It’s upon us. Oculus Connect, probably the most eagerly anticipated event this year (at least for the VR community) and perhaps Oculus VR’s most important event in it’s young life, kicks off at the Loews Hotel in Hollywood, CA tomorrow evening.
Connect, Laser Focussed on Developers
It’s sometimes easy to forget that the astounding resurgence in virtual reality interest over the last two years has happened with the total absence of any consumer-ready hardware. VR as we know it right now, is founded on developer kits – hardware that across the rest of the games industry would have remained cloaked in secrecy until well after an actual product was on the shelves.
The DK1, launched via a riotously successful Kickstarter and delivered to developers and enthusiasts alike, has pushed past the hardcore VR enthusiast cliques into the mainstream gaming consciousness. Oculus Connect is a reminder from Oculus, now owned by Facebook, that they’re intentions and focus hasn’t changed – the Rift needs great software and great developers to build it. Make no mistake, Connect is all about the developers. Oculus VR have asked around 1000 developers to head to Hollywood to listen, think and talk about the future of VR, a kind of developer melting pot akin to the early days of GDC.
With keynotes from industry luminaries, most of which have joined the Oculus fold over the last 12-18 months, are on hand to pass on what they’ve learned and listen to developers to hear what they’ve learned and vice versa.
Live Streams and Conference Schedule
Although the conference spans only 2 and a bit days, it’s packed with talks and panels throughout. If you’re not lucky enough to be there, Oculus will be live streaming the opening keynotes from Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe, Chief Scientist Michael Abrash and CTO John Carmack. These are likely to be unmissable for anyone even with just a passing interest in virtual reality.
Watch the Oculus Connect Keynote Live Streams Here
The keynote schedules are as follows (all times in PDT)
9:30 AM – Keynote by Brendan Iribe
Brendan Iribe, CEO @ Oculus
10:45 AM – Keynote by Michael Abrash
Michael Abrash, Chief Scientist @ Oculus
In the surprisingly near future, VR is very likely to transform how we interact with information, computers, and each other. But the future doesn’t get made by some ethereal, inevitable force; it’s made by the actions of specific individuals who bring it into existence. Those of us attending Oculus Connect are among the fortunate few who will make VR happen. This talk will discuss why VR is likely to be a key part of our future, why it’s different from anything that’s come before, and what that implies for developers.
11:30 AM – Keynote by John Carmack
John Carmack, CTO @ Oculus
See Also: Final Oculus Connect Schedule in Full
These keynotes are confirmed for live streaming, it seems likely that the afternoon keynote panel discussion featuring the above speakers plus Oculus founder Palmer Luckey and VP of Product Nate Mitchell may also make it into the streaming schedule, but this is as yet unconfirmed.
Unconfirmed Rumours and [Not so] Wild Speculation
Given the importance of this event and the associated interest and excitement form the community, it’s understandable that rumours of what attendees are likely to see or learn about at Oculus Connect have been growing.
Oculus VR Founder Palmer Luckey himself caused a minor stir during an interview with us at Gamescom last month.
Paul James: “How likely is it we’re hear more about your unconfirmed work with VR input devices at Oculus Connect?
Palmer Luckey: “You’ll probably hear more about it, we’re going to be talking about everything we’re doing at Connect.”
Provoking a priceless reaction from VP of Product Nate Mitchell, who seemed surprised at Palmer’s remarks:
Quite what Palmer’s comments really mean is unclear, but it did seem to suggest that the event would be the venue for Oculus to finally reveal some, if not all of its secrets relating to VR input and perhaps even the hotly anticipated consumer edition of the Oculus Rift. The timing does feel right, with Oculus’ work with Samsung (namely the mobile VR platform Gear VR) now launched and with the largest collection of VR-centric developers gathered in one place. We shall see.
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We’ll be bringing you as much coverage from Oculus Connect as possible over its 2 plus day duration. If you’re not lucky enough to be there, visiting Road to VR should be the next best thing. This should be an interesting weekend in VR.
