As immersive as virtual reality is, the fact of the matter is that it is a pretty lonely experience. Once that headset comes on, you’re pretty much throw into a virtual world and when the headset comes off, you’re right back in your room or living room by yourself. It’s a bit depressing but the folks at Oculus want to change that.The company has recently announced what they are calling a multiplayer mode for its virtual reality movie theater app called Oculus Cinema. The idea is to allow friends to wear the headset and enjoy the movie at the same time, meaning that it would feel like you’re in the cinema and if you were to look around, you could see your other friends right there with you.
Speaking to Road to VR, Oculus’ founder Palmer Luckey said, “That’s definitely the point of Oculus Cinema. It’s not that you want to replicate the experience of being in a movie theater alone, you want to replicate the experience of being in a movie theater or home theater with all of your friends.”
This would definitely come in handy if you’re overseas or if your friends are from different parts of the world, so by creating a virtual cinema, it’s like everyone gets to hang out together and watch a movie like they would at a cinema, although in this case you get to be as loud as you like and not have to pay for overpriced cinema snacks.
The Oculus Cinema app will be available on the Oculus Rift when it begins to ship next year, but for those with the Samsung Gear VR, the app is already available for you.
Filed in . Read more about Movies, Oculus Rift, Virtual Reality (VR) and Wearable Tech.