We are in the middle of the Summer, the moment everyone is on vacation, so I imagined there was nothing relevant that could happen during the week… and instead there have been a bunch of interesting XR news! Would you like to know which ones? Then you have to keep reading…
(PS Another good reason for keeping reading is that there is a new keys giveaway in this article!)
Top news of the week
Pico is going to launch a new product on August, 20th
Pico has officially announced that it is going to unveil a new product in China on August, 20th. The company is also clearly teasing that it will be a headset.
The reality is that we already basically know everything about it because there have been many leaks about it. This week we also had the full renders of the device, as you can see from the picture above this section of the article. The headset is a refresh of the Pico 4, featuring a Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chipset as Meta Quest 3 and 12GB RAM (which is more than Meta Quest 3). It also has two front cameras that are clearly there to provide a better passthrough than the flat view the Pico 4 could offer.
The only thing that is not certain is the name: many rumors talked about “Pico 4s”, but the usual Luna published a leak from Chinese social media where the mentioned name is “Pico 4 ULTRA”. It may also be that the headset has two different names in two different regions, even if I would find this pretty weird.
At the end of the day, it is good to see Pico launching a new headset. After the problems of Bytedance with the US government, the company went into radio silence and I was afraid it could leave the market. The fact that it is launching a new device, even if it is just a refresh of a previous one, is very good news.
So let’s all wait for August, 20th to see the news. And don’t forget to act surprised when they announce all the things we already knew from the leaks!
More info (Pico teasing a new headset)
More info (Pico announcing an event in China for this August)
More info (Pico announcing an event in China for this August, both in Chinese and in English)
More info (The leaked renders of the headset)
More info (The name of the device could be Pico 4 ULTRA)
Other relevant news
Microsoft may be back with its XR ambitions
Two separate rumors this week aim at the fact that Microsoft may want to be back at manufacturing XR hardware.
The first rumor comes from Korea: the tech outlet The Elec says that Microsoft has contracted Samsung to supply micro OLED display panels for what is described as “next-generation mixed reality devices”. These devices may come already in 2026, according to the report, and may have use cases similar to the ones of the Apple Vision Pro.
The second rumor comes from people who analyze the patents published by Microsoft: they showcase an increased interest in smartglasses, so some people are speculating that Microsoft may launch soon smartglasses powered by its Copilot AI technology. These devices may see some success, exactly as it happened with Ray-Ban Meta.
None of this news is confirmed, but if it were, it would be very confusing to me. Microsoft was at the forefront of mixed reality: HoloLens was a device that was years ahead of all the competition. Then it laid off many of the people in its Mixed Reality division because HoloLens didn’t reach the expected targets and these people found a new home at Apple and Meta. The company stated that it aimed at offering only services for XR headsets. Now after Apple and Google are officially into mixed reality, Microsoft wants to get back as well, after it has lost all the advantage it had and all the talents it had (including the genius Alex Kipman). To me, this would make absolutely zero sense.
More info (Microsoft asking microdisplays to Samsung)
More info (Microsoft may be looking at smartglasses — XR Today)
More info (Microsoft may be looking at smartglasses — Analytics Insight)
Meta is in talks with Jio for a Horizon-powered Indian headset
According to a report from Wayne Ma on The Information, Meta is in talks with Jio for a partnership on a VR headset powered by Horizon OS. Jio is a major telecommunications company in India, and thanks to its acquisition of startup Tesseract, has already released some XR headsets in its own country. Jio and Meta are already partner companies, so it would make a lot of sense if the next headset that Jio is going to release would have the infrastructure offered by Horizon OS.
It is still not sure if the deal will be finalized, but if it were, it would be a great move by Meta. Zuck’s company is trying to extend its influence all over the XR ecosystem with Horizon OS aimed now at becoming the Android of XR. India is a huge market and its economy is growing fast, so establishing dominance over it with a strong partner like Jio would be amazing for Meta.
However it will end, this discussion shows that the new attitude of Meta is working hard to seek partnerships to beat Google on time to become the Android of XR. The partnership with LG in Korea didn’t end well (Ma confirms this in his report), but Meta is not surrendering and is trying to find as many partners as it can for its Horizon OS ecosystem. I’m very curious to see what partnerships Google will announce when it reveals its own Android XR runtime. The war for the dominant XR operating system has just begun…
More info (Jio and Meta partnership [Paywalled])
We have the first leaked photo of the Immersed Visor headset
Immersed Visor is one of the most awaited headsets of the year. This is because Immersed promised Visor to be a device optimized for productivity, featuring a lightweight stylish design and a very high 4K per eye resolution offered by two micro OLED displays. Notwithstanding the many claims, though, no one has ever been able to try a prototype of the headset, so the company has been accused by some people to be marketing a vaporware product.
Thanks to the German magazine MIXED, this week, we finally have a picture of the headset. Or better, we have a picture that shows a little part of the internal circuits of the device. From the image, we can infer almost nothing about the device, if not some details we already knew, like that the headset has a cooling fan, cameras for positional tracking, and an eye-tracking module.
Considering that the image proves that there is a headset in the works, but that doesn’t unveil anything relevant, I think this may be a controlled leak shared by the company itself to prove that it is not selling vapor, but that the product is coming for real. This is a good thing to me: the more valid headsets we have on the market, the better.
Meta shuts down Ready At Dawn
I know I should report news in an impartial way, but this one makes me so angry that I will just vent out in a very human way.
With a lot of sadness, I announce to you that Ready At Dawn, an amazing game studio with 21 years of history, has been shut down by its parent company Meta. Ready At Dawn created iconic VR games like Lone Echo and Lone Echo II and basically invented a new genre, VR esports, with Echo Arena. Just to remember a little statistic, Echo Arena has been the game that somewhat inspired Gorilla Tag, the most successful VR game at the moment.
Meta acquired the studio a few years ago, when it was at the top of its popularity, and at first decided to kill Echo Arena, one of the best XR games ever invented. And now it killed the whole studio. What a genius move. When Echo Arena was shut down, the community was very angry, and we were told that it was a hard decision to take, but it was necessary because Ready At Dawn was working on a new fantastic game and had to focus all the energies on that. Now, unless the game was called “Lay off everyone from the studio”, I guess it will never be released, and it was killed with the studio itself.
I’m literally speechless. One of the most talented VR game studios was destroyed like this. My biggest hugs to all the members of the team (especially to you, Nathan!), I hope they will all find a new job, either inside Meta or in other game studios. And by the way, thanks for all the fun.
News worth a mention
PSVR 2 PC adapter may not be needed for some PCs
New info is surfacing about the PSVR 2 PC adapter now that more people have it in their hands. The most important one is that if your computer has still a graphics card with the Virtualink USB-C port, you don’t need any adapter to use your PSVR 2 headset with it. You just plug in the headset, launch the PSVR 2 app on Steam and you are good to go.
As for the performances of PSVR 2 on PC, new reviews highlight how it is amazing to have an OLED headset with high brightness on PC, but at the same time the headset has a small sweet spot, some problems with Bluetooth connection, and noticeable mura. Not to mention that on PC you can only use a small part of the many cool features of the device. Anyway, it’s still a valid choice to play PCVR games.
More info (PSVR 2 is compatible with Virtualink)
More info (Upload VR’s review of PSVR 2 adapter for PC)
More info (PSVR 2 vs Quest 3 through the lenses)
PSVR 2 is back at its regular price
After the discount that made its sales skyrocket (not at the same level as Quest, though), PSVR 2 has returned to its regular price. Sony now knows how to sell more VR headsets, the question is if it will want to try the experiment again, or even better to permanently slash the price of the device, to give PSVR 2 a new life, or just leave the situation as is. I guess the Holiday season is when we will discover the truth.
More info (PSVR 2 increased its sales with the price slash)
More info (PSVR 2 is back at its regular price)
We can have a look at the final design of the Quest 3
The usual Luna (who this week stressed the fact that she’s not Brad… SadlyShesNotBradley) has published a render with the final design of the Meta Quest 3s. It looks like the result of a mix of an Oculus Go, a Quest 2, and an alien with three eyes. At least it should be cheap.
You can now keep a 2D window always open on Quest
With the upcoming v69 Quest runtime, it will be possible to keep a 2D window open in the space around you even while you are playing an immersive experience. This can be very useful to read the manual of a game while you are playing it or to keep messaging with your community even when immersed in VR. This is a very cool update.
More info (2D window open in VR games on Quest — Reddit)
More info (2D window open in VR games on Quest — Upload VR)
Discover the virtual glasses that let you see like pigs
If you were waiting for the What The F news of the week, you are in the right place. This week I discovered that a company created a sort of MR headset to let people see how pigs see reality. These glasses that piggify your vision can be useful to people working with pigs to understand what they can perceive and so handle them better. These glasses are a bit of a weird project to me… but hey, they are still better than the Decagear, at least these ones exist…
We have a first teaser about the VR Games Showcase
On August,15th, there will be the VR Games Showcase, which promises to reveal us “AAA” VR games. It seems that Fast Travel Games, nDreams, and Vertigo Games should announce new games, while XR Games is going to release the first gameplay video about the upcoming HITMAN 3: VR Reloaded. I can’t wait for the reveals next week!
Some news about content
- Facepunch Studios announced that s&box, its upcoming physics sandbox that is the spiritual successor of Gary’s Mod, is now using OpenXR, which will allow the studio to expand its VR feature set
- Puzzle Sculpt is a new spatial puzzle game by Schell Games that is coming to Apple Vision Pro on September 5 for $6.99. From the trailer, it looks like a very nice game
- Astro Hunters VR is a new PvPvE VR extraction shooter that has been released on Steam, with Quest release expected for Q3 2024
- Pavel’s Gulag Getout is a “rage-quit-inducing” penguin-themed VR climbing game coming to Quest and Steam. It has been co-developed by creator Brandon ‘ChubbierSnail’ Smith
- Kid Pilot is a nostalgic flight adventure that involves moving planes with your hands, and it’s available now on PC VR for $19.99
- Upload has published its usual ICYMI post with many pieces of minor news about VR.
More info (s&box)
More info (Puzzle Sculpt)
More info (Astro Hunters VR)
More info (Pavel’s Gulag Getout)
More info (Kid Pilot VR)
More info (ICYMI)
Some reviews about content
- Zero Caliber 2 is a very solid sequel to an already good game. It offers a compelling six-plus-hour campaign complete with four-player co-op, PvP, and native mod support. Fans of linear campaign shooters should love it
- The Burst has currently serious problems in its user experience and interactions and should be fixed by its team before becoming enjoyable
- Into The Radius 2 looks interesting, but it’s been probably released a bit too early in Early Access and it lacks too much content to be enjoyable
- Upload’s Henry Stockdale went hands-on with Tiny Archers using a physical bow periphery and found the experience very rewarding
More info (Zero Caliber 2)
More info (The Burst)
More info (Into The Radius 2)
More info (Tiny Archers)
Other news
The XR Guild summarizes which are the main topics to focus on for what concerns Ethics in XR
Meta Quest/Horizon OS v69 features for the first time an image of the Codec Avatars UX embedded in the operating system
Meta created a new AI system to generate 3D objects from images
MixRift is a new mixed reality studio that got 1.6M of funding to develop “The Angry Birds of Mixed Reality”
News from partners (and friends)
The New Salsa Academy giveaway!
The New Salsa Academy is an MR/VR application for Quest that can teach every beginner to dance Salsa. The experience features both theoretical lessons and practical dance moments, where you will dance with an AI-powered companion while the system analyzes how well you are dancing. All of this happens with a very positive atmosphere that is created by the world-class dance instructors Rodrigo Cortazar and Asya Sonina.
The New Salsa Academy costs €20 at the Meta Store and if you are interested in dancing, I would advise you to have a look at it, because I’ve tried it and it is pretty nice. But you could also have it for free if you are fast enough to get one of these three keys that the studio kindly gave me (first come, first served, as usual):
YPYC9-K9TFF-AFP3H-CCXJQ-94HNE
AYYXN-7AHMC-CRF9X-39NYG-JQ9FW
RKAA6-NJC7X-NWAMP-CC6QM-HKPWA
Discover this game on the Meta Store!
Sponsored Area
Advertise your product on The Ghost Howls!
If you have an XR product and you want to showcase it in front of the VR community, what’s the best place to do that if not The Ghost Howls? Please reach out to me, and let’s talk about potential collaborations!
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Some XR fun
If you are a man of culture, you get it
Funny link
How cute…
Funny link
Garfield has a new comic about XR!
Funny link
Oh, the Oculus Home… wait what???
Funny link
Based Tyriel Wood
Funny link
Me and the bois in VRChat
Funny link
Donate for good
Like last week, also this week in this final paragraph I won’t ask you to donate to my blog, but to the poor people who 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)
- Masterpiece X
- Dimo Pepelyashev
- 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
- Christopher Boyd
- Carol Dalrymple
- Sb
- Pieter Siekerman
- Enrico Poli
- Vooiage Technologies
- Caroline
- Liam James O’Malley
- Hillary Charnas
- Wil Stevens
- Francesco Salizzoni
- Alan Smithson
- Steve R
- Brentwahn
- Matt Cool
- Simplex
- Gregory F Gorsuch
- Paul Shay
- Matias Nassi
And now here you are the link to donate:
Support The Red Cross in Ukraine
(Header image by Pico)