This has been the week when the Unity Cube has come back into the spotlight it deserves. I updated it to the latest Meta SDK, and now it can go up to 240 Hz on Quest 3! It is the first (or one of the first) app on the Horizon Store to implement this feature. For this reason, it made headlines again on Road To VR, which titled an article with “The Worst Game on the Horizon Store Now Runs Better Than Any Other on Quest 3”. All hail the cube!
Top news of the week
Steam Frame is getting an add-on with color passthrough
Komodo Station, the website that resells Valve’s hardware in Asia, accidentally published the page for a passthrough add-on for the Steam Frame, which made the whole community excited (It is not the first time Komodo makes these mistakes, so I smell a controlled leak, but anyway…)
This add-on is made by Arcturus Industries, the third-party computer vision specialists behind Steam Frame’s camera-tracking system. It is called the Arcturus Vision Camera, and it is an add-on you can easily install on your Steam Frame to give it an amazing RGB passthrough. You know that one of the biggest criticisms about the Steam Frame is that it has the same passthrough as the Quest 2. With this add-on, the Frame makes a huge step forward, thanks to two 32-megapixel cameras able to perform 10bit HDR video capture at 2,464 * 2,464 pixels resolution (for each camera) at 60 FPS, and up to 72 FPS and 144 FPS with special configurations and software. Even better, the cameras have a distance of 64mm, which is very similar to a human IPD, so they are able to provide a stereo vision that is similar to the one you would have naturally with your eyes.
The module is advertised not only as something to enjoy the passthrough, but also as a capture system ideal for reconstructing your environments with Gaussian Splats. This makes me think that Arcturus may release something similar to Horizon Hyperscape and let the users reconstruct the spaces around them and then enter them in VR. This is a use case that has a lot of potential in my opinion: you could scan your home and, for instance, let your grandchildren see how it was living in the past.
We don’t know what the price of this is, but for sure it is a very interesting device that increases the value of the Steam Frame a lot for people who are outside the purely gaming field. The modularity of the Steam Frame proves again to be a very important feature of this headset.
More info (Steam Frame color passthrough add on — X post 1)
More info (Steam Frame color passthrough add on — X post 2)
More info (Arcturus Vision Camera on Road To VR)
Other relevant news
GPT 6 Astra is astonishing for 3D creation
During the weekend, my X timeline has been literally flooded by people posting about their experiments with the new GPT 6 Astra. And for a good reason: this new model is able to create pretty good 3D models and environments. It can connect with Blender and model stuff according to your instructions. More than one person highlighted how this can allow the democratization of the creation of 3D content that can make the metaverse happen. And in fact, Andrew Chen from a16z, the top VC fund in Silicon Valley, tweeted, “Pretty clear we’re about to get a VR comeback, no?”. Jensen Huang, the CEO of NVIDIA, even tweeted that in his opinion, AGI is here.
But it is not only about 3D rooms. Some people also reconstructed animated 3D objects, and a 3D animation of Will Smith eating spaghetti was proposed as the new benchmark for AI models. Azad Balabanian, the king of photogrammetry, even used Astra to create a fork of UEVR that allows you to have a 3D window inside which you can play standard flat-screen games but with added stereoscopy.
I tried Astra too, to check if the hype is real. And my tests have been pretty positive. I have created a blank Unity project, and instructed the system to create a 3D rose that matched a picture I made in my house. AI made the rose you can see above, which kinda matches the one on my shelf. You can clearly see the model is a bit simplified and looks soulless, but still, it is decent. And also it was already loaded in my Unity project as a prefab, with LOD optimizations to make it run better in VR. The ChatGPT app also literally took control of my computer (it literally moved my mouse!) to accomplish the task. It was mind-blowing.
Again, we are not at the level of what a good 3D artist can do today: the model could be better optimized and could be more beautiful, but with the current pace of AI development, it means that in a few years we’ll probably get there. Which on one side, is cool, while on the other side it is scary, because it means that many people will lose their jobs.
Regarding AGI, I don’t think we are there. For me, AGI will be reached when AI can really learn on the fly. But the fact that Jensen said it has been reached is an important statement regarding the capabilities of this new impressive model. What a time to be alive, for the good and the bad.
More info (3D object modeled with Astra)
More info (A city modeled with Astra)
More info (Azad’s experiment to play flatscreen games)
More info (The Will Smith eating Spaghetti test)
More info (My test with Astra)
More info (Andrew Chen betting on VR again)
More info (Jensen claiming AGI has arrived)
World Labs reconstructs the world with Atlas
Before OpenAI, there was another company showcasing a supercool AI project this week: World Labs. World Labs is a company working on world models and has released Atlas, which is an AI model able to reconstruct full scenes.
A thing you can do with Atlas is, for instance, recording a moving scene from three different points of view, and then have AI reconstruct how the scene would look from all the possible points of view. So you can have three iPhones recording a place and then re-create a drone shot through that place. The AI model mixes what it sees with its understanding of the world and is able to reconstruct the scene from whatever point of view you want.
This could allow the recreation of a place without a full scan. If you now need to scan a place for minutes before re-entering it in VR, with something like Atlas, in the future, you can just take some pictures and then enter it in VR with your friends. It is pretty impressive, and this is just the beginning for the company cofounded by Fei-Fei Li…
More info (World Labs announces Atlas)
More info (An example of Atlas working on a moving scene)
Engage XR to enter liquidation
I’m so sad to report that Engage XR is going to enter judicial liquidation. Engage has been one of the most relevant social platforms in VR, especially for what concerns the enterprise and the education sectors. But it seems that things were not going so well anymore, especially because after COVID many companies disinvested from the “metaverse”. And when one big customer didn’t renew its contract, Engage XR had to start the path to liquidate the company.
Engage was once one of the most important “metaverse” platforms. Its downfall, together with that of Rec Room happened some months ago, shows that these days there is very little room for social VR platforms, with some notable exceptions.
It is news that made me particularly sad because I have so many memories related to the Engage platform. I remember enjoying the Fatboy Slim concert there, which was one of the best concerts I’ve ever enjoyed in virtual reality. I participated in two VR funerals dedicated to members of our community, and I wanted to cry during both of them (luckily no one can see you cry when you wear a VR headset). I held a few successful workshops there about the “metaverse” with the Swiss company SIDI. I woke up at 3 am to attend the Vive Ecosystem Conference where Alvin Wang Graylin virtually announced Vive’s new headsets. And I remember being there, isolated during COVID, hugging people inside Engage, and feeling some human warmth again. And I especially remember Chris Madsen, always there, being the great guy he was (and still is), welcoming everyone to events.
Now all of this is gone, and this makes me incredibly sad. But for sure I’ll treasure all these memories. And thank all the Engage team for what he has given me.
More info (Engage XR is entering liquidation — The XR Beat)
More info (Engage XR is entering liquidation — Good Virtual Reality)
News worth a mention
Steam Frame could come with a free copy of Half-Life Alyx
According to the usual Brad Lynch, Valve may be working to offer a free copy of Half-Life Alyx to all people purchasing a Steam Frame headset. It is not clear if it is the PC version of the game, or if Valve has managed to create a standalone version of it. In any case, it seems a pretty good deal.
Bigscreen discounts its headset
Bigscreen has announced that its Bigscreen Beyond 2 headset is getting a permanent price cut, going from $1,019 to $959 for the standard version and from $1,219 to $1,159 for the eye-tracked version. This is definitely good news: in a moment when all the headsets are becoming more expensive, seeing one become cheaper is surely refreshing. Bigscreen has also announced that it is resuming the production of the Halo Mount after a major redesign.
Horizon OS 2.7 brings 207 Hz and gamepad emulation
Meta has released an update to its Horizon OS operating system for Quest, and it has clearly been made to better compete with the Steam Frame. The Quest 3 can now go up to 207 Hz (even up to 240 in experimental mode) for extra smoothness. And it is possible to emulate a gamepad using the buttons of the controllers. This is nice, but let’s be honest: the buttons of the Quest Touch controllers are not enough to fully emulate a gamepad. That’s why Valve had to design a new type of controllers.
Competition is good for us users…
Meta is allegedly working on a new OS
Nori, who is a leaker like Luna but is not Luna, showed a blurred video extracted from some parts of the Quest’s OS that shows what looks like new interfaces of the Quest. This may seem to hint that Meta is launching a full overhaul of the OS of the Quest, which would be great news considering that the current user experience is really bad. I guess we’ll see at Connect if this is truly happening…
Steam Link adds USB-streaming in beta
After Virtual Desktop, now also Steam Link allows for tethered streaming of PC VR experiences. Probably Meta unlocked something from its OS, and so now more and more solutions are implementing this kind of feature. I think it’s great to offer a good PC VR experience also for people not having a good Wi-Fi at home. The feature is still in beta, so you have to activate it by going to the Beta branch of the application.
More info (Steam Link via USB — Upload VR) More info (Steam Link via USB — Road To VR)
Oculus Home Remitted restores your old Oculus Home
A new open-source tool, Oculus Home Remitted, allows people to restore their old Oculus Rift’s Oculus Home environment. According to the creator, Meta still hosts the various homes on its servers, so it is still possible to download them and enjoy them via this custom tool. This is a very nice thing, especially for the people who invested so much time in the customization of their Oculus Homes.
The Ferryman Collective won an Emmy Award
It’s great for me to report that The Ferryman Collective has won an Emmy Award in the Outstanding Emerging Media Program with its “Uncanny Alley: A New Day” hosted on VRChat. These people have always been doing great experiences, and I’m happy they received such huge recognition! And it’s also great to see a VR experience getting an Emmy…
Some news about content
- Guman Contracts, the Half-Life: Alyx mod turned into a standalone game, is launching on September 10th for $25
- Pixelity Inc announced it’s hosting public demos in San Francisco for EVANGELION: Δ CROSS REFLECTIONS, the upcoming XR game based on the hit ’90s anime Neon Genesis Evangelion. The demos are starting on September 25th, and the 80 people attending them will be selected via a lottery
- The physics-driven comedic prison-break sandbox game Bad Inmate is coming to Meta Quest and PlayStation VR2 on October 15
- FitXR has redesigned its smartphone app to introduce personalized strength, cardio, and mobility workouts that can be completed without a headset, with members able to move workouts between mobile and VR
- Empire At Sea is a mixed reality drama (made with volumetric capture) that is debuting at Venice Immersive
- Galápagos: The Last Eden is an Android XR interactive wildlife experience made in collaboration with Google and narrated by Margot Robbie. It is being showcased at Venice Immersive
- Maze Theory has released a new trailer showing the first extended look at gameplay from their upcoming immersive mixed reality game Project Hail Mary: Journey Among the Stars (inspired by the famous book and movie… btw if you’re curious, I read the book and it is pretty fun to read)
- Starclash is an animated film that lets you play the role of the film’s main character, an aspiring singer and performer named Jack, as he reaches for fame, suffers sabotage at the hands of a rival, and pushes forward to regain his lost voice. It is out now for Quest and Apple Vision Pro
- Finding Frida is a 41-minute VR documentary at Venice Immersive using photorealistic 3D scans and animated artwork to explore the life of forgotten Norwegian textile artist Frida Hansen
- Puzzling Places is now 5 years old! And it celebrates with a new weekly free puzzle initiative and many more updates!
More info (Gunman Contracts)
More info (Neon Genesis Evangelion)
More info (Bad Inmate)
More info (FitXR)
More info (Empire At Sea)
More info (Galapagos: The Last Eden)
More info (Project Hail Mary: Journey Among The Stars)
More info (Starclash)
More info (Finding Frida)
More info (Puzzling Places)
Some reviews about content
- Amelia’s Escape is an enjoyable puzzle game, but it has an abrupt ending that cuts it really too short
- Discovery: Rogue Planet seems like an FPS game from the ’90s. It could have been done better
- Knights of Fiona is a nice game, but it tries to mix two genres, and so it is not really good at any of them. You can still try it for free, though
More info (Amelia’s Escape)
More info (Discovery: Rogue Planet)
More info (Knights Of Fiona)
Other news
QuestLens is a magnifier for Quest for low-vision users
Pico Space Pro is getting FCC certification
Even Realities sued XGIMI for patent infringement, and so MemoMind glasses’s Kickstarter campaign has been suspended
News from partners (and friends)
Enjoy a VR experience from the Museo del Prado
Masterpieces: A Virtual Experience of the Museo Nacional del Prado makes its U.S. premiere at Powerhouse Arts in Brooklyn, October 1 — December 20. Created by ACCIONA Cultura in exclusive collaboration with Madrid’s Museo del Prado, the experience uses multi-user, location-based VR to transform five iconic paintings into three-dimensional worlds audiences can explore together. The journey unfolds through the eyes of a longtime Prado security guard on his final night before retirement, pairing cinematic storytelling and an original score with an intimate meditation on the people who protect and live alongside great art. Following acclaimed international runs this marks the exhibition’s first U.S. presentation.
Learn more
Play Loony Laps!
Loony Laps is an arcade toy racer coming to Quest 3 and Quest 3S in Q1 2027. It has been created by a solo developer, Paulo Cunha, who has worked on it for five years! I love to support indie devs, so I invite you to check out this game, which looks like something I would have enjoyed a lot as a kid. I mean, creating car tracks in mixed reality with loops, jumps, and branching paths looks like a lot of fun!
Learn more
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Some XR fun
Why? But especially.. HOW?
Funny link
Not the best use of the Ray-Ban Meta glasses
Funny link
Why aren’t we seeing the Steam Frame yet?
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
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- Chris Koomen
- Cognitive3D
- Wisear (Yacine Achiakh)
- Masterpiece X
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- Carol Dalrymple
- Keith Bradner
- Fabrizio Carimati
- Field Of Vision
- Jennifer Granger
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- Steve Biggs
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- 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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- Christopher Boyd
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- Mark Frederiksen
- Ken Lin
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- Ixn91
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- Sb
- Boule Petanque
- Pieter Siekerman
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- Vooiage Technologies
- Caroline
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- Wil Stevens
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- 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 from Komodo Station website)