When our species was in its infancy, an elite class of people was needed to ensure mankind’s survival: hunters.
These brave explorers matched wits with the most dangerous creatures and environments in order to emerge victorious over their prey and gather mementos of each fresh kill. Today, food is farmed in factories, but the proud tradition of the hunter lives on in the Dorito-fueled heartbeats of gamers around the world. They’re called “achievement hunters” (or “trophy hunters” for the members of House Sony), and today their kind can finally unleash their talents in conquest of the virtual world.
In an official statement emailed to UploadVR, Oculus — the company behind the Oculus Rift and Samsung Gear VR virtual reality headsets — announced that achievements will now be available within the Oculus Home content platform itself. According to Oculus:
“Starting today, Oculus will begin rolling out achievements on Gear VR and Rift. Now, people will be able to track their progress against unlocking achievements in an app, browse what friends are up to in VR, and discover new apps friends are playing.”
This update will also be bringing improved social features to the Rift and Gear VR ecosystems. Oculus explains that, “We’re also giving people more control over what activity they share with friends. As achievements become available, people may see a prompt to update their privacy settings if they would like to share the achievements they’ve received and what apps they have installed.”
Achievements will only be available for certain games in the beginning. Oculus states that, “Minecraft, Anshar Wars 2, and Hitman GO may see achievements in Oculus Home right away” and that more developers will be adding their own into the mix “soon.”
Here’s the Oculus synopsis for the new content:
- People can unlock achievements in an app (when a developer has chosen to incorporate them), and will be able to see what achievements their friends have unlocked
- Unearned achievements will be “greyed out,” and some achievements will be classified as “secret” to encourage you to explore the app in search of them
- Rollout begins today and will progress throughout the next few weeks (remember to update Gear VR/Rift to the latest in order to see achievements).
Happy hunting! Share your best achievements with @UploadVR on Twitter for retweets, high fives, and brownie points (collect enough and we’ll send you an actual brownie — maybe.)
