While Gear VR has already jumped in to allow support for virtual reality in Minecraft, Oculus has finally enabled Rift compatibility for Minecraft. The Rift adds more features than what the Gear VR provides. This includes an external camera tracker, improved visuals, increased render distance and the ability to use keyboard and mouse.
In the statement made by a Team Minecraft AR/VR developer, Mike McGrath, the team have been working on this Oculus Rift compatibility since last fall and hopes that “For new and experienced players, we hope the VR experience in Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition Beta will illuminate how powerful, evocative and utterly immersive VR can be”. According to McGrath, the goal for this project was to make sure the users would have a “customized VR experience, and still retain [your] traditional Minecraft experience”.
A video showcasing the journey the team had gone through in order make this VR experience a possibility is shown below. The team talks about the previously mentioned features as well as the interesting remark on the stutter turn, “changing the turning from being a smooth turn into a 22 and a half degree turn” in order to make sure there is a level of comfort when turning.
In order to run the Oculus Rift version of the game, players will need to have a copy of Windows 10, which is currently in beta and is free to play for any owners of the original Minecraft on PC. You can set the options to enable the Oculus Rift once in game.