This is the perfect moment to buy a Meta Quest 3 for gaming
The Meta Quest 3 is discounted this Prime Day and it's worth buying for the headset's recent VR gaming hits.
How we test video game consoles
With the gaming hardware landscape more complicated than ever, our approach to video game console reviews has modernized. Here's how we test gaming devices.
Moss Developers Polyarc Announce Competitive Multiplayer VR Game
Polyarc, the developers behind the Moss franchise, announced a new in-development competitive multiplayer VR game today, sharing some artwork and announcing a playtest weekend for next month.
The game’s title remains unconfirmed and there’s not a whole lot of specific details, however the artwork shared by Polyarc indicates it will continue the studio’s strong visual style established in Moss: Book I & II. The characters also look to be drawn from the same universe as Moss, with the second piece of art (embedded below) almost feeling reminiscent of a Smash Bros-esque fighting game.
The untitled game will mark Polyarc’s first foray into competitive multiplayer in VR. This places them in the same bucket as other veteran VR studios, such as Schell Games and Owlchemy Labs, who have are now confident enough in the number of VR users to justify exploring online multiplayer projects. Polyarc co-founder and CEO Tam Armstrong touched on this in a prepared statement:
“We are happy to see that the audience for VR continues to grow, now counting in the tens of millions of players, with more user-friendly and accessible headsets being released every year. As a game development studio that aspires to create games for everyone, we want to find ways to reach more of the audience within VR and even create space for new folks to join us there. With that in mind, the greater number of players gives us the opportunity to try ideas we have for multiplayer gameplay that can offer more to competitive players.”
Armstrong also gave some small hints at the game’s direction, stating that VR “offers interesting consideration for multiplayer” such as “the ability to read the other player’s focus and intention as they move their head and hands.”
Polyarc will hold a closed playtest weekend between April 14 and 16, which players can sign up for now.
PlayStation VR2 review: a powerful VR headset that’s begging to be played
The PlayStation VR2 headset is so impressive that you'll wish you had more reasons -- and games -- to use it.
Upgraded HP Reverb G2 Model Now Shipping To Even More Countries
The upgraded HP Reverb G2 model is now shipping to even more countries, after it first launched in the US last October.
The upgraded Reverb G2 model is meant to address several concerns and complaints levied at the original headset, first released in late 2020. It does this by making a few hardware and software updates, including changes to the physical camera modules on the headset. HP claims these updated cameras result in a 30% increase in tracking volume compared to the original and resolved some blind spots around the waist.
There’s also a new facemask design that allows users to adjust their eye relief distance. This should mean it’s easier to dial into your own personal ‘sweet spot’ with a removable spacer, which allows the relief distance to be brought down to 9mm from the standard 15mm.
When the new model was announced in October, it was only available in select countries. HP says that the response to upgrades has been “phenomenal” so far and, and they are expanding availability to more countries. The upgraded model is now available in a total of 30 countries, including the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, many European countries and more. You can view the full list here.
There’s also some software updates that apply to all HP Reverb G2 owners, new and old models alike. Microsoft and HP have also made changes to the Windows Mixed Reality platform, which now features a new home environment that is less resource intensive and should perform better. If you want, you’re also able to bypass WMR completely on startup and head straight into SteamVR, which makes for a much nicer experience for Steam users.
Have you tried out the new Reverb G2 model? What do you think? Let us know in the comments.
TikTok Owner Considering Buying VR Headset Maker Pico – Report
ByteDance, the owner of social video platform TikTok, may be about to acquire VR headset maker, Pico.
Bloomberg cites “a person familiar with the matter” in saying the Chinese giant is in talks with Pico about a potential acquisition. These talks are reportedly ongoing, with a final decision yet to be made. We’ve reached out to Pico to confirm the report.
Pico Acquisition On The Way?
The report surfaces at an interesting time for Pico. For years, the headset maker has produced a range of standalone VR devices for various markets. Most recently it launched the Pico Neo 3, a 6 degrees of freedom (6DOF) headset with similar specs to Facebook’s Oculus Quest 2, including the Snapdragon XR2 chipset.
But, while the Neo 3 has an impressive line-up of games, the consumer version of the device is only launching in China. North America and Europe, meanwhile, get the enterprise-focused Neo 3 Pro and Neo 3 Pro Eye with eye-tracking. Earlier this year the company told us there are no plans to launch a consumer version of the Neo 3 outside of China at this time.
What the report doesn’t disclose is what ByteDance might want with Pico should an acquisition go ahead. Could we expect to see Pico double down on its consumer focus in Asia? Or might it represent a chance for the company to expand those operations into other regions to give the Quest 2 some much-needed competition? We’ll have to wait and see for now.
Quest 2 Propels VR Headset Usage On Steam To All-Time-High
In May 2.31% of Steam gamers used a virtual reality headset, a new all-time-high.
Companies like Facebook, Valve, & HTC don’t reveal sales figures. The Steam Hardware Survey remains the most reliable indicator of PC VR’s adoption.
The survey is offered to a random sample of Steam’s userbase each month. If you choose to accept, it uploads your PC specifications along with SteamVR’s log of any headsets connected in the past month.
The Hardware Survey also breaks down which specific VR headset models are used, as seen above. Oculus Quest 2 continues to be the primary driver of growth, with Valve Index & Vive Cosmos also growing slightly.
The market share landscape hasn’t much changed since last month. Facebook continues to hold roughly 60%, while HTC & Valve hold roughly 15% each.
The two standalone Quest headsets together make up 33% of SteamVR. Quest didn’t officially support PC VR until six months after launch, but third party WiFi streaming apps like Virtual Desktop filled the gap. Quest 2 is marketed as a hybrid headset, last month getting an official WiFi streaming mode.
PC VR’s growth doesn’t get as much attention as standalone VR, and it clearly isn’t at the same pace. But if even modest gains continue, it could soon be more popular than having a 4K primary monitor.
Report: HTC To Announce Vive Focus 3, Vive Pro 2 At ViveCon
According to a report from Protocol, HTC will unveil two new headsets at ViveCon next week – the Vive Focus 3 Business Edition and Vive Pro 2.
Protocol found mentions of both devices in company documents, and reports that both were also briefly listed on Alzashop, a European ecommerce site.
The Vive Focus 3 Business Edition will be a standalone enterprise headset following up the Vive Focus Plus, while the Vive Pro 2 will be a high-end PC VR successor to the original Vive Pro.
According to the Alzashop pages, the Vive Focus 3 Business Edition will retail for €1,474 (approximately $1770) and the Vive Pro 2 for €842 (approximately $1012). Protocol reports that both devices will be available to purchase by the end of the month.
HTC has been teasing hardware announcements for the last few weeks and confirmed it would unveil “game-changing” VR headsets at ViveCon next week, which runs from May 11-12.
Most recently, promotional GIFs gave a look at some of the upcoming hardware, including a view of the front of a headset and its tracking cameras, embedded above.
HTC’s previous comments suggested its standalone headset would not be a Quest competitor. This lines up with the Protocol report, which indicates that the Vive Focus 3 is aimed at an enterprise market and, priced somewhere around $1700, comes nowhere close to the Quest 2’s $299 starting price, and still more than double the $799 starting price of the Quest 2 business edition.
The Vive Pro 2 looks to be a successor to the original Vive Pro, which was mostly discontinued in March 2020, spare for a few Vive Pro Eye models.
Keep an eye out for more information next week at ViveCon – or more leaks before then.
Valve Is Working With OpenBCI To Solve VR Motion Sickness And Increase Immersion
In a recent interview with1 News Valve CEO Gabe Newell discussed a partnership with OpenBCI to improve VR headsets, enhance immersion, and solve for VR motion sickness.
The vast majority of the interview focuses on forward-looking predictions for brain computer interface technology (BCIs) which is hardware that is able to interface directly with your brain signals to detect emotional responses, feelings, and more.
“We’re working on an open source project so that everybody can have high-resolution [brain signal] read technologies built into headsets, in a bunch of different modalities,” Newell said. “If you’re a software developer in 2022 who doesn’t have one of these in your test lab, you’re making a silly mistake…software developers for interactive experience[s] — you’ll be absolutely using one of these modified VR head straps to be doing that routinely — simply because there’s too much useful data.”
There are two specific benefits that VR would have from this discussed by Newell. For starters, it could significantly enhance immersion, such as increasing difficulty dynamically if a player is getting bored or feeling unchallenged. Or perhaps in a procedural game if the BCI notices when a randomized layout is something you dislike or particularly enjoy.
Newell then goes on to explain that in the future, BCIs will enable the creation of virtual worlds that far exceed our perceptions of reality, stating that, “the real world will stop being the metric that we apply to the best possible visual fidelity.”
Near the end there is also a discussion of how BCIs in VR can essentially solve for VR motion sickness, or that feeling of vertigo that makes some users nauseous during particular types of artificial movement. The feeling can already be suppressed artificially. “It’s more of a certification issue than it is a scientific issue,” explains Newell.
Perhaps this is why Valve has been so quiet about their plans post-Valve Index — they’re hard at work on what’s coming for the next-generation of interacting with computers.
Let us know what you think down in the comments below!
Facebook: Quest 2 Is Selling ‘Faster Than Quest’ And ‘Beyond’ Expectations
According to Chris Pruett in an interview with Protocol Gaming, the Director of Content Ecosystem at Oculus, the Oculus Quest 2 is selling “faster than Quest” and is exceeding sales expectations.
Oculus Quest 2 Selling ‘Faster Than Quest’
This should come as no surprise to anyone that’s been following the industry at all over the last several weeks as Facebook’s latest standalone VR headset has proven to be quite popular. We dubbed it the new king of VR in our review with the massive caveat that you need to link an active and legitimate Facebook account to the device to use it.
Again, that’s a pretty massive string attached since it’s already resulting in several users getting locked out entirely, turning their shiny new VR headset into an expensive paperweight.
Read More: Facebook’s Account Verification Leaves Some Quest 2 Buyers With ‘Paperweight’
In the Protocol Gaming interview, Pruett said: “We really couldn’t be happier. The device is selling quite well…faster than Quest did…maybe a little beyond what we expected.”
Previously we’d heard from a few VR developers of popular titles such as Pistol Whip, Apex Construct, Waltz of the Wizard, and more that they’re all seeing big bumps in sales now that the Quest 2 is out. The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners was one of the only big, new launch titles for the headset (all games are also on Quest 2) and Population: One, a VR battle royale shooter, drops on Quest and PC VR tomorrow with full crossplay.
We still don’t have any hard sales figures for any Oculus headsets at all, other than the Samsung collaborative Gear VR from years ago, so it’s hard to tell what Pruett’s quote means in the grand scheme of things. That being said, we can clearly tell the original Quest sold well and if this one is selling faster and beyond expectations, that’s certainly a good sign for overall VR adoption in mainstream society.
Let us know what you think down in the comments below!