With virtual reality fast emerging as the hottest entertainment bandwagon to hop on to, it was just a matter of time before the biggest names from the gaming world start getting associated with it. And Minecraft can well be considered among the early movers here, with a Gear VR version now already on offer.
Majong, the Microsoft subsidiary that developed the game however has stated the virtual reality version of Minecraft for Oculus Rift is still being worked on with the version that just landed at the Oculus Store being exclusive to the Samsung Gear VR. That still makes sense considering the Gear VR already has the numbers of boast of, having sold more than a million units of the headset in the month of April 2016.
Further, the Gear VR Edition of Minecraft is almost the same as its Pocket Edition counterpart. There is going to be the same character skins, creative and survival modes, as well as multiplayer support. There also are two viewing modes available – the theatre view which also is the default view and allows the player to view the proceedings sitting inside a virtual Minecraft room and the first-person view where the user gets to view things unfold much closer to their eyes and allows for a more immersive experience.
“My strongest memories of being inside VR are from the time I’ve spent exploring Minecraft on Gear VR. Experiencing it in virtual reality changes it from an abstract activity to a visceral one,” said Oculus CTO John Carmack in a blog post.
The Minecraft: Gear VR Edition can be sourced from the Oculus Store where it is priced $6.99. That’s assuming eager players already have in place the Gear VR that again costs $99. That is not all as users will also need a compatible Samsung handset to slot into the VR headset. And the choice is limited to just a handful of high-end Samsung devices which includes Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 edge, Galaxy S6 edge plus, and the Galaxy Note 5 along with of course the latest Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge.
This also makes for a significant transition for Minecraft, one of the most loved games of all time that started out on PCs before moving on to the mobile platform and now into the virtual world.
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