The XR Week Peek (2020.11.23): Many new AR headsets get teased, Link goes 90Hz, and more!
I’m really crunching for two projects I’m working on, but I’m still finding the time to update you of the XR communities about the best news of the week. Not that this week there is much to talk about, actually… but I’m sure you will find here below something that interests you
Top news of the week
AR glasses are on the rise
This week we had tons of news about new upcoming augmented reality glasses and smartglasses:
- Oppo has revealed the second iteration of its augmented reality glasses. While the first version was an all-in-one with diffractive waveguides like Microsoft HoloLens, the new one is an all-in-two light device that connects to your smartphone and uses birdbath optics. If you’re thinking “it is another Nreal Light clone”, well, yes it is. Don’t hold your breath to see it in your Oppo shop soon, because it is just an experimental device and not a commercial product yet;
- Unbox Fantasy has conducted a successful Kickstarter campaign for the GodView 5K, a smart glass able to put 2D screens everywhere in AR. With a 5K resolution, 110° FOV, and 90Hz refresh rate, it looks like a very interesting device, and in fact, it has completely crushed its Kickstarter goal. It works connected to a phone, and while it doesn’t have any kind of tracking embedded, for tasks like watching Netflix it can be very useful (Thanks David for the tip);
- Amazon has announced the Echo Frames, its smart glasses that let you speak with Alexa. You may remember that actually, they had already released them, but that was the experimental device, while this time they’re releasing the actual commercial product. Echo Frames are shipping on December, 10th for $250;
- JVC has revealed an enterprise AR/MR headset with very interesting specifications. It is like a big Nreal Light that can provide 120° FOV and 2.5K per-eye resolution. It seems intriguing, but we have not much info nor any reviews about them. For sure being an enterprise headset we can expect it to be very expensive. Also, the fact that it works by being tethered to a PC and exploiting SteamVR tracking makes it a bit bulky for home-usage. (And… I’ve discovered JVC used some photoshopped stock images to showcase its product! What a weird decision…)
More info (Oppo AR glasses)
More info (Oppo’s hands tracking)
More info (Description and hands-on Oppo glasses)
More info (Godview 5K)
More info (Amazon Echo Frames)
More info (JVC XR glasses)
More info (JVC XR glasses showcased with stock photos)
Other relevant news
Oculus Link gets updated to 90Hz
After one year from the release of the Link, Oculus finally puts it out of beta with a big update. In this update, the Link finally gets support for 90Hz on Quest 2, plus various stability fixes. The 90Hz mode is not enabled by default, and by tweaking the parameters about framerate, compression, and resolution of the Link (you can follow a great tutorial about it written by David Heaney that I’m linking here below), you can select the best configuration to have the best performances of the Oculus Link for your PC.
The fact that the Link is out of beta is for sure a great news, because it means that Oculus now thinks that the system is stable enough. My PC has decided to celebrate this milestone by making crash my Link twice in a day.
On a separate note, John Carmack advises developers of Quest apps to not default at 90Hz, because if “we release 120FPS support” their apps may run poorly. This statement has surprised us all: what John wanted to tell us? The display of the Quest 2 is capable of running at 120FPS… can this mode be activated somehow? Or is he talking about a new device, like a Quest Pro, that will run at 120 FPS? I guess only time will tell…
More info (90Hz support for Oculus Link)
More info (How to obtain the best from your Oculus Link)
More info (John Carmack talks about 120FPS support)
New reviews of the Reverb G2 confirm the first impressions
In my last roundup, I’ve reported to you some first reviews of the HP Reverb G2 that highlighted some pain points of this device. This week, the outlets that we trust the most, like Upload VR, Road To VR, and Tested, have released their reviews, and they confirm completely what we have already read.
The headset features impressive visuals, with probably the best pixel density on the market. For simulators, design experiences and other kinds of similar usages, it is a blast. But the controllers are a big pain point: the ergonomics are not perfect and tracking is subpar if compared to Oculus Insight or Valve’s Steam VR. That’s a real bummer: the expectations on this headset were very high, especially because it was seen by the hardcore VR enthusiasts as the alternative to the Oculus Quest and the Facebook power it represents. Instead, this headset is not so astonishing as we all hoped, and so the Reverb G2 won’t be our savior from Facebook.
Anyway, don’t misunderstand me: it is NOT a bad headset, it is a very good headset, with some problems with the controllers’ tracking.
If you want to buy it, it is already backordered, and new purchases will be shipped in 2021.
More info (Upload VR’s review on the Reverb G2)
More info (Road To VR’s review on the Reverb G2)
More info (TESTED’s review on the Reverb G2)
More info (Reverb coming in 2021)
Facebook launches two weird marketing campaigns
Facebook is pushing a lot its new Quest 2 and of course, it is running many marketing initiatives to promote it. Usually, the Facebook marketing department is very good, but this week I guess someone brought some booze in the office and they designed the new campaigns while all drunk because they are some kind of absurd.
The first nonsense is coming with the promotion to celebrate the first birthday of the Oculus Link. To celebrate this important day, Facebook has decided to gift a copy of the PC VR masterpiece Asgard’s Wrath to all-new Oculus Quest 2 owners. This is an amazing idea, if not for the fact that “new owners” means “people buying a Quest 2 from today on”. The Quest has launched just 40 days ago, and there is already a promotion that regards the “new owners” only. We that have preordered the headset, and that have put our trust in Oculus, and that have seen all the big mess of the Facebook accounts ban at launch, are getting absolutely nothing. This is nonsense: it is ok that the more a device is on the market the more there are some promotions, because you pay more in the beginning for being one of the first people owning it, but an offering just after 40 days is an insult towards the initial purchasers. I hope this gift will be extended also to all existing owners that will use the Link in the upcoming days.
The second nonsense is a marketing campaign that invites people to put their headset on the heads of their peers that have never tried VR, shoot their reactions, and then share them on social media. The great reward for having done this free marketing for Facebook is that maybe you will be featured in one of their videos. How great. The irony of this whole campaign is that it comes in a period where people are getting banned for sharing their headsets with their friends, so many people in the community started thinking this is a trap for performing multiple bans. But the genius of this initiative is that it literally comes during a pandemic, where the sharing of a headset, unless perfectly sanitized, is strongly not recommended. The coronavirus approves. Please share your headset ONLY with people inside your household, and ignore these stupid marketing campaigns.
More info (Quest 2 + Asgard’s Wrath promotion)
More info (Connor Conrad’s memes about the Asgard’s Wrath promotion)
More info (Facebook inviting people to share their headsets)
More info (Meme about the sharing campaign)
News worth a mention
A talent show with virtual idols starts in China
Virtual idols and influencers are one of the biggest trends of the last months, with characters like Hatsune Miku and Lil Miquela becoming real celebrities without being real people. They are most popular in the Far East of the world (Japan, China, Korea), but are becoming increasingly important also here in the West.
This week a piece of news coming from China has surprised me: iQiYi (that is like our Netflix) has started a talent show, called Dimension Nova, where the contestants are not real people but digital characters. The company has done some worldwide scouting to find the companies offering the best digital people and put the best ones inside this sing/dance contest where only one will win.
In a world whose reality is going to become always more “mixed”, be ready to see digital entities or robots in many places were you before expected real people to be.
(Thanks Rob for the tip!)
OpenBCI teases Galea XR
OpenBCI has just teased on Twitter Galea XR, described as “a hardware and software platform that merges next-generation biometrics with mixed reality. This is the first device that integrates EEG, EMG, EDA, PPG, and eye-tracking into a single headset.” Being a fan of BCI and VR, I’m really intrigued by this and I can’t wait to discover further details.
The Void has shut down
The Void, the first big LBVR project, has officially shut down. Once one of the most interesting examples of virtual reality, the American company has always had huge expenses that made it hardly sustainable and the arrival of the coronavirus has killed its business. Some months ago, Disney revoked the rights to use its IP in The Void centers, and so the company has become unable to showcase its best experiences (like the ones about Star Wars) in any case. Now the assets of The Void are in the hands of a company ironically called VR Exit and will be most probably sold, but there is also the light possibility that the business will start again under a new head after the pandemic.
VRChat launches premium VRChat Plus subscription
VRChat is one of the most used VR experiences and for sure it is the most popular social VR space. Notwithstanding the millions received as investments, though, it has never found a proper way to monetize the many loyal users it has. Now it is finally trying a way to do it, with the release of VRChat Plus, a $99/year subscription that lets users have some premium features, like a customized badge, or more favorite avatars.
I’m very curious to see how it will be successful because I think that if it will succeed, many other virtual worlds will copy VRChat’s example.
Revive the Sega VR experience on your headset
Sega VR was a legendary headset that Sega was going to launch 30 years ago and that in the end was never released. Way ahead of its time (it even had some kind of tracking!) and rather affordable ($200), it was haunted by a low framerate that could make people too much dizzy.
The Video Game History Foundation has decided to revive it: accessing the source code of its game, and hacking things up with low-level magic, Rich Whitehouse has managed to run the code of one of its games on a modern Vive Cosmos, and then has published the binaries so that you can play it yourself! The article is very detailed, and if you are a nerd like me, I’m sure you will love it.
How to design a chainsaw in VR
Daniel Beauchamp (the genius) has just developed a nice-looking virtual chainsaw for the Oculus Quest and has released a Twitter thread where he explains how he has done it! It is worth a reading if you are into VR development.
The Oculus Go wasn’t designed with Afro hair in mind
An Afro-American student on Medium has written an article highlighting why the Oculus Go doesn’t fit well the head and especially the big hair of Afro-American women, and has developed a hacky solution so that the strap of the Go fits better this category of people.
I like this post because it highlights the long road we have to go towards having VR headsets that are comfortable for the heads of everyone. And to obtain this, we need different voices in the VR community: if everyone advocates for its problems, we’ll finally have something that can make everyone happy.
Kudos to this smart girl for showcasing all of this.
Resident Evil 4 may arrive to Oculus headsets
Some data on Capcom servers stolen from a group of hackers seem to point to a release of Resident Evil 4 for “Oculus headsets”. According to the leak, the game should be released in April 2021. Capcom has confirmed that data has been leaked from its servers, but has not commented on the leaked news.
Some news on content
- ‘Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge’ gets released and in its first reviews it is highlighted how it is a good game, but a bit shallow in its gameplay for now. It looks like a first episode that introduces more complex episodes (that are coming in 2021)
- Elite Dangerous is still free to grab on the Epic Games Store if you have not downloaded it yet!
- Myst is coming to Oculus Quest on December, 10th. It is coming to PC next year;
- Warhammer 40K Battle Sisters is being released (on Quest) on December, 8th;
- The big Pistol Whip 2089 update is coming on December, 1st!
- Star Wars Squadrons is getting its first DLC. It is AMAZING news: EA Motive told, in the beginning, there wouldn’t have been DLCs for this game. If it has changed its mind it is because the game has been a big success
- Upload VR has reviewed Tarzan VR and found it weird, funny, but also interesting;
- Wolves In The Walls and other famous VR storytelling experiences come to Quest.
More info (Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge Review)
More info (Elite Dangerous free)
More info (Myst VR)
More info (Warhammer 40K)
More info (Pistol Whip 2089)
More info (Star Wars: Squadrons)
More info (Tarzan VR)
More info (Wolves In The Walls)
News from partners (and friends)
VR Technologist Cathy Hackl and has written a great article on Forbes on the future of festivals and the use of XR to bring these festivals to all people worldwide even during the pandemic. She has also been very kind in mentioning me, so read her article!
KLM is a company at the forefront of B2B usage of VR, having developed many VR solutions for the training of its crew. Now everyone can try it: if you happen to be at Schipol airport (in Amsterdam), you can visit KLM Lounge and experience all their virtual training solutions!
Some XR fun
Not what would you expect to find in an Espire match
The story of your life represented with headsets.
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