GDC 2018 is in full swing and we kick of Wednesday with a Live Blog of Oculus’ “Inside Oculus 2018” session, which is set to give developers an insight into the Facebook owned VR company’s hardware and software road map for the year.

Presented by Ross O’Dwyer (Director of Engineering), Jason Rubin (VP Content), Chris Pruett (Head of Development Engineering), Ruth Bram (Producer, Oculus Studios) this GDC session is described as “an inside look at what’s coming across the Oculus ecosystem in 2018, from Rift, mobile and new standalone devices to the advancements, services, and tools helping developers define the next wave of immersive gaming.”

With some interesting new hardware hoving into view this year with the mobile, entry-level Oculus Go and the wireless Oculus Rift ‘Santa Cruz’ headsets, there’s quite a bit for developers to prepare for. With luck we’ll learn new information on these devices and Oculus’ plans for then in 2018/2019.

The talk is taking place today at 9:30AM PDT (local time here), and will go for approximately an hour. Road to VR Executive Editor Ben Lang will be manning the keyboard, so get ready for speedy fingers and insightful commentary. Updates will appear below, no need to refresh your browser:

Newsletter graphic

This article may contain affiliate links. If you click an affiliate link and buy a product we may receive a small commission which helps support the publication. More information.


Paul James
Based in the UK, Paul has been immersed in interactive entertainment for the best part of 27 years and has followed advances in gaming with a passionate fervour. His obsession with graphical fidelity over the years has had him branded a ‘graphics whore’ (which he views as the highest compliment) more than once and he holds a particular candle for the dream of the ultimate immersive gaming experience. Having followed and been disappointed by the original VR explosion of the 90s, he then founded RiftVR.com to follow the new and exciting prospect of the rebirth of VR in products like the Oculus Rift. Paul joined forces with Ben to help build the new Road to VR in preparation for what he sees as VR’s coming of age over the next few years.
  • Billy Wallace

    r/oculus
    Ben Lang at gdc: new way facebook vr datamine you, resist!
    u/Dataminervr
    From the roadtovr livestream:

    PTW is a key component of Rift Core 2.0, but it requires depth data from apps. PTW is internal, but we need your depth data, please send us your app’s depth data!”

    Don’t do it, don’t give them your d@ta, facebookulus is evil!!!

    2 Comments0
    Best
    Write a comment
    Dataminervr • 0m
    “You won’t be able to get us to shut up about this device in the next couple of months.”

    He signed off his section by encouraging developers to get a demo of Santa Cruz here at GDC, but said they would see the older (trackpad) controllers

    Oh god no, facebook too broke to bring the new shit to gdc, now developers muscle memory will learn the old shit, why????

    1
    Dataminervr • 1m
    The last prototype they showed had trackpads on the controllers, going forward they plan to move back to sticks and buttons to more closely match Touch.

    Fracturing, poison the well, nooooo!

    1
    Dataminervr • 2m
    He says building controllers is hard and it takes a long time. The feedback they heard that button consistency is really important.

    Palmer said input is hard years ago, advised using gamepads, then vive had wands, lol, clowns

    1
    Dataminervr • 4m
    “This device is made for games. We think of it sort of like a console.”

    Oh god, it’s just a glorified go, that you want us to use everyday to sell us ads, queue up futurama vr episode

    1
    Dataminervr • 6m
    “This device is made for games. We think of it sort of like a console.”

    Wtf? Pc vr is dead, bring back palmer!!

    1
    Dataminervr • 6m
    Now talking about the four cameras for positional and hand tracking.

    How will it worknin direct sunlight for controller tracking?

    1
    Dataminervr • 8m
    “We’re announcing three Oculus Go titles that work in these factors.”:

    Anshar Wars Online

    Catan VR

    They Suspect Nothing

    Lol, suspect nothing caause they are dumpbucks

    1
    Dataminervr • 9m
    Ben just posted a photo of a black girl in go, I am at gdc, there ain’t no black girls in vr, political correct bs

    1
    Dataminervr • 10m
    She says her team has been experimenting with those factors to see what works best.

    Like that time we used 500k facebook dumbphuk accounts to do fake news testing

    1
    Dataminervr • 11m
    She’s talking about the Gear VR app ‘Face Your Fears’. It’s shareable and replayable.

    Face your fears, mark is Satan and we own your dumpuck souls

    1
    Dataminervr • 12m
    We’ve been finding developers to make the next generation of content. For Oculus Go we have been working with developers on one goal: make VR a daily activity.”

    We want to sell you ads everyday, dumbnphuck, mark needs more money to buy more political favors

    1
    Dataminervr • 14m
    Now Ruth is talking. She’s a producer on the Oculus Studios team.

    Feminists have taken over, the matriarch, oh god no gamergate

    1
    Dataminervr • 15m
    Not only does that improve the feeling of movement, but it also makes the screen perceptibly brighter, and improves colors. It’s not easy to do, he says, but if you can do it it looks great.

    Brighter? God rays will be worse°°

    1
    Dataminervr • 16m
    They’re announcing a 72Hz mode. Gear VR is 60Hz by default. However on Oculus Go, developers can optionally run at 72Hz.

    Fracturing, poisoning the well, argghj!

    1
    Hongsta29 • 25m
    ummm…. do you know what depth data is?

    ●
    Dataminervr • 17m
    Previously developers could manually manage the clocks on COu and GPU. But now the management is automatic.

    They are taking away control, choices, removing freedom. Tyrants!

    1
    SomniumOvHas Rift, Had DK2 • 23m
    Hi Martin !

    Oh yeah, the data devs are already giving as part of Dash support you mean ? The data that represents the depth of the Virtual World you’re in. I’m sure that’s totally useful to Facebook for nefarious needs !

    ●
    Dataminervr • 18m
    We’re super excited about this because it cuts into a problem that every mobile VR dev has. This is the kind of thing we do because we own the entire stack on Oculus Go. Another thing we can do is dynamic throttling.”

    They OWN it, dumbphuk, not you, open source it

  • daveinpublic

    Did you get to try the Santa Cruz?

    • benz145
      • Billy Wallace

        Take it outside, pico neo guys told me Santa Cruz is shit in direct sunlight for controllers, that’s why they went ultrasonics

        • Engineer_92

          Right because we will all be using Santa Cruz outside.. And you heard this byway of word of mouth? Just stop lol

          • Billy Wallace

            You clown, I have a big park near me, world scale vr is fun and healthy. Played fallout 4 vr in the sun, felt good. I am an accredited investor too, why do I keep suffering fools like you? Jesus Christ says remember the little people. (As you command lord, sigh)

          • Engineer_92

            Lmao good for you. A very small percentage of the consumer market. Take a seat and leave your religious garbage elsewhere

          • Why o why is the DOWNVOTE button not working?

          • Ted Joseph

            Although I think you are a bit hard on your response, I do agree that being able to play in a large environment that is fully tracked would be fun. I am up for larger play areas. This is why I think MR (like Magic Leap) will be awesome. You can use your entire house for the game. There is supposedly a crime game for ML that comprises of your house as a murder scene. This would be awesome… Bottom line, I am up for any new advances with both VR and MR tech. Cant wait!!!!

  • Engineer_92

    Curious as to what the resolution of Santa Cruz will be and if it will have eye tracking (it should right?). Also, is Santa Cruz going to be the “Rift 2” or will there be another variation that will be wirelessly tethered to a PC??

    • gothicvillas

      Sounds to me Santa Cruz is another mobile VR :(

      • Engineer_92

        Ugh, I really hope not :/. They made a clear distinction between mobile and standalone and Santa Cruz (standalone) is supposed to be closer to the Rift than GO. All we can do is hope and wait I guess

        • Przemo-c

          Santa Cruz will be closer to Rift in that it will have 6dof HMD an 2 6dof controllers so interactions will be closer to pc but it will be powered by a mobile chip.

          • That mobile chip is the desktop-class SD845.
            Go will be great. “Santa Cruz” will be mindblowing ….

          • Przemo-c

            That’s great! Any sources for that i’d love to read up more on SC

          • Just google: “SANTA CRUZ” + VR + SD845

      • Paula

        Google paying all people 97 US dollars/hr to work parttime on the laptop .. Labor for few period of time daily & live happy greater time together with your loved ones .. You can also apply this special offer!!!on weekend I purchased a latest Chevrolet after I been getting $18200 this-past/six weeks .it is truly my favourite-work but you can now not forgive yourself if you don’t take a look at this.!lf01x:➸➸➸ http://GoogleHelloPartTimeJobsFromHome/get/pay/$99/hourly… ♥♥♥n♥♥e♥♥e♥♥♥j♥x♥x♥♥♥u♥♥q♥♥♥d♥c♥c♥♥z♥♥♥c♥o♥♥s♥♥♥z♥j♥s♥♥♥g♥♥♥h♥♥♥e♥♥♥i♥♥b♥♥q♥i:!ef73o:pkosfk