We’re eight days away from the kick-off of OC5, and we have some good news to share. If you can’t make it to Connect this year, you can tune into the keynotes and all the esports action LIVE with Oculus Venues on Oculus Go and Gear VR.

And if you’re joining us in person, we’re excited to announce that The VOID and ILMxLAB will bring its special blend of technological innovation, hyper-reality, and fun to the San Jose McEnery Convention Center with Star Wars™: Secrets of the Empire!

Oculus Venues: Your Virtual Ticket to OC5

We partnered with Supersphere to let the VR community feel there without being there, thanks to a social VR livestream with Oculus Venues on Oculus Go and Gear VR. Given the uniquely social nature of Venues, you can chat with fellow fans in the crowd, share commentary as events unfold, and even move seats to get to know more people in VR.

Beginning at 10:00 am PT on September 26, you can join us LIVE as the OC5 keynote unfolds, including all the latest VR and developer news. The esports action kicks off from 12:00 to 5:00 pm PT, heating up the demo hall. That night, watch as the main stage transforms into an esports arena for the VR League’s Onward Grand Finals from 6:00 to 10:00 pm PT. Tune in September 27 at 10:00 am PT for Oculus CTO John Carmack’s signature unscripted keynote. And last, but not least, get your fix of zero-g sports with Echo Arena competitive play from 12:00 to 4:00 pm PT.

Check out the full list of Oculus Events happening LIVE in Venues and subscribe now so you won’t miss out:

“We’ve streamed a fair number of different types of live events in Venues, like concerts, comedy nights, and sports, but OC5 brings us both live keynotes and esports, which are new for us,” says Oculus Product Manager and London Site Lead Mike LeBeau. “Each new event creates new challenges and learning opportunities for us, as we try to capture the right vibe, get the right framing and viewpoints, and really convey the ambience of the real-world event in Venues.”

At OC5, that means planning for not just a natural mix of speakers and visual assets during the keynotes, but also thinking through the blend of live-action and gameplay footage and nail-biting tension of a high-stakes esports tourney.

“For the keynotes, we’ll focus on switching live 180° cameras on the speakers, along with graphics integration,” explains Supersphere Founder and Executive Producer Lucas Wilson. “The esports tournaments will blend live cameras and multiple gaming inputs. We’ll also debut brand-new technology that creates immersive outputs from the game engines themselves, for a true 180°/360° observer view of the gameplay. This is the first time that viewers will be inside this rich, more immersive look at gameplay. We worked closely with the talented teams at Facebook, Oculus, and ESL to build a complete set of immersive environments that fans will love.”

Click here to learn more about the cameras and tech that Supersphere will use to bring the livestream to life, or read more from our own Mike LeBeau about the road that led from our initial Oculus Venues announcement at OC4 to next week’s OC5 livestream!

More Ways to Watch

We’ll host 2D livestreams of the keynotes and esports events on a number of channels. You can watch the live keynotes on the Oculus Facebook page, while fb.gg/vrleague is your one-stop shop for all things esports. If you own a Rift and are running the Rift Core 2.0 beta, put those embedded Dash panels to good use and invite some friends over to watch our live OC5 coverage in VR with a Group Hang-Out!

We’ll also share recordings of even more OC5 content including tech talks, panels, and more on our YouTube channel—be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss a beat.

Step Into The VOID on the OC5 Show Floor

OC5 attendees can experience the latest in cutting-edge location-based entertainment (LBE) with Star Wars™: Secrets of the Empire—the award-winning hyper-reality experience from ILMxLAB and The VOID—right inside the San Jose McEnery Convention Center.

Your Mission

A galaxy far, far away needs your help. Under the orders of the budding rebellion, your team will travel to the molten planet of Mustafar. Your mission is to recover Imperial intelligence vital to the rebellion’s survival. Alongside the pragmatic droid K-2SO, your team must navigate through an enemy facility walking into danger at every turn. Disguised as stormtroopers, grab your blaster, solve puzzles, and fight giant lava monsters in an effort to fulfill your team's orders.

Get ready to push the boundaries of LBEs as we know them with this fully untethered story. Can’t make it to OC5? Tickets for Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire are available at The VOID.

This Way to San Jose

Although local hotel rooms are disappearing fast, there’s still time to register to attend OC5. Click here to view the full schedule, or check out our FAQs to learn more.

And stay tuned to the blog as our OC5 Speaker Spotlight series continues!

— The Oculus Team