This week has mostly been in the sign of Oculus, with many news and updates from the brand controlled by Facebook. As always, they’re doing a great job not only with the product but also with the communication strategy.
Before leaving you to the best news of the week, I would like to highlight two notable things about my work:
- My crazy trolling game “The Unity Cube” has been featured in a video by Upload VR! I really want to thank Jamie Feltham and Zeena Al-Obaidi for having tried it during their latest live stream. You don’t even know how this made me happy! Expect next week a summary of how the launch of The Unity Cube has been;
- This Thursday I’ll be the co-host of our monthly “Awe Nite Florence” event series, which this April will talk about Location-Based VR! There will be speakers that will show you some interesting LBVR solutions and tell you what are their expectations for this sector in the covid era. The event is free, and I invite you to register for it here… thanks!
Top news of the week
Magic Leap 2 is coming in Q1 2022
Even if most of this roundup will be about Oculus, I have decided to put another brand on top of it and it is Magic Leap. In an interview on Protocol, the CEO of the AR company Peggy Johnson has announced that the new device, that will be dubbed “Magic Leap 2” will be half of the size, weigh 20% less, and have double the field of view than Magic Leap One. It will be released to selected partners in Q4 2021 and to the general public in Q1 2022.
Honestly speaking, we already knew most of this information. What deserves our attention is the attitude of the new CEO. Ms. Johnson has worked at Microsoft and Qualcomm before, and she is a very respected executive. Reading the lines of the interview, I immediately noticed how she’s competent, focused, and serious. On many things, she’s the exact opposite of Rony Abovitz.
Rony loved the creativity, he was a dreamer and was used to set up shows and riddles about his company. This attracted many people to Magic Leap and was good for marketing, but in the end, it was not good for business, because the company focused on a non-existent consumer market. Peggy goes straight to the point: she has already said the name of the device, has teased its most important features, and in the interview, she clearly stated she cares only about the enterprise market. Magic Leap won’t pursue anything that isn’t aimed at getting more enterprise deals. It is like the company has completely changed face, and now it is a serious startup that has the only goal to get deals with companies to use AR for training, healthcare, education, etc… No more whales in the gym, unless a school is paying for them.
I think this is the right attitude that Magic Leap should have: use the money it has to focus on niche markets until the AR market will be ready, in some years, for the consumers. Yes, it will be hard against Microsoft, which is well poised in the field, but the market is so new and growing that there is the place for more than one single company. I’m happy that ML has now the right business attitude, the attitude that as a startup it should have had since the beginning, focusing on the money instead that on dreams. I wish Peggy Johnson and all her team a successful launch for the end of the year.
Other relevant news
Facebook rolls out Air Link and new Avatars
Facebook has started rolling out Update v28 of its Quest runtime. In it, apart from the 120Hz experimental framerate, you will be able to finally use Air Link, the wireless streaming of VR from your PC to your standalone headset. If you still don’t have Update v28, you can check out this guide on how to update your Quest headset: the update needs some days to arrive at all users of the world.
As expected, I’m reading from the community members mixed opinions about Air Link: some of them say that it works better than Virtual Desktop, some others that it doesn’t work well in their network conditions. There are so many variables to consider (with the first one being the quality of home Wi-Fi), that your mileage may vary while using it. In any case, it is a great feature that all Quest 2 users can enjoy, and probably in the future always fewer people will buy a Link cable: using VR wirelessly is so liberating, that once you experience it, it is difficult to come back. It’s curious how Oculus is actually the last brand to implement this feature: both the Pico Neo 2 and the Vive Focus Plus already had integrated VR streaming since many months ago.
The update is for Quest 2 only. If your Quest 2 is not updating to v28 or if you have a Quest 1, there are some tricks to force Air Link into it, and I’m linking them (pun intended) here below for you to use. Notice that a “forced Air Link” may have worse performances than an Air Link feature natively installed by the OS.
Together with Air Link, Oculus has also rolled out the new version of Oculus Avatars. These new avatars feature great improvements over the previous ones:
- There are many customization options (hair, clothes, body shape, etc…) for a total of a quintillion possible combinations
- They are full-body when you set them up, and they show in the game as a full upper body. The movements of the arms are calculated via machine learning algorithms;
- They have been developed with inclusion in mind, and can represent everyone;
- They are here to stay: according to Andrew Bosworth, this iteration of Avatars is the best mix for this technological moment and it is not going to be substituted soon by a new version.
New Oculus Avatars are currently supported only in three games: Epic Roller Coasters, PokerStarsVR, and Topgolf with Pro Putt. More of them are coming in the future, and a full SDK release is expected for the end of the year.
Last but not the least, the new update offers you the possibility of using your keyboard in VR. If you have a particular Logitech keyboard, you can see it inside VR, so that you can use your Quest to work from everywhere!
More info (Air Link launched)
More info (A trick to force Air Link on Quest 1)
More info (Another trick to force Air Link)
More info (New Oculus Avatars launched)
More info (Article detailing Oculus Avatars on The Verge)
More info (Mark Zuckerberg using the new Oculus Avatars)
More info (How the Logitech keyboard appears in VR)
The Oculus Gaming Showcase presented some updates about Quest and Rift games
The first Oculus Gaming Showcase has taken place, and it has generated mild excitement in the community. It has been great seeing so much news announced for Oculus games, but most of the news was DLCs of existing games or little teasers. There has been no big bang news.
The most important piece of news has been Resident Evil 4 for Quest 2. During the event, the company has showcased some minutes of gameplay of the upcoming game and has detailed how the graphics have been all overhauled to look cool in Quest 2, but the spirit of the game (and its horror vibes) have been kept intact. For a fan of the saga like me, seeing this game ported to the Quest 2, being able to enter inside it, is amazing (and I will immediately buy this game), but for all the other people, it means stepping into a game that is 16 years old. And in some parts of the porting, this is visible. We have to see how many people will be interested in it.
Then finally we have news on Lone Echo II: the game still exists, it will be for PC VR (and I’m surprised about this), and will release this summer. The Duke Nukem Forever of VR is going to be released soon!
Only one new game has been announced: Carve Snowboarding, which is going to be a new Quest game all about snowboarding. It is coming from the creators of the popular old game 1080° Snowboarding and promises to be very well-made.
All the rest, have been simple pieces of news:
- We have a teaser image (an image!!) of the second episode of Star Wars: Tales From The Galaxy Edge;
- Wraith The Oblivion: Afterlife has been launched on Quest, and will arrive on Steam VR and PSVR starting from May;
- We have a new trailer for the zombie-shooter game After The Fall;
- Pistol Whip will have a new “Smoke And Thunder” DLC with Western mood and will release a Concierge system that will give you a lot of customizations for modifiers;
- Aftershocks are the new DLC for The Walking Dead: Saint And Sinners;
- Warhammer 40K Battle Sister adds new maps & co-op to Horde Mode;
- The Climb 2 is to launch its first DLC with new levels;
- Expected You To Die 2 is confirmed to come for Quest and Rift.
As you can see, there have been many nice announcements, but no big bang news. It has been nothing more than the usual Upload VR Showcase.
More info (All the news from the Oculus Gaming Showcase)
More info (Resident Evil 4 VR gameplay video)
More info (Star Wars: Tales From The Galaxy Edge 2)
More info (Wraith The Oblivion: Afterlife)
More info (Wraith The Oblivion: Afterlife review on Road To VR)
More info (Wraith The Oblivion: Afterlife review on Upload VR)
More info (Lone Echo 2) More info (After The Fall)
More info (Pistol Whip: Smoke And Thunder DLC)
More info (TWD: Saints And Sinners DLC)
More info (Warhammer 40K Battle Sister)
More info (The Climb 2 DLC)
More info (Carve Snowboarding)
More info (I Expect You To Die 2)
Listen to John Carmack and Andrew Bosworth talking about Facebook’s vision of XR
At the end of last week, John Carmack and Andrew Bosworth had a friendly chat on Twitter Spaces: they talked about what they’re doing at Facebook to improve VR every day. Thanks to Upload VR’s Ian Hamilton, who has recorded the chat, it is possible to read (and listen) it again: and it’s great because it is one of the best sources to understand Facebook’s short and long-term vision of the VR market.
There are no news announcements in there, but there are some tiny bits that deserve our attention, for instance:
- Boz confirming that there will be no Quest 2 Pro in 2021: the Quest 2 will have a long life according to him;
- This is the year of software for Quest, the yearwhen Facebook builds the software platform for its standalone headsets;
- A Quest Pro line is highly likely to come: Carmack highlighted that for him the killer product could just be a Quest 2 with improved features (resolution, framerate, comfort). All the other nice-to-have additions, like eye tracking, or depth cameras, could be delivered in a Pro device to appeal to a smaller niche, while they become ready for the prime time of the official device;
- Both highlight how the goal is to make the Quest 2 not great only for gaming but also for working. With the addition of the Infinite Office features, the Quest could already start competing with the uncomfortable Chromebook in some niches where people needs to do simple operations on a screen in front of them. The Quest could become like a PC, that is good both for working and for gaming, gaining a mainstream appeal for all kinds of people;
- Facebook is working to integrate all the features to reduce motion sickness (like vignetting) in an optimized way into the operating system so that they can be triggered in any game in a way that guarantees the best visuals possible;
- Carmack says that it is a possibility that in the future there will be a Quest 2 SKU without controllers. This makes me think of a Quest Product Line with Light, Standard, and Pro variations.
It’s impressive the work that Facebook is doing with the Quest. I think that having 10,000 people working in XR is helping in this…
More info (Full conversation between the two)
More info (No Quest Pro in 2021)
More info (Quest 2 competing with Chromebooks)
More info (Quest 2 controllers-free SKU)
More info (Anti-sickness systems)
Chip shortages are going to continue throughout 2021
After NVIDIA’s announcement, also another hardware manufacturer like Cisco has confirmed that chip shortages are going to last for many months, and probably we’ll have problems throughout 2021.
The company has explained that the current situation has been caused by a unique convergence of different situations, like the pandemic and the renewal of manufacturing technologies, that have caused shortages of components. All the major manufacturers are working to increase their production, but this is not going to happen overnight, and most probably the current situation will continue for other 6 months.
For the VR sector, this means that for 6 months there could be a slowdown in the production of VR headsets and related accessories, and especially of graphics cards (the RTX30 series cards are almost unobtainable). This will slow down a bit the expected growth, but hopefully, by the end of the year, the situation should come back to normality.
(Thanks to Rob Cole for the tip!)
News worth a mention
HTC Vive Air is a design concept for a fitness-focused VR headset
HTC has just won an IF Design Award for a headset called Vive Air: it is a device designed completely to appeal to the fitness market, with breathable materials, detachable components that are easy to wash, and great comfort. But Vive Air is not coming to the market at any time: it is just a design concept, and the company is not planning to transform it into a headset anytime soon (even if it says that some of its solutions will be used in future devices).
This is interesting because it proves once more how fitness and VR are a great match together and fitness can be one of the first mainstream markets for immersive realities after gaming. If HTC has envisioned a headset only dedicated to it, it means that there is the possibility that such a headset may become successful, both in the B2B and B2C markets.
Preorders of the DecaMove are now open
Megadodo Simulations, the company that promised a cheap and powerful headset dubbed Decagear, has started its preorders for the Decamove, a hip tracker that lets you look with your head wherever you want and move always in the direction of your waist in VR games. The device can be preordered for $60, $10 cheaper than the expected $70 launch price, and has been reviewed positively by some Youtubers.
Some people say that this is the sign that the company is reliable and that the Decagear is so coming as promised. I think that honestly, it doesn’t prove anything, since the Decamove is just an IMU, that has an order of complexity inferior to the one of building a whole headset.
Megadodo has also released a teaser video of it working on the haptic feedback of the trigger of its controllers and promises to release “soon” news about the headset. I’m here waiting for them.
More info (Decamove preorders)
More info (Decagear controllers triggers)
Amazon is opening its AR Beauty Salon
Amazon is keeping its experimentation on next-generation retail stores, and its new center will be an innovative Beauty Salon in London. Among its innovations, there will be the possibility to try all the make-up articles in store by framing a QR Code and then using an AR try-on app (provided by L’Oreal), to try them before buying.
Holoride raises $10M to develop immersive automotive entertainment
Startup Holoride has just got a $10M investment to develop its solution to offer in-car entertainment through VR. The system works by using a sensor that lets you detect the speed of the car, and this speed gets used inside dedicated VR games to provide entertainment to all car passengers. Since the game is in sync with the car movement, there is no motion sickness for the players.
This can be very important especially in the future of self-driving cars when people would love to do something to spend their time while the car takes them to their destination.
Tribeca, Cannes and New Images festivals partner to offer an astonishing XR festival
NewImages Festival, Cannes XR, and Tribeca present XR3, a joint immersive festival featuring more than 50 VR works. This unprecedented effort will be featured inside Museum Of Other Realities, and it will surely be a stepping stone in the history of XR festivals. If you are into storytelling, you can’t miss this.
Enjoy free VR content
This week you can enjoy two free pieces of VR content:
- Alien Isolation is free on the Epic Store. It is not a VR game, but there is a popular VR mod you can use to play it in VR;
- Grapple Tournament VR is free until Monday (today). Hurry up and play it while you can!
More info (Alien Isolation)
More info (Grapple Tournament)
Some news on content
- Zero Caliber Reloaded, a version of Zero Caliber VR specifically built for the Oculus Quest, is going to launch on May 13th, 2021;
- The MaskMaker has launched and has been reviewed by Road To VR and Upload VR. It is a good game, but it has its flaws.
More info (Zero Caliber: Reloaded)
More info (The MaskMaker on Road To VR)
More info (The MaskMaker on Upload VR)
News from partners (and friends)
Yaw VR has launched a new motion chair for VR called Yaw 2 and it is completely rocking on Kickstarter! At the time of writing it is gathering around €700K and there are more than 40 days left in the campaign! If you like this kind of articles, you must check it out.
Learn more
Another Kickstarter campaign I want you to check out is the one about Universus. This is how its author Sever Sfrengeu describes it:
Universus is a story-based social VR game that develops based on your personality.
There’s a place for everyone, whether you are outgoing and sociable or more introverted.
You’ll be able to enjoy fun Mini-Games, Collect Rewards, and most importantly, have Positive and Encouraging Dialogues with other members of the community. You can use the Soul Language to express yourself without using words. The Soul Language will allow you to express your true feelings towards others. Visiting our Marketplace you will be able to buy items created by our community or sell your own.
If you love this description, discover more by clicking the link here below
Learn more
Some XR fun
HurricaneVR developer shows you the best way to promote a Unity Plugin for handling VR objects realistically with your hands.
Funny link
Oculus Tracking is much better than SteamVR Tracking
Funny link
Everything may happen when you enjoy your favorite VR content
Funny link
The possible future uses of Virtual Desktop
Funny link
Unity developers will get this joke
Funny link
One of the best VR UXs I’ve ever found
Funny link
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(Header image by Yaw VR)