Oculus today announced a number of new social features and two multiplayer games coming to Samsung’s Gear VR headset this week. Among the new features is Facebook 360 video integration and private rooms in Oculus Social.
Oculus has long promised that the VR experience would be social, and now they’re rolling out the first wave of such features and games to Gear VR. Expect this to be a preview of the sort of social functions we’ll see on Oculus desktop platform with the Rift.
Multiplayer Games
First, in the multiplayer category, is two new titles. Social Trivia (by Oculus) and Herobound Gladiators by Escalation Studios.
Social Trivia, as the name implies, brings Gear VR users together into a single space to compete for the high score by correctly answering trivia questions. The game allows up to five players to play together and is due to launch any moment now in the ‘Concepts’ section of the Oculus Store on Gear VR.
Herobound Gladiators allows four players to engage in co-op battle against a hoard of goblins and demons. The game is available now on the Oculus Store on Gear VR.
Oculus’ first social VR app on Gear VR, Social Alpha, is being updated to allow players to create private rooms for the first time. Previously, users could only host and join open rooms.
See Also: Facebook-like ‘Code of Conduct’ Governs Voice Communication in Oculus Social Alpha
Facebook 360 Video Content
Starting next week, Oculus is bringing Facebook 360 videos to Gear VR. Users will be able to link their Facebook accounts to the app to personalize the Facebook 360 video feed based on the pages and people they follow.
Soon, Oculus says they’ll allow people to “like, share and react to [their] favorite Facebook 360 videos from within VR.”
Profiles & Reviews
As part of building their social ecosystem, Oculus will allow people to create personal profiles starting tomorrow. This will allow friends to search and find each other by real name or their Oculus username and create a friends list. Profiles will also allow users to leave ratings and reviews for apps.
It isn’t clear yet if users will be able to log in with their Facebook account to find other Gear VR user’s among their FB friends list.