I know that in these crazy war moments probably we all are a bit less interested in the news about XR, but this is my job, so today you can find here the new weekly roundup I prepared for you, as usual. I hope it serves to distract you by giving you something to read to not think about the terrible things happening in this world. I just hope for peace to come to Europe again soon: I have friends on both sides of the conflict, and no one of them wants this war, but all of them have to stand the consequences. I really hope for the best for all people that are in this awful situation.
I have also a little announcement to make: in the upcoming weeks, starting from today, I will start a paid partnership with NVIDIA to promote the GTC. I am usually not interested in this kind of paid collaborations, but considering the importance of the partner, and the good opportunities it has promised for my readers, I’ve decided to accept it. In particular, you can participate in a draft to win an RTX3080Ti, that will be dedicated only to my followers. This is good news because I don’t have millions of followers, so you have a not-so-low probability of winning it. All you must do is:
- Register to GTC using this referral link
- Watch part of the GTC (I would suggest a part of the keynote) when it goes live (March 21st-24th). This is important to take part in the raffle: just registering isn’t enough.
That’s it, easy peasy. Unluckily my referral gives you a chance of winning only if you are in the EMEA area (Europe, Middle-East, Africa). I tried to bargain on this, but it didn’t work out. Sorry, my American, Asian, and Australian friends… you have to look out for some other promoter in your area.
As usual, I’m open to your feedback… if you don’t like me to take part in these initiatives, let me know!
(… and also if you are the lucky one to win the graphics card, let me know, too!)
Top news of the week
Sony reveals the design of the PSVR 2
Finally, Sony Interactive Entertainment has unveiled the design of the PlayStation VR 2 headset.
Feature-wise, it is more or less as we expected it to be, with four cameras for inside-out tracking, haptic feedback, IPD adjustment, eye-tracking, HDR display. But features tell only a part of the story. The design of this headset is also quite beautiful, with two colors that break the usual monochrome pattern, and with curves that make it classy and a bit less techie. Sony has also stressed in its announcement post that PSVR 2 has been conceived so that to feature optimal comfort for different head shapes, and to guarantee a comfortable use for long VR sessions.
All of this makes the PSVR 2 a very interesting device because it has functionalities like eye tracking and haptics on the head, that no other consumer-oriented HMD is offering (at least, for now). If we pair it to the fact that this device is connected to a PS5, which is a quite powerful machine, we see that the whole system is truly the next-generation VR that PlayStation users (and not only them) were waiting for. And don’t forget that it will surely be launched together with amazing VR games from Sony and its partners’ IPs, so I’m quite sure this headset will have its success.
There are anyway still some unknowns about it, that could undermine its success:
- The cable: Quest fanboys have answered this announcement underlining that this headset still features a cable and that now always more users are moving towards standalone, even for PCVR experiences. I wonder if there is the possibility of having an accessory for wireless streaming in the future
- The audio: from the pictures it seems that PSVR 2 has no integrated speakers. There is no official confirmation on this, and I hope to be wrong because having to use earphones would be a big hit to its comfort
- Release date and price: of course the release date (will it come before or after an Apple headset?) and price (will it be affordable for PS5 users?) will be of paramount importance to understand how many people can potentially buy this device.
I still think that this device has a huge potential, but let’s see what will happen in the next months before judging it.
More info (PSVR 2 unveiled)
More info (Official blog post on PSVR 2 headset)
Other relevant news
Meta’s future with AI, 5G, and custom OSs
Between leaks, announcements, and official info, we have had this week a glimpse of the future of Meta, which won’t be only about XR but will include also many other trending technologies like AI and 5G.
The first news comes directly from an AI event that Meta has organized for this week. Inside it, Mark Zuckerberg has shown a prototype Meta is working on, called Builder Bot. Zuck and another Meta employee entered an empty virtual world, and Zuck started saying what he wanted to see in it and the AI answered by crafting exactly what he wanted. “I want to be on an Island”, he said, and then the virtual environment became the one of an island “I want a table, and some music”, and the system generated a wooden table on the island, with a stereo on it that was playing music. And so on. The system understood Mark’s intention and crafted the VR world according to his needs. It’s been an interesting demo.
Everyone got pretty excited by this, but honestly, I just found it “nice”, for three reasons:
- It is just a prototype that can become a product only in the long term future. Zuck itself clarified this;
- I still don’t know what is the clear value of having such a system for the average consumer;
- It is not even original work. One year ago, I discovered a startup called “Anything World” that does the same thing. And a demo is already live.
But it’s not only about AI. An analysis of the job postings of Meta shows that the company is trying to add cellular data to its headsets. A network connection with a SIM will be very important to make sure that people can wear XR glasses all day. We have until now only thought about building headsets for indoor usage, so Wi-Fi support was enough, but if we start building something to be used also outdoor, we have to give these devices the possibility of connecting to a network. Adding 5G support would also let the glasses offload part of their computation needs to the cloud, so it is of paramount importance. It is no surprise then that the company is accelerating on this.
The last news is about the operating system. A few weeks ago, we got the rumor that the team working on a new Meta XR operating system (XROS) was disbanded. This week the company officially confirmed the news, explaining what is going to happen. It is not that Meta is abandoning its goal of having its operating system (and so freeing itself from Android and iOS), it is that it realized that designing an operating system that is optimal both for AR and VR is not going to work. So the team is going to be split, and part of them will work on VR operating systems and another one on AR operating systems. I think it makes sense considering the different requirements of the two technologies.
More info (Meta’s Builder Bot — Upload VR)
More info (Meta’s Builder Bot — The Verge)
More info (Anything World)
More info (Cellular connection on Meta headsets)
More info (XROS team split)
Valve indirectly admits it is working on a standalone VR headset
After many rumors about a “Deckard” standalone headset Valve could be working on, we finally got an initial confirmation from Valve on its interest on a similar project. It is not a direct confirmation, but a hint that points in that direction.
The source of news is directly his majesty Gabe Newell. In an interview with a magazine (quoted by Upload VR), he said the following sentences:
One of the things [Steam Deck] represents is the battery-capable, high-performance horsepower that eventually you could use in VR applications as well. You can take the PC and build something that is much more transportable. We’re not there yet, but this is a stepping stone.
GabeN is clearly saying that the Steamdeck is a stepping stone towards their idea of standalone VR. And is also clear that he’s hinting at the fact that they are going in that direction, in building a battery-powered device to play VR games. We had a similar comment some months ago from Valve product designer Greg Coomer, but said by Gaben, with those explicit words, it has another weight.
And here it comes my speculation: Valve is trying to build something similar to what Simula has announced: a headset that is a powerful Linux PC you attach to your head. I speculate on this for the following reasons:
- Valve has not announced a standalone headset yet while customizing the Qualcomm reference designs would be “easy” for it. So probably it doesn’t want to use them
- Steamdeck is already a mini-PC, so it’s easier to transform it into a headset that looking for other solutions
- Valve has quite good expertise with Linux
- Valve has no Android marketplace, all its audience is PC-based. That’s why also the Steam Deck is a small PC: it has not to create a new market and seek new content, but just to give a new feature (mobility) to its already existing market. With VR it could be the same: you can play the same games, but without having to deal with a PC and a tethered headset: you can play Pistol Whip on the Deckard and that’s it.
This is just a speculation of mine, but it would also explain why the company is waiting so much to enter the standalone VR market: they are looking to build a completely custom product. It would be fun if they announced it the same day as Cambria…
Magic Leap 2 has inside-out tracked controllers
During a presentation, Magic Leap has unveiled some more features about its headset and controllers. And one has surprised me: the controllers will feature inside-out tracking.
Every one of its controllers will have embedded cameras, and the streams of these cameras will be used to track the pose of the controllers no matter where they are: behind the head, below the body, etc… as long as they can see their surroundings, they will track their position via computer vision. This is cool.
If you remember well, this is the same type of controller that was teased for Meta Project Cambria. This makes me think that it could become the new standard for controllers: if always more companies will dig into this, tracking rings could become a feature of the past in 1–2 years. Also, since the designs of the two controllers look very similar, I wonder if there is a company that is offering a “reference design” for this kind of tracked controllers…
More info (Magic Leap presentation)
More info (Close up of the controllers)
News worth a mention
Apple headset is rumored to be announced this year
I guess you are not surprised to read a new rumor about the Apple headset also from this week. According to DigiTimes, the device has already passed the production tests and it is ready to enter production in August-September this year, and so to be announced this year. This agrees with some previous rumors but disagrees with other rumors that mentioned delays for this headset.
HTC released a trailer about his vision for the metaverse
HTC has released a trailer video with his vision of the metaverse. Announcing the name VIVERSE, the company shows a future that includes XR, NFTs, crypto, and various use cases (entertainment, fitness, meetings, etc…). The video wasn’t well-received by the community.
Project Cambria may feature facial haptics
According to Brad Lynch, Project Cambria may feature vibrational haptic feedback on the head, exactly as PSVR 2. This would be very intriguing: I have tried haptic feedback on the face, and I’ve found it cool.
Let’s talk about the metaverse
As every week, I share with you some cool bullsh*t-free articles about the metaverse. This week I’ve picked three for you:
- An article that talks about monetization of the metaverse, and all the new play-to-earn frenzy
(Thanks James Watson for the tip) - Another article criticizes all this speculation on virtual lands in the metaverse. The author states that we are replicating exactly the same things we have in the real world: landlords, rent, speculation… but shouldn’t we aim at creating something new in virtual reality?
- In Decentraland we had the first (to my knowledge) protest in the metaverse, with some people protesting during an event organized by Samsung. The last article tells you about his.
More info (Money in the metaverse)
More info (Virtual lands in the metaverse)
More info (Protests in Decentraland)
Concerns about safety in the metaverse are growing
This week I’ve found two posts mentioning safety issues in the metaverse.
- The first one is from BBC, which made an experiment impersonating a small child and going through VRChat and being sexually harassed by adults.
- The second one talks about Roblox and an absurd world recreating Nazi gas chambers. The news is even more disgusting if you think that Roblox is used mainly by very young kids.
I think it’s important to talk about safety in this social world, and it is even more important now that many kids received a Quest 2. We have to protect them.
More info (Harassment problems in VRChat)
More info (Disgusting world in Roblox)
A dev is working on an SDK for house-scale VR experiences
An indie developer is working on an SDK for Quest to let you build experiences that have house-scale, that is that let you move in a big environment and where you can mark where there are the physical objects, so the game can substitute them with virtual counterparts. It seems a quite cool project, until Meta will release its own official solution.
Get games on Humble Bundle
The new Winter VR Sale by Humble Bundle features many cool VR games at a discounted price! Have a look at it if you have some money to spend on content…
Blade And Sorcery: Nomad is a huge hit on Quest
Road To VR spotted that Blade And Sorcery: Nomad is becoming one of the greatest hits ever for the Quest 2. It shows growth rates comparable to the ones of Beat Saber, and it could easily become the n.2 game on the whole platform. I forecast the solo dev studio will be acquired by Meta.
Some info on content
- Steam Next Fest 2022 lets you try very interesting demos of upcoming VR games
- One of the games of Steam Next Fest is Green Hell VR, which up to now looks like a cool porting of the original pancake game
- Pistol Whip Encore has been released, and while it is not adding multiplayer as I expected, it introduces new modifiers, levels, and other cool features
- Virtual Virtual Reality 2 has finally been patched. Now it should be better to be played
- Demeo is adding a lobby to let you hang out with your friends in VR while you prepare for a new match
- There is a new mod to play Quake 3 Arena in VR
- We have a teaser on how the VR mod of Cyberpunk 2077 is going to work
- Upload VR has gone hands-on with Ziggy’s Cosmic Adventures
- Ancient Dungeon, a dungeon crawler in VR, is another game that made the leap from App Lab to the official Store. Kudos to the dev!
- Schell Games has had an interesting interview with Upload about the design of its game Lost Recipes
More info (Steam Next Fest)
More info (Green Hell VR trailer)
More info (Green Hell VR hands-on)
More info (Pistol Whip Encore)
More info (Virtual Virtual Reality 2)
More info (Demeo)
More info (Quake 3 Arena)
More info (Cyberpunk 2077)
More info (Ziggy’s Cosmic Adventures)
More info (Ancient Dungeon)
More info (Lost Recipes)
Other news
VR perverts of the world, rejoice! VR Kanojo is getting a sequel called SUMMER VACATION, out soon.
There is a way to play a Minecraft clone in VR.
Upload has written a new article that mentions indie VR games are not worth a full article.
Meta is starting hosting exhibits in Horizon Worlds on the occasion of Black History Month.
Kudos to FitXR that is offering inclusive fitness VR lessons with a double amputee as a teacher!
News from partners (and friends)
Register to Metaversus
I’m going to be a speaker at Metaversus, the bullsh*t-free online conference about the M-word organized by Mohammed Sangaré! Register here to attend it: Learn more
Listen to my podcasts
This week I’ve been interviewed for two different podcasts. You can listen to them following the links here below. Learn more (VR Expert podcast) Learn more (Ryan De Souza’s podcast)
Some XR fun
Oh look, we have again an Oculus account on Twitter! Well, sort of…
Funny link
The evolution of communication.
Funny link
Donate to the Red Cross
This week I won’t ask you to donate for my blog. As I’ve said in the beginning, there are bigger events to care about. So, 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:
- DeoVR
- Raghu Bathina
- GenVR
- Eduardo Siman
- Jonn Fredericks
- Jean-Marc Duyckaerts
- Reynaldo T Zabala
- Richard Penny
- Terry xR. Schussler
- Ilias Kapouranis
- Michael Bruce
- Paolo Leoncini
- Immersive.international
- Bob Fine
- Nikk Mitchell and the great FXG team
- Jake Rubin
- Alexis Huille
- Jennifer Granger
- Jason Moore
- Steve Biggs
- Niels Bogerd
- Julio Cesar Bolivar
- Jan Schroeder
- Kai Curtis
- Francesco Strada
- Sikaar Keita
- Ramin Assadollahi
- Jeff Dawson
- Juan Sotelo
- Andrew Sheldon
- Chris Madsen
- Tracey Wong
- Matthew Allen Fisher
- Horacio Torrendell
- Andrew Deutsch
- Fabien Benetou
- Tatiana Kartashova
- Marco “BeyondTheCastle” Arena
- Eloi Gerard
- Adam Boyd
- Jeremy Dalton
- Siciliana Trevino
- Joel Ward
- Alex P
- Marguerite Espin de la Vega
- Lynn Eades
- Donald P
- Sb
- Enrico Poli
- Vooiage Technologies
- Caroline
- Liam James O’Malley
- Paul Reynolds
- Hillary Charnas
- Wil Stevens
- Brian Peiris
- Rhys Coombes
- Francesco Salizzoni
- Alan Smithson
- Steve R
- Brentwahn
- Simplex
- Matias Nassi
And now here you are the link to donate:
(Header image by Sony Interactive Entertainment)