I just got back from Lisbon, where I attended AWE Europe. I’m super-tired because of the trip, but especially because we at VRrOOm had to deliver the VR world of Oxymore, a new musical experience we did with Jean-Michel Jarre. It’s been tough work, and yesterday I slept 3 hours because we spent the night fixing bugs. My eyes desperately want to close and I will get some sleep after I finish this newsletter for you. Anyway, if you want to watch this world we created, you can do that on VRChat: look for “Oxymore” official world in the public worlds on the platform, and appreciate the fantastic graphics the artists have created. A new concert starts every hour… have fun with it!
Top news of the week
Pico announces Pico 4 Enterprise
At AWE, Pico has announced Pico 4 Enterprise, the enterprise version of the Pico 4. This headset is basically identical to the Pico 4, but it features a more cleanable headset, additional sensors for eye and face tracking, plus enterprise services (dedicated assistance, device management, data security certifications, etc…) and an enterprise runtime (which offers kiosk mode, for instance). The headset can be preordered starting from the first week of November for €899 + VAT, €600 less than the Quest Pro. It is expected to ship in December.
It is interesting that Pico decided to sell the device only to companies. It wants to have a clear separation: Pico 4 is only for consumers and Pico 4 Enterprise is just for companies. No grey zones like HTC did in the past. And in fact, the prosumer Pico 4 Pro that has been announced in China for consumers won’t be sold in the West.
I’m curious to see how this will compete with the Quest Pro, because every one of these devices has its own strong points: for instance, Pico 4 Enterprise is more affordable, but Meta Quest Pro has a much better passthrough AR.
More info (Pico launches Pico 4 Enterprise)
More info (Pico 4 Pro not sold outside of China)
More info (Pico 4 Enterprise vs Quest Pro vs Vive Focus 3)
Other relevant news
Apple headset will not be focused on gaming
A new report seems to suggest that the upcoming Apple headset won’t be focused on gaming at all. In fact, at launch, it won’t even be possible to create Unity content for it. According to the rumors, In the beginning only Apple’s first part tools (like RealityKit) will be allowed to create content, and only after, Unity support will come. Unity should anyway be the first engine partner, something that doesn’t surprise me considering the litigation between Apple and Epic Games, the company behind Unreal Engine.
The headset shouldn’t feature controllers and should not be focused on games, which are the most common use case for XR. Someone, like Robert Scoble, suggests that media consumption may be the top use case for this headset. Others say that it may be professional applications. For sure mixed reality should be big with this headset because this device is being released in preparation for the future Apple AR glasses.
As usual, these are all speculations, so let’s see what will actually happen.
More info (No gaming on Apple headset)
More info (Apple headset won’t launch with Unity support)
More info (Apple’s possible development environment)
Meta is under heavy pressure
After the Meta Connect and the launch of the Quest Pro, there is not a single day that passes by that I don’t read mainstream tech media insulting Mark Zuckerberg and telling him that he should cancel his metaverse dreams. I don’t know where all this comes from: it may be that Apple is fostering negative media for Meta, or that after the metaverse hype where all the magazines overhyped the technology, now they are starting to kill it because it didn’t become huge in 6 months as they expected.
I’m pretty tired of this attitude, and I sincerely hope that Meta will continue pursuing its efforts because if it stopped them, there would be huge problems for our whole ecosystem. The biggest company abandoning the field is not a good spot for investments in XR.
More info (Negative article about Meta / 1)
More info (Negative article about Meta / 2)
More info (Negative article about Meta / 3)
News worth a mention
Shiftall MeganeX integrates with SteamVR
One of the most awaited headsets, MeganeX from Shiftall, a subsidiary of Panasonic, has just showcased its latest prototype update. The headset is now fully devoted to PC VR and it integrates perfectly with SteamVR, so it can also be used with SteamVR controllers. The very lightweight form factor has instead remained very similar to the one showcased before.
I have had a hands-on session with this device at AWE, so prepare to read an article about it soon!
Bytedance may have sold 46,000 Pico 4 headsets in China
In its first 18 days on the market, Pico 4 may have had 46,000 online orders in China, according to market intelligence firm Sandalwood Advisors. These are not official numbers, but if they would be confirmed, wouldn’t show a fantastic picture: 46,000 at launch would probably mean less than 500,000 units sold in a year, if we consider that launch is when the headsets sell the most. These are low numbers if compared to Quest 2 in the West, especially if we consider the huge size of the Chinese market.
Notwithstanding the investments in the field, China still needs its “Quest moment”.
Pico 4 gets its buzz in the West
Sales in China may not be skyrocketing, but the Pico 4 has got the interest of the whole XR community here in the West. Pico 4 is a hot topic on Reddit and all the other social media, with many influencers publishing reviews about it, and the community debating over its actual pros and cons. I’ll leave you here below many posts about it, so you can get a taste of the online sentiment about this device.
More info (Upload’s review of Pico 4)
More info (Cas and Chary’s review of Pico 4)
More info (Reddit post about Pico 4 / 1)
More info (Reddit post about Pico 4 / 2)
More info (Reddit post about Pico 4 / 3)
More info (Reddit post about Pico 4 / 4)
More info (Reddit post about Pico 4 / 5)
Meta releases Movement SDK
Meta has just released Movement SDK, the Unity SDK for Meta devices that lets developers use body tracking and eye/face tracking inside their applications. If you are a developer, this is a new toy it is worth experimenting with!
More info (Movement SDK documentation)
More info (Dilmer announcing Movement SDK)
Beware of negative training
An article in the Varjo blog warns us all about the risks of “negative training”. Negative training happens when because of the limitations of VR you teach the users a procedure that is not exactly like the one in real life, so in the end, the users are not truly trained to perform the real procedure, but a slightly incorrect one. This is a risk that many XR training applications may have. The solution is having more realistic headsets and interactions, of course.
(Thanks Ivan Aguilar for the tip!)
Meta introduces time trials on the store
Soon game developers will be able to implement time trials for the game released on the Quest Store. Users may play the game 15–30 minutes for free before deciding if buying it or not. This is a great way to promote games in my opinion, and the fact that it is not available for App Lab games makes me a bit angry.
Davigo starts Alpha n.3
Asymmetric game Davigo has just started its third round of alpha tests. It has passed more than one year from the previous alpha period and in the meantime, the developers have implemented physics-based action game, online multiplayer, and Quest support.
Davigo looks like a very intriguing game where a VR player, that impersonates a giant, has to fight with many small PC players that try to attack him. Every GIF that gets released by its developers becomes viral, so it is interesting to keep an eye on this game.
More info (Davigo starts new alpha period)
More info (Davigo developers showcasing the features of the game)
Some news on content
- Moss Book 2 has been released on Steam for PCVR headsets
- Supernatural has implemented single controller mode. As an advocate for accessibility, I appreciate this feature
- Crisis Brigade 2 has launched on the Quest Store, but with very little update to what it was before
- Holonautic, the team behind Hand Physics Lab, announced Surgineer, a physical game where you can perform crazy surgery in VR
- Adobe Substance 3D Modeler (the previous Oculus Medium) exits beta, and launches 1.0 version. Being Adobe, you can use it only by paying a monthly subscription
More info (Moss Book II)
More info (Supernatural)
More info (Crisis Brigade 2)
More info (Surgineer)
More info (Adobe Substance 3D Modeler)
Other news
App Lab now features more than 1400 apps. Discover which are the best of them!
VR looks incredibly stunning with Unreal Engine 5 features like Nanite and Lumen
Valkyrie Industries announces armbands to offer muscle resistance for VR fitness
The Peripheral is a new series on Amazon that has VR at its center
Tilia spins out of Linden Lab and secures investment to become an independent payment solution for the metaverse
A cool project lets you see football matches in 3D AR with Tilt Five glasses
Learn more (Soccer game in AR — Video)
Learn more (Soccer game in AR — Volumetric Video)
News from partners (and friends)
Join Weart’s crowdfunding
Weart, the Italian company building innovative haptic gloves (which I reviewed here) has started an investment crowdfunding campaign to collect the money to carry on its development. If you are looking for an XR company to invest some money in, consider giving a look at this one!
Discover the Global XR Conference
Global XR Conference is an event about immersive realities. Last year it had over 70 speakers and several thousand visitors. It is entirely community-driven and all content is livestreamed and stays available on YouTube at https://youtube.com/c/GlobalXRCommunity.
Play Void Ninja
Void Ninja is an indie game highly inspired by Ghostrunner. Watch the trailer linked below and see if it is your piece of cake!
Some XR fun
This is not the nickname I was expecting for the Pico 4 Enterprise
Funny link
Tilt Five has just created the killer app for AR. At least for the bus drivers…
Funny link
Calm down your boobs
Funny link
Wow, Among Us VR may take an unexpected twist…
Funny link
This is how talking about Meta online feels like
Funny link
It was like that for me too!
Funny link
This AI is out of line but it is right…
Funny link
Donate for good
Like last week, also this week in this final paragraph I won’t ask you to donate for my blog, but to the poor people that are facing the consequences of the war. 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:
- Alex Gonzalez VR
- DeoVR
- GenVR
- Eduardo Siman
- Jonn Fredericks
- Jean-Marc Duyckaerts
- Reynaldo T Zabala
- Richard Penny
- Terry xR. Schussler
- Ilias Kapouranis
- Paolo Leoncini
- Immersive.international
- Nikk Mitchell and the great FXG team
- Jake Rubin
- Alexis Huille
- Raghu Bathina
- Chris Koomen
- Cognitive3D
- Jennifer Granger
- Jason Moore
- Steve Biggs
- Julio Cesar Bolivar
- Jan Schroeder
- Kai Curtis
- Francesco Strada
- Sikaar Keita
- Ramin Assadollahi
- Juan Sotelo
- Andrew Sheldon
- Chris Madsen
- Horacio Torrendell
- Andrew Deutsch
- Fabien Benetou
- Tatiana Kartashova
- Marco “BeyondTheCastle” Arena
- Eloi Gerard
- Adam Boyd
- Jeremy Dalton
- Joel Ward
- Alex P
- Lynn Eades
- Donald P
- Casie Lane
- Catherine Henry
- Qcreator
- Ristband (Anne McKinnon & Roman Rappak)
- Stephen Robnett
- Sb
- Enrico Poli
- Vooiage Technologies
- Caroline
- Liam James O’Malley
- Hillary Charnas
- Wil Stevens
- Brian Peiris
- Francesco Salizzoni
- Alan Smithson
- Steve R
- Brentwahn
- Pieter Siekerman
- Simplex
- Matias Nassi
And now here you are the link to donate: