A couple of days ago, I bought some plane tickets. You will discover where I’m going tomorrow, in my announcement post!
Now let’s look at the coolest XR news of the week!
Top news of the week
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(Image by Google)
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AI models to generate 3D scenes start to surface
This week we had the announcement of two AI models dedicated to the generation of 3D worlds.
The first one comes from Google, and it is called Genie 2, “a foundation world model capable of generating an endless variety of action-controllable, playable 3D environments for training and evaluating embodied agents”. The model generates the world starting from a single prompt image, and it can be played by a human or AI agent using keyboard and mouse inputs. The fact that it can be played by an agent is relevant to train AI agents in synthetic worlds.
The second model is by World Labs, which can generate a 3D world from a single image and then let you explore it from within your browser. World Labs also guarantees the world to be consistent: if you are in a place, then go away, and then look back after a while, the scene you will see will be the same as before.
These two systems are still in the early stages: if you look at the scenes, it is clear that they are AI-generated. Genie 2 claims consistency in the gameplay just for up to a minute. World Labs worlds allow you to move only in a limited space. But still, it is fascinating that from just an image you can generate a world you can navigate.
You may wonder why this AI-related piece of news is in my opinion the most important XR news of the week. The answer is that one of the things we need to make the metaverse fully happen is having more XR content, and especially to make everyone able to generate XR content, like today everyone can generate a photo. For instance, many people talk about XR revolutionizing education, but creating an educational XR experience is very expensive, so at the moment, having many educational XR experiences is not feasible for schools. AI systems that can generate worlds from images or textual prompts are a possible route to make this happen. This is why I’m following the space with much attention.
More info (Genie 2)
More info (World Labs AI)
Other relevant news
Samsung may unveil its glasses in January
According to South Korean magazine Yonhap News, Samsung is going to unveil at its Unpacked event in January, together with the S25 phone, a pair of XR glasses.
These glasses should be built in partnership with Google and Qualcomm and have a similar form factor to the successful Ray-Ban Meta glasses. They should look like regular glasses or sunglasses, and weigh around 50g. The report notes the device is expected to have a payment function, gesture recognition, and facial recognition.
The launch of the glasses should then happen in Q3 2025. The version of Android that powers XR glasses should also be unveiled between now and January.
Remember that this is a rumor, so take it with a grain of salt.
Meta is going to outsource the design of its headsets to China, or actually not
The drama of the week happened after a rumor reported by multiple sources, including Cix Liv and the magazine The Information, stated that:
- Goertek, the actual manufacturer of the Meta Quest, was going to move part of the production to Vietnam, to escape the import taxes that the US was going to introduce on Chinese goods.
- Meta is going to hand the design of its headsets to Goertek, and gradually stop working on hardware altogether, to concentrate on the Horizon OS platform.
The debates started about the second point because Meta handing off the design of its headsets to its manufacturer would be a huge change of strategy. It would also mean that Meta is itself disinvesting in VR, which would be bad news for the whole space. While the news was spreading fast, Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth replied on social media that the claim was false and that Meta is still designing its headset itself. Boz also denied that the whole VR hardware division of Meta is going to be laid off. Usually, when a spokesperson of a company intervenes so fast to deny a rumor in such a clear way, it means that the rumor is false, so I believe what Boz said.
I still think that there may be some true parts of the rumor, though. We all know that Meta is more a software company than a hardware one, so hardware production is a problem for it. And we know that Meta is selling its hardware undercost, so every headset it sells, is actually a loss. And with the announcement of Horizon OS, it is clear that Meta’s ambition is to become the software platform of XR headsets, something like the Android of XR. So it may be possible that Meta talked with Goertek about topics like Goertek creating a HorizonOS-based headset, Goertek supporting more Meta in the hardware manufacturing process, or Meta using in the future the reference designs produced by Goertek (because Goertek has reference designs of XR devices), or about how long term (2030+) Meta may actually stop making its hardware when XR will be more mainstream.
But I think that in the current unripe situation of the market, with Meta leading the XR space, if Meta stops designing headsets, it may be a disaster. Even just because this signal may create negativity in the XR space (imagine the headline “Meta abandons the VR space” on all magazines), which may bring the XR market down again, making a waste of all the billions invested by Meta in XR up to this point.
More info (The rumor about Meta and Goertek)
More info (Meta refutes the rumor about Goertek — Upload VR)
More info (Meta refutes the rumor about Goertek — Road To VR)
More info (Quest production may happen in Vietnam)
Apple Vision Pro may work with PSVR 2 controllers
It seems that Apple and Sony are partnering to bring the PSVR 2 controllers to the Apple Vision Pro. The two companies have a great relationship and Apple is realizing that the fact that its headset lacking controllers is a problem for certain types of content, gaming in particular. For this reason, Apple may be working to make PSVR 2 controllers compatible with the Vision Pro.
Mark Gurman, the author of the report, states that the announcement was due to “weeks ago”, but it has been postponed to a future date. He is very positive about it to happen quite soon.
I think that it makes sense to have optional controllers for the Vision Pro, but I’m surprised that Apple chose the bulky ones for PSVR2.
More info (PSVR 2 controllers on Vision Pro — Mark Gurman)
More info (PSVR 2 controllers on Vision Pro — Upload VR)
UploadVR Winter Showcase presented many pieces of news about VR games
Upload VR hosted its usual Winter Showcase, with many pieces of news about VR games. No announcement was mind-blowing, but all of them have been interesting. I’ll link below a list of all the announcements, but let me pick my personal three favorite ones:
- “Stay: Forever Home” is a new mixed reality game bringing a canine pet to your home. It’s made by the creators of Bogo, so it is going to be cute.
- Synth Riders is launching the “Barbie Dance ‘n Dream” DLC, which lets you dance following the notes of the K-pop song ‘Barbie Dreams (ft. Kaliii)’. I like this also because it is a DLC targeted at women, which is a quite unique thing in the VR space now
- COLD VR will launch this December on PC VR, PS VR2, and Meta Quest. I reviewed the demo of COLD VR (the opposite of SUPERHOT VR) a few months ago and I truly appreciated it, so I’m happy to see this game launching soon.
More info (The full video of the Upload VR Winter Showcase)
More info (Stay: Forever Home — Upload VR)
More info (Stay: Forever Home — Road To VR)
More info (Synth Riders: Barbie DLC)
More info (COLD VR)
More info (Tour Walkabout Mini Golf’s Cozy Holiday Hideaway Under The Christmas Tree)
More info (MADiSON VR Will Haunt Meta Quest Headsets Soon)
More info (Airspace Defender Adds Depth In New Gameplay Update)
More info (Mixed Reality Rollercoaster Game CoasterMania Gets Full Release On Quest 3)
More info (Vertigo 2: Into The Aether DLC Coming March 2025)
More info (I Am Cat Heads Into The Yard & Garage On Quest & Steam)
More info (Cues Is A Relaxing Mixed Reality Block Breaker For Quest)
More info (Drums Rock Adds Cyberpunk 2077 DLC)
More info (Among Us VR Runs Round Up Event Through January 28)
More info (Slot Car VR Promises Nostalgic Racing Today on Quest)
More info (Wade Into Pools In PlayStation VR2 Headsets Next Year)
More info (UNDERDOGS Heads For PlayStation VR2 In Early 2025)
More info (Ashen Arrows Brings Fantasy Archery To Major VR Platforms On February 20)
More info (Project Aeroes Guides Mixed Reality Spaceships Through Danger Next Week On Quest)
News worth a mention
PSVR 2 had a great Black Friday, Quest a decent one
PSVR 2 is now costing only $350 for a special deal that Sony is offering and this Black Friday discount made the PSVR 2 sales skyrocket by a 10x factor on Amazon US.
The Quest 3S instead, did not have stellar sales numbers. The combination of Quest 3 and Quest 3S sales on Amazon US was around 146,000 headsets, which is absolutely a good number, but it is 14% less than what Quest 3 and Quest 2 sold last year. I guess the fact that Quest 2 price was $199, so very cheap, contributed to having higher volumes in 2023.
More info (PSVR 2 sales)
More info (Quest 3 sales)
XREAL launches One glasses
XREAL has just launched its new glasses, called XREAL One and XREAL One Pro. These glasses are powered by the new X1 chip that XREAL is developing in-house. I think it’s a very interesting thing that an AR startup is already manufacturing its own chips… something that even Meta didn’t succeed in doing. Thanks to the new chip, the glasses can offer 3DOF tracking, hence the visualization of a big virtual display fixed in place, when connected to all sorts of devices.
Apart from the tracking, the glasses also offer more FOV than the previous models (50° for the XREAL One and 57° for the Pro), integrated speakers by Bose, and vivid colors.
XREAL One costs $500 and XREAL One Pro $600. Preorders are open now, with shipping starting from mid-December.
More info (XREAL One announced)
More info (XREAL One official product page)
Bosch announces a display solution based on retina-scanning
Completely out of the blue, Bosch Sensortec announced Light Drive, a new technology to empower displays in smart glasses. These are the features they promise in the announcement:
It provides key features such as a unique visual experience, delivering bright, always-in-focus content whether you’re indoors or outdoors. Our solution ensures high lens transparency and user privacy, with content visible only to the wearer. Additionally, our integrated camera-less eye tracking enables seamless access to contextual information.
Our Light Drive solution enables prescription lenses with a lightweight design of just 40 grams.
All of this is powered by a display based on retina scanning, which is a futuristic technology. All of this is very impressive and I would like to try this solution to verify if it works. Because if it works, it is really something that can be disruptive for the nascent smartglasses market.
Bosch does not want to build its glasses, but it is looking for partners interested in integrating its technology.
(Thanks to KF for the tip!)
PSVR 2 may support hand tracking
At SIGGRAPH Asia, Sony has demonstrated hand tracking working on PSVR 2. This is not surprising to see in an exhibition where companies show research projects. What is more surprising is the accompanying statement “available with the latest SDK of PlayStation 5”, which seems to hint at the fact that soon games with hand tracking may be available for PSVR 2.
Maybe Sony is preparing the field for selling all its controllers to Apple for the Vision Pro (see the news above) and so its users will have to resort to using hand tracking… (ok this was a stupid joke, but if you are on my blog and not on Road To VR it is because you like them after all…)
E-tattoos may help EEG users
EEG is a way of detecting brainwaves to use them inside applications (including VR ones) to make them reactive to the feeling of the user. Usually, you need to wear bulky helmets to detect EEG and this makes them not very user-friendly. However, some researchers are studying a way to basically tattoo the EEG receptors on your head, so you don’t need a helmet anymore because you have the circuits tattooed on your head. This is for sure the most cyberpunk thing you’ll read today.
Meta strikes a deal with James Cameron
Meta announced it’s partnering with Lightstorm Vision, James Cameron’s 3D film studio, to produce spatial content across multiple genres, including live events and full-length entertainment. The agreement includes the production of live sports and concerts, feature films, and TV series featuring “big-name IP”, which will be exclusive to the Meta platform. Considering the talent of James Cameron, this is probably going to bring a lot of interesting content to Quest and help Meta contrast the great content library that Apple is creating in this sense.
The collaboration is also about “improving content creators” ability to make high-quality stereoscopic content through the use of advanced tooling, including employing AI. It is not clear what this means, but whatever they could release that could help also other content creators would be beneficial for the community.
More info (Meta partners with James Cameron — Road To VR)
More info (Meta partners with James Cameron — Official Blog Post)
Not all Quest apps are listed on the Horizon Store
On Reddit someone is claiming that Meta is not giving equal visibility to all the apps on the Horizon Store. And I’m not talking about suggestions, I’m talking about listing. If you go to the whole list of experiences for Quest, you get a list of 1000 applications, while actually there are more than 6000 according to Quest Store DB. This is pretty strange: is this a bug or a design choice to cut the noise?
Compliments to the winners of the XR Awards!
At the usual great award ceremony, AIXR has announced the winners of the XR Awards, in all its categories ranging from gaming to enterprise. The XR game of the year has been Asgard’s Wrath 2, and the top content creator has been Matteo311. You can see the whole list of winners by clicking on the link here below.
By the way, this year I have been a judge of the awards again, and I’m very proud of it!
More info (All the winners of the XR Awards)
Behemoth launches getting positive reviews
Skydance Interactive has launched one of the most awaited games of the year, Behemoth. The first reviews are very positive and many people of the community are enthusiastically talking about it on Reddit. The game is not perfect, though: Road To VR criticizes the story and the game has many bugs that will be corrected soon by a big patch. It’s good to know that another great game is now playable by VR people.
More info (Behemoth launched) More info (Behemoth’s first big patch)
More info (The content of Behemoth’s first big patch)
More info (Behemoth review — Road To VR)
More info (Behemoth review — Upload VR)
More info (An enthusiastic post about Behemoth on Reddit)
Discover a new VR Humble Bundle
Humble Bundle is offering a new bundle about VR games, called VR Vacation sale. It features games like Borderlands 2, A Fisherman’s tale, and After The Fall, at a very discounted price.
Some news about content
- Shapelab 3D Modeling App Launches on Quest in Early Access, priced at $15
- Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakable 1.0 Reaches Meta Quest On December 17, raising its price to $7.99
- The social sandbox of DigiGods by Squido Studio is now available to play for free on Meta Quest
- My First Gran Turismo, a free newcomer-friendly entry in the racing series, is out today on PlayStation VR2
- “WAIT WHAT’S THAT?”, a funny VR revisitation of Pictionary is now available on the Meta Quest Store
- The team behind The Secret Of Retropolis is working on a VR horror title called Riddlewood Manor
- Upload VR has published its XR News Round-Up article containing a collection of minor XR news
More info (Shapelab)
More info (Attack On Titan VR)
More info (Digigods)
More info (My First Gran Turismo)
More info (Wait What’s That?)
More info (Riddlewood Manor)
More info (XR news round-up)
Some reviews about content
- The House of Da Vinci is a high-quality puzzle VR game, with great visuals and an interesting historical inspiration to the real work of Leonardo Da Vinci
- Shattered brings escape rooms in mixed reality, transforming your house into a puzzle. It seems the format works well, even if you have to play it as a single-player
More info (The House of Da Vinci)
More info (Shattered)
Other news
StrikerVR is Bringing Its VR Haptic Gun to Consumers Soon
Virtuix launches Omni One Core, for people that already have a VR headset
Viture announces a computational unit for its glasses that you can wear as a neckband
The Ovomind DK1 Developer Bundle is a toolkit designed for creating emotion-driven gaming experiences
OpenAI officially released Sora (the AI model to generate videos)
News from partners (and friends)
Discover Robocracy
The team behind Robocracy send me this message to share with you all:
ROBOCRACY, our dynamic VR shooter, is now available on SteamVR! Following its release on the Oculus Store, we’re thrilled to bring this fast-paced space adventure to the Steam community.
In ROBOCRACY, you’ll take on the role of a Galactic Ranger, fighting relentless waves of rogue robots across asteroid fields, mysterious planets, and massive space stations. Key features include:
- 16 challenging levels across 3 acts (over 3 hours of pure playtime in story mode)
- 6 Original Bosses
- A diverse arsenal of weapons, from powerful bazookas to precise railguns
- High replayability of levels is suitable for club VR
- Fast-paced gameplay that tests your skills and strategy
- Co-op mode for two people (currently in beta)
- The game is released for AIO devices Quest and will also be released for Pico4
- Compatibility with all major SteamVR headsets
Learn more (Robocracy on Steam)
Learn more (Robocracy on Meta Quest)
Iron Rebellion reaches version 1.0
VR multiplayer mech game Iron Rebellion enters full release on December, 12 on Quest & Steam, priced at €15.
Chromestesia is a VR music visualizer
Kenneth Rougeau has released Chromestesia, a trippy VR music visualizer. I have tried it on my computer, and I have appreciated the high number of different visual effects it offers.
Learn more (Announcement Reddit post)
Learn more (Chromestesia on Itch.io)
Some XR fun
This is an offer you can not refuse
Funny link
Donate for good
Like last week, also this week in this final paragraph I won’t ask you to donate to my blog, but to the poor people who are facing the consequences of the war. Please donate to the Red Cross to handle the current humanitarian situation in Ukraine. I will leave you the link to do that below.
Let me take a moment before to thank anyway all my Patreon donors for the support they give to me:
- Alex Gonzalez VR
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And now here you are the link to donate:
Support The Red Cross in Ukraine
(Header image by Google)
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This article was originally published on skarredghost.com