects to a PC via DisplayPort and USB 3.0
  • Halo style head-strap with built in headphones and 3.5mm jack
  • Updated touch controllers: identical to Oculus Quest
  • Priced at $399
  • No official release date yet

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