SAN JOSE, Calif.—I wasn’t really expecting too much hard news from my trip to Oculus Connect this year. Instead, I was expecting one more pre-launch opportunity to try out the compelling Oculus Touch controllers, and a chance to chat with the developers big and small who have dived head first into the still small virtual reality space.

Instead, Oculus pulled out quite a few major reveals. The company announced a new, fully tracked wireless headset in the works, and even let me try a prototype. The company helped justify Facebook’s investment with a major, avatar-driven social VR initiative. And then there’s the new software technology that actually lowered the minimum specs for the Rift headset without touching the hardware itself.