The XR Week Peek (2021.05.11): Pico Neo 3 launched, HTC may announce Focus 3 and Pro 2, and more!
Welcome to my 200TH ROUNDUP! Yes, it’s 200 weeks (around 4 years) that I try to inform the community every week about the best AR/VR news, at first just by e-mail, and then also on a special column on my website. I don’t know how I should celebrate this moment, but for sure I want to thank all the people that have supported me in this journey, by reading these posts, commenting on them, replying to them. I also thank everyone that has sent me possible news of interest, especially David and Rob that every week send me many pieces of news I may have missed.
I’ve received many compliments for these roundups and I still blush every time I hear one… but I appreciate it a lot when someone says something kind about the product of my hard work. That’s why I also love all people that are donating on Patreon: with their monthly donations, they’re showing that they truly care about what I’m doing and they completely support it (and you can join my Patreon too!).
Thank you, thank you, thank you! All of this has been possible just thanks to all of you fellow community members!
Top news of the week
Pico launches the Pico Neo 3
Today Pico has announced its new Pico Neo 3 standalone headset. These are its specifications:
- Qualcomm XR2 chipset
- 4K low-persistence 90 Hz Curved Display
- 3664 x 1920 resolution, 773 PPI
- 98° FOV
- 6GB RAM (2133 Mhz) / 8GB in the Pro Eye version
- 128GB/256GB storage
- Wi-Fi 6 connectivity
- USB-C 3.0 connector with OTG
- 3 Physical IPD adjustments
- Optical Positional tracking, with 4 tracking cameras
- Cameras have 400×400 resolution and run at 120Hz
- Maximum 10m x 10m tracking area and mm-precision accuracy
- Optical Tracked Controllers, with 32 tracking points
- All-PU materials fabrication, for easier sanitization
- 5300 mAh battery, for around 2.5–3h of usage
- Integrated audio, with 3.5mm jack to connect external headphones
- Wi-fi streaming or tethered streaming to SteamVR integrated in the runtime
- Android 10 operating system
- Pico SDK for development
In China, it will be sold as a consumer device for around $400, with two SKUs, one with 128GB storage, and the other one with 256GB. The headset is marketed as a device for gaming and fitness, and it will feature very interesting games, already popular on Quest: Superhot VR, Red Matter, and Synth Riders are some notable examples. China has never had a “Quest moment” and this new headset with good content and an affordable price can be the kickstart of the consumer market there. I’m not saying it is going to be easy (it wasn’t even easy for a big company like Facebook), but at least there is a chance for growth of the Chinese market.
In the West, it will be sold only as an enterprise device. Dubbed Pico Neo 3 Pro, the headset is going to cost $699, and its Pico Neo 3 Pro Eye variant, featuring eye-tracking by Tobii, is going to cost $899. The headset will have 256GB of storage in both versions and will feature all the enterprise facilities that have made Pico famous among VR companies. Being $100 cheaper than Quest For Business, the Pico Neo 3 Pro could become the new preferred choice for companies that want to implement VR in their production processes.
This device looks very promising on paper. I can’t wait to test it to tell you if this is also good in practice!
Other relevant news
HTC new products may be the Vive Pro 2 and the Vive Focus 3
According to a leak discovered by Protocol, HTC may launch two headsets tomorrow at Vivecon:
- The Vive Pro 2, a premium PC VR headset, priced at €842 ($1,012)
- The Vive Focus 3 Business Edition, a business-oriented standalone, for €1,474 ($1,771)
It seems that the headsets were also listed on a website with the expected launch date of May, 20th, but then the related pages have been removed.
We don’t know if this info is true or not, even if most of the time, these leaks carry with them the correct information. If this is what HTC is going to announce tomorrow, it would mean that the company has left the consumer segment to dedicate itself completely to the prosumer (Vive Pro 2) and enterprise (Vive Focus 3 BE) markets. And I would find it an understandable choice: Vive has always been incredibly successful among companies and it would have a sense for it to thrive in the B2B niche until it becomes strong enough to exit and try to compete with much bigger companies like Facebook, Microsoft, or Valve. I know that the memes of tomorrow will all be about “overpriced HTC products”, but people working in the B2B market (me included) appreciate very solid products, even if they have a price that is not affordable for consumers.
Let’s see what will happen tomorrow at Vivecon! I’m pretty excited, maybe there could be some surprises…
More info (Leaked unveiled by Protocol)
More info (News commented on Road To VR)
Facebook bets on fitness for consumers, prepares Quest Pro for prosumers
In an interview with CNET, Marky-Z (Zuckerberg) has talked about his vision of AR and VR at Facebook. Apart from the usual PR fluff, he has declared two important things.
The first one is that Facebook is evaluating other use cases for the Quest that are not gaming. After having sold the Quest 2 as a next-gen console, now the company is especially exploring productivity (Infinite Office) and Fitness (FitXR, SuperNatural, etc…). Fitness seems to be the new focus of the company, and this week, on the occasion of the American National Fitness Day, it has published quite bold ads about the use of Quest for fitness in newspapers and on billboards across American cities. They have been so bold as even publishing an enormous billboard saying that “The best part of going to the gym is leaving it” very close to a big gym. Fitness has been selected as the new use case to enter the mainstream… let’s see if this is going to work out (pun intended).
The second important thing is that Facebook is working on a Quest Pro. The strategy of the company is the one of having an affordable headset like the Quest 2 that can appeal to the masses, and then release a headset with enhanced features (like eye tracking, face tracking, etc…) for prosumers that want to pay for better performances. Pro headsets shouldn’t have big sales, but could appeal to a new market segment, and also be used as testbeds for new features to be implemented in new Quest iterations. I have to say that this would be a perfect strategy, that would allow Facebook to please both VR enthusiasts and the general audience. But the Quest Pro is not coming this year: after Boz, also Zuck has stated that.
Facebook is keeping evolving the Quest 2 at an impressive pace, and its investments in technology, content, and marketing are paying out. They are also experimenting with different formulas to succeed: this week a Youtuber has spotted that maybe Android 2D apps may come to the Quest in the future, as John Carmack has always hoped. This could open up the use of the Quest for even more uses than the ones it has today, attracting new types of customers.
The Quest is growing a lot… I would really like to see a competitor here, but I don’t see any on the horizon at the moment…
More info (Interview to Mark Zuckerberg)
More info (Facebook ads spotted by AdWeek)
More info (Upload on Facebook’s fitness ads)
More info (Big anti-gym billboard published close to a gym)
More info (Android apps may come to Quest 2)
Cognixions is a new XR headset to help people with disabilities
The first time I heard about Cognixions, the AR headset with EEG sensors to help people with disabilities, I was pretty skeptical, but after the in-depth article by TechCrunch that I have read this week, I now think it is an interesting device.
Cognixions is a mobile-connected AR headset (or maybe it’s a pair of bulky smartglasses, you decide which name give to it) with EEG sensors that should “read the mind” of the user to let him select easily some choices it has in front of him (or her). This way even if the user has some neural problems and can’t speak or move, he/she can communicate with the people around him/her thanks to a syntetizer that pronounces the words written by the user. I was skeptical about it because EEG sensors give pretty noisy information at the moment, and it is difficult to create a reliable interface out of them. But actually, this headset features a new technology that doesn’t just read the brainwaves in a standard way, but sends electrical signals inside the brain and analyzes how they return to the sensor, for a sort of echolocation that improves the accuracy of the read information.
Apart from this new technology, the company is also working on carefully designing the UI in front of the user, so that it’s easier to interact with it just by the use of brain signals: so for instance the most common answers feature big buttons and are easier to select.
Thanks to all these improvements, the headset can help people with diseases like cerebral palsy to talk more easily with the people around them than they could do with the traditional bulky eye-tracking devices. I’m happy that the technology is helping these people in having a life with higher quality and I can only wish Cognixions good luck for the future.
Demeo is the VR game of the moment
Resolution Games is one of the more prolific VR game studios out there, and with its latest launch of the RPG game Demeo, it has made bingo.
Demeo is a bit like Dungeon & Dragons in VR: you and some friends play around a 3D board, and you play in turn to try to traverse three dungeons and defeat the boss that there is at the end. At every turn, you can perform two actions, like using a card, moving in the map, or attacking someone, etc… You have to be very careful about what to do: if you don’t coordinate carefully with your peers, you risk losing a match after you have spent a lot of time inside it because the game is unforgiving.
Even if the game doesn’t enhance the virtues of VR (as Road To VR’s journalists say in their review, this could be a 2D PC game), the game is well-crafted, and it is pleasing all those people that love to play board games together with friends. For all of them, it is a moment of sociality and fun that can be shared during this pandemic and so the game is skyrocketing in sales. Upload VR gave to it 5 stars, and Resolution Games’ CEO Tommy Palm has stated that the game “exceeded half a million in revenues” in just 48 hours, highlighting that “it’s so exciting to see VR reach this state of maturity […] We’re finally in a time when a new IP can sell significant revenues right out of the gate.”
Resolution Games is working hard to improve the game, and a new map is already on the work. The modding community has also started to evaluate how to create its own content without waiting for official releases. Demeo is pretty hot at the moment… compliments to Resolution Games!
More info (Review on Road To VR)
More info (5 Stars review on Upload VR)
More info (Tommy Palm on the sales of the game)
More info (Demeo Cross-buy between Rift and Quest)
More info (New map in the works for Demeo)
More info (The modding community already organizing for it)
News worth a mention
The Epic vs Apple trial makes interesting documents come to light
The Epic vs Apple battle over Fortnite and the 30% cut on all the transactions on the Apple Store has just had its first round, and thanks to it, many secretive documents have come to light. Some interesting info emerging from them:
- Epic proposed Sony develop a VR game for the PSVR 2 if Sony accepted Fortnite on PlayStation with cross-play with other platforms. The company refused, but then in the end Fortnite has been published on PS4 with cross-play, so who knows if Epic is developing a VR game for them;
- It has come to light how many millions Epic has spent for free content on the Epic Games Store: $11.6M until now;
- Epic Games co-founder Mark Rein commented on the trailer of Minecraft Earth saying that it was “horribly overselling AR in a way that poisons the well for the industry. They [Microsoft] did this same s**t with HoloLens.”
I can’t wait for other juicy details coming out from this legal fight!
More info (Epic proposing a VR game to Sony)
More info (Epic spending on EGS)
More info (Epic didn’t like Minecraft Earth marketing)
More info (Apple vs Epic — Slides of the presentations during the trial)
Apple continues its investments in AR
Apple keeps investing heavily in AR. There are two interesting pieces of news on the matter:
- Apple has just invested $410 million into II-VI, a company manufacturing lasers used in all Apple’s depth cameras (e.g. LIDAR), that are fundamental for AR;
- Apple has just partnered with Delta Airlines: Delta will deploy 19,000 iPhone 12 devices to improve the training and the work in general of airplane staff thanks to mobile AR. This is one of the biggest uses of mobile AR I’ve heard about in the B2B sector, and I think it could mean the interest by Apple to work not only in the B2C market for what concerns augmented reality.
More info (Apple investing in II-VI)
More info (Apple working with Delta Airlines)
What does App Lab mean for indie developers?
Peco Peco developer Julien Dorra has written an amazing post on Upload VR saying the point of view of all of us indie VR developers about App Lab: it is a very interesting platform, and we are thankful to Facebook for that, but it is still very limited with respect to the Quest Store. We indies want only one store, not a 1st class store for the important names, and a 2nd class one for the indie devs.
Discover the XR lineup of Tribeca and New Images Festivals
If you are into storytelling festivals, for sure you would love to know that the line-ups for Tribeca and New Images Festival have just been announced. You can discover them by clicking the links here below.
More info (Tribeca)
More info (New Images)
A new kind of optics for XR has been discovered at Rochester University
At the University of Rochester, a research team has assembled a very interesting new optics technology that could allow making XR glasses that are thin and offer crisp visuals. The system employs microdisplays, a metaform combiner, and freeform optic. I have no idea what it does mean, but it seems cool to me.
There’s a hack to activate permanent passthrough vision on the Quest 2
A Redditor has found that with a very hacky procedure it is possible to leave the Quest in permanent passthrough vision state, and so experiment with all your favorite VR experiences (like Beat Saber) in mixed reality. I think it may be cool to start experimenting with AR on Quest!
Nolo is going to launch its standalone headset on May, 24th
On May, 24th, Chinese vendor NOLO, famous for its tracking system for 3DOF headsets, is going to announce NOLO Sonic, its new all-in-one 6DOF standalone headset. We have no info about it yet, but I would be curious to know more.
More info (Tweet about the Nolo Sonic)
More info (A Chinese VR news website about the Nolo Sonic)
Lucas Rizzotto has transformed his girlfriend in an AR theremin
XR creator Lucas Rizzotto has done it again: he has made a very interesting AR experiment (in this case, creating an augmented reality Theremin musical instrument) and has created an incredibly funny video about it. In this video, you will discover his girlfriend, Max Noir, but also his inflatable doll. Yes, it is a long story…
Eric For President has devoted his Youtube channel to charity
One of the most famous VR YouTubers, Eric For President, has just decided to devote his channel to collect money for charity initiatives. In his new video, he hosts a debate about Facebook, and he plans to collect up to $50,000 to donate to the XRSI.
I think it’s a great initiative, compliments Eric for this!
Some news on content
- Lacernauts is the new game from Impulse Gear, the studio behind PSVR co-op shooter Farpoint. It looks like Overwatch for VR;
- Virtual Desktop adds 120Hz streaming mode to keep itself ahead of Air Link;
- Quantaar is running a Kickstarter campaign to promote its “fast-paced VR Melee” game with roots in the Asian LBVR market;
- The amazing Painting VR, defined as the “Boneworks of painting” is now on App Lab!
- Vermillion brings realistic oil painting to VR;
- Atlas VR is going to showcase its new creation: Madrid Noir;
- Population One Season Two is coming on May, 13th. All the fans of this popular VR battle royale game have been warned;
- Episode One of Space Explorers, the VR movie shot in the ISS station, is now available.
More info (Lacernauts trailer)
More info (Interview to Impulse Gear about Lacernauts)
More info (120Hz mode on Virtual Desktop)
More info (Quantaar)
More info (Painting VR)
More info (Vermillion)
More info (Atlas V)
More info (Population One Season Two)
More info (Space Explorers)
News from partners (and friends)
A startup that I know is working on a very interesting VR project, but it would need your help to fill a survey to gather data to evaluate the interest of the community in what it is doing. Please fill the survey (it just requires a few minutes) and help a young VR company!
Take the survey!
Some XR fun
Virtual Reality is great, but what about Real Reality?
Funny link
In Russia, the haptic chair is you
Funny link
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(Header image by Pico Interactive)
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