The XR Week Peek (2023.05.15): Google confirms headset with Samsung, Ultraleap teases a new device, and more!

It’s time for another roundup of amazing XR news. Are you ready?

Top news of the week

Google announces important AI and XR news at Google I/O

This Google I/O has seen immersive realities back to the menu. During the keynote, CEO Sundar Pichai and his collaborators announced interesting features both for AR and VR. I’ve written a dedicated news roundup article dedicated to Google I/O today, so I won’t go deep into details here and I invite you to read that post (linked here below) if you want to have the details about the news. But to summarize, the most important XR-related tidbits have been:

• Google confirmed that is still working with Qualcomm and Samsung to build an XR headset. More information about it is coming “later this year”
• Project Starline, the booth to have volumetric 1-to-1 calls has been improved and optimized. Some journalists have tried it and reported that it works, but is still not clear if this product has a real market or if it has sense only as a tech demo
• Google Maps adds Immersive View for Routes, a new way of visualizing your routes as immersive “drone shots” that make you see all the streets and the buildings in 3D
• Geospatial Creator is a new feature that lets you visualize inside Unity the 3D maps of cities so that you can position and visualize the geolocalized AR content directly inside the streets where people are going to see it. All without leaving your editor. This is impressive
• Photorealistic 3D Tiles and Aerial View API instead lets you put inside your game (3D or VR) the 3D maps of the cities of the world, that is the 3D reconstruction of Google Earth. This means that someone could use this to recreate Google Earth VR

Talking about AI, Google has released to the public Google Bard and announced a new language model called AI PaLM 2. Google Photos can also let you modify your photos with the powers of AI.
 
 It’s good to see XR gaining importance again at Google. And it will be interesting to see what will happen to Meta when both Google and Apple will have released their XR headset to the market…

More info (My summary of the most relevant XR news from Google I/O)
More info (Information about Google & Samsung’s headset is coming later this year)
More info (What is Geospatial Creator)
More info (Google’s new PaLM 2 language model)
More info (Modify photos with the powers of AI inside Google Photos)

Other relevant news

Ultraleap is preparing to launch a new device

Hand-tracking-and-haptics company Ultraleap (which includes the previous Leap Motion) has started teasing on social media the launch of a new device. The sentence with which they have started the tease is “Big things are in motion here at Ultraleap”, which makes me think about something big that moves… may it be a new device to perform body tracking?
 
 According to a guy on Twitter that answered my post, Ultraleap should launch a new tracking controller this year. Maybe the time has come for a v3 sensor..

More info (Ultraleap teasing a new device)
More info (Maybe a new sensor is coming)

Has Palmer Luckey tried the Apple headset?

This week we had the usual articles about the Apple headset speculating its upcoming launch for June, 5th and stressing how Apple is launching for the first time a product that has not a clear market. It has waited a lot before performing this launch but has not waited enough to be able to deliver a super polished product with clear use cases. We are all curious to see how this strategy will pay off.
 
 Mark Gurman also noticed that since now Final Cut Pro has been launched for iPad, and iPad apps should run on the Apple Reality headset, Final Cut Pro will work on the Apple HMD. This should make videomakers more interested in the headset.
 
 But the most interesting thing that happened is that yesterday Palmer Luckey tweeted “The Apple headset is so good”, gaining the attention of the whole XR community. It may be that Palmer has been invited to try the headset, or that he gained some reserved info about its features via some connections he has. Or it may just be that he’s trolling us all. In any case, it’s interesting to see an endorsement to the Apple headset from the guy the started the new virtual reality renaissance.

More info (Apple launching an unfinished product)
More info (Apple headset may be in production in September)
More info (Final Cut Pro may run on Apple Reality)
More info (Palmer Luckey tweeting about the Apple headset)

PSVR 2 is now available at retailers

Finally, it will be possible to buy the PSVR 2 on channels different than Sony PlayStation’s website. The console is now available for purchase at the most popular online and offline retailers. According to Upload VR, for instance, “in UK, it’s now available at GAME, Amazon UK, ShopTo, Currys, Argos and more. Currently, this appears more limited in the US, with only Best Buy and Gamestop showing PSVR 2 stock”.
 
 This is a very important moment for the console, whose sales until now haven’t been stellar. Some people sustained that sales have not been great because the console wasn’t available from retailers, yet. The situation has now changed and the sales that will happen in the next weeks will tell us if that was the case, or it is just that this console is too expensive for taking off (and in this case, Sony should consider offering a discount).

More info

News worth a mention

Bigscreen Beyond may get a FOV boost

It seems that on Discord the CEO of Bigscreen has teased that the Bigscreen Beyond may get a FOV boost in the upcoming months, arriving at being very close to Quest Pro and Valve Index. If this will be the case, the Beyond headset may become even more one of the best PCVR headsets on the market.

More info

Some news on full body tracking

Full body tracking is gaining always more attention, especially from the VRChat community. This week I was able to read even 3 pieces of news dedicated to it:

• The first one comes from Driver4VR, the popular system already used for instance to let you have Kinect-powered full-body tracking on SteamVR. Its latest innovation is letting you use the full body tracking offered by a phone inside SteamVR so that you can use it for instance inside VRChat. This is great also because you don’t have to wear any trackers
• The second one is Standable Full Body Estimation, a plugin to estimate the full body of the user just by the position of the headset and the controllers. This system is a bit glitchy, but it is impressive how it can reconstruct the pose of the user also when he is lying down on the floor. The package is now on sale on Steam, and an SDK should come later this year. It is developed by a solo very young guy.
• A research paper unveiled a few months ago (but that was shared on Reddit this week) aims at reconstructing the full body of the user by just having a carpet full of sensors and nothing more

More info (Driver4VR full body tracking)
More info (Standable FBE)
More info (Standable FBE example video)
More info (Carpet sensors to provide full body tracking)

The adverse effects of the use of XR in psychiatry

A just-published research paper analyzes what are the adverse effects of the use of XR in psychiatry. The paper analyzes the other papers about the use of XR to solve mental issues and claims that often these research papers do not explain what are the adverse effects the technology on the patients using it (e.g. motion sickness, dizziness, eye strain, etc…). If we want to foster a responsible use of technology, we shouldn’t only highlight the positive sides, but also be aware of the negative ones.

More info

Some news about the metaverse

The debates about the M-word have been pretty strong this week, with new articles claiming it is dead and other articles refuting that thesis.
 
 It all started with Insider, which published an article called “RIP Metaverse: An obituary for the latest fad to join the tech graveyard”. The opinionated post about the death of the metaverse has been shared everywhere in the community, and of course, has hit the already ruined reputation of the metaverse. The problem with that article is that is full of bullshit: I read it all and it’s a collection of half-truths written by someone that has just a half-understanding (or even less) of what is happening but wanted a shower of clicks. The New World Notes blog made a good job of highlighting some of the flaws of that piece, and why it is full of nonsense. Nonetheless, it has been shared everywhere and has caused damage to our ecosystem.
 
 Talking about people that get fewer clicks, but write higher-quality content, New World Notes interviewed Tony Parisi to talk about blockchain and metaverse. It’s interesting to read that Parisi’s vision is not that everything in the metaverse should be blockchain-driven, but only what is necessary to be decentralized. The rest can be built with a standard central server database.
 
 Matthew Ball has instead written a piece about how managers should relate to the metaverse now that the hype has deflated. He highlights how the technology will take time to be developed and adopted, but it is inevitably the future, so managers should keep to be informed about it.
 
 Last, but not the least, I share with you a bizarre piece of news: Meta is now preventing creators from having their events in Horizon Worlds. People can just build worlds, but not organize events anymore. Some weeks ago, creators protested because their events were not given the same visibility as Meta’s ones. Meta’s answer has not been one of giving them more visibility but deleting their possibility of making events altogether. I’m speechless.

More info (The piece about the metaverse being dead)
More info (New World Notes explains why Insider’s article is bad)
More info (Tony Parisi talks about blockchain and the metaverse)
More info (Matthew Ball about the metaverse and managers)
More info (Events on Horizon Worlds are not possible anymore)

A backpack to make you jump in VR

The prize for the weirdest thing in VR of the week has been won this week by a research project that makes you feel like jumping while in VR. Thanks to the use of a backpack with a moving weight inside, the system can give you the sensation of jumping higher or lower depending on how the weight moves while you do a physical jump and what you see inside VR. It’s something crazy that I would like to try. More info

Tribeca Film Festival is coming

Tribeca Film Festival, one of the most important film festivals of the year, is coming on June, 7–18. It will feature a selection of immersive artworks that will be hosted at an in-person “Games & Immersive Experience” area at the festival hub. Among the selected pieces there will be also games like Pixel Ripped 1978.
More info

Some content announcements

• A sequel to the game Into The Radius is already in the works
• Transformers Beyond Reality has silently been launched on PSVR 2
• Pokerstars VR has been released for PSVR 2 without much fanfare, too
• Organ Quarter, a survival horror game inspired by Resident Evil and Silent Hill, has been released on PSVR 2
• On May 18, Red Matter 2 (one of the games with the best visual quality on Quest 2) is launching on PSVR 2
• Demeo is getting a Standalone PvP Version, which is going to be launched as a separated standalone game called Demeo Battles
• Dungeon Full Dive, a game to let you play Dungeon and Dragons on PC VR, is launching in Early Access later this year
• Everslaught Invasion is launching on May 25 on the Meta Quest Store
• Smash Bros-like VR party brawler game Quantaar will release on June, 7 for Quest 2, Pico 4 and PC VR
• Joy Way’s new action game Dead Hook will release on June 29th for Quest
• End of Night is an award-winning short cinematic VR story that talks about the horrors of World War 2 that has just been released for Quest 2
• Stealth game Hello Neighbor will rease for both PSVR 2 and PC VR on May, 25

More info (Into The Radius)
More info (Transformers Beyond Reality)
More info (Pokerstars VR)
More info (Organ Quarter)
More info (Red Matter 2)
More info (Demeo Battles)
More info (Dungeon Full Dive)
More info (Everslaught Invasion)
More info (Quantaar)
More info (Dead Hook)
More info (End Of Night)
More info (Hello Neighbor)

Some content reviews

• Road To VR went hands-on with Propagation: Paraside Hotel and found its Resident-Evil vibes to be good, but the game needs improvements both on the gameplay and the story
• Road To VR instead appreciated a lot Another Fisherman’s Tale, and loved many aspects of it including its ingenious puzzles and its emotional story
• Upload VR had a preliminary hands-on with VR Skater, and found it fun to play
• Upload’s Ian Hamilton is a big fan of Walkabout Minigolf (like many people in the VR community) and wrote a long passionate review to explain why it is a fundamental game to have in your library.

More info (Propagation: Paradise Hotel review)
More info (Another Fisherman’s Tale review)
More info (VR Skater review)
More info (Walkabout Minigolf review)

Other news

Discover how to activate local dimming on all the apps running on Quest Pro so that to always have dark blacks

Learn more

Meta is starting to pitch its new AR ads to advertisers

Learn more

According to a recent study, the right soothing music can reduce the negative effects of motion sickness

Learn more

The always amazing Valem VR developed a Beat Saber clone by just using ChatGPT

Learn more

OpenAI launched a $100M fund to support innovative AI startups

Learn more

News from partners (and friends)

Watch my interview with Gianluigi Perrone

VR storytelling expert Gianluigi Perrone has interviewed me for his Youtube and Twitch channels. In the interview, all in Italian, we discussed about Virtual Reality, Artificial Intelligence, and about VR in the various countries of the world. If you speak Italian, watch the video and then subscribe to Gianluigi’s channel!

Learn more

Some XR fun

How to attract more people to VR
Funny link

Some people have really weird weird names…
Funny link

This is how I feel by being involved in a virtual reality startup
Funny link

The most realistic haptic feedback you can have in VR.
Funny link

Not related to VR, but these UX designs are genius
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
• Wisear (Yacine Achiakh)
• 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
• KaihatsuJai
• Sb
• Enrico Poli
• Vooiage Technologies
• Caroline
• Liam James O’Malley
• Hillary Charnas
• Wil Stevens
• Brian Peiris
• Francesco Salizzoni
• Dimo Pepelyashev
• Alan Smithson
• Steve R
• Brentwahn
• Pieter Siekerman
• Simplex
• Matias Nassi

And now here you are the link to donate:

Support The Red Cross in Ukraine

(Header image by Google)