Articles by Nicholas Sutrich

These are the games you’ve been looking for.

Like many companies in the industry, Facebook is eschewing the big gaming tradeshows of yesteryear and, in its stead, used the first-ever Oculus Gaming Showcase to announce some of the best Oculus Quest games coming this year. Oculus Gaming Showcase 2021 kicked off last week with the massive surprise announcement of the Resident Evil 4 VR remake, the very first Oculus Quest 2-exclusive title. Without further ado, here’s everything that was shown off at the Oculus Gaming Showcase 2021!

Resident Evil 4 VR Remake

Does Resident Evil 4 even need an intro? As one of the most lauded games of all time and one of the most successful reimaginings of an already successful series, Resident Evil 4 set the bar for action-horror games for years to come. This port of the classic Gamecube title is seeing a complete reimagining for the Quest 2 with combat and puzzle mechanics sporting a full VR overhaul. It’s also the first Quest 2-exclusive game, wh…

You’ll just need to make sure you’re on Quest 2 firmware v28 first.

What you need to know

Virtual Desktop version 1.20.4.0 now supports the new 120Hz refresh rate option on Quest 2.
You’ll need to download the latest beta Virtual Desktop app from the Oculus store for the Quest 2, and the beta desktop streamer for your PC.
120Hz translates to 120FPS — an extremely difficult-to-achieve performance metric that even good gaming PCs will struggle with.

If you’ve been using Virtual Desktop to play PC VR games on your Oculus Quest 2, you’re in for a real treat. If you’re Oculus Quest 2 has already received the April v28 firmware update, you can download the latest Virtual Desktop beta — that’s version 1.20.4.0 as of this writing — and begin playing PC VR games at the new buttery-smooth 120Hz refresh rate. A new low-quality option has also been added for PCs that couldn’t quite handle VR streaming in the past, as well.

In order to move over to the beta channel, you’ll need to ope…

HTC could usher in a new era of standalone fitness-focused VR headsets.

What you need to know

HTC Vive Air looks to be the company’s first major consumer-focused standalone headset in a long time.
The Vive Air is made of lightweight, breathable materials that are all removable and washable.
The iF WORLD DESIGN award that revealed the headset says it’s due for release in 2021 in North America, Europe, and Asia.

It’s been a long time coming, but HTC might finally have a viable competitor to the Oculus Quest 2 if these leaks for an upcoming headset called the “HTC Vive Air” are anything to go by. Per Engadget, an *iF WORLD DESIGN GUIDE award appears to have been published ahead of an official announcement from HTC, making this a bit more official than many other types of leaks.

Per the design award, the HTC Vive Air is specifically designed for virtual fitness in mind. That means the headset is made of lightweight, breathable materials, and it looks like everything but the computi…

3D Vision and more

Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2

$250 at Amazon

Pros

3D motion detection
Birds-eye view
Head-to-toe video
Alexa Greetings and quick replies
Great integration with Alexa

Cons

Poor Google services integration
Requires a subscription for most features
No battery backup
Pricey

Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2 brings a new kind of 3D motion detection to the table, with pinpoint accuracy complete with an overhead map of your property. If you can’t (or don’t want to) come to the door, Alexa can even answer a doorbell press for you, giving instructions or taking a message.

Sheer brilliance

Nest Hello Video Doorbell

$180 at Best Buy

Pros

Facial recognition
Head-to-toe video
Great integration with Google and Nest products

Cons

Poor Alexa integration
Requires a subscription for most features
Subscription is twice the price
No battery backup

If you’re already invested in the Google Home platform, Nest Hello is one of the very best video doorbells you can buy…

Quest 3, Quest Pro, Quest Lite, and more were topics of a casual chat between the two fellows.

What you need to know

Facebook plans to support Quest 2 “for a long time” according to Carmack and isn’t finished adding features just yet.
Future Quest headsets are likely to focus on iterating and optimizing the experience rather than revolutionizing it again, but won’t happen in 2021.
The Quest 1 was confirmed to have sold more than expected and still has over 1 million active users.
One of the more surprising revelations was that the passthrough footage from the Quest’s cameras will be made available to developers very soon.

CTO of Oculus John Carmack virtually sat down with Andrew Bosworth (Boz), VP of Facebook Reality Labs on Twitter Spaces on April 16 to answer a few questions taken on Twitter earlier in the day. As is usually the case with these sessions, plenty of questions went unanswered in an effort to keep the chat from running too long. There were quite a few interesting …

Oldie but a goodie

Ring Video Doorbell Pro

$170 at Amazon

Pros

Thermal motion detection
Alexa greetings
Dual-band Wi-Fi support
Less expensive
Pre-roll video

Cons

Less accurate motion detection
Poor Google services integration
No battery backup

Ring Video Doorbell Pro has been the best Ring Video Doorbell for years for a reason. Inside its tiny form-factor, it packs a 1080p camera that’s always recording, giving you the best look at what’s happening (or happened) on your doorstep. It also features Alexa Greetings, which lets it answer itself when you’re not around.

The upgrade choice

Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2

$250 at Amazon

Pros

The most accurate motion detection
Birds-eye view maps
Head-to-toe video
Alexa greetings
Dual-band Wi-Fi support
Pre-roll video

Cons

More expensive
Poor Google services integration
No battery backup

Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2 retains the original tiny form-factor and improves everything else about the product, including a new h…

Fly me to the moon.

If you’ve ever wanted to be Spider-Man, it’s pretty clear VR is the best way to go. While the free Spider-Man Far From Home VR experience is a novelty, Straylight’s web-slinging-in-space concept promises to deliver a deeper experience — which it should since it’s a $20 game — on all major VR platforms when it launches in Q3 of this year. For now, we got the chance to experience Straylight hands on — or, rather, beams on — in the Early Access beta build of the game on SteamVR using an Oculus Quest 2 with Oculus Link.

Conceptually, Straylight is described as a first-person cosmic VR platformer. Essentially, you’ll be swinging from point to point using the Straylight — a tool that allows players to grapple onto points of light strewn around the arena-style environments. These grapple points allow players to act a bit like everyone’s favorite web-slinging hero, albeit with zero-gravity physics in wholly abstract environments.

While it sounds simple eno…

Best answer: Yes, but it’s probably not what you think. There are no third-party Oculus Touch alternatives, but you can connect any Bluetooth gamepad to an Oculus Quest 2 controller to play traditional gaming titles.

Oculus Quest 2 controller alternatives

Facebook ships the Oculus Quest 2 with 3rd-generation Oculus Touch controllers that only work with the Oculus Quest 2. Previous Oculus Touch controllers cannot be paired with a Quest 2, and there are no motion controller alternatives for any Oculus headsets. If you find the 3rd-generation Oculus Touch controllers uncomfortable or just want a better grip, the best hand straps for Oculus Quest 2 will help keep it in place, give you a better grip and make them even more ergonomic than before.

Depending on how you use it, several types of Oculus Quest 2 controller alternatives can be used, including popular gamepads, keyboards, and even mice. Any accessory you use will need to support Bluetooth 3.0 or higher to pair with an Oculus Qu…

The future of VR is mostly safe in the hands of Facebook.

When the original Oculus Quest was announced in September 2018, even Facebook didn’t expect it to do as well as it did (as evidenced by the fact that it could never keep the Quest in stock). The Oculus Quest experience went beyond what was expected of a VR headset by being more than just affordable — it was as easy to use as a video game console. Since that launch, Facebook has acquired several VR game development studios, brought several developers onboard with its Oculus Store, and changed the paradigm of what people expect from the standalone VR experience.

The Oculus Quest 2 promises to one-up that experience in every way, with a processor that’s three entire generations newer than the one in the original Oculus Quest, enhanced ergonomics with a lighter and smaller headset, a significantly higher-resolution display, brand new lens design, redesigned controllers, and more accessories than you can shake a stick at. Faceb…

It’s no secret that Beat Saber is one of the single best games you can buy for your Oculus Quest 2 — or any other VR headset that you have, for that matter. With millions of copies sold, great official DLC, and even custom songs, it’s hard to stop slicing blocks once you get started. While it’s an amazing experience unto itself, the best Beat Saber accessories will have you cleaning up sweat far less often and spending more time enjoying the high-quality music, heart-pumping exercise, and addictive gameplay of Beat Saber instead.

Stop the sweat

Unijoy Sweatbands

Staff Pick

OK, so if there’s one single accessory that you absolutely need to get to keep Beat Saber at its most enjoyable, it’s a pack of sweatbands. This 4-pack of sweatbands will keep you from constantly having to remove your headset during any Beat Saber session — especially those extra-sweaty ones — and will even make it a little more sanitary to share that headset with friends or family that might want to …