Oculus Quest 2 owners can now enjoy wireless PC gaming as the new Air Link feature is out a little earlier than expected.
So far, the only official way to play PC games on Oculus Quest has been to physically plug the headset into the USB port on your gaming PC. But now those with a strong enough wireless connection can play wirelessly.
Originally, the feature was disabled in the latest version of the software, but according to Andrew Bosworth of Facebook Reality Labs, the release date has been postponed a bit because “the excitement about Air Link cannot be contained”.
You’ll need to be running Oculus v28 on both your PC and Quest 2, but Bosworth says it’s “coming very soon” if it hasn’t arrived for you already. Once you have the software, you’ll need to activate Air Link from the Experimental Features section of the Settings menu.
Unfortunately, Facebook has no plans to roll over the feature to the original Oculus Quest, leaving early adopters tied to other paid wireless solutions.
Will Air Link Work For You?
This is obviously a tremendous advancement since in theory you get the best of both worlds: games that go way beyond the capabilities of Quest 2 and come with no annoying cord to keep you on the ground.
But Oculus is pretty clear that it won’t work for everyone. Not only do you need one of the best gaming PCs to run Half Life: Alyx, for example, but you also need a solid, non-congested wireless connection to get the speeds needed for streaming.
This means that for some, using the Link Cable is the best way to play PC games on the Quest 2. As the company said when officially announcing the feature, “If you want to charge your headset during your VR exploits, experience the best – fidelity graphics possible, or if your available Wi-Fi network is congested or unsecured, the connection is via a USB-C cable the right way. If you have a strong and secure Wi-Fi network and your play area is ideally within about 20 feet of your WiFi router, Air Link is a great option. ”
Many who use previous wireless solutions like the excellent Virtual Desktop app have vowed to have a dedicated router for Oculus traffic. It wasn’t necessary for me and my mesh Wi-Fi setup, and I was able to enjoy PC games three rooms from my desktop with more floor space and with no noticeable lag (unless the PC was also downloading things).
While I haven’t had the official Air Link update yet, I can confirm that playing PC games wirelessly is really a game changing experience. Now it’s part of the Oculus Operating System and you no longer have to spend $ 20 on software to see if it works for you. You really have nothing to lose if you try.
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