The XR Week Peek (2026.08.17): VR Games Showcase, the pressure on smartglasses, and more!
This has been a very special week for me because my blog turned 10 years old. It’s a huge achievement, and I’m super proud of it and super thankful for all the people who helped me reach this result. I also want to thank the community for the very nice comments on social media about my 10th birthday! I was moved by the love that I could feel…
And now, enough with the sentiments… let me tell you about the most relevant pieces of XR news of the week!
Top news of the week
The VR Games Showcase happened
A new episode of the VR Games Showcase aired, featuring a few announcements of new games, some new trailers, and various updates to existing VR games. Basically, the same thing happening at every VR games showcase: we had a bunch of news; none of it was a game-changer for the ecosystem, but there were a few good ones, and in general it showed the VR gaming ecosystem is still alive. Together with the showcase, a new gaming bundle was also announced.
You can read about all the announced games in the summary posts linked below.
More info (Every news from the VR Games Showcase)
More info (The gaming bundle associated with the Showcase)
Other relevant news
The backlash around the Ray-Ban Meta glasses continues
The pressure around the Ray-Ban Meta glasses is increasing. The glasses are making some people concerned for their privacy, and the press is continuing to talk about this; the more negative coverage from the press is leading to more people being concerned, and so on.
This week we had the news that courts in England and Wales are banning people from wearing the glasses, for obvious concerns of people potentially recording what is happening without authorization. The pubs of JD Wetherspoon in the UK are banning all smartglasses, now addressed as “pervert glasses”. The Guardian conducted more interviews with people who got criticized on social media for having recorded videos using the “creep glasses”. And a magazine also tried to shock people by publishing a patent granted by Meta where the glasses could automatically use facial recognition to identify the people around you and then automatically make a reel for the highlights of your party (I mean, I was not expecting anything different from Meta, so I don’t know why I should be shocked…).
What I really don’t understand is where the limit is between what is true and what the press exaggerates. I’ve never heard anyone talking about these glasses in Italy. When I probed the VR community on X, no one had problems while wearing these glasses in the streets. I’m aware of the privacy risks, especially of people sneakingly recording what they have in front of them, and I fully agree we need to reduce them as much as possible. But I really would like to understand if the psychosis is real, or if it is the magazines that are trying to create it.
Because, you know, people call them “pervert glasses” because some pick-up artists used them to record their interactions with women and publish the related videos without the women’s consent. And that’s really bad and shouldn’t be forgiven. But I’ve seen in the past similar videos recorded with a phone and shared on social media. Assholes are going to be assholes with whatever technology is available. Should we then also ban the phones because they have been used for this purpose, and ban YouTube/Vimeo because some of these videos have been hosted there? I don’t think we should destroy a new nascent tech just because a few idiots used it the wrong way. I think we should take the time and invest some money to reduce the possibility that these devices are used in the wrong way, instead.
(Thanks Rob Cole for some of the links!)
More info (Meta glasses banned in courts)
More info (Pubs banning the glasses)
More info (People on social media are criticized because of the glasses)
More info (Meta’s patent about making automatic reels using the glasses)
News worth a mention
Phoenix Eye Unlock has been leaked
The usual Luna has shared on social media the above image, where it is possible to see that on the new upcoming Meta Phoenix, users can unlock the device by using their eyes. The good news is that Meta claims that all the data about the eyes stays on the device.
This also confirmes that the upcoming Meta headset features eye tracking.
A catalog for VR mods
VR mods are becoming too many to keep track of. So a Redditor created a website to catalog all the available VR mods. Imagine it as a SideQuest for VR mods. The project is still a work-in-progress, but it is already very interesting, so you should check it out.
Rokid launches a creator program in the US
Rokid, one of the leading Chinese manufacturers of AR glasses and smartglasses, is expanding to the US. The company has also launched a creator program so that small content creators can get the glasses for free, provided they make content related to the glasses.
Meta cuts the price of Beat Saber
In an unexpected move, Meta has cut the price of Beat Saber from $29.99 to $19.99. The game is still selling very well, so I don’t fully get the reason for this discount. Maybe it is a way for the company to see if, by reducing the price, people will buy more DLCs…
Some news about content
- Apple and Major League Baseball (MLB) announced they’re bringing a handful of live baseball games to Vision Pro, with livestreamed games starting on August 28th
- Walkabout Dungeon Golfer, initially presented as a fake April Fools’ Day game earlier this year, was formally announced as a game that is coming for real
- D.E.C.A.Y. is a new survival shooter set in a dystopian post-nuclear war America. It releases on SteamVR in Early Access on August 21
- Zelda: Breath of the Wild VR Mod is improving, and the same creator teased a mod for Mario Kart 8
- Job Simulator: Human Relations is a flatscreen sequel for Job Simulator developed by FarBridge with the blessing of Owlchemy Labs. They started a Kickstarter campaign for it, but it is not going well
More info (MLB)
More info (Walkabout Dungeon Golfer)
More info (D.E.C.A.Y.)
More info (Zelda & Mario)
More info (Job Simulator: Human Relations)
Some reviews about content
- TaoLu is a VR martial arts simulator that lets you do some fitness in VR
Other news
Neem Interactive is the new publisher of the games from Combat Waffle
I just discovered that VR headsets may even cause acne
Meta published the list of the 30 US entities winning the grants for making projects with Meta smartglasses
News from partners (and friends)
Discover DeoVR
As I’ve said in my anniversary post, DeoVR is currently the biggest Patron of this blog, so I think it’s natural for me to make a shoutout to them during my anniversary week! If you don’t know it, DeoVR is a platform hosting VR videos… a sort of YouTube for VR. The team is very passionate about it. It is always looking for new content and is partnering with various creators who publish their videos and get some royalties back. If you have never heard of it, check it out! Especially if you are a VR video content creator, it can be an interesting team to have a chat with.
Some XR fun
What the hell…
Funny link
There are more VR mods than players now lol
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
- Carol Dalrymple
- Keith Bradner
- Fabrizio Carimati
- Field Of Vision
- 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
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- Don Williams
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- Mark Frederiksen
- Ken Lin
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- Ixn91
- Chris Madsen
- Peter Winston
- TykeAI
- Sb
- Boule Petanque
- Pieter Siekerman
- Enrico Poli
- Vooiage Technologies
- Caroline
- Liam James O’Malley
- Hillary Charnas
- Wil Stevens
- Francesco Salizzoni
- Alan Smithson
- Steve R
- Brentwahn
- Michael Gaebler
- Tiago Silva
- Matt Cool
- Mark G
- Simplex
- Gregory F Gorsuch
- Paul Shay
- Paul Hadley
- Matias Nassi
And now here you are the link to donate:
Support The Red Cross in Ukraine
(Header image by Squanch Games, Flat2VR Studios)
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