THE VR DIMENSION
Some interesting news that was previously announced last summer, it looks like Oculus’ App Lab is rolling out finally with the v25 software update. Normally, if a game developer wanted to get their game or app onto the Oculus Store, it would come with a few roadblocks if certain pain points were not met. The only real or open door to get the games and apps available was SideQuest. Since the Oculus Quest and Quest 2 are really Android devices, sideloading the apps was really the only way. But then you had to sign up for a developer’s account, install the software, and then go that route. But not everyone wants to do that or may feel safe in doing that, so welcome App Lab.
So, to keep things consistent, App Lab games and apps will not be located and housed on the Oculus Store, but you can search for the exact name, and they will be found in the “App Lab” section of the results. But this is some exciting news without users having to sideload additional apps. So any App Lab games and apps that are purchased will appear in the user’s Quest library right alongside regular Oculus Store purchases, as well as receive updates.
A few of the choices that will be available are:
- Ancient Dungeon Beta by ErThu
- Baby Hands by Chicken Waffle
- Crisis VRigade and Crisis VRigade 2 by Sumalab
- Deisim by Myron Software
- Descent Alps – Demo by Sutur
- Gym Class by IRL Studios Inc
- MarineVerse Cup by MarineVerse
- Puzzling Places – Beta by realities.io Inc
- Spark AR Player by Facebook
- Smash Drums Demo by PotamWorks
- Zoe by apelab
But it will be up to the developers to promote their apps and games. But having everything right there where everyone can just play together is really a good thing. So get ready, as App Lab is available today, but like most updates, it may just take a few days to be accessed if it’s not there already.
