As the Carnival festivities in Italy reach their final day, the streets are alive with excitement and merriment. Meanwhile, I’m indulging in some delightful traditional sweets to join in the celebration. I have another reason to rejoice: Feedspot has honored me with the 3rd spot in their esteemed list of the top 60 Virtual Reality websites, judged by authority. I’m in the company of giants like Road To VR and Upload VR. Now, I must admit, if you glance at the ranking, it’s clear there are a few inconsistencies, such as the inclusion of the Oculus site, which no longer exists. Having been in the industry myself, I know there are other publications out there that are superior to mine, like MIXED, which didn’t make the list. Honestly, I probably don’t deserve the 3rd, 4th, or even 5th place. But hey, sometimes it’s nice to just relish a victory, acknowledging the hard work over the past eight years as a blogger. A heartfelt thanks goes out to every one of you for your incredible support that has led me to this milestone!
Top News of the Week
Valve Deckard Could Launch in 2025 at $1200
There’s fresh buzz around Valve Deckard, and this time, it doesn’t stem from the usual grapevine. It’s whistleblower "Gabe Follower," a known data miner with a track record of accurate leaks, who claims the Deckard will debut in 2025, priced at roughly $1200. Gabe Follower also mentioned Valve might roll out games or demos that are “ready for prime time” specifically for Deckard. According to Tyler McVicker from Valve News Network, there might even be a demo inspired by the Half-Life series. Regarding its platform, the device is expected to run on SteamOS, akin to the Steam Deck, and should be apt for playing Steam Deck flat-screen games on a grand scale in VR. This is feasible because the Roy controllers that accompany the headset share the same control layout as a gamepad. Talking about the price, it’s hefty at $1200, yet Gabe Follower suggests it’s still being sold at a loss—suggesting that this headset is packed with high-end features to please any true Valve aficionado.
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[Valve Deckard to be released in 2025 for $1200]
Other Relevant News
Sony Drops PSVR 2 Price for Good
Big news from Sony: the PSVR 2 headset has seen a permanent price cut. From this month onward, it has a new price tag of $400 (€450 / £400 / ¥66,980), and you can choose to purchase just the headset or get it bundled with Horizon Call of the Mountain, since both options cost the same. I’m scratching my head wondering who would opt for just the headset though. While PSVR 2 has always stood as a solid headset, its steep price—more than a PS5—was pivotal. When Sony introduced temporary discounts recently, sales improved significantly, so this decision to make the discount permanent appears savvy. Though the PSVR 2’s exclusive game library isn’t exactly expansive, a decent collection of titles has started to emerge, and with a PC adapter, you can even dive into PC games on Steam. Priced at $400, it seems a really appealing deal to me. While I don’t see it breaking sales records, I do perceive PSVR 2 carving out a more robust ecosystem.
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Free-to-Play Takes Over on Quest
Meta is pushing developers to embrace free-to-play games for the young Meta Quest audience. A new post on X from the company declares that free-to-play experiences now account for more than 70% of time spent on Quest. The industry trend towards freemium is unmistakable. Fast Travel Games, for example, has just made “Mannequin” free-to-play. Owlchemy Labs’ latest title, “Dimensional Double Shift,” is also free-to-play and has hit 500K downloads, proving that this strategy is hitting its mark. However, there are a couple of thoughts I’d like to add to Meta’s announcement. Firstly, when you generously push Horizon Worlds, a free experience, into the limelight and allow the Horizon Store to be cluttered with free low-quality content, it’s no surprise the time users spend on free-to-play increases. I’m not saying this trajectory was unavoidable (most stores find themselves headed this way eventually), it’s just noticeably expedited. Secondly—and this is crucial—I haven’t seen any reference to revenue statistics. If my game gets played for 10 hours weekly, but I’m only making $5, my studio won’t survive. That revenue was absent from the post makes me think the figures might not be flattering enough to share. And even if shared, they would likely be heavily influenced by Gorilla Tag’s astronomical numbers. My question to Meta is this: what’s the median revenue for a free-to-play game on the Horizon Store? This insight is what developers need to decide if this model truly suits them.
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[Free-to-play now accounts for 70% of time on Quest]
Meta’s Aria 2 Glasses Announced
Meta is stepping up with the announcement of the Aria Gen 2 glasses, an evolution of the earlier Project Aria. Remember, Aria isn’t a commercial gizmo, but a pair of research-focused sensors-laden glasses. It records data about your body and surroundings to train AI models dependent on user-centric data (e.g., invaluable for AI dedicated to AR). The Aria Gen 2 boasts superior specs overall. It includes a revamped sensor suite: an RGB camera, position-tracking and eye-tracking cameras, spatial microphones, IMUs, a barometer, magnetometer, GNSS, and custom Meta silicon, as well as new sensors including a photoplethysmography sensor for heart rate and a contact microphone to filter the wearer’s voice from ambient noise. Onboard speakers now enable audio output. But the real kicker is the powerful Meta chip, allowing on-device positional tracking, eye and hand tracking, and speech recognition. It’s a stark upgrade from the previous Aria glasses, which only recorded data for later analysis on a computer. All of this cutting-edge tech weighs in at a mere 75g, enabling 6-8 hours of active use. Partner distribution is currently limited, but wider availability for research centers is anticipated later this year.
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[Aria Gen 2 glasses — Road To VR]
[Aria Gen 2 glasses — Upload VR]
Meta’s Educational and Enterprise Refresh
Meta has rolled out updates tailored for universities and business clients. Meta for Education is now generally accessible after substantial beta tweaking. Though Meta hasn’t been entirely forthcoming about the specifics, it appears to provide institutions the means to buy headsets for students, with two core facilities. The first is an MDM service, enabling schools to manage device fleets, allowing bulk installations and synchronized content deployment for entire classes. The second consists of a curated catalog of educational content provided by Meta and third-party partners. Furthermore, in collaboration with VictoryXR, Meta has developed over 30 “metaversities” using the Engage XR platform for vibrant, digital twin campuses fostering remote student interaction. Impressive statistics back their effectiveness: out of 43 schools utilizing VR & mixed reality, 87% of students reported heightened engagement, 85% of teachers found it enhanced teaching, and students improved academically by 15% on multiple-choice assessments (according to Upload VR). Yet, I have to wonder how much the analysis is skewed in favor of hardware vendors.
Meta for Education is part of the broader “Quest for Business” program. Recently, Meta rebranded the entire business offering to “Horizon Managed Solutions". While the core suite—user and device management, a custom store, and dedicated assistance—remains, notable improvements include the integration potential with third-party MDM solutions like ArborXR, ManageXR, or Microsoft Intune. This is a considerable advancement considering how organizations prefer sticking to their established systems. As for pricing, Upload VR breaks it down: under the Meta for Education banner, the Quest 3 is priced at $630, with the Quest 3S costing $400 for the 128GB model or $500 for the 256GB variant. These costs encompass two years of Meta Horizon managed services. Post that, the service commands a fee of $24/month per headset for “Shared Mode”. Educational customers, however, can unlock “lifetime” access for $100 per headset—hence, institutions can clinch Quest 3S devices with “lifetime” access for $500, or grab a Quest 3 for $730. Enterprise options are a bit pricier than consumer counterparts, though it’s the subscription service kicking in after two years that’s more concerning. Education sectors can bypass this by paying $100 upfront, making the proposition more appealing.
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[Meta For Education now available — Meta blog]
[Meta For Education now available — Upload VR]
[Meta Horizon Managed Solutions — Meta Blog]
News Worth Mentioning
HTC Unveils "VIVERSE Worlds"
HTC has introduced its platform, VIVERSE Worlds, aimed at becoming the "YouTube of 3D Content"—a claim I’ve heard from countless projects. VIVERSE Worlds serves as a platform hosting 3D and VR experiences, and its unique angle is its fully web-based nature. This allows for easy integration of VIVERSE Worlds content on websites using iFrames. Users can dive into experiences effortlessly without the hassle of installations. Thanks to the Vive Polygon Streaming technology, these experiences promise to run smoothly by streaming only the required polygons to the client device, optimizing execution. It’s certainly a novel approach, and I’m keen to see if this unique aspect pans out successfully.
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[HTC VIVERSE Worlds — Road To VR]
AMD Rolls Out New Graphics Cards
AMD is all set to release the RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT graphics cards first teased at CES. They’re slated to ship on March 6 with MSRPs of $550 and $600. Designed to stand toe-to-toe with NVIDIA’s RTX 5070, and potentially the RTX 5070 Ti, they offer comparable pricing and performance. The cards also introduce AMD’s second-generation AI accelerators, enhancing FidelityFX Super Resolution 4 (FSR 4), AMD’s counterpart to Nvidia’s DLSS. Impressively, they support DisplayPort 2.1a, a feature that seems poised to power future 4K per eye headsets, boasting refresh rates of 120Hz and above.
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[AMD’s new graphics cards — The Verge]
You Can Play Windows Games on Pico 4 Ultra with Winlator
I came across an intriguing YouTube video by Virtually Real, showcasing how to run Crysis on the Pico 4 Ultra. He accomplished this by utilizing Winlator, a Windows emulator for Android. In the comments, he’s shared the success he’s had with games like Fallout 3. This development cracks open the door for playing slightly older Windows games natively on your headset!
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There’s been an outcry from the XR community regarding the Horizon Store’s curation practices, especially the influx of shovelware. On Reddit and X, users share videos of scrolling through the Horizon Store only to encounter subpar clones of Gorilla Tag. A savvy Redditor even calculated that out of the 126 games released last month on the Horizon Store, 57 had "gorilla" or “tag” in their title. It’s an impossible situation.
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[BMFVR showcasing the store’s state]
Meta Retires Move
Meta has decided to pull the plug on Move, the fitness tracking app on Quest. According to Meta, Move relied on outdated technology and discontinuing it allows them to optimize their runtime. The fact that Move hasn’t been updated to newer technology speaks volumes about the low priority it was for Meta, likely due to a dwindling user base. It’s indeed disheartening when we recall Meta’s own Move essentially quashed the business of the startup YUR, only for Meta to now abandon it after just a few years. It seems it might have been better to leave the venture to the true enthusiasts.
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Meta Showcases Realistic Avatar Work
Meta Reality Labs and the University of Munich have unveiled an exciting project known as Avat3r. This research system can create a realistic avatar head using only four iPhone photos (though satisfactory results can still be achieved with a single shot). The avatar can accurately mimic the user’s facial expressions. The predictably realistic appearance of the avatar’s face is rendered particularly lifelike, thanks to Gaussian Splats.
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Exploring VR Experiences Through Taste
Ohio State University has embarked on a fascinating project exploring virtual taste emulation. Like a few existing solutions, the e-taste interface releases minuscule flavor particles into the user’s mouth upon command. One experiment offered flavors like lemonade, cake, fried egg, fish soup, or coffee. Taste emulation is undoubtedly at its infancy, but it’s heartening to see research actively progressing in this area.
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[Taste emulation experiment]
Introducing The VR Critic
Good news for VR enthusiasts! Dr. Luke Buckmaster, an Australian admirer of virtual reality, has launched “The VR Critic.” Four years in the making, with over 100 reviews ready at launch, the site’s arrival is awaited by those eager for thoughtful critiques of VR experiences. Best wishes to this new venture in VR journalism!
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More Content News
- Steam Next Fest has debuted over 20 free VR demos.
- Stratogun is a nostalgic flatscreen shoot ‘em up launching with VR support later this year.
- Sportvida CyberDash, focused on intense physical challenges for stress relief, makes its Quest and PC VR debut next month.
- Orion Drift, by the creators of Gorilla Tag, is available in Early Access.
- Symphoni is a mixed reality rhythm game blending conducting with spellcasting, launching March 6th for $19.99.
- Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” is now a Beat Saber DLC.
- GORN 2 promises familiar gameplay with new twists and is coming to Quest, Steam, and PSVR2 later this year.
- VR time travel adventure “Wanderer: The Fragments of Fate” is set for a March 27 release on Quest and PSVR2.
- Alien: Rogue Incursion’s first major Quest 3 patch is live, bringing atmospheric visual upgrades and fixes.
- Farming Simulator VR is now accessible on Quest for $25.
- Upload VR has published an “XR News Round-Up” of the week’s smaller XR stories.
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[Steam Next Fest]
[Stratogun]
[Orion Drift]
Content Reviews
- NinjaGuyVR has tried every Steam Next Fest VR demo, noting serious issues with most.
- Orion Drift is promising according to both Upload and Mixed reviews, sporting a bold "metaverse" vision but needing significant improvement, especially in onboarding. Despite its fun, it’s no Echo VR successor as some hoped.
- Retronika spices up racing action with vibrant visuals and gameplay diversity.
- Detective VR lets you step into a mixed reality detective role. There’s room for improvement, yet it remains intriguing.
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Additional News
- GTA 6 aspires to metaverse stature with “Project Rome.”
- VR is showing promise in aiding lucid dreaming.
- Stress Level Zero highlights that focussing solely on PC VR is not profitable for a studio.
- Lumus boasts a waveguide with “high quality >75° Field-of-View that fits a glasses form factor.”
- Google might be tinkering with boards meant for Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 Gen 3 chipsets.
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From Partners and Friends
Cause+Christi Rolls Out SHIP HAPPENS
Creative studio Cause+Christi has teamed with HTC VIVERSE to launch its inaugural free-to-play WebXR escapade, “SHIP HAPPENS.” This interactive escape room game takes players to the year 3025 where they wake up on a corporate Loot Transport Ship in disarray. Best of all, it’s free to delve into—follow the provided link to start your adventure!
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[Play SHIP HAPPENS]
Some XR Humor
- Trust OpenAI… to some extent. [Funny link]
- She may not excel in culinary arts… [Funny link]
- Horizon Worlds is universally loved… allegedly. [Funny link]
- Current state of VR gaming studios. [Funny link]
Donate for a Good Cause
As with last week, rather than appealing for blog donations, I ask you to consider aiding those affected by the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Please extend your support via a contribution to the Red Cross to ameliorate the humanitarian crisis there. For your convenience, a donation link is available below.
A moment of gratitude is due for my Patreon supporters:
Patrons:
- Alex Gonzalez VR
- DeoVR
- GenVR
- Eduardo Siman… and many others
Support Link:
[Support The Red Cross in Ukraine]
(Header image by Afference)
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