Oculus will release 35 new games will be unveiled over the coming months.

Facebook-owned Oculus has revealed a bag of new virtual reality software features and hardware devices, from sci-fi avatars that make collaboration easier to a pair of controllers that bring your hands into VR.

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg took the stage at Oculus Connect 3 with one aim: To convince developers to keep building the games and immersive experiences that will convince consumers to try and then stay with the high-priced platform.

"When we bought Oculus, we thought it would be next major computing platform," said Zuckerberg. "Now, more than a million people are using VR products."

On the hardware side, Oculus will begin shipping US$199 Touch hand controllers in December, which allow VR users to use their hands to manipulate simulated environments. Also announced were US$49 Oculus Earphones, new earbuds for the US$600 Oculus Rift goggle that improve sound realism.

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Some 35 new games will be unveiled over the coming months that leverage Touch, from a VR spray-painting experience (Kingspray) to a dangerous space mission (Lone Echo).

Oculus chief executive Brendan Iribe said Rift can now be powered by less expensive PCs, including one from Cyberpower that will able to run the VR goggle for US$499. When the device first debuted, it required a computer costing upwards of US$1000 to make its graphics come to life.

Expensive goggles requiring dedicated computers such as Rift and Vive have so far captivated gamers, but still don't provide indispensable experiences for a broader audience. Beyond developing new content that targets a wider audience, one solution could be in a so-dubbed All In One device that represents a middle ground between smartphone and goggle-based VR.

Zuckerberg showed a very short video of what he called "just a prototype" of that very device, which looked like Oculus Rift only without cords snaking back to a PC and a slightly bulky box toward the back of the head.

"This is the next step," he said.

On the software front, Oculus Avatars and Rooms allows developers to, respectively, create VR proxies for themselves and place them in a virtual space with other avatars.

In this way, conversing, playing games and watching a movie become social experiences shared within a VR world.

Zuckerberg amused the 2500 developers (double last year's event) by performing a demo that saw him meet two colleagues in VR. He quickly changed the venue from the convention centre stage to his Facebook office to his home, where he called his wife Priscilla on a virtual cell phone then took a VR selfie with the entire group.

"Oculus really made big push on content, though I'm disappointed there wasn't more news on any improvements on the existing hardware," says Gartner analyst Brian Blau.

"But if I was a VR developer, I now see there are lots of cool things I could be working on. These folks here are really excited."