More Quest 3S Photo Leaks Reveal Its Battery Size & Lack Of Headphone Jack

The clearest Quest 3S photos yet have leaked. They confirm it lacks a headphone jack and reveal its battery size.

The nine images were shared to the Virtual Reality Channel of Arca, a South Korean forum site somewhat similar to Reddit. It's unclear where they originate from, but the background setting resembles what we've seen before in regulatory testing labs.

The images show the headset from the front, top, bottom, rear, and both sides. This comprehensive view confirms that it's the first Meta headset to lack a 3.5mm headphone jack. This seemed apparent from previously leaked renders, but these photos confirm it.

One of the images even shows the headset's regulatory label, revealing its battery capacity is rated at 16.74Wh. That places it between Quest 2 and Quest 3. But don't expect it to have notably more battery life than Quest 2 or less than Quest 3.

The much higher resolution color passthrough means Quest 3S should draw more energy than Quest 2, but since fresnel lenses are more optically efficient than pancake lenses, it won't need to run the display panel as bright as Quest 3. All things considered, we'd expect Quest 3S to have a very similar battery life to Quest 2 and Quest 3.

Location Capacity
Apple Vision Pro Tethered 35.9Wh
Pico 4 Ultra Rear Padding 22Wh
Meta Quest Pro Rear Padding 20.6Wh
Pico 4 Rear Padding 20.4Wh
Meta Quest 3 Visor 18.9Wh
Meta Quest 3S Visor 16.7Wh
Meta Quest 2 Visor 14Wh

Another of the leaked photos suggests Quest 3S will come with an 18W charger, the same as Quest 3, and another shows a hand controller that looks to be identical to Quest 3's Touch Plus controllers.

This leak comes less than two weeks before Meta Connect, the company's annual conference where it's expected to launch Quest 3S.

Quest 3S: Meta's Leaky Next Headset

This is far from the first time we've seen leaked images of Quest 3S, despite the headset not yet being announced by Meta.

The headset's design first appeared in a leaked presentation from a Meta "Design System Research study" back in March, though at the time many dismissed this as fake.

A Quest 3S was seemingly present in the background of a video posted by Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth in June, and Bosworth even replied at the time with a teasing confirmation.

In late July a VR headset accessory maker shared what appeared to be the first clear image of Quest 3S, and last week an official render of the headset was found in the Meta Quest Link PC files as Chinese accessory makers started selling accessories for the headset, complete with apparent images of it.

Quest 3S ‘Action Button’ Described On Official Meta Page
Official Meta support pages now reference Quest 3S, and one describes it as having a new button to toggle passthrough.

Yesterday official Meta support pages started referencing Quest 3S, and one described it as having a new button to toggle passthrough. These pages have since been updated to remove these references.

Quest 3S: What Exactly Is It?

A wide range of leaks and reports, including Meta's hardware roadmap leaking in 2023, reveal Quest 3S is a cheaper version of Quest 3 intended to replace Quest 2 in Meta's lineup.

Quest 3S will reportedly feature the same Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chipset and color passthrough mixed reality capabilities as Quest 3, but use the old fresnel lenses and single panel from Quest 2 to achieve a price between $300 and $400.

XR2 Gen 2: Quest 3’s New GPU More Than Twice As Powerful
Quest 3 is the first headset to feature Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chipset, with up to 2.5x more GPU performance and 8x AI performance. More details here:

Effectively, Quest 3S should be a cheaper Quest 3 with a bulkier design, inferior lens clarity, and lower resolution. A lower quality device, but with the same content, features, and capabilities. It should let more people enjoy Quest 3 VR graphics, and vastly expand the room-aware mixed reality market too.

ICYMI This Week – Brazen Blaze, Pencil!, Freeland, Frenzy Extinction & More

Our latest VR news roundup is live, with a few additional stories you may have missed.

With VR hardware, Meta Quest 3S leaks continue to emerge before its suspected reveal at Connect 2024. Meta also confirmed it has no plans to release motion trackers like Pico's. Sony announced that PS5 Pro will automatically upscale PSVR 2 games in a future update, and one developer got the Sense Controller's adaptive triggers working on PC. Reports emerged that future Apple Vision headsets may use regular OLED panels, while visionOS 2 will be released next week. Finally, a Varjo headset is being used to help train Ukrainian pilots.

For VR gaming, XR Games committed to Hitman 3 VR: Reloaded improvements and released a 'Day Four' patch. Human Fall Flat VR is official, Swordsman VR tied with Beat Saber on the PSVR 2 download charts, and the Mars Garden Course for Walkabout Mini Golf is now available. Other stories emerged for POOLS VR, Metamorphosis VR, Hellsweeper, One True Path, NFL Pro Era, Track Craft, Unity, Crimen, Dungeons of Eternity, Mannequin, Vestiges, and Pistol Whip.

We've also continued publishing more impressions following events like Gamescom, Venice Immersive, and PAX West. That includes our thoughts on Arizona Sunshine Remake, Five Nights at Freddy's: Secret of the Mimic, Chernobyl Again, Memoreum, and Sword Reverie.

As for broader VR entertainment, Emperor - a 40-minute VR movie about a father suffering from Aphasia - is now available for free on Quest. Elsewhere, Apple Immersive Video is taking you to Hawaii and onto the field with Super Bowl LVIII highlights.

You can find our complete list of articles here, but if you're after more details, here are this week's five VR news stories that we initially missed:


Brazen Blaze Season 1 - Act 3 Is Now Live

Brazen Blaze kicked off the next part of its opening season with a new stage, Paris (Evening). Other Season 1 Act 3 updates include mouse and keyboard controls on Steam for controlling the camera in custom matches, a new rental system for cosmetics, and new Skybolt and Levin items. Battle Passes no longer have an "upgrade" feature, so all Act 3 rewards are available as you level up.


MR Drawing App Pencil! Is Now Available On Quest In Early Access

The mixed reality education tool Pencil! is now available in early access on Quest 3 and Quest Pro. The art app promises step-by-step lessons for drawing in mixed reality. It uses a Quest 3 controller as a paperweight to overlay instructions on top of a piece of physical paper you can draw on with a traditional pencil.


Team-Based Multiplayer Sequel Frenzy Extinction Is Out Now On Quest & Steam

Published by Clique Games, Frenzy Extinction is now available on Quest and Steam following previous playtests. A new multiplayer sequel to Frenzy VR set in a post-apocalyptic fantasy world, your team is tasked with confronting hordes of mutated monsters called "The Ridden" in physics-based combat.


MR Combat Game Guardian Of Realms Launches Next Week On Quest 3

Guardian of Realms, a new MR combat game from the Swordsman VR studio, confirmed a release date. It includes two modes at launch - 'Sandbox Mode' offers full control over enemies' type, frequency, and difficulty, while 'Survival Mode' involves protecting a sacred crystal at all costs. That's arriving on September 17 on Quest 3.


Freeland Is A Free-To-Play Galactic VR Adventure On Quest & Steam Early Access

Developed by Andromeda Entertainment, Freeland is a free-to-play VR galactic online adventure coming to Steam and Quest on September 19 in early access.

"The galaxy is under threat, with the rogue architect Ventax endangering the very fabric of reality. Players must rise to the challenge, forging alliances, engaging in epic battles, and uncovering ancient secrets to bring peace to Freeland," states the studio in a press release.


Other Updates

Looking for further VR news stories? Here's everything else we've spotted this week.


If you'd like to inform us about a VR game we should know about for this article or future updates, you can use our contact page or email tips@uploadvr.com with details.

Bootstrap Island Promises The VR Survival Game Of My Dreams

I’m a big survival game fan. I love punching trees or picking up rocks and sticks to make tools. However, these games often discount the greatest tools humans were ever gifted with: your own two hands. Fortunately, Bootstrap Island makes full use of them.

At Gamescom, I played the latest version of this early access SteamVR game from Maru VR Productions. The studio recently added a simple building mechanic, though you can only make fences and gates right now. There are plans to expand this mechanic while adding features like food spoilage, boots, and new bosses this fall.

Like many survival games, I find myself stranded on a desert island. I love pirates, so I like to think I'm one who got blasted overboard during a ship capture gone awry. Unlike most survival games, rather than gathering resources to build tools, I can use my hands to do everything I want.

If I need to drink, I can smash a coconut against a boulder and rip its rind off if I need to drink. Then I'll bash it into the boulder again to split the coconut in two, drinking the sweet water within by holding it up to my face. I could also poke holes in the top with a knife I found in a locked chest. This method stopped any water from spilling out when it cracked open. I could also eat the flesh, piece-by-piece with my hands, by holding it up to my gob.

Opening the locked chest involves finding a rock to whack it open. Seeing the sparks flying off the metal gave me an idea. I gathered the spent coconut rind and placed some nearby sticks and planks on top of it, then got the rock in one hand, locked chest in another, and created sparks until I had a roaring bonfire going. That’s the beauty of creating intuitive systems like this.

The island quickly shifts from friend to foe when day turns to night. Luckily, my fire keeps the nasty critters that come out during the dark at bay, and the next day, I found guns and a water bottle in more chests scattered along the shore. These required manual reloading, and I accidentally broke my bottle when I dropped something on it.

There aren’t a ton of things you can do in Bootstrap Island yet as an early access game, so I’m looking forward to the fall update. Venturing further into the island’s jungle, fighting bosses, and keeping an eye on the very active volcano, all while managing my health and needs, sounds like a fun expansion on some already solid gameplay systems. This survival game feels for what VR is best at: putting you and your two hands into a new world.

Bootstrap Island is available now on Steam Early Access, and the full release targets the first half of 2025.

Sony Fixed The PlayStation VR2 On PC Distortion Issue We Noted In Our Review

Sony updated PlayStation VR2's firmware to fix the rotational distortion issue we noted in our review of the PC adapter.

In our review of the PSVR 2 PC adapter, I praised how it delivers a unique OLED PC VR headset with stunning colors and contrast, at the cost of a softer image with a mura pattern.

But I also noted a strange and distracting image distortion issue when rotating our head side-to-side horizontally, one that didn't occur when using the headset on a PlayStation 5, and didn't happen with any other VR headset on my PC. And as we made clear, this wasn't reprojection, because even when I manually disabled all forms of reprojection the issue persisted, and it happened even in graphically simplistic scenes.

PlayStation VR2 PC Adapter Review: Bare Minimum OLED
PlayStation VR2’s PC adapter is out today, and we’ve been testing it for the past few days. Here’s what we think of PSVR 2 as a PC VR headset.

With version 2.0.0 of the PlayStation VR2 app for PC, released today, Sony has updated the headset's firmware to fix this issue. I just tested it and can confirm the issue is no longer present - it's fully fixed for me.

The update also allows AMD graphics card users to adjust the headset's refresh rate, choosing between 90Hz and 120Hz. Previously this was only possible with NVIDIA graphics cards.

Note that to access all the fixes and improvements of 2.0.0, you'll need to launch the PlayStation VR2 app on Steam, turn on your headset and controllers, and click 'update' on each.

Separately, TP-Link has made available a special firmware version for its UB500/UB5A Bluetooth USB adapter that it says could fix the lag issues some owners were experiencing with the PSVR 2 Sense controllers.

With the rotational distortion issue now solved, PlayStation VR2 becomes a lot easier to recommend as a PC VR headset. But as I noted in our review, it will depend on personal preference: do you prefer the rich and deep but soft and noisy image of PSVR 2's OLED, or the sharp and clear but dull and muted offering of its LCD competitors?

Best VRChat Worlds: Top Places To Visit & Explore

Over the past couple of months, we've explored some of the most compelling, imaginative, and breathtaking worlds VRChat has to offer, and today we're highlighting the worlds that stood out and left a lasting impression on us.

These picks are our top choices as of the publish date, but we're always eager to hear about more extraordinary worlds and will plan to update this list in the future. If you're a world creator with major updates to an existing world, or you know of any amazing destinations that we should check out next, drop us a line at tips@uploadvr.com.  

Of the worlds we've visited from our existing community recommendations, here's our list of the best worlds to explore, not ranked in any particular order.

The TC Falcon II And Planet Funkatron

Creator: TC_Pool 

0:00
/1:30

There is so much happening in here that it is hard to really convey, and creator TC_Pool isn't gonna help much by describing it on the world‘s VRChat landing page as “A HUGE world․ Very immersive․ Far too buck wild to explain here․ Explore the ship‚ Explore the planet‚ fly brooms‚ drink potions‚ learn the lore‚ quest‚ zest‚ and much more․” 

All I can say is that this world is a spectacle for the senses with lots to do so the next time you’re in VRChat be sure to book a trip on the TC Falcon II and visit Planet Funkatron because you definitely don’t want to miss out on this “Buck Wild” experience! 

ORGANISM Trilogy

Creator: DrMorro 

0:00
/1:16

The Organism Trilogy of worlds from DrMorro delivers unexpected sights around every corner. A moment captured in our footage shows twisting skyscrapers that are breathtaking to behold, with surprising moments to discover throughout each of these spaces and no definitive answer.

Namuanki

Creator: Kevin Mack 

0:00
/1:06

Namuanki is an ancient aquatic oasis from the distant future inspired by the creator's profound love for the sky, clouds, ocean, and rocks. This world invites you to explore towering rock formations and a vast ocean under the mesmerizing skybox dotted by volumetric clouds that look fantastic. These intricate environments are handcrafted by visionary artist Kevin Mack, who has incorporated his passion for scenic art into every pixel, ensuring that each visitor is enveloped in an atmosphere of tranquility and awe. 

As you traverse Namuanki, you'll encounter mystical beings that offer interactive experiences in the form of trippy visions that heighten the sense of connection to this extraordinary digital landscape. Each element of Namuanki, from the ocean’s calming textures to the ice caves, reflects the creator’s background in visual effects and his fascination with both natural and otherworldly settings. Namuanki provides an emotionally rich and visually stunning experience that curious explorers won’t want to miss so if you haven't already, make sure to bookmark this world, because I have a feeling you're going to want to come back. 

 77077 Arcade & Bar 

Creator: OtaKing77077 

0:00
/1:03

Let's step back in time to visit a city block circa 1994. In 77077 Arcade & Bar we find a world that is steeped in the nostalgia of a time when hanging out at the local arcade or renting games and movies at your favorite Blockbuster Video store was always a great time. Designed with meticulous attention to the smallest details, this world features both a recreation of a Blockbuster Video store and an arcade that seemingly serves as a museum of video gaming history, offering several cabinets and consoles to view and learn more about. Visiting this arcade and the Blockbuster store perfectly captures the magic of the 1990s, making this world an unmissable destination for those looking to relive the glory days.

Complex 7 

Creator: Fins 

0:00
/1:29

Venture into the realm of Complex 7 by Fins, an extraordinarily detailed city seemingly frozen in time. In this world, the boundaries between mechanical and organic blur, with robots and animals coexisting in harmony. Walking through this world’s bustling streets, it’s easy to be immediately consumed by a sense of awe and wonder. The cityscape is meticulously detailed featuring graphics that rival many high-end PCVR games we see released lately.Each new corner of the city offers a discovery, and every interaction with the inhabitants reveals fragments of their backstories.

The world of Complex 7 is dark, and the industrial aesthetic, combined with nicely done atmospheric soundscapes, creates an immersive experience that captivates both the senses and the imagination. As you delve deeper, the secrets of Complex 7 gradually come to light, rewarding explorers with a rich narrative that leaves a lasting impression.

Cosmoria: VR Museum of Space 

Creator: vsp_vrc 

0:00
/1:46

Cosmoria: VR Museum of Space commemorates the legacy of space exploration. This meticulously crafted virtual museum takes you on an educational voyage through our exploration of space, featuring detailed exhibits on planetary systems, star formations, and cosmic mysteries. As you navigate through the vast expanse of the universe, the level of detail and visual fidelity that you can achieve with a high-powered PC setup becomes immediately apparent. This is both enlightening and immersive, offering a fully featured space museum wherever your PC rig is connected to VRChat. This is a destination for space enthusiasts and curious VR travelers that should definitely get bookmarked for later. 

Ocarina of Time 3D 

Creator: GigiSpahz 

0:00
/1:29

Travelers can take a nostalgic journey into the iconic Hyrule as seen in the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Experience the realm brought to life with incredible detail in this non playable VR rendition that allows you to explore iconic locations like Kokiri Forest, Hyrule Castle, and Death Mountain, all reimagined with stunning accuracy. Whether your goal is to relive cherished memories, or just experiencing this classic game world for the first time, the immersive quality provided here with a powerful PC VR setup amplifies the magic and wonder of this timeless game world. Fans of the original game, and new explorers alike, will find a sense of joy and nostalgia around every corner. 

Far Citizen: Elite Mining

Creator: KitKat 

0:00
/1:34

Do you want to traverse the vast depths of space in a world that captures the essence of cosmic resource extraction? Set in a future where space excavation is a lucrative form of employment, Far Citizen: Elite Mining invites explorers to operate advanced spacecraft where they will warp to new destinations, extracting precious ores from floating asteroids. The immersive mechanics and realistic space environments make this not just a visual spectacle, but also an engaging strategic experience similar to what players might find in Elite Dangerous or Star Citizen. For fans of space exploration and industrial simulation, this world is a must-visit destination in VRChat. 

Magnetize 

Creator: Juice․․․ 

0:00
/1:51

Transport to the nostalgic and interactive world of Magnetize. Awarded Best Immersive World at Raindance Immersive 2023, Magnetize combines surreal visuals with a touch of nostalgia. This one is a bit hard to describe, so we'll leave that to the creator here: 

'The air is thick with the scent of mothballs and old books․ Sparse trinkets and treasures fill shelves and the old TV emits a familiar tone․ You trace wires down to a game console then notice a comically oversized magnet sitting nearby․ No doubt part of an old science kit․ That TV needs to be replaced anyway‚ why not have some photoelectric fun while you’re here?' 

Magnetize thrives on novel interactions and immersive ambience. The creator of this world delved deep into how magnets affect tube TVs, crafting a world where you can have some fun with simulated magnetic fields while reminiscing about the sciences of decades past making Magnetize is a fascinating blend of science and nostalgia that curious virtual travelers will surely want to experience for themselves. 

Aquarius

Creator: Fins 

0:00
/2:30

Our final destination sees us plunging into the mesmerizing depths of Aquarius. This captivating world brings the beauty and mystery of underwater ecosystems to life. Artfully designed, Aquarius immerses you in a vibrant, aquatic biome where stunning visuals are just the beginning. 

Through the glass of the habitat you can explore detailed underwater scenery teeming with exotic marine life. The world is alive with movement and color, creating a sense of wonder and tranquility. But Aquarius isn't just about visuals, it's also an educational experience. Interactive displays on the walls and tablets laying about provide fascinating insights into various marine species and their habitats, making it both entertaining and informative. 

Whether you're chilling in the conversation pit watching your favorite weekly VR gaming podcast on the in-world video player, shooting some pool in the lounge or just petting one of the many virtual cats in this world, it's clear that Aquarius offers a must-visit destination for anyone looking to escape and relax under the sea. 

Conclusion 

And there you have it—the top 10 VRChat worlds right now, as recommended by our community and curated during our VRChat Worlds Spotlight series. Each of these locations showcases the incredible creativity and diversity within VRChat, and we couldn't be more excited to see what future updates and new worlds await us. 

Remember, this is not the end but rather a new beginning! If you're a creator with an update or you know of a world that could be a contender for our next list, please reach out to tips@uploadvr.com. We're also setting our sights on other social VR platforms, so stay tuned as we continue this journey. Until then, keep exploring! 

Discovering FNAF: Secret Of The Mimic At PAX West 2024

One of the hottest demos at PAX West 2024 came from the Five Nights at Freddy’s team, which offered a preview of Secret of the Mimic on PlayStation VR2.

PAX West 2024 was a big show for FNAF in general, with one of the largest booths in the expo hall. Attendees could celebrate the franchise’s tenth anniversary with a series of regularly scheduled birthday parties, held in a big open mock-up of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza in its heyday. The Five Nights at Freddy's: Secret of the Mimic VR demo was in an enclosed space nearby, with a packed line on every day of the convention.

0:00
/0:42

Secret of the Mimic is the 11th game in the FNAF series and the fourth developed by Steel Wool Studios. While it’s best known at this point for Five Nights at Freddy's, Steel Wool has a long history in VR on its own. Its other VR games include Bounce, Mars Odyssey, and Quar: Battle for Gate 18, all of which came out in 2016.

The demo consists of two short levels, both featuring elaborate chase sequences through a dilapidated toy factory. As the title suggests, the Mimic – first seen in the 2022 prose anthology Tales from the Pizzaplex #1 – is the primary antagonist of Secret of the Mimic. However, I didn’t see him in this demo. Instead, I was pursued through the factory’s back offices and maintenance corridors by a new enemy named Jackie, because sometimes, games journalism means you volunteer to get repeatedly murdered by a mechanical clown/spider.

The demo starts in the office of a factory building, which looked abandoned but still largely operational. The lights were still on, and the general impression I got was that this place had shut down for the night at some point but had never been allowed to reopen. Progressing requires activating a giant jack-in-the-box in a storeroom, which reveals the enormous marionette inside. This lets me take the crank, which is used on a nearby device to open the next door but also sets the marionette loose on you.

This is Jackie: half of a deranged robot jester that drags itself around the factory on its two enormous, extendable arms. She’s got no lower half because she yanked herself free of her box to come choke me out. Good times. I was first pursued into an office, where a robot cheerfully went about “sorting” (read: shredding) all the mail it can reach, that is until Jackie finds you. You must pull-start a generator to open a nearby doorway, but the floor collapses beneath you shortly thereafter.

The rest of the demo involves staying one step ahead of Jackie, who's always right on my heels. Secret of the Mimic puts a lot of effort into its chase sequences, where any time you miss a necessary step or take an extra second to figure out what to do, Jackie will instantly cancel your birthday.

The next few minutes are a series of quick scares and quicker decisions. The path through the factory is littered with ventilation shafts, switches you need to pull, and crumbling catwalks, with Jackie right behind me the entire time. Even when she can’t reach me, she's always audible, if not visible, skittering around in the shadows like a spider.

It's a harrowing experience with very little margin for error. The floor demo features typical locomotion with a 90-degree perspective snap that's bound to the right analog stick. In a decent quality-of-life option, anything I could interact with is given a blue outline as soon as it enters my range, and each area is carefully lit to highlight necessary features like gate switches. If you’re looking for a decent entry-level VR game, as well as one that’ll scare somebody’s pants off, Secret of the Mimic seems to have you covered.

Five Nights at Freddy’s: Secret of the Mimic arrives in 2025 for PC, PS5, and PlayStation VR2.

Why Starlink On Flights Will Be A Game Changer For Headsets Like Meta Quest & Apple Vision

The arrival of reliable high-speed internet on airline flights will be transformative for standalone headsets.

If you didn't catch the news, United Airlines announced today that it will install SpaceX's Starlink internet service on all of its aircraft to deliver free high-speed low-latency Wi-Fi for all its passengers. It won't be active on flights until late 2025, but I expect other major airlines will quickly follow suit.

Any time I've flown to and from the US I've experienced just how bad geostationary satellite internet is. These legacy satellites are in such a high orbit they have noticeable latency for real-time use cases like gaming and calls, and serve so many clients per satellite that they offer low bandwidth to each. Worse, they're unreliable, with frequent dropouts throughout the flight. After 8-12 hours of trying to get work done in these conditions, I'm usually far off track by the time I land.

0:00
/0:15

One of Apple's core pitches for Vision Pro is to give you a personal 4K HDR cinema screen anywhere you go, including on airplanes. This is possible on flights today because platforms like Apple TV, Disney+, and Prime Video support on-device downloads on visionOS for offline viewing. Simply choose your movies and TV shows in advance and they'll be ready to go on your flight.

But notably, Netflix doesn't. And the app store of the seven times cheaper Meta Quest 3 doesn't have any of these streaming platforms, meaning there's no official way to download movies and TV shows for a flight at all. It's a limitation that currently severely limits the real-world utility of the Travel Mode Horizon OS got in May.

Quest 2 & Quest 3 Get Travel Mode For Use On Airplanes
Quest 2 and Quest 3 now have an “experimental” Travel Mode to make their positional tracking work on airplanes.

But Starlink is poised to change this. In contrast to legacy satellite internet, Starlink has far more satellites orbiting at a far lower altitude. Almost anywhere on Earth, it can provide the same kind of latency and bandwidth you get at home. It's a transformative technology that changes the global dynamics of internet access.

On a flight with Starlink, you should be able to simply open the web browser on your headset and access Netflix or Disney+ as you would at home, streaming whatever you want. You should also be able to stream Apple Immersive Video content on your Vision Pro.

Using a headset on a flight gives you a better cinema experience than even first-class passengers - an enormous (and entirely private) virtual screen light years ahead of the tiny dim LCD built into the back of the seat in front of you. And with Starlink, this personal cinema screen will play whatever you want, not limited to what you've downloaded or painstakingly sideloaded.

The biggest drawback today, of course, is the weight and discomfort of these headsets, as well as the off-putting aesthetic of some like Quest 3. But with Apple reportedly planning a lighter and cheaper Vision headset for next year and Meta reportedly working on a sleeker Quest 4 for 2026 and ultralight glasses-like headset for 2027, by the time Starlink is widespread it could be normal to see swathes of passengers on long-distance flights donning these headsets, a core use case for VR and mixed reality.

Quest 3S 'Action Button' Referenced On Official Meta Support Page

Official Meta support pages now reference Quest 3S, and one describes it as having a new button to toggle passthrough.

First spotted by VR enthusiast Luna, the 'Full-color Passthrough on Meta Quest' support article now describes how this new button acts as a toggle between passthrough and immersive VR, replacing the unreliable double tap of previous Quest headsets:

Another article, called 'Status display light colors on Meta Quest 3 and Meta Quest 3S' references the repeatedly leaked headset too:

This isn't the first time Meta has accidentally leaked the name Quest 3S. The official Quest Store accidentally listed Quest 3S as supported by some games at the end of May.

In June Meta's CTO essentially confirmed that a Quest 3S was present in the background of a video he posted, and last week an official render of the headset was found in the Meta Quest Link PC files.

That render in the PC files may even clearly show the action button, positioned just behind the volume buttons on the bottom of the headset:

These support page updates come less than two weeks before Meta Connect 2024, the company's annual conference where it's expected to launch Quest 3S.

Quest 3S: Meta's Next Headset

A wide range of sources over the past year, including Meta's hardware roadmap leaking in 2023, suggest Quest 3S is a cheaper version of Quest 3 intended to replace Quest 2 in Meta's lineup.

Quest 3S will reportedly feature the same Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chipset and color passthrough mixed reality capabilities as Quest 3, but use the old fresnel lenses and single panel from Quest 2 to achieve a price between $300 and $400.

For a full rundown of Meta Quest 3S's hardware and how it should compare to Quest 3 and Quest 2, read our leaks and rumors roundup from June.

Crimen – Mercenary Tales Brings Fantasy Adventure To PSVR 2 Today

Crimen - Mercenary Tales reaches PlayStation VR2 later this week.

Developed by Carbon Studio (Hunt Together, The Wizards), you may recall Crimen - Mercenary Tales previously launched last year on most major VR platforms. A VR action-adventure with puzzles and comic book-style visuals, Crimen's story takes place across eight stories in the 17th century, tasking you with exploring castles, pirate ships, ancient temples, and more.

0:00
/1:30

On PlayStation VR2, Crimen includes enhancements like 4K textures, dynamic shadows, improved lighting, and metallic effects on weapons. While it doesn't support features like adaptive triggers or haptic feedback, Carbon Studio informed UploadVR that it will "try to deliver them as soon as possible after launch."

Coinciding with the PSVR 2 launch, Crimen will also receive a new update on Quest, Rift, and Steam. Carbon Studio confirmed the Quest 3 version now offers higher pixel density, while more widespread changes include balancing updates, more foliage, general bug fixing, and further optimization.

We had mixed thoughts in our review last year. Though we praised Crimen's humor and "interesting" premise, we criticized its short length and combat.

Crimen’s hack-and-slash gameplay has its moments and some of the stories offer up a decent mini-adventure. However, there’s only surface-level variety to the characters and enemies, with combat soon becoming tedious, even with the occasional unique weapon drops.

Crimen - Mercenary Tales launches on PlayStation VR2 today. Elsewhere, it's out now on Quest, Pico, Rift, and Steam.