Here's everything you need to know about the new Oculus headsets and software

By Jayce Wagner October 11, 2017

Oculus Go — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Facebook kicked off Oculus Connect 4 on Wednesday, October 11 with a two-hour long keynote, offering a sample platter of what we can expect from Oculus for the coming year. New hardware, new software, and a ton of new features are coming to the Oculus ecosystem — along with some new pricing. Let’s dig into it.

Oculus Go

Introducing Oculus Go

First up is the new Oculus headset, the aptly named Oculus Go. The new headset isn’t going to be a competitor for the Gear VR or the Oculus Rift, but it will instead occupy a space between the two extremes. With a retail price of $200, the totally wireless Oculus Go aims to bring VR into more peoples’ lives by lowering the barriers to entry, and offering immersive, fully featured experiences without the need for a powerful gaming PC. The Oculus Go will be available for $200, starting in early 2018.

Project Santa Cruz

Oculus

Oculus

The next generation Rift headset isn’t going to hit store shelves anytime soon but it will boast some impressive new features. In addition to inside-out tracking, the new headset will receive a pair of totally redesigned Touch controllers which will feature a refined version of the current Touch controllers’ constellation tracking system. Without any external lighthouses, the new headset will use four cameras located on each corner of the headset to not only track your movement, but also the movement of the controllers.

New Oculus Rift pricing

VR headset deals roundup — Image used with permission by copyright holder

For anyone interested in taking the plunge into VR for the first time, the best news out of Oculus Connect is the new pricing model for the Oculus Rift and Touch Controllers. You will be able to snag both for just $400. That pricing model was previously applied as a temporary promotion, but it is the new standard pricing for the Oculus Rift and Touch Controller bundle going forward.

Oculus Dashboard

Introducing Oculus Dash

Among the updates coming to the Oculus platform in 2018 is a completely revamped user interface. Dubbed “RiftCore 2.0” the new software radically changes the way users interact with their applications. Now, instead of using an external application to emulate a desktop environment, we will be able to access our applications right from the new Oculus Dashboard. You can open windows, re-arrange them, and even jump into the Dashboard right from your VR games.

For instance, you can open the Dashboard without leaving your game, just like you can on the Xbox One or PlayStation 4. From the Dashboard you can launch other applications, even web browsers, and pin them into your game experience, so you can watch videos or browse the web while you cruise through space in Elite Dangerous.

New Oculus Home

Customize Your Oculus Home

Oculus Home is also getting a revamp, now you will be able to decorate your space with furniture, artwork and even achievements you earned in different games. Additionally, you will be able to launch games and apps directly from your home, and even visit your friends’ Homes to leave them notes or just see how they decorated their spaces. Oculus also promises shared spaces will be coming to Oculus Home in 2018.

The beta, however, will be available for free to Oculus owners in December 2017.

Upcoming games

During the keynote, we also saw a few brief glimpses at some games coming to the Oculus Rift in the coming year. First among which was an unnamed collaboration between Respawn Games — the developer of Titanfall — and Oculus. Second, the popular Face Your Fears experience will be getting Stranger Things-themed at an as-yet-undisclosed time.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

A staff writer for the Computing section, Jayce covers a little bit of everything -- hardware, gaming, and occasionally VR.

Computing

Everything you need to know about buying a GPU in 2024

RTX 4090.

The graphics card, also known as the GPU, is arguably one of the most exciting components in any PC build. Alongside the processor, your graphics card often has the greatest impact on the overall performance of your PC. That makes it a pretty high-stakes purchase, especially if you consider that GPUs can get pretty expensive.

The GPU market has a lot to offer, and that's regardless of your needs and your budget. Whether you're aiming for something super cheap to support some light browsing or a behemoth to handle the most GPU-intensive games, you have lots of options. In this guide, we'll show you what to look out for so that you can pick the best GPU that fits your budget and needs.
Nvidia, AMD, or Intel?
Consumer graphics cards are generally split into two categories -- integrated and discrete graphics. Since you're here, you're most likely looking for a discrete (or dedicated) GPU, and that's what we're going to focus on in this article.

Audio / Video

What is YouTube Music? Everything you need to know

iPhone 15 Pro Max showing the YouTube Music app.

YouTube is one of the most popular online destinations for video, but it's also one of the premier places in the world to find music. It's no surprise, then, that Google went and rolled all that music content out into a dedicated music app called YouTube Music. The app offers music and podcasts and has free and premium versions.

If you're wondering how YouTube Music compares to other music streaming services like Spotify, Tidal, or Apple Music, it really depends on how frequently you rely on YouTube to search for music and how important music videos are to you. In this article, we'll give you all the information you need to make an informed decision.
The basics

Gaming

Stardew Valley 1.6 update: everything you need to know

A decorated home in Stardew Valley. There are yellow sofas around a TV, plants around the border, and the character is standing in the middle of the frame with the kitchen on the left.

For a game made by a single person, Stardew Valley has an unbelievable amount of content already. Despite that, years after launch, we're all still eagerly anticipating yet another content update coming to the game that will bring it to version 1.6. This update was announced in April 2023 but ConcernedApe has been rather tight-lipped on the full scope of features and additions this update will bring. With so many possibilities and rumors floating around, we've collected only the freshest bits of info you need to know about what you can look forward to.
When is the 1.6 update coming out?
https://twitter.com/ConcernedApe/status/1762192764899627457

The 1.6 Stardew Valley update will be available on March 19 for PC players. As far as console and mobile players are concerned, we don't know when you can get this update just yet as ConcernedApe simply stated that they "will follow as soon as possible."
Everything new in the 1.6 update