Gadgets

A new Oculus update is going to help you avoid punching random things like your dog or children

The new feature comes as part of the Oculus v34 update.

by
Joe Rice-Jones
November 3, 2021

Image: Oculus

If you love experiencing things in virtual reality but worry that you’re going to accidentally slap a roaming toddler while cutting up some beats in Beat Saber? Well, Oculus has you covered with a new feature called Oculus Space Sense, that will alert you if anyone or anything wanders into your play area.

Now, after setting up your Guardian bounds which let your Oculus know how much space you have before you’ll bump into walls or furniture, you’ll also get notified if anything new appears in that space.

That could be pets, children, or even furniture, and your headset will highlight them with a pink glow. That’ll give you enough of a heads-up to hopefully not smack into them with your controllers, keeping everybody safer.

It’s coming as part of the v34 software update for your Oculus Quest headsets, and to enable it you’ll have to also go to the Experimental Features section of your headset’s settings. Check it out in action below in this short animated video from Oculus.

That’s not all that’s coming to your Oculus headset with the v34 update. Voice Commands are getting expanded so you can play or pause media in Oculus TV or select apps, show or hide your Move stats, open your Settings, and answer some simple questions about things like the weather.

Android users are now able to check their phone notifications while inside VR for any mobile app that can display notifications on your phone’s lock screen, and the Passthrough API has created some cool, upcoming mixed reality experiences for you to play with.

The v34 update for your Oculus headsets is rolling out now, so if you don’t see the update already, you’ll have to wait a little while until it’s your headset’s turn.

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