Road to VR

FEBRUARY 9, 2024

In Ubisoft’s most recent earnings call, CEO Yves Guillemot said he was “disappointed” with the performance of Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR (2023) and that the company will not be increasing investment in VR right now, as it awaits further growth of the medium. As a Quest exclusive, Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR brought the franchise’s patented mix of parkour, stealth, and combat to VR for the first time.

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Road to VR

FEBRUARY 7, 2024

HTC has released a beta for its Vive Ultimate Tracker that brings support to third-party PC VR headsets, such as PC-tethered Quest and Pico headsets, letting you do body tracking in supported apps. Unlike previous Vive Trackers, which required SteamVR base stations, Vive Ultimate Tracker makes use of inside-out optical tracking thanks to each unit’s dual wide-FOV cameras.

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JANUARY 19, 2024

There have been plenty of hands-on impressions and various glimpses of what using Vision Pro is like, but a new video from Apple offers the clearest look yet at the experience. Today Apple published a “guided tour of Vision Pro,” which might be painfully scripted, but actually does a great job of showing what it’s like to use the headset (and this is coming from someone who has used the headset on multiple occasions ).

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Road to VR

JANUARY 19, 2024

Pre-orders for Vision Pro launched today , giving us the first opportunity to browse the $3,500 spatial computer’s (aka XR headset’s) barrage of expensive official accessories and replacement parts. Apple is hoping you tack on a few goodies to make your Vision Pro experience even better starting today, which we now learned includes your standard array of pricey Apple accessories, but also replacement bits in case you lose, damage, or just want a spare for whatever reason.

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Road to VR

DECEMBER 14, 2023

CM Games, the developer behind the single-player survival shooter Into the Radius (2020) , confirmed that its long-awaited sequel is set to not only include a single-player campaign, but also host up to four player co-op so you can take on the otherworldly Pechorsk Security Zone together. Like the first in the series, Into the Radius 2 is set to initially launch on Steam Early Access for PC VR headsets sometime in 2024.

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Road to VR

OCTOBER 23, 2023

A recent rumor, which alleged that TikTok parent company ByteDance is slated to spin down its XR hardware subsidiary Pico Interactive, is false, the company says. China-based publication EqualOcean reported late last week that ByteDance is set to “gradually abandon the PICO business.” The report alleged the person in charge of Pico recently went to Singapore to report to ByteDance founder and CEO Zhang Yiming, maintaining Pico’s performance in the past few years has “no

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Road to VR

OCTOBER 24, 2023

A recently released fork of one of the premier VR mods for Half-Life 2 (2004) added a number of features that should make you feel a little less like Gordon Freeman, and a little more like John Wick. Mod creator Vittorio Romeo calls the unofficial fork of SourceVR Team’s HL2VR mod ‘HL2VR Unleashed’, which includes unique VR interactions such as dual wielding, universal melee attacks, and a virtual stock for customizable shouldering positions—basically turning you into an indisc

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Road to VR

OCTOBER 19, 2023

Budget Cuts (2018), the stealth action game, has always been about taking pensive steps, hiding in the darkness and not tipping off the killer robot guards on your way through the game’s liminal office space. Now developers Neat Corporation released a spooky update that flips the script, turning the game’s stealth action into stalker horror.

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Road to VR

OCTOBER 19, 2023

Laser Dance is an upcoming mixed reality game that seeks to use Quest’s passthrough capability as more than just a background. In this Guest Article, developer Thomas Van Bouwel explains his approach to designing an MR game that adapts to different environments. Guest Article by Thomas Van Bouwel Thomas is a Belgian-Brazilian VR developer currently based in Brussels.

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Road to VR

OCTOBER 20, 2023

Walkabout Mini Golf has been on a roll ever since it launched in late 2020, now counting 22 courses strong with the addition of a very spooky level just in time for Halloween: ‘Widow’s Walkabout’ Developers Mighty Coconut say Widow’s Walkabout brings to the game a “mysterious cliffside manor [.] haunted by a playful spirit who’s possessed an eerie mini golf course like no other.” The haunted course is said to pack in a bunch of spooky surprises and hints to an unset

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Road to VR

OCTOBER 17, 2023

Quest 3 is here and comes with a bunch of quite helpful but often hidden features (most of which will also work on Quest 2!). Here’s a breakdown of tips and tricks you’ll definitely want to know. Quest 3 Tips & Tricks Contents: Quest 3 Screenshot & Video Capture Shortcut Quest Voice Commands Switch Between Controller-tracking and Hand-tracking Force Screenshots & Videos to Actually Sync to Your Phone Double-tap for Passthrough Turn on 120Hz Refresh Rate Extended Battery M

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Road to VR

OCTOBER 17, 2023

Apple is adding two new locations to its Vision Pro ‘Developer Labs so devs can get their hands on the headset before it launches early next year. It might not feel like it but 2024 will be here before we know it, and Apple has recently said it’s on track to launch Vision Pro “early” next year. To get developers’ hands on Vision Pro launches, Apple has a handful of ‘Developer Labs’ where developers can go to check out the device and get feedback on their

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Road to VR

OCTOBER 18, 2023

Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR is set to arrive on Quest headsets November 16th, offering up a new first-person VR experience for the storied franchise. Now Ubisoft has released an explainer video that goes into how it all works, including the game’s combat, parkour and comfort systems. Check out the video below, presented by the game’s creative director David Votypka and associate game director Olivier Palmieri, both of whom have been a part of Ubisoft’s earliest VR gaming ef

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Road to VR

SEPTEMBER 7, 2023

Resolution Games revealed its popular tabletop dungeon-crawling RPG Demeo now features hand-tracking support on Quest 2 and Quest Pro with its latest mixed reality update. It also includes a few new features to its previously released MR mode that are aiming to appeal to both future owners of Meta Quest 3 and Apple Vision Pro. Ahead of Demeo’s confirmed launch-day release on Quest 3 sometime this Fall, Resolution Games announced it’s now pushing out the game’s Mixed Reality

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Road to VR

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

Bigscreen announced it’s now shipping Beyond, the company’s thin and light PC VR headset unveiled earlier this year. Created by the same team behind the Bigscreen Beta VR app , Bigscreen Beyond is a tethered PC VR headset that uses Valve’s SteamVR tracking standard. Priced at $1,000, the headset makes for an interesting value proposition for users already hooked into the SteamVR hardware ecosystem, offering up a slim design thanks to the inclusion of pancake lenses and micro-OLEDs.

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Road to VR

JULY 28, 2023

Among Us VR (2022), the standalone VR version of the hit party game, just got a new map called Polus Point. Just in time for mass heat waves comes Polus Point, a decidedly chilly (and sometimes hot) addition to Among Us VR. The studios say the new map includes over 50% more tasks, including a contraption called ‘THE CLAW’, nine new rooms for hidden objects, new kill and ejection animations, and snowstorms.

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Road to VR

JUNE 29, 2023

Brilliant Labs, an AR startup working to integrate AI into daily life, announced that it has raised $3 million in seed funding which it will use to expand its team and invest in R&D for its open-source, AI-powered smartglasses. The funding round was led by Brendan Iribe, co-founder of Oculus, Adam Cheyer, co-founder of Siri, Eric Migicovsky, founder of Pebble, and Plug & Play Ventures, among others.

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Road to VR

JUNE 28, 2023

Google has reportedly shelved a multi-year project that sought to commercialize an AR headset, known as Project Iris. Provided the report is true, it appears Google will now need to rely on Samsung to compete with Meta and Apple in XR. According to Business Insider , Google shut down Project Iris earlier this year following mass restructuring, which included layoffs, reshuffles, and the departure of Clay Bavor, Google’s head of AR and VR.

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Road to VR

JUNE 26, 2023

Meta today announced a new VR game subscription service that will give you access to two hand-picked Quest games per month, priced at $8 per month, or $60 annually. Called Meta Quest+, the subscription service will be available to Quest 2, Quest Pro and eventually Quest 3 users. Similar to PlayStation’s PS Plus service, Meta is offering up two specific redeemable titles on the first of each month which you can download and keep for as long as you’re a paid member.

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Road to VR

JUNE 26, 2023

Apple says it will give developers the opportunity to apply for Vision Pro dev kits starting sometime in July. In addition to releasing a first round of developer tools last week , including a software ‘Simulator’ of Vision Pro, Apple also wants to give developers a chance to get their hands on the headset itself. The company indicates that applications for a Vision Pro development kit will open starting in July, and developers will be able to find details here when the time comes.

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Road to VR

JUNE 23, 2023

One thing that didn’t get much attention during the announcement of Apple Vision Pro is the headset’s modular design. With straightforward connections and magnetic mounting, the company’s robust ecosystem of third-party accessory makers will no doubt be scurrying to offer options. In a, perhaps surprising, move Apple built Vision Pro with modularity in mind.

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Road to VR

FEBRUARY 27, 2023

Chinese tech giant Xiaomi today showed off a prototype AR headset at Mobile World Congress (MWC) that wirelessly connects to the user’s smartphone, making for what the company calls its “first wireless AR glasses to utilize distributed computing.” Called Xiaomi Wireless AR Glass Discovery Edition, the device is built upon the same Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 Gen 1 chipset as Meta’s recently released Quest Pro VR standalone.

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Road to VR

FEBRUARY 23, 2023

Another Axiom, the indie studio behind wildly successful VR game Gorilla Tag, hinted that it’s now pursuing a project inspired by Echo VR. Kerestell ‘LemmingVR’ Smith, the lead creator of Gorilla Tag , originally started working on the game thanks to his love of Echo VR, the zero-g sports game created by the Meta-owned studio Ready at Dawn.

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Road to VR

FEBRUARY 22, 2023

Meta released the v50 update for Quest 2, bringing to the standalone some new experimental features that not only aim to make hand-tracked UI navigation a little more natural, but also bring 2D app multitasking to Quest 2 for the first time. One of the headlining features of v50 is something Meta is calling ‘Direct Touch’, which lets you tap and swipe through the Home UI.

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Road to VR

FEBRUARY 22, 2023

Schell Games, the team behind the I Expect You To Die franchise, announced the third game in the series is slated to arrive on VR headsets this year. Called I Expect You To Die 3: Cog in the Machine , the latest installment of the spy-flavored puzzle-adventure is expected to come to Meta Quest 2 and SteamVR headsets later this year. The studio hasn’t mentioned PSVR 2 support yet, although it’s likely we’ll be waiting on a bigger announcement surrounding PSVR 2 versions of both

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Road to VR

NOVEMBER 22, 2022

Japanese VR studio Thirdverse today revealed it’s raised $15 million, something the Swords of Gargantua developer says will be used to expand global recruitment and develop new Web3 and VR titles. In its latest round, MZ Web3 Fund has signed on as the lead investor, bringing the company’s overall outside funding to $33 million. As an investor in Thirdverse, MZ Web3 Fund joins 8DAO, B Dash Ventures, double jump.tokyo Inc., Fenbushi Capital, FLICK SHOT, Holdem Capital, KUSABI, OKCoinJa

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Road to VR

NOVEMBER 21, 2022

What would happen if you had baseball bats instead hands? Triband, the indie studio behind madcap golfing game WHAT THE GOLF? (2020) , have released a new VR game that conveniently answers that eternal question. Called WHAT THE BAT? , the built-for-VR game gets you swinging through a series of increasingly silly minigames that Triband says is “about so much more than baseball.” The concept is pretty simple: use your bats with precision as you swing (and deftly manipulate) through ove

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Road to VR

OCTOBER 1, 2022

D-Link announced a new Wi-Fi 6 dongle designed for Quest 2 that provides a dedicated wireless connection to your PC, letting you play PC VR games without the hassle of long cables or needing an exceptionally good router. VR Air Bridge (DWA-F18) is said to include D-Link’s Wi-Fi 6 firmware and Meta’s proprietary VR algorithms for low latency wireless connectivity and improved Wi-Fi efficiency, essentially serving up a plug-and-play solution that’s both compact and simple to inst

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Road to VR

JUNE 30, 2022

VR indie studio Bit Planet Games tweeted out a photo yesterday of what appears to be the first spotting of PlayStation VR 2 in the wild. The tweet has since been deleted by the studio, which claims it was faked. Bit Planet, which is known for its series of Ultrawings VR flying games, tweeted the message “Guess what’s coming to PSVR2? (Right answers only),” implying that Ultrawings is making its way to Sony’s upcoming VR headset for PS5.

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Road to VR

JUNE 29, 2022

Immerse , a startup focusing on teaching languages in VR, has launched a social app on Quest 2 which lets subscribers take part in live Spanish or English lessons, peer-to-peer conversation practice, and weekly community events. When Immerse first secured a $1.5 million Series A investment in late 2020 most of the world was working and going to school from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Road to VR

MAY 16, 2022

If you’re looking to jump into either Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (2017) or Resident Evil Village (2021) on a PC VR headset, you’ll need a mod to get your kicks. Now modder ‘Praydog’, who has developed a number of unofficial RE mods, says a new controller update is coming to both games soon which will bring full 6DOF support, which means you’ll soon be able to take on the universe’s myriad of wicked creatures mano a mano.

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Road to VR

MAY 12, 2022

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg talked a bit about the company’s upcoming high-end VR headset Project Cambria today and what it can do. The headset is still basically under wraps, however Zuckerberg showed off a bit of the experience of using the device, giving us a good look at Cambria’s color passthrough function, which allows it do some pretty convincing augmented reality tasks.

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Road to VR

MAY 11, 2022

Developers Resolution Games unveiled their upcoming VR sport Ultimechs in late 2021, although it wasn’t clear from the cinematic trailer exactly what sort of game we were dealing with. Now the studio has tossed out its first gameplay trailer, showing off some very Rocket League- inspired action mixed with teleporting, missile-firing mechs. Ultimechs promises to serve up 2v2 multiplayer matches which is said to be based on “precise punches and impeccable reaction times,” the s

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Road to VR

MAY 10, 2022

VR glove creator Manus has launched pre-orders for its latest device, Quantum Metagloves, an input solution targeted at enterprise users. The Netherlands-based company is looking to offer up more precise finger tracking than not only its past VR gloves, but also optical trackers current used in the industry. Manus launched pre-orders for Quantum Metagloves last week, stating that expected shipping begins sometime in early Q3, which could likely take place in the September timeframe.

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Road to VR

MARCH 25, 2022

At GDC 2022 this week, VR glove creator Manus revealed its new Quantum Metagloves which the company says delivers significantly more accurate finger tracking than its prior solutions. Though priced for enterprise use, the company says it one day hopes to deliver the tech to consumers. Manus has been building motion gloves for use in real-time VR and motion capture for years now, with prior offerings being based on IMU and flex-sensor tracking.

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Road to VR

MARCH 23, 2022

The National Football League (NFL) and sports tech company StatusPRO , announced at GDC 2022 that they’re partnering to create an NFL-licensed VR game, which is targeting Meta Quest and PSVR. The game, which is still unnamed, is said to “bring fans closer to the gridiron than ever before, allowing them to play like a professional football player through a first-person 3D immersive experience.” StatusPRO says the NFL game aims to “recreate what it actually feels like to st

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Road to VR

MARCH 23, 2022

The studio behind MOTHERGUNSHIP (2018) announced it’s releasing a VR reimagining of the roguelike shooter this summer on Meta Quest 2 and SteamVR headsets. Dubbed MOTHERGUNSHIP: FORGE, developers Terrible Posture Games says the roguelike bullet-hell shooter is releasing on June 16th, 2022. Like the original, the game focuses on first-person shooting madness against a robot alien horde. 1 of 3.

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