Oculus, the Facebook-owned virtual reality powerhouse, has confirmed the Oculus Gaming Showcase, the first-ever event dedicated to showcasing VR games on its website. The event will be streamed on Facebook, Twitch, and YouTube on April 21 at 3 p.m. PT (6 p.m. EST, 11 p.m. BST, and April 22, 8 a.m. AEST), according to the company’s announcement update.
The announcement notes that it will only be streamed “in the United States and Japan,” but we don’t expect other regions to be excluded from viewing the event. Gamers from around the world interested in the event can continue to enjoy Betway live casino games from their most trusted platform.
While the Oculus Connect event has been held annually since 2014, the Oculus Gaming Showcase will be the first to specialize solely on gaming games on the platform, rather than other software, apps, firmware, and hardware updates.
Those watching the event should expect fresh updates to fan-favorite franchises, never-before-seen footage from some yet-to-be-released games, and a few surprises in store, according to the press release.
The inclusion of their respective titles Pistol Whip, Lone Echo II, and Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge earns developers Cloudhead Games, Ready At Dawn, and ILMxLAB special mention.
Ready At Dawn Studios (the creators of the famous Lone Echo game) gave us our first look at the highly awaited sequel at the 2018 Oculus Connect gathering, but the team has been plagued by production delays since then – partly due to the pandemic – and we’re still waiting for a firm release date.
The studio was purchased by Facebook halfway through 2020, which may have alleviated the studio’s development issues enough that an official launch date will be revealed at the Oculus Gaming Showcase event on April 21. It is good news to the gaming industry, as more growth is expected, with more gaming platforms coming up alongside Betway and others.
In other related news, Facebook has begun the process of adding Messenger to the Oculus Quest and Quest 2 virtual reality headsets. The function is linked to the development of Oculus Parties, allowing you to jump into a game together from a chat.
The new feature is another step toward enabling social VR features to be backed by a Facebook account. According to a blog post, the feature was first revealed in September of last year and will begin rolling out this week.
“Starting this week, we will begin rolling out Messenger on Oculus to people who have logged into Quest and Quest 2 using their Facebook account. With this update, you can choose to chat with your Facebook friends anywhere they have Messenger, even if they’re not in VR. You can reach them without taking off your headset—and they can chat with you too. Write messages however you’d like, whether typing them out in VR, selecting a pre-written conversation starter, or using our voice-to-text feature. And if you’re chatting with your friends in Messenger and decide you all want to play together, you can easily create an Oculus Party so you can jump in and play the same game together.” Read the post.
Using Messenger on Oculus to connect with your Facebook friends has no effect on your current Oculus privacy settings. With your current Oculus username, you can always contact your Oculus friends using Oculus Chats.
