So I got access to a Rift a couple of days ago, and obviously then tried to find free games and experiences to try before dipping in deeper.
Luckily for me, a friend who already had a rift has already shown me things like DreamDeck and Showdown.
Except Showdown is in the "Gallery Apps" section of the store, hidden away so no unsuspecting soul ever crosses paths with an app that hasn't be curated into the "real" store pages. Except I like Showdown and was able to install it by searching for it by name.
So now I'm wondering what other things are in the Gallery Apps section. And I'm really struggling to figure out a way to actually browse it.
I can use the search bar in the store to search for "gallery" and that seems to list the right sort of thing. Except there doesn't seem to be a way to "see all search results", just scroll down the list in a tiny window that doesn't show genre or price, just the name and icon.
tbh, I've found the whole Oculus web presence a bit like this so far. It's so busy trying to sell you it's preferred/curated content - all other levels of discoverability are practically nonexistent. It took me about 15 minutes to find the Oculus installer software, having found the "test your system's capability" numerous times.
Anyway, I'm sure browsing the Gallery Apps is possible - if some kind soul can point me in the right direction with nice clear noob friendly directions or URL 🙂
Don't put the Rift on - open Oculus Home on your PC, go to the bottom and you should see Gallery Titles.
Thanks for the quick reply, but I've not been able to find "Gallery Apps" that way.
Using Oculus Home on the PC, without the Rift on, I get the following categories:
New to VR? Start with these apps!
Spotlight
Experiences
Top-selling
Top free
Current promotions
New releases
Multiplayer and social
Get creative
Behind the wheel
Sports
Music
Travel the world
Documentaries and history
Horror and mystery
Entertainment
Apps
Browse all
Now "Browse all" might be what you're pointing me at, except there's no filtering and the sort options are "popularity", "A-Z", "Comfort Rating", "Suggested", "Release date" and "User rating".
I've scrolled down a good half dozen to a dozen times already and not seen Showdown yet. Which isn't important in and of itself, because I already know Showdown exists. But it makes me wonder what else I might not have been presented with yet, because it's not "popular" any more. Especially as so many of the titles it's showing me on the "Browse all" list are exactly the same popular titles it's been showcasing on the main page. I can only imagine how bad things will get once the floodgates open in a similar way that happened to Steam.
Also, loved Sn0w Crash. Moving on...
Any more ideas on how to view just the Gallery apps? (and yes, I realise that too might be "too many" uncategorised titles in the same way "Browse all" is right now, but at least it won't all be lost in amongst titles that have already been highly publicised on the main pages)
Hmmm... So what version of Oculus Home are you using? Are you signed in? It's there for me. We need others to chime in, maybe @cybereality . It's no good if you can't see it. And yes, when i hit See all (there's hundreds) Showdown is in there.
Version 1.19.0.456194 according to the settings screen, downloaded on Sunday afternoon (2 days ago).
And yes, I'm signed in.
To replicate the same screenshot you gave me... with Gallery Titles appearing above Browse All... here's what I see 30 seconds ago...
And because I got panic'd a bit there that they might have renamed "Gallery Apps" to just "Apps". Nope not that, I just went in there and there's only 46 apps in there and none of them are Showdown 😜