While Dash gives you one less reason to take the headset off
Facebook’s VR subsidiary Oculus has announced the launch of Rift Core 2.0, a new interface for the Oculus Rift headset that essentially overhauls the system.
It’s only in beta for now, so you’ll need to opt in via the Public Test Channel if you want to try it out, but there are two facets to it, Oculus Home and Dash.
Read this: Lenovo Explorer VR headset review
You know how you’re stood/sat in a fixed virtual environment when browsing the interface on Rift? Oculus Home turns this into a fully customizable environment that you can decorate with furniture and various interactive objects. You’ll have a catalogue of several hundred items to pick from, but some will need to be unlocked by completing in-game achievements or other challenges.
You’re also able to visit friends’ space, and Oculus says it’s working on a real-time hangouts feature for multiple users to build together.
While all of that sounds very cool, it’s Oculus Dash that we’re most interested in. This lets you interact with your PC while wearing the VR headset, pulling up various desktop windows in a way that’s now better baked into the experience.
“This opens up new creative possibilities for Rift, using Spotify to play music, YouTube to watch videos, Chrome to surf the web and check email, or Notepad to take notes—all from within VR,” said Oculus head Nate Mitchell.
It’s similar to what you’re able to do in Windows Mixed Reality, which allows you to open apps in windows and even throw them onto walls. In fact, Windows MR lets you place furniture and other objects around your home space too.
Oculus says it will keep building on Home throughout 2018. For now it admits the beta is a little rough round the edges, but if you just can’t wait, go and give it a try.
