Minecraft and VR - a pairing longed for by many. It already exists in a few mediums, but today's announcement touches on something built explicitly for Minecraft VR, more than just a port of the game into a virtual environment: Minecraft is coming to Oculus Rift, with some version-specific features that will make the game even better to play in VR!
What sort of features are on the table?
- Innate keyboard and mouse support
- VR control options for immersive comfortable turning with the Xbox One controller
- MSAA for crisp visuals, new render distance settings that will make use of powerful VR graphics cards, and optimized Windows 10 DX11 performance
- Even more granular customization of VR settings, so you can mix-n-match for personalized comfort
This is in tandem with the major VR-specific features Mojang already had working, if which there are many. One neat thing in the Oculus version is the "Virtual Livingroom," which allows players to step back from the fully-immersive experience and into a virtual armchair - a nice break if you're starting to get dizzy or strained, but want to keep mining and crafting.
In addition, Mojang has added all kinds of tweaks to player movement. As an example, there is a special turning mode which breaks up the smooth rotation of your camera into short, abrupt jumps. It looks strange in videos, but the improvement to players' comfort cannot be overstated, and is readily apparent while playing.