Meta announced it’s adding an obligatory age confirmation feature on the Quest platform, which in addition to asking you for your real birthday, could also put up a hard barrier on younger users accessing apps that aren’t age appropriate.
Within the next few days users will be prompted in-headset to confirm their age by re-entering their birthdate, which essentially divides users according to three specific age groups: adults, teens and preteens.
Here’s what those tiers mean:
Adults (18+): Choose between private or public profiles, control visibility of activity, and manage follower interactions.
Teens (13-17): Default to private profiles, with teens having control over follower requests and activity visibility. Parental supervision tools are available.
Preteens (10-12): Require parental approval for account setup, with strict privacy settings and parental control over app access.
Users who don’t want to insert their real birthdates don’t seem to have much choice in the matter, it seems. Meta is allowing users a 30-day window to re-enter birthdates, otherwise Quest accounts may be temporarily blocked until you do.
Furthermore, the company says in the announcement blogpost that users will be able to resubmit previously incorrect birthdates by verifying with the company, which is done either by submitting an ID or a credit card.
While Meta accepts a number of ID forms, such as government-issued IDs and multiple non-government-issued cards like library cards and student cards, the company says in its ID acceptance guidelines they do allow you to cover any non-essential information on your ID beyond your photo and date of birth.
“On our app store, we want to make it easier for developers to better understand the ages of people who use their apps so they can provide age-appropriate experiences for preteens, teens, and adults. Parents, in turn, can trust that apps are providing the most age-appropriate experience and protections the app offers for their child’s age,” Meta says in the announcement.
Meta announced last year it was reducing age requirements for Quest users, bringing the previous 13+ minimum down to 10+. The policy change brought with it parent-managed accounts to the Quest platform for the first time, which allows parents to manage things like screen time limits, privacy and safety settings, and access to specific types of content, which will specify whether apps have a social component.
April Fool’s Day is more than just a time to pull harmless pranks. It’s also about putting on your ‘skeptic hat’ and really asking whether you can believe your eyes, as trusted companies and key figures in XR dropped a few doozies yesterday that are so great they’re terrible.
‘Virtual Boy Pro’ MR Headset
Nintendo actually teamed up with IGN to poke some serious fun at the biggest XR companies out there—but also apparently anyone who wanted the Japanese gaming giant to poke their heads back into the medium since it last released its Nintendo Labo VR kit in 2019, which brought not only a few fun VR mini-games to Switch, but also VR support for a number of Switch titles.
While the so-called ‘Virtual Boy Pro’ has seemingly better ergonomics than its 1995-era namesake, it still looks pretty dang front-heavy. Just the same, here’s the main copy from the fake reveal video, seen above:
Virtual Boy Pro turns the world around you into a new level from Nintendo’s most beloved video game properties. Super Mario: Home Run is an all new platforming adventure featuring everyone’s favorite plumber, but this time, he’ll be running, jumping and ground-pounding Goombas in your world. Virtual Boy Pro transforms any environment into an interactive level, allowing Mario and friends to interact seamlessly with your physical surroundings.
Nintendo and IGN promised Virtual Boy Pro players could also play augmented reality versions of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, as well as fictional games Link’s Korok Catcher,Animal Crossing: Moving Day, and Luigi’s Mansion 4.
Not only that, but Virtual Boy Pro was said to transform supported vacuum cleaner models by Dyson, Oreck, Shark or Bissell into Luigi’s Poltergust 3000, “creating a seamless integration between virtual ghost hunting and real-world housekeeping.”
If it wasn’t obvious by now, Virtual Boy Pro also promised to actually let you drivewhile playing fictional game Mario Kart: Open Road, which would “transform your daily commute to work into a 200cc Grand Prix race down Rainbow Road.”
‘Walkabout Mini Golf’ Legs Update
Walkabout Mini Golf is one of the bigger VR success stories, as the game has found solid footing among fans, letting developers Mighty Coconut attract some high-profile partnerships over the years to really flush out its paid DLC courses to include everything from the original MYST map to a new Wallace & Gromit course coming soon.
But what is really missing from the hit indie putt-putt golf game? Why, legs of course!
We pride ourselves in being responsive to player requests, so we’re happy to announce that you’re finally getting legs! Read all about it on our latest blog post: https://t.co/N4rLwrSDUnpic.twitter.com/NQpUXt5xnP
— Walkabout Mini Golf VR (@WalkaboutMG) April 1, 2024
The studio doesn’t lay it on too thick, as the linked blog post simply says “April Fools,” although you can’t help but wonder when the game that tasks you with walking about will include the game’s second most important limbs.
Virtual Desktop Developer Hired by Meta
Guy Godin, the developer of Virtual Desktop, has had a bit of a love-hate relationship with Meta over the years. While the highly-rated paid app has done very well on PC VR platforms as well as Quest, staying relevant as Meta ostensibly replicates a lot of your functionality has presented Godin with a constant battle to stay one step ahead of Quest’s baked-in functionality Air Link, which lets you stream PC VR games to Quest over Wi-Fi.
When we heard he was making the move to Meta Reality Labs, it was basically like hearing Canada was dissolving its border with the US—and of course being polite enough not to ask for a star on the flag while they were at it.
Tomorrow I’ll be starting a full time position at Meta Reality Labs! This means I’ll be exclusively supporting Meta headsets in future versions of the app. I’ll also release features and updates at a much slower cadence, without really testing stuff before it goes live.
Godin doesn’t mince words either. In a follow-up post, he promised he would also “make sure to take at least 6 months before adding 120hz support. I’ll also randomly remove or break features people use. Can’t wait!”
Pillow’s New Toilet Mode
Pillow is a mixed reality app from serial inventor and XR designer Lucas Rizzotto. The app is meant to be used laying down so you can do a host of relaxing things like transform your ceiling into an interactive night sky and unwind to rhythm-based breath-tracked meditations.
Rizzotto announced a new ‘toilet mod’ was coming to Pillow, which admittedly is the second most comfortable place in your home.
Not only does the fake update let you use Pillow in the toilet, but Rizzotto also teased the studio was announcing a new shower mode too, which would actually be pretty cool if the darn lenses didn’t fog up so much.
Doki Doki Leahs
Indie adventure RPG Dave the Diver (2023) isn’t a VR game, but developer MINTROCKET announced it was coming out with its own fake DLC which would include a VR love simulator based on Dave’s favorite anime idol, Leahs.
The fake Steam update says it even includes voiced lines in Korean, Japanese, English, Chinese, German, French, Vietnamese and Lithuanian.
What was your favorite April Fool’s joke this year in XR? Let us know in the comments below!
Your banana republic awaits, as the popular single-player city builder Tropico is now available on Quest.
Developers Feral Interactive and Kalypso Media Digital released Tropico on Quest, bringing Tropico 4 (2011) to VR for the first time in a direct port.
If you’ve never played the Tropico series, the classic city builder lets you take on the role of El Presidente, where you’re given the reigns of your own island-based nation, letting you transform the tropical paradise into an industrial powerhouse, a tourist playground and a budding superpower.
The VR adaptation includes everything from the original, including over 40 missions and an endlessly replayable Sandbox mode which were introduced in both the base game and DLC over the years.
You can get it on Quest, priced at $30. Feral Interactive, which handled porting the game to VR, says it’s also updated in-game artwork to better fit the platform, and made a major overhaul of the UI to make sure that all Tropico’s core tools and key information are easily accessible.
This is Feral Interactive’s first VR port; the studio has been involved in a number of mobile and Nintendo Switch ports over the years, including Alien: Isolation, Side Meier’s Railroads!, Hitman: Blood money – Reprisal, and more
Meta announced last year it was sunsetting the original Quest, which was first released in 2019. While many developers of new apps have since stopped including the nearly five year-old headset as a supported device, now the company says it’s taking choice out of the equation, as no new apps will be able to offer support for Quest 1 starting on April 30th.
The company announced the news in an email to developers, seen below:
Notice to Quest 1 Developers
As we announced last year, we are implementing important changes to Quest 1. Beginning on April 30, 2024, we will discontinue support for new Quest 1 apps. This means that new apps created after this date cannot list Quest 1 as supported hardware:
– You will not be able to upload builds for new apps that only support Quest 1 – Builds for new apps that support other Quest devices along with Quest 1 will be able to be uploaded, but Quest 1 support will be blocked – New apps will not be listed in the catalog of Quest 1 apps in the Meta Store – Quest 1 users will not be able to search or purchase new apps created after April 30, 2024
As a reminder, we will continue to maintain the system software with critical bug fixes and security patches through August 2024.
We thank you and the entire Quest 1 community for your efforts in growing this ecosystem.
Meta announced in January 2023 that first-party social apps Parties and Meta Horizon Home would no longer support Quest 1, marking the company’s initial steps in sunsetting its first 6DOF standalone VR headset.
A little over one year after the launch of Quest 1, Meta released its successor, Quest 2, which featured higher resolution displays (1,440 × 1,600 OLED vs 1,920 × 1,832 LCD) and a higher refresh rate (72 Hz vs up to 120 Hz) driven by a Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2—a significant upgrade over the Quest 1’s Snapdragon 835.
Quest (left) comapred to Quest 2 (right) | Photo by Road to VR
Now, already in the third generation with the release of Quest Pro in late 2022 and Quest 3 in late 2023, the company has moved on to include mixed reality passthrough as a headlining feature for its headsets moving forward.
Given the five-year life span of Quest 1, it’s possible we may see a similar path forward for Quest 2, giving developers and consumers just another year with the admittedly still very functional VR headset. Considering however the company is still selling Quest 2 alongside Quest 3 and Quest Pro, it remains to be seen whether its second-gen standalone will give up the ghost so quickly.
Meta announced it’s pushing a major change to Workrooms, its virtual collaboration space that connects both VR and video chat users. The overhaul is set to improve, but also remove a slate of features, so Meta is suggesting active users download important data before the update’s May 30th rollout.
Launched in 2021, Workrooms was designed to be a fully-functional virtual meeting space that leveraged a companion app for both PC or Mac, letting you stream your computer’s desktop and see your real keyboard via a small passthrough window in addition to chatting with users both in VR and on traditional monitors.
Meta says in a developer post its getting ready to improve Workrooms, which is set to feature a new room design and a simplified way to create and join meetings.
Here’s what Meta’s bringing to Workrooms come May 30th:
Book a meeting without creating a workroom first so you can share a link without having to be in the app. This also removes the ability to create a meeting in a workroom.
Allow anyone with the link to join your meetings or workroom, or restrict access to only allow people who are logged in to Workrooms. Hosts will also be able to restrict access to only members of the workroom.
More comfortable screen sharing, no matter where you’re sitting in VR.
Ability to resize and adjust the height and distance of virtual screens in your personal office, which saves automatically.
A new VR environment featuring a redesigned lake environment whenever you join a meeting or a workroom.
This comes alongside a host of features which are set to be scrapped from Workrooms entirely, including Whiteboards, posters, logos, environments and layouts, chat, files, links and tracked keyboards.
The company says that users should download important information from these soon-to-be deprecated features before May 30th, as associated data won’t be available for download after that cutoff date.
Major League Baseball’s batting simulator MLB Home Run Derby VR (2018) has left App Lab and is now available on the main Quest Store, which also comes alongside a few updates to the game.
Previously launched on PC VR in 2018 and on Quest via App Lab in 2021, MLB Home Run Derby VR lets you swing for the fences from the batter’s box of all 30 MLB ballparks.
Here’s how the MLB describes it:
Utilizing advanced motion controls and realistic batting mechanics, players will feel the rush of every swing as if they’re really at the ballpark. Whether you are a seasoned baseball aficionado or a casual fan, MLB Home Run Derby VR is sure to be an enjoyable experience for all!
The official launch on the main store also brings with it a few new features, including expanded player progression system, online clubhouse and trophy room, new achievements and quest system, online multiplayer, and Meta avatar and notification system integration.
While the official launch has also expanded the game’s leaderboard system—letting players now sort by score, longest home run or fastest exit velocity—the studio says it will be releasing more leaderboards and competitive enhancements later this year.
You can get MLB Home Run Derby VR on Quest and SteamVR, priced at $30. Check out the trailer below:
Previously launched on consoles and PC in 2022, the VR version of psychological horror game MADiSON was set to launch this month on PSVR 2 and SteamVR headsets. Now, just a day before its planned launch, the studio says it’s being delayed by “a few weeks” to allow the team to hit a higher framerate.
Perp Games and developer Bloodious Games announced the delay in a blogpost, noting that Unity’s recently released SDK would allow the team to hit 90Hz natively on PSVR 2 instead of the planned 60/120Hz interpolation mode.
“Our ambition is to create a realistic and daunting atmosphere with MADiSON VR. And we achieved this through realistic real-time lighting and shadows. These elements heavily utilise the CPU on all platforms,” the studio says.
While the team still hoped to hit its previously revised March 29th release, they maintain the opportunity afforded by the 90Hz mode “is really important and MADiSON VR should be released in it’s newly possible final form, and so we have made the difficult decision to delay the game by a few weeks.”
Madison VR is a full port of the first-person psychological horror, which centers around the original’s paranormal ‘instant camera’ which lets you connect the human world with the beyond, and also includes it many puzzles, creepy environment and lurking monsters. The game was initially slated to launch on Halloween 2023, however was delayed multiple times in the following months, which resulted in multiple release targets: February 20th, March 22nd and March 29th.
“We know this will be very disappointing to fans of VR and horror and we are sorry to have to bring you this news. But we believe this is the best action,” the studio says.
We’ll update this piece once the game has a firm release date, as it appears to truly be the last item on the list before launch on both PSVR 2 and SteamVR. In the meantime, check out this recent gameplay video below, courtesy of Perp Games:
Popular rhythm shooter Metal: Hellsinger (2022) is getting a VR version, bringing its frenetic action and metal-heavy soundtrack to all major VR headsets this year.
Games publisher Funcom and original developer The Outsiders announced that Metal: Hellsinger VR is being developed from the ground-up in collaboration with Lab42 Games, a Sumo Digital studio since 2020.
While a VR version has been a fan request for a while now, the game has now been confirmed to launch sometime this year on Quest 2/3/Pro, PSVR 2 and SteamVR headsets.
Image courtesy Funcom
Metal: Hellsinger VR is said to include the game’s original soundtrack, featuring artists such as Serj Tankian (System of a Down), Matt Heafy (Trivium), Alissa White-Gluz (Arch Enemy), Randy Blythe (Lamb of God), and more.
In addition to the usual array of weapons and demon baddies, the VR version will also lets you dual-wield pistols independently, reload manually, and slay to the beat with your blade, which the studios say will include room-scale play and stick-based standing and seated locomotion.
We’re hoping to hear about how it’s being brought to VR, as the original game (rated ‘Overwhelmingly Positive’ on Steam) offers up frenetic run and gun-style gameplay that is all about jumping impossible heights and blasting away at giant demons, which could be intense if ported directly without consideration for motion sickness.
Apple finally revealed when its Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) is happening this summer, and the company says it’s also slated to highlight some “advancements” on Vision Pro’s operating system, visionOS.
Coming June 10th – 14th, WWDC is set to feature updates to visionOS in addition to the regular deluge of stuff for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS.
It’s not certain what the company will have in store, however there are a few rumors out there worth considering the closer we head to the second week of June.
Marking one year since its initial unveiling, Apple CEO Tim Cook confirmed this week that Vision Pro is set to launch internationally in 2024, which also includes mainland China—a region where its competitor Meta can’t sell headsets. The timing on international rollout still isn’t clear however, making a WWDC announcement possible.
According to a recent report from MacRumors, Apple has been internally testing a new Apple Pencil that supports Vision Pro, which would allow it to work with XR drawing apps, such as Freeform and Pixelmator. To boot, the company recently published a patent for such a device, which could make it technically the headset’s first supported controller.
The most likely of prognostications: it’s also rumored we’ll be getting visionOS 2.0 at WWDC, which could come with a host of updates. We could see announcements surrounding its Personas avatars, improved Mac integration, Bluetooth mouse support, and updates to its hand and eye-tracking.
Like in years past, the company is holding WWDC online for free, however Apple will also be inviting a select few to join in person for an all-day event at Apple Park on Monday, June 10th. We’ll be following along then, so make sure to set your calendars.
Max Mustard may be a bit of a curveball when it comes to names, but this traditional 3D platformer reimagined for VR delivers in nearly every other way, serving up some very Astro Bot Rescue Mission (2018) and Lucky’s Tale (2016) vibes in the process.
Max Mustard Details:
Available On: Quest 2/3/Pro (coming later to Steam & PSVR 2) Reviewed On: Quest 3 Release Date: March 21st, 2024 Price: $30 Developer: Toast Interactive
Gameplay
Max Mustard isn’t reinventing the wheel here: it’s a solid, extremely well-built 3D platformer that, for all its positives, is a pretty standard experience overall if you’ve played any 3D platformer in the past 30 years, flatscreen or otherwise.
That’s probably the most negative thing I’ll say about this plucky little adventure, which tasks you with guiding the eponymous rocket-boot-clad companion through a world of fairly easy enemies, less easy environmental stuff, and four boss encounters that follow the strict orthodoxy of a ‘hurt it three times and it dies’ variety.
Image courtesy Toast Interactive
While the story is fairly forgettable—delivered almost entirely through letters that pop up at the end of levels—the action rarely disappoints, as you’re served up straight shots through 40 bespoke levels, many of which harken back to the Super Mario titles from the late ’80s and early ’90s.
That said, there isn’t a ton of enemy variety, as all baddies regardless of movement or attack style only take a single bonk on the head to kill, making enemies less interesting than the admittedly very cool environmental gadgets that you start encountering around the second (of four) worlds. Those fun and inventive moving platforms and increasingly difficult environmental traps are the real stars of the show here, it seems.
And if you haven’t noticed from the clip above, Max Mustard is unabashedly a love letter to those platformers past and present, like Crash Bandicoot and Super Mario World, and the more recent Super Mario 3D Land, but also the headlining VR platformers of today too, including the illustrious Astro Bot Rescue Mission on PSVR and Lucky’s Tale on PC VR, PSVR and Quest. With the level of fit and finish, and first-person interaction (more on that below), you might even think of Max Mustard as the Astro Bot of the Quest platform.
And like those platformers from years past, Max Mustard also offers up the familiar overworld map that takes you linearly to the final boss battle, which (no spoilers!) satisfyingly puts together all of the skills you learned throughout the game.
Overworld map | Image captured by Road to VR
Along the way you’ll find minigames and the occasional shop too where you can spend coins on abilities, such as extra hearts, coin bonuses, and new combat moves. You’ll want (but probably not really need) those new moves too, as levels start to ramp in difficulty around world three, which introduces some challenging environmental obstacles, like boxes that disappear and reappear to the beat of the game’s soundtrack, torrents of cannonballs, one-use jump pads, and more. Having an extra heart, a better attack move, or rocket boots that do damage to enemies is all a neat bonus to help out.
You wouldn’t be far off in calling Max Mustard the “spiritual successor” to Sony’s Astro Bot, because like Astro Bot every so often you’re given first-person gadgets, like a dart gun and a fan gun, which you use in certain levels, the dart gun making the biggest impact throughout the game. Here I am blasting at incoming rockets from the game’s tutorial boss:
Still, I wish the first-person gadgets were a little better integrated into regular levels, and had more variation overall considering how cool they can be. You do however get the chance to hone your shooting skills in minigame challenges where you can earn coins to use in the shop, as well as get extra ‘mudpups’, which are normally littered throughout regular levels, acting as a sort of secondary currency which are used to unlock levels as you move forward.
As for enemies, regular baddies don’t really put up much of a challenge, however the game’s four main boss battles are significantly more interesting, each of them staying very loyal to the well-worn platforming tropes you’re probably used to. That said, it’s hard not to smile at just how well Max Mustard nails the whole aesthetic and feel of basically everything.
Max Mustard took me around five hours to complete, although I took it pretty slow due to wanting to collecting all three mudpups found in each level. You don’t need to be a completionist to get through the game with ease though, which could take you three to four hours overall.
Immersion
Max Mustard is stupid cute, and offers a lots of level variation in both functional design and overall feel. Here’s me using the fan gun to suck up enemies and errant coins after having splashed down into the water—the sort of totally unexpected one-off level transitions you’ll experience throughout.
That said, first-person interactions are comparatively rare in Max Mustard, so you’ll be bopping around as Max most of the time instead of dealing with enemies like you see in the clip above. That puts an increased importance on the visual and functional aspects of levels, which are thankfully so rock solid that it’s easy to snap into your new ‘floating head’ POV and enjoying the game’s bright and colorful art style.
Again, I wish there were more first-person gadgets, although you have to give it to Max Mustard for including them at all, as the game seems to prioritize fast and fluid movement through levels instead of the heavier Astro Bot-y mix of first and third-person gameplay.
Comfort
The game’s camera necessary follows around Max, but does so in a way that’s gentle and comfortable. The decision by the studio to include snap turning as a purchasable upgrade back at the shop however feels a bit weird, as it’s pretty necessary to reposition yourself when turn around in levels to grab coins or mudpups you may have missed. Granted, this feature is unlocked with in-game coins, although it should be a standard movement scheme out of the box.
There are a few moments of forced motion in one-off events, although nothing that should set off alarm bells in motion sick-prone users, making Max Mustard pretty much perfect for anyone, including VR first-timers.
Max Mustard’ Comfort Settings – March 21st, 2024
Turning
Artificial turning
Snap-turn
Quick-turn
Smooth-turn
Movement
Artificial movement
Teleport-move
Dash-move
Smooth-move
Blinders
Head-based
Controller-based
Swappable movement hand
Posture
Standing mode
Seated mode
Artificial crouch
Real crouch
Accessibility
Subtitles
Interface language
Languages
English, French, German, Spanish, Japanese, Korean
VR (@WalkaboutMG) 
