The XR Week Peek (2023.06.26): Quest 3 page appears on Best Buy, Vision Pro SDK released, and more!
Summer has arrived and with it the sun, the heat… and the ice creams! While people prepare to go on vacation, the XR news starts becoming less than before… but I’m still here telling you which are the most important ones!
Top news of the week
Quest 3 launch is approaching
Meta is following a strategy for the launch of the Quest 3 that is very different from the one that it used for the previous headsets. After having announced some of the features and the price just before the launch of the Apple Vision Pro, now the company formerly known as Facebook is already working towards the launch of the device.
Best Buy has already published the page about Quest 3, marked as “Coming Soon”. In the beginning, we thought it was an early leak, but actually, it is not: the retail store has already published the official page about the headset. From the page, we have learned something new: the resolution is 30% more than the predecessor. Making some calculations, it is possible to estimate that the per-eye resolution is around 2064×2208, a value that was leaked a few months ago from some data miner (Samulia).
But there’s even more: Unity has already published a page about how it is possible to build for the Quest 3 using not only the XR Interaction Toolkit, but also AR Foundation. AR Foundation is typically used for AR devices, e.g. smartphones, and it’s the first time to my knowledge that is employed with a VR headset. Unity page also confirms that the headset will provide plane detection, so you will be able for instance to detect the walls and the desks in your room.
(Thanks Ivan Aguilar for this tip!)
All these official pages before the launch of a Meta headset are pretty uncommon. Someone is speculating that probably Meta may surprise us all with a launch even before the Meta Connect, but this seems unlikely to me. It would make no sense to launch during the summer. I just think that Meta is trying a new strategy to keep the hype high until September.
More info (Quest 3 Best Buy page — Road To VR)
More info (Quest 3 Best Buy page — Upload VR)
More info (How to get started with Unity for Quest 3 development)
Other relevant news
Apple releases SDK for Vision Pro
Apple has released the SDK for Vision Pro, which includes a new beta of XCode 15 with all the needed development tools for the device, plus a simulator to start testing your applications. If you want to start playing around with these tools, of course, you need a Mac, and if you are a Windows guy like me, you are SOL (Shit Out of Luck).
On social media, people have already started sharing images from the simulator, which gives you a quick glimpse of how the device will be. It seems that the simulator is very well made, so developers can start creating their applications for it. Honestly, from my experience with similar simulators (the one for the HoloLens was great, too), I can tell you that these pieces of software are nice to verify the overall logic of the application, but they can’t give any insight about its UX and usability. No emulator can give you the sense of pinching with your hand, or of hands fatigue because your hands are raised for too much time. So it’s good that we have simulators, but now we need devkits.
If you are a Unity developer like me, don’t forget to subscribe to the Unity 2022 Beta dedicated to Vision OS. Unity has already sent an email to all of us to say that the distribution of the Beta will start next month (July) and will be gradual starting from a small group of developers. The development for Vision Pro will require the XR Interaction Toolkit, which is the same framework I use for developing for Quest 2 and other headsets, so making a cross-platform application for Vision Pro using Unity should be rather easy.
(PS Have you appreciated that I used again that image that you thought you would have never seen again after the reveal of the device? :D)
More info (Dev tools for Vision Pro now available)
More info (Unity Beta for Vision OS to come next month)
More info (A tour of the Vision Pro simulator)
Meta has just improved Quest 2 and Quest Pro performances
With the runtime v55, Meta has increased the performances of both Meta Quest 2 and Quest Pro:
- Quest Pro is getting a +11% clock increase for the GPU and +26% for the CPU
- Quest 2 is getting a +19% for the GPU, and a +26% for the CPU
This means that there will be a good performance boost for the device, which will give developers a bit more room to increase the graphical fidelity of VR experiences. For this, some people talk about the Quest 2 becoming a “Quest 2.5”. I think it’s a bit exaggerated for a +20% increase, but still, it conveys the idea of how much this update is important.
There are many other improvements coming with this update. Meta has even improved the accuracy of eye tracking on Quest Pro, and some people are speculating that it may be to battle the eye-tracking capabilities of the Vision Pro.
Also, the UI of the runtime has had an overhaul (for the 200th of time, just to make us confused every time we turn on the device) and for instance, now you have a revamped Explore tab, and it is possible to reorganize the icons in the taskbar.
More info (Quest v55 performance boost)
More info (Quest Pro getting better eye tracking)
More info (The new taskbar capabilities of the Quest runtime)
Hexa brings 3D visualization to Amazon pages
Amazon has partnered with the startup Hexa to add 3D capabilities to its store pages. Hexa is a startup that is able to convert a 2D photo (or a set of photos) to a 3D object that can be manipulated and visualized in AR. Thanks to Hexa, Amazon can so show the 3D model of the items it is selling, and also provide virtual try-on features.
This is incredibly important because one of the big roadblocks to transforming our 2D internet to a 3D internet (hence the M-word) is the conversion of our enormous databases of 2D content to 3D elements that can be used inside immersive realities. It has happened to me a lot of times when speaking with clients that wanted to create some sort of online WebXR store that they had the money to pay for the software, but didn’t have the money for a manual conversion of all their elements to 3D. 3D content is really a huge problem that needs to be tackled if we want the 2D retail web pages to become 3D XR retail pages.
Hexa seems working exactly towards this: converting the photos of retail websites to 3D models. If it manages in its mission, what is doing may be fundamental to transforming the world of web and retail.
News worth a mention
Xbox executives are still not interested in XR
Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty has reiterated the fact that Xbox is not interested in implementing VR because it’s too niche. This doesn’t come as a surprise, but it was interesting that he mentioned a threshold related to Microsoft’s interest. Between the lines, he said that when VR games will be able to gain 10M users, then Xbox could be interested in going virtual.
Sony is working on reprojection improvements for PSVR 2
One of the biggest issues of PSVR 2 is the reprojection that is causing ghosting and other artifacts. According to the creators of Hubris, Sony is working on solving the issue, but he said nothing about when this update will be released.
Microsoft releases Azure cloud rendering for Quest
Microsoft has just announced the public preview of Azure Remote Rendering for Meta Quest 2 and Meta Quest Pro virtual reality headsets. This means that Quest 2 applications could utilize hybrid rendering, where part of the content is rendered locally, and part of it on the cloud. This hybrid mode can be useful to visualize particularly complex models on a limited-performance headset like the Quest.
This is very useful, but there is a little problem: Meta does not allow publishing applications implementing cloud rendering on the Quest Store, so the companies interested in using cloud rendering should go the sideloading route.
Manus launches Prime 3 glove
Manus, one of the most famous companies working on VR gloves, has just announced a new product of its: the Prime 3 glove. The Prime 3 combines the high-fidelity finger tracking typical of Manus gloves with per-finger vibrational feedback for added immersion in VR. The gloves can be ordered for $3000.
Why the Quest Pro has more resolution than Quest 2?
A very interesting video explains why the Quest Pro has actually more resolution than Quest 2. Even if on paper the two headsets have a similar total resolution, the fact that the Quest Pro has one display per eye makes a big difference. With two displays, you can exploit all the pixels you have, while with only one display and different IPDs, actually, the lenses can only see a part of the available pixels.
Steam Next Fest showed interesting VR games
Steam Next Fest has just finished, but it was interesting because it offered free demos of cool VR games like Hellsweeper VR, Davigo, or Stack. It is remarkable that there was no “VR category” this year, but VR was just a tag that games may have. On one side, it was a pity because it meant that finding VR games was harder, on the other side, it means that now VR is so normalized that VR games sit alongside the other games.
Baobab Studios launches Galactic Catch
Baobab Studios, the studio famous for amazing storytelling experiences in VR like “Invasion!” is releasing its first game, Galactic Catch, on June, 29th. I’m very curious to discover how this will be…
Some news on content
- The Burst is an upcoming indie game packing together some of our favorite VR games mechanics: Spider-Man-style swinging, fast-paced movement, and weapon juggling galore.
- Hubris has just launched on PSVR 2 and Quest 2, bringing its amazing graphics to these two new platforms
More info (The Burst)
More info (Hubris)
Some reviews on content
- F1 23 is great to give you the adrenaline of being a pilot of an F1 car, but it still has some glitches like its predecessor
- Pixel Ripped 1978 has some problems with its combat system, but the game-in-a-game mechanic is cool like in its previous titles
- C Smash VRS has brought in a fantastic way a retrogaming title to virtual reality
More info (F1 23)
More info (Pixel Ripped 1978)
More info (C Smash VRS)
Other news
A recap post of the Upload VR Summer Showcase from two weeks ago
Gamestop is now selling refurbished Valve Index devices for 600$
Masterpiece X lets you remix 3D models in VR
Nokia releases a study about the use of metaverse technologies inside the enterprise world
The production of Bigscreen Beyond headsets has started
Percnops Virtual Rig lets you emulate VR steering rigs and similar controls using VR controllers
News from partners (and friends)
Box To The Beat VR
Box To The Beat VR is a new indie rhythm boxing game in virtual reality. It is planned for release in September 2023 on all major VR stores.
Learn more
Zwift controllers use TG0 technologies
Do you remember the Etee controllers by TG0? Well, it seems that their technology is being licensed to other companies and the first device using it has been released. These are the Zwift controllers, a pair of controllers to be mounted on Zwift stationary bikes to let users play games with them.
Learn more
The Riese Project
If you like to support VR indie games, check out “The Riese Project” on Kickstarter. It will immerse you into a mysterious story from WWII.
Learn more
Stereopsia has a new managing director
The Belgian XR event Stereopsia has a new managing director, Alexandra Gerard. Compliments to her for having become the new super boss! And good luck with the success of the event, which will be held on 18–20 October 2023 at the Maison de la Poste in Brussels.
Learn more
Some XR fun
The life of an NPC can be very hard
Funny link
My picture with the XTAL 3 attracted some irony from the community…
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 in Ukraine are facing the consequences of the war and the ones that in Italy have been victims of the flood. I will leave you the link to donate for these two causes 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
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- Ramin Assadollahi
- Juan Sotelo
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- 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
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- 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
- Matt Cool
- Simplex
- Gregory F Gorsuch
- Matias Nassi
And now here you are the links to donate:
Support The Red Cross in Ukraine
Support the populations affected by the flood in Italy
(Header image by XTAL)
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