It’s a nice summer day here in Italy, and I hope things for all of you are going well. I feel a bit weird because I’ve discovered yesterday that I’m the subject of nightmares for Celine Tricart, a well-renowned VR creator. I mean, I’m a ghost, so probably I should be fine with the idea of being scary, but it still feels a bit strange to me…
Top news of the week
Facebook gives up on Brain Computer Interfaces (for now)
Facebook has given up on brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) to focus on EMG-based wristwatches, which are considered a more practical path for input in AR and VR.
I can’t say I am surprised: Facebook’s plans about BCIs were a bit ambitious, not to say irrealistic. Some years ago, Regina Dugan went on stage at an event by Facebook announcing that the company was working on a helmet that when worn could be able to let you type completely with the power of your mind, at the speed of 100 words per minute. A brain-controlled keyboard that should have worked without having any kind of sensors installed into the brain, so that to be completely non-invasive.
I was a bit perplexed about it, considering that I know that EEG-based approaches, that try to read your brainwaves from outside your skull, are just useful to have an understanding of the general status of your brain (e.g. to understand if you are relaxed or stressed) and nothing more because the skull acts as a filter for the signals of your brain. Facebook knew it, so it planned to use a technology that used infrared light to analyze brain oxygen levels.
Long story short, nothing worked as they expected. For this project, codenamed Steno, they partnered with the University of California San Francisco’s Chang Lab, who performed some experiments implanting electrodes into the brain of patients to let them type sentences just by thinking about them. Even in this invasive scenario, the best result they got, mixing various technologies (like some AI that could adjust the sentence so that to give it sense) was 75% accuracy by typing at 15 words per minute… with a vocabulary of just 50 common words. A total disaster, even using invasive technology, that is drilling the skull.
Add to this the fact that Steno would just let you use your brain to type sentences, but not to provide other forms of interactions (like understanding if you want to interact with something that you are seeing in front of you), and that the news that Facebook can “read your mind” would cause a global backlash, and you understand why Facebook is abandoning the project. It’s too risky, it’s not satisfying enough, and the technology is not ready.
It is a pity because the research it was funding could have had great applications for people with disabilities, and for these reasons, Facebook plans to opensource all the products of this experimentation, so that the research community can carry on its efforts and use it for people that may need it (good job, Facebook). But I’m honest, I and many other people that know something about BCIs were almost sure this was a project destined to fail. BCIs will come and will disrupt technology as we know it, but for similar applications, we will need decades. It’s not the usual 5–10 years timeframe that we use to predict everything, it’s more like 15+ years… and for the total mind reading probably 50+ years.
For now, Facebook will focus its efforts on the wristwatch interface based on EMG that it is developing using the IP acquired by CTRL+Labs some years ago. It is less “scary” (it just reads the data of your muscles), it has more possible applications (you can use it for all the purposes you use a hand at the moment), and it will be usable in just a few years. It seems a common-sense decision to me.
More info (News on The Verge)
More info (News on MIT Technology Review)
Other relevant news
VR is growing fast, and Quest is dominating the market
This week there have been released some interesting reports about the VR market and mixing their results we can get a very clear picture of what is happening in our ecosystem.
The report that got more viral is the one by PwC, a very esteemed market research brand, that stated that VR is the fastest growing digital media. In revenue terms, it has grown by more than 30% in the last year, and it is expected to keep this growth pace for at least 5 years. Yes, it is exponential growth, and yes it is impressive the pace at which VR is growing if compared to the other media. But don’t let the numbers fool yourself: as Mathew Olson from The Information highlights, “[PwC data] translates to a projected $6.9 billion in content revenue by 2025 — huge for VR, but tiny compared to the $194 billion PwC projects for overall videogame revenues”. This is confirmed also by a previous prediction by the CEO of Unity, which foresees that in 2030 VR headsets will be as popular as gaming console: that is mainstream, but still not as TV, for instance. I still think that an “iPhone moment”, that is a total technological disruption, may change all the scenario, but for now, it’s better to be conservative, and think that VR will grow year after year, but it will take a lot of time to become widespread as we would like it to be.
Inside this growing VR market, the headset that is selling the most is the Oculus Quest 2. According to the monthly data provided by Valve, this headset represents alone more than 31% of the headset used on Steam… and it is not even a PCVR headset. Facebook totals now 60.2% of the devices used on the gaming platform.
Counterpoint research confirms both trends, saying that headsets shipment has tripled with regard to 2020, and highlighting how in Q1 2021, Quest 2 has represented 75% of the whole shipments of VR headsets. Think about it: 75% alone… with all the other brands just competing for a quarter of the whole market. This is impressive and smells like monopoly. The second shipped headset still is the PlayStation VR, and the third one is surprisingly the DPVR P1 Pro, which sold worldwide more than the Valve Index. DPVR is a well-known Chinese brand especially in the 3DOF segment (yes, that one that many people think is dead) and it is selling very well to be a little company. The Pico Neo 3 takes the 5th spot thanks to its very aggressive pricing in the Chinese consumer market.
This success of VR and of the Quest 2 is helping some game studios to thrive: Moss and Gorn have just joined the club of the games selling more than 1M units, meaning many millions of revenues for them. This proves once again that it is not easy, but it is possible to be profitable in the VR market.
More info (PwC research)
More info (Steam Hardware Survey)
More info (Counterpoint Research)
More info (Moss and Gorn selling more than 1M units)
Digilens and Luxecel present innovations for AR lenses
We all dream about the AR glasses of the future that will be slim and have tons of functionalities, but we know that we will need time to get there, especially we need many technological innovations in many fields like lenses, batteries, streaming, etc…
Luckily the research in all these fields is going on and this week we have two interesting news regarding the advancements in lens manufacturing.
DigiLens, which has already designed an interesting reference design for AR glasses, has presented some plastic lenses it has produced together with Mitsubishi Chemicals. Without going too much deeper in details, currently, waveguides must be enclosed into glasses lenses, but these companies have found a way to put them into plastic. This has many advantages: the resulting lens is cheaper, it is lighter, and it can also be more resistant (glass material can break more easily). This is for sure incredibly interesting.
Luxecel, instead, focused on another problem: people with eye impairments. 75% of people in the world wear glasses, but we know that wearing glasses with whatever XR headset is a total nuisance. Luxecel has so worked on a method to 3D print AR lenses that already provide optical correction. Its VisionPlatform 7 combines into a 3D printed prescription lens three vital elements of AR smart glasses — a prescription lens, a waveguide, and a projector, making so the smartglasses ready to be used by its wearer without the need of another external pair of glasses.
More info (DigiLens’s plastic lenses)
More info (Luxecel’s prescription lenses)
Quest 2 Pro codename is “SeaCliff”
Many rumors about what Facebook is working on have spread this week.
Developer “Nuvido” claims that he is trying to reverse-engineer the Quest, and it is publishing on GitHub the results of his work. While some people pointed to me that what he’s doing is not a true “reverse-engineering”, he is anyway extrapolating some interesting data from the device. The most notable to me is that the upcoming new headset featuring eye-tracking (that is, the Quest 2 Pro) has already a codename, “SeaCliff”. According to Basti564, this name was also already found one year ago by another dev analyzing the Quest 2 runtime.
Basti564 has also analyzed the latest Quest runtime and has found that Facebook is working on an unlocking pattern for Quest 2, and it is also taking the old social customizable home of Rift and bringing it to the Quest. These may be future updates for the device.
Niclas Johansson has instead made another cool finding: Facebook has published a job description looking for someone to help to build a “DK3” device, that should support both AR and VR. I think it’s highly improbable that FRL is working on a successor of the Rift DK2, so may this be a reference to the Quest 3? Or of a hybrid AR/VR headset like the Lynx or like the rumored Apple visor? I guess only time will tell us…
More info (Quest 2 research by Nuvido)
More info (Basti564’s latest video)
More info (Niclas’s finding on DK3)
Valve’s SteamDeck de facto doesn’t support VR
Everyone this week is talking about Valve’s SteamDeck, the “portable” console to play your PC games everywhere that should compete with the Nintendo Switch (HAHAHAHA). Of course, since we all are addicted to VR, the first thing that came to our mind is: does it support VR? Well, yes and no.
Answering the questions by IGN, Valve has replied that theoretically, it could support VR, since it is a small PC and has a graphics card: “It has all the connectivity” has been the exact sentence by the company. But at the same time, the hardware has not been developed with VR in mind, so it could be difficult to configure, it could overheat, and it couldn’t have the performances to run all VR games. “You would need [a lot] to do that, but that’s not really what we’re optimizing the performance for” is what Valve has said. Long story short, don’t buy it to use it with VR.
The only good news for us VR fans is that if Valve is interested in small standalone devices for 2D games, maybe it is interested in them also for VR games, so we can hope for a future standalone VR headset by the GabeN.
News worth a mention
Netflix hires Facebook Head of AR/VR Content Mike Verdu
Last week I told you how Netflix plans to experiment with the gaming and VR market after a partnership with Shonda Rhimes, a powerhouse television producer. This week, its willingness to enter those two markets has become even more explicit after the company has hired Mike Verdu, that you all remember as the Facebook head of AR/VR content. Verdu has a long history as an executive that helps companies in building solid gaming catalogs, and his experience will surely be useful for Netflix for putting gaming into its media streaming offering.
Now it’s not anymore a question of “if”, but of “when” Netflix will enter the gaming market.
On a separate news, Facebook has hired Joshua To, a previous key AR/VR director from Google who worked on AR/VR projects like Lens and Daydream and that will help FRL in its AR efforts.
More info (Netflix hires Mike Verdu)
More info (Facebook hires Joshua To)
Rokid 4K AR glasses have been funded on Kickstarter
Chinese manufacturer Rokid has successfully kickstarted its 4K AR glasses. It is not a surprise, considering that they only asked $20,000 which is a ridiculous amount for producing hardware.
The device is a 3DOF viewer that you can connect to the smartphone to see its screen in AR. It features a very good resolution and also vocal commands.
Two VR pieces of content have been nominated for the Emmy Awards
The VR experiences Inside COVID19 and Felix & Paul Studios’ Space Explorers: The ISS Experience have been nominated at the Emmy Award in the Outstanding Interactive Program 2021 category, up against two other non-VR titles. Let’s hope one of the two will win!
Read this comparison of AR frameworks
Developer Oscar Falmer has prepared a very detailed spreadsheet in which he compares the performances and the features of the most famous AR frameworks (ARKit, ARCore, Spark AR, etc…). It can be very useful if you have to evaluate which framework to use in your augmented reality project.
Arcadia is “world’s first stadium-size mixed reality arena”
Arcadia is a new startup that has come out from stealth mode and that proposes a “stadium-size mixed reality competition”. In a physical big arena, multiple players wearing just a standalone VR headset (Oculus Quest) run and challenge themselves inside a VR experience where they can see the environment of the competition, but also the other players completely virtualized. Since Oculus Quest can’t track such big areas without drifting (trust me, I’ve done that), the company has built its own proprietary inside-out tracking technology, Samos Arena.
Now the company wants to organize a tour to have its first Arcadia Champion. Are you interested?
Tarzan VR doesn’t shine in Upload VR review
We all know Tarzan VR mostly for its absurd trailer with a weirdly catchy song. Well, the game is perfectly in line with the trailer: according to Upload VR it is a bit nonsensical, and so one of the most awaited games of the latest months has even earned the rare score of 1 STAR. It is kind of a record… the King of the Jungle is still a king, but not for what he hoped for.
Some news on content
- Rec Room adds a smart system of full-body animated costumes, so people can add much more customizations to their avatars;
- Road To VR has reviewed very positively A Township Tale on Oculus Quest: the game requires a bit of time to understand everything of it, but it is fun to play with your friends;
- Runner gameplay shows amazing graphics with ’80s vibes;
- Half-Life Alyx Bioshock Mod Chapter II is going to look a lot like the original game;
- Vengeful Rites, one of the best VR RPGs leaves early access on July, 29th;
- Squingle offers puzzles similar to the ones of Half-Life: Alyx, but with a psychedelic theme. It is now out for Quest and PC;
- Brushwork VR makes you paint on a canvas in a way similar to real life, all in WebXR. It is impressive given the current status of WebVR;
- The game devs of Sairento VR show an extended gameplay trailer of their new game Hellsweeper VR, a roguelike first-person combat simulator.
More info (Rec Room)
More info (Township Tale)
More info (Runner)
More info (Bioshock Mod)
More info (Vengeful Rites)
More info (Squingle)
More info (Brushwork VR)
More info (Hellsweeper VR)
News from partners (and friends)
My friend Marco Delvai has pointed me to this AR marketing campaign that he has helped developing involving WebAR and volumetric video to promote a concert sponsored by the important bank Barclaycard. The campaign, that featured the singer Anne-Marie, has been quite a success.
Learn more
Ven VR Adventure is coming to Quest, and we have a new Quest gameplay video that shows how the graphics are very nice even on a standalone headset.
Learn more
Some XR fun
The big problem of VR no one talks about
Funny link
Not even Santa can make miracles
Funny link
I was born to draw the Mona Lisa, baby
Funny link
PSVR is an easy platform to develop for, they said
Funny link
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