Google, Samsung, and Qualcomm have jointly introduced Android XR, an operating system for mixed reality headsets and glasses — including an initial device from Samsung.

The long-in-the-making platform is effectively Google’s approach to spatial computing like that in the Apple Vision Pro and newer updates to the Meta Quest 3. Apps and media have a physical presence, and can blend both the real and digital worlds. You can watch a YouTube video on a large virtual screen, explore 3D photos, or juggle multiple Chrome browsers floating in front of you.

Google is unsurprisingly giving Gemini a prominent role in Android XR. You can talk to the generative AI about what you see, or use it to control your hardware. Circle to Search even becomes more intuitive as you can literally draw a circle around whatever interests you.

As on the Vision Pro, you can also run mobile apps (in this case, Android phone and tablet apps).

With smart glasses, the OS will focus on always-available and frequently Gemini-powered help, like navigation or translations. Google’s just-announced tests for prototype Project Astra glasses will run Android XR.

The new OS is already available in a preview release, and will use common developer tools like Android Studio, Android Studio, OpenXR, and Unity. Google is working with companies like Sony and Xreal on XR devices, and is still collaborating with early entrant Magic Leap on future products.

Samsung’s Project Moohan is the first Android XR headset

The first confirmed device is Samsung’s Project Moohan (pictured above), a mixed reality headset that will be available in 2025. While neither Google nor Samsung are sharing many details, it will have “state-of-the-art” displays and “natural” control whose voice input goes beyond hand gestures and controllers. Qualcomm adds that it will run on a Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 chipset launching in 2025.

Samsung appears determined to address the comfort issues that have affected the Vision Pro. It’s promising a light, “ergonomically optimized” headset that you’ll want to wear.

There are still challenges that Samsung hasn’t addressed so far. It’s not clear whether or not Project Moohan will significantly undercut Apple’s current $3,499 starting price. Battery life is also a concern — existing high-end mixed reality headsets rarely last for more than two hours per charge.

How does Android XR compare to the Apple Vision Pro?

The interface and experience similarities between Apple, Google, and Meta platforms are clear in conventional headsets — they’re aiming for the same general spatial computing concept.

However, there are differences in the smart glasses category. Meta’s experimental Orion glasses appear to be more of an extension of the app-oriented interface from the Quest. Apple is rumored to be making its own glasses, but little has emerged about them. Practical eyewear is believed to be years away as the companies focus on slimming the technology, improving battery life, and bringing costs down.

More importantly, Google is pitching Android XR as an open ecosystem for headsets and glasses. As with phones and tablets, this promises to expand the variety of devices you can buy, with different designs and prices. It might also allow for apps that aren’t possible on more closed platforms like Apple’s visionOS.

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In August we checked out the Roto VR Explorer chair, a seat specifically designed to increase virtual reality immersion by thrashing you around as you play. However, It did look a bit like a Terminator’s dentist chair. You can read all about that here.

A few reviews have been popping up extolling its virtues and, while not cheap – seemingly no VR immersion gear is not going to cost you, you can check out our Woojar Vest 3 review here, it is nice to know that the quality of the gear coming out, if not exactly impulse buys yet, is changing the game, when it comes to the, er game.

Roto VR, the London-based tech firm behind the Explorer has just raised a useful £2.4 million in its second round of funding and the fact the chair is certified “Made for Meta” means the team has had a stellar few months.

The new investment will support Roto’s next phase of growth as it takes the much anticipated VR experience chair to market, in particular, funds will be used to fulfill the demand for the launch of the VR Explorer by enhancing operational capacity and broadening its market reach.

Elliott Myers, Founder of Roto VR said, “My team and I are thrilled to be launching the Roto VR Explorer with industry-leading partners such as Meta after a considerable period of product development and market analysis. I’m especially grateful to all our investors who continue to support our efforts and I’m excited for the next chapter in our journey.”

The investment has come from Pembroke VCT which has contributed £500,000, alongside new and existing angel investors from both the UK and US.

Andrew Wolfson, CEO of Pembroke Investment Managers said, “Elliott and his team have engineered a solution that not only overcomes common barriers in VR engagement but also greatly enhances the overall experience. The Roto VR Explorer exemplifies British innovation with global impact. With high-profile contracts and industry partnerships, Roto VR is positioned for growth as it continues to disrupt the VR landscape.”

The Roto VR Explorer is available to order now and costs £799 – not a cheap amount but when you consider the price of top-of-the-range gaming chair models from the likes of Secret Lab and Andaseat which are “just” chairs, it is a little more palatable.

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After months of circulating rumors and supposed leaks, Meta has this week (September 25) announced the Quest 3S headset.

While it looks like a combination of the previous Quest 2 and Quest 3, it comes at a cheaper price point making it the most budget-friendly version Meta has released so far.

It will hit shelves with a price tag of $299.99 USD or there’s an option for more storage with the 256GB option for $399.99 USD. The product has entered pre-order stage and will be available on its launch on October 15.

In a blog post announcement, the team described the headset as being best “for those new to mixed reality and immersive experiences” and “for those who might’ve been waiting for a low-cost upgrade.”

The headset will incorporate several features from its more expensive counterparts, including keeping the same full-color mixed reality that Quest 3 has. It’ll also be powered by the same Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 platform that was developed in collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies.

The main differences are said to be in the headset design, including with the Fresnel lenses which will have a slightly narrower field of view.

The Quest 3S will be compatible with thousands of apps and games, but won’t work with all of Quest 3’s accessories including the controller-specific Charging Dock, Active Straps, Elite Strap, Elite Strap with Battery, the Link cable, and the Carrying Case and Compact Carrying Case.

As Quest 3S is introduced, Quest 2 and Pro are on the way out

Shortly after the new product has entered the market, Meta Quest 2 and Pro will be leaving as Meta decides to wind down sales.

“We’ll be selling our remaining headsets through the end of the year or until they’re gone, whichever comes first.”

That’s not the only change either, as the price of the 512GB Quest 3 will be reduced going forward from $649.99 to $499.99 USD.

The 128GB version will be phased out, with the price going down to $429.99 USD while supplies last.

Featured Image: Via Meta’s Blog

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If you are looking for even more immersion when it comes to gaming in the Meta Quest 3 your options, until recently have been fairly limited. You may be used to squaring up to tough-guy boxing opponents in The Thrill of the Fight, but you don’t really feel the necessity to dodge out of the way of those fists flying towards you. Now you might.

Woojer, the global leader in wearable haptic technology has just announced a partnership with Meta and expanded the availability of its Series 3 wearable haptic devices including the Vest 3 and the Strap 3.

Previously only available at Best Buy this will now be expanded to other major stores and outlets as well as the company’s own website.

According to Woojer, “The Woojer Vest 3 and Strap 3 offer unrivaled immersion, allowing users to feel every pulse, beat, and explosion, transforming gaming, VR, movies, and even wellness and workouts. With prices set at $499/£486.00 for the Woojer Vest 3 and $199/£175.00 for the Woojer Strap 3, Woojer is making premium haptic technology more accessible than ever.“

As you can see from the posed VR photo above the Made for Meta devices come in a white color to match your Quest 3, Woojer has previously sold co-branded haptic devices with Call of Duty tie-ins so you can really feel it every time you are sniped by some camping motherf… well you know what I mean.

The Vest 3 in particular looks like something we would be interested in gaming on the Quest 3 with the blurb enticing telling us, “The Woojer Vest 3 is a marvel of human engineering, offering a 360° immersive experience for at-home gaming, movies, VR, and music. Featuring six patented Osci TRX2 transducers strategically placed for full-surround haptic feedback, the Vest 3 delivers precise frequencies that resonate throughout the body, creating a unique and mesmerizing experience. The Vest 3’s slim, streamlined design ensures a perfect fit, whether sitting, standing, or actively playing, and is crafted from breathable materials for ultimate comfort.”

You can check out all the latest information on Woojer’s website.

The post Woojer wearable haptics get Made for Meta badge for Quest 3 and will be available at stores worldwide later this year appeared first on ReadWrite.

Microsoft is at the stage with Flight Simulator 2024 now where it is confident to start showing it off properly. Pre-orders for the game went live yesterday and eyebrows were raised about the high cost of the Aviator version, but for flight sim fans who want to go all in, that probably won’t be an issue.

Jörg Neumann, the head of Microsoft Flight Simulator, revealed in a live stream earlier this year that about 10% to 15% of MSFS2020 players choose to play in VR. In reality, though that number would probably be much larger if VR could just get out of being viewed as such a niche.

Even though the Meta Quest 3 can be hardwired up to your PC and used for VR flying, it is Pimax that has taken over from Valve and Oculus before it as the PC simmers VR headset of choice, as seen here by the fact Microsoft chose to show off its new game using Pimax Crystal Light headsets.

We looked at the original Pimax Crystal earlier in the year and were blown away at how good it was in flight sims such as MSFS and DCS World but this now has been surpassed by how good the Crystal Light is, which also addressed several of the niggles that could be leveled at the OG model.

The Pimax Crystal Light is specially engineered with flight sims in mind and its advanced optics and crystal-clear resolution, make every detail in the cockpit and landscapes incredibly sharp.

The Microsoft Flight Sim VR event was held in Tusayan, Arizona right next to the Grand Canyon – which of course is one of the coolest things to fly over in the game too, and with VR it is probably as close as many of us will get to doing it.

YouTuber TheVRPilot was suitably impressed with what he saw, both from the game and from the Pimax Crystal Light, saying, “The first thing I asked is when I was invited for this event, is “Do you have VR?”, and they had. They let me try the Pimax Crystal Light, and it’s absolutely amazing, I got to rock it.”

Flight Simulator 2024 is available to pre-order now and you can find out more about the Pimax Crystal Light and how to get one for the game’s launch at the Pimax site.

The post Microsoft shows off Flight Simulator 2024 in VR using Pimax’s latest Crystal Light headsets appeared first on ReadWrite.

Ever since people started donning VR headsets there has always been the clamor to play Minecraft in virtual reality. The opportunity to to become present in the blocky world you have created made the marriage seem perfect, even though quite a few technologic leaps were required to get everything to play nice.

Then the was the fact that caught a lot of people out. Minecraft’s whip-panning control system of rapid forward movement and turning does not tend to play nicely with a lot of people’s brains leading to potentially severe motion sickness.

VR versions of the game added features to combat this, such as playing in a window so that your brain had something else to focus on to tell it you weren’t rolling around in the mid-Atlantic in a hurricane, but it is fair to say Minecraft in VR remained a niche experience, rather than the one people had hoped for.

Now, Minecraft devs at Mojang have sounded the death knell for the game on the PSVR with an announcement that it is ending support as of March of 2025.

In a dev post Mojang said, “Our ability to support PlayStation VR has come to an end, and will no longer be supported in updates after March of 2025. After you receive the final update, you will still receive updates on your PlayStation and be able to play without PlayStation VR. From this point on you can keep building in your worlds, and your Marketplace purchases (including Tokens) will continue to be available. You will no longer be able to use your PlayStation VR with Minecraft as it will no longer be supported in the latest updates.”

Mojang did not elaborate further on why it can’t continue to support PlayStation VR. We have reached out to them for comment

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Snap has announced its fifth-generation augmented-reality glasses, which will only be available to developers. The upgraded version of Spectacles overlays digital effects onto photos or videos of real-life surroundings through a camera or lens.

While Snap has been an early leader in AR, its core online advertising business has been struggling. Hence the latest edition has been targeted at key players who must commit to paying $99 a month for one full year if they want to build AR apps for the device.

The Spectacles were announced on Tuesday (September 17), at Snap’s annual Partner Summit in Los Angeles, where CEO Evan Spiegel acknowledged that breaking into the AR field has been challenging.

He said: “Making augmented reality glasses is really hard. And we know that the industry is littered with companies that have tried, and we’ve been working for a really long time on these.”

Snap first launched its smart glasses capable of recording video in 2016, selling them through vending machines in Los Angeles before expanding availability online. While the company reported sales of 150,000 pairs, most users stopped wearing them after a month, and lackluster demand left hundreds of thousands of units unsold.

Consequently, Snap’s director of AR Platform, Sophia Dominguez, admitted they were being cautious about the new release. She stated: “What we can’t predict is consumer adoption and so that’s why we’re taking this more thoughtful approach to how we’re releasing this version.

“It could change at any time, and if it does change … we’re ready to go.”

In February, ReadWrite reported that Snap had laid off around 529 employees as part of a restructuring, and its shares fell more than 20 per cent after the company reported its latest quarterly results in August.

Snap AR glasses key features

See the world through a different Lens.

At today’s Snap Partner Summit, we introduced the fifth generation of @Spectacles, powered by Snap OS, our brand-new, groundbreaking operating system designed to enhance how people naturally interact with the world.

Learn more:… pic.twitter.com/fFRLpyA3Uc

— Snap Inc. (@Snap) September 17, 2024

Spectacles runs on a new operating system called Snap OS, which responds to hand and voice commands and better understands the user’s surroundings for enhanced AR effects, according to Spiegel. The glasses have a wider field of vision than earlier models and automatically tint in sunlight.

However, what people can do with AR glasses remains limited. Snap’s Spectacles can track hand movements, which means users can pick up and assemble virtual Legos, swing a phantom golf club, collaborate on drawings, and use a digital calculator. The device also includes AI, allowing users to ask questions and generate images through voice commands.

A Snap spokesperson told ReadWrite: “We’re currently only making [Snap Spectacles] available for AR creators and developers as a testing ground so that we can build something great together.”

“We’ll share details about any general availability in the future as we continue testing with our AR development community.”

Featured image: Snap Inc.

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Immersion is the name of the game when it comes to VR – be it full-motion sim-rigs so you can play DCS World, or immersive home cinema settings to watch the latest blockbuster movies, VR is unlike anything else in how it can transport you to a different place.

True immersion in VR is real, many report feeling it fleetingly now and then but in the back of your mind, there is always that cat meowing for food or the wife watching an episode of Selling Sunset in the background.

Seeing as she is technically spoiling the immersion there shouldn’t be any huge complaints when I import this robotic, auto-spinning chair into our household then should there?

We have had chairs that spin for decades, nothing new there, but what the Roto VR does is seamlessly link to your Quest 3 and turn as you turn your head. Yes, that’s pretty cool. Need to look behind you in the game, you will feel yourself actually turning.

It’s worth noting that if you have your Quest 3 linked to your PC with a USB cable and spin around enough you could potentially garotte yourself, but we are sure the big brains in conjunction with Mark Z have thought of that.

The Roto VR is a futuristic piece of furniture that would not look totally out of place in the surgery of an evil 22nd-century dentist or if you have just been dragged into an interrogation room directly from a CIA Rendition flight.

It has full haptic rumbling for that extra immersion bump, and all joking aside, it does look like a pretty cool addition to any VR fan’s set-up – even if it does cost considerably more than the Quest 3 itself.

The chair is available to pre-order now for the princely sum of $799 and is due to start shipping in October. We have looked at VR furniture before with the Omni-One but this is the first one we have seen with the Made for Meta badge on it.

The post The Roto VR Explorer is the rotating chair you always wanted for your Quest 3, even if it looks like you are visiting a futuristic dentist appeared first on ReadWrite.

With Meta Connect 2024 just around the corner, it is not like it is new news that we are going to get the first look, if not more, at Meta’s new wallet-friendly addition to its Quest lineup.

While we expect it to be cheaper, and probably bigger, a bit heavier with a lower-resolution display – all things designed to cut costs and also push you towards the Quest 3 if you can possibly afford it, the Quest 3S is rumored to be as powerful at least as it’s bigger sibling – it just won’t be as ‘good’.

Prominent Quest Leaker Lunayian has now got in ahead of Meta Connect 2024 with what they reckon is the final design for the new headset and posted the ‘final design’ on X.

Meta Reality Labs – Project Ventura/Panther

Meta Quest 3S – Final Design pic.twitter.com/6Tc9ig2hJo

— Luna (@Lunayian) August 11, 2024

The Quest 3S in many ways seems to be an upgrade of the Quest 2 rather than a downgrade of the Quest 3. It looks like we get two groups of three cams on the front for passthrough and MR and these are arranged in quite a cute triangular pattern on each side of the front plate. We also seem to be getting a new physical button underneath that we don’t have on the Quest 3 and the rumors are that this is to activate pass-through, removing the need for the side sensor that you double-tap on the Quest 3.

There’s no price being leaked. There is no sign of that, so we expect this to really take the place of the Meta Quest 2 on the shelves. With the Quest 1 consigned to the bin, it allows Meta to maintain an ecosystem that should be capable of running all of the library, albeit in different qualities – you can still watch movies on a 720p screen after all, it’s just not as good as watching them in 4k.

As ever, this is all a leak and we will need to wait until Zuck takes to the stage to show off his new toys at Meta Connect 2024.

The post Meta Quest 3S leak shows us what Meta’s more budget-friendly offering will look like when strapped to our face appeared first on ReadWrite.

Sim racers get ready. Anybody who has been driving PC race sims for any length of time will have played Assetto Corsa or its spinoff AC Competizione. Many will have played in PCVR by either linking something like a Quest or Pimax Crystal and getting out on the track “for real”

I’d argue that once you have played a race game in VR you are never going back to flat again, flight and race games are perfect for VR so news that Assetto Corsa 2, or Evo as it will be known should have VR support from day one.

We don’t really know much about the game yet, other than we are expecting an announcement and maybe early access at some point in the middle of the year but in an interview translated on Traxion, Kunos co-founder and Executive Manager of Assetto Corsa Evo said, “We aim to have the VR on day zero. (We want) to offer VR support that is more dedicated because with Competizione, from this point of view, we struggled a lot. We worked with Epic [Games] engineers and Nvidia, they came to work [in our] Formello [office] with us for some time. In the end, we found the best possible compromise.”

“Let’s say that the VR fans rest assured.”

Even though VR racing accounts for a relatively small percentage of players, the ones who have VR tend to go all in with many building custom racing cockpits and adding expert gear from the likes of Moza Racing to their equipment list.

The Italian site that ran the interview in video form originally also claims that Kunos sent them the first, what they believe to be, the first screenshot from Assetto Corsa Evo and if that is the case, as you can see from looking at the car interior in the image, we could be in for another remarkable looking game.

More news on the release when we get it.

Featured Image: Courtesy of Multiplayer.it

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The problem with YouTube is it is easy to find people who have created insanely cool projects that you want to replicate for yourself, but you have neither the time, the patience, or a partner with the level of understanding as to why putting a huge amount of ugly electronics in the front room is something that is of benefit to the entire family.

This is one such project coming out of Australia and the YouTube channel Limitless VR and Simrigs has made me jealous of what he has going on down under.

Taking 2019’s Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries- which was the first single-player Mechwarrior game since 2002, he had modded the living the daylights out of it to work, not only with his HOTAS controls but to work near flawlessness with VR and, more importantly, his sim racing motion cockpit ring.

Over the course of two videos that go into great detail about how to get the most from the set–up should you want to try something similar yourself, he managed to get it so you can feel pretty much every stomp of the mech working forward as well as every swing of the arms.

“I just can’t get over the feel of this – this feels like it is heavy. I actually feel like I am in something that is genuinely 50 tons. It feels like I am in a 50-ton mech. Oh Wow.”

The levels of excitement from the videos are next level and you can tell they are not being put on. I remember the first time I went sim racing in VR and couldn’t believe the immersion, but wiring up a racing rig to a futuristic sci-fi battle warrior and it just working after all the effort is a step beyond.

Projects such as this are where VR excels. It’s fine in games where you are just slicing through watermelons and the like but taking a game and turning it into a “real” experience is something you can achieve with no other platform.

The VR being used here is “only” a Quest 3 as well, not even a high-end sim VR headset such as the Pimax Crystal, which shows the quality of what Meta has. The real cost is in the motion platform and the sim seat, the likes of which are definitely coming down in price towards the acceptable level of cost, especially when you consider how much a decent graphics card costs these days.

The fun is in the tinkering as you can see by checking out the video. Maybe it will inspire you to do something similar. Once the divorce has gone through!

The post Meet the guy who built a motion simulator to play Mechwarrior 5 in VR so he could feel every little stomp appeared first on ReadWrite.

Meta is bringing updates and new features to its Quest 3 headset at a fair old rate and as good as these features are, we aren’t even seeing the really big stuff it has planned that could bring its UI more in line with Apple’s Vision Pro.

The Quest 3 is a really good VR headset, you can read whether we think it is worth buying one right here. One of its standout features is the Passthrough cameras which allow you to use convincing mixed reality or even just stop yourself from falling over the dog.

The last few updates have seen dramatic updates to passthrough quality the new incoming v66 software update is set to boost that even further.

Better Passthrough in v66

The big change here in v66 is what Meta is calling Reduced Passthrough Distortion. If you have used a Quest 3, despite being impressed with the passthrough you will likely have noticed a weird effect with your hands distorting slightly as you wave them around. This is due to a variety of optical hoops the cameras need to jump through in order to represent your virtual hands in a real-world space. The effect might also be seen with other objects because the cameras are right next to your face and rendering your surroundings at a different perspective to what your eyes would do.

Meta has managed to refine the image quality to make things much more realistic in Mixed Reality so that this warping will be much less obvious once you get the update.

Anyway, science. You can watch the video to see the improvements for yourself.

Background Audio

Previously when you were playing audio in the Browser if you minimized the app the sound would stop, meaning you couldn’t take your Spotify tunes into anything else you were doing, like a nice game of Golf+.

Now you can. So you can listen to the podcast of your choice while doing anything you like now. You should even be able to keep the sound running on your 3D movie while you quickly flick out of the app to check a message.

New buttons

Meta has also added new buttons to the wrists of your virtual hands which basically means we can all get to menus and stuff much easier. A nice little quality of life change.

When is the v66 update released?

The update is rolling out now. Meta as ever does a gradual update so you may not have it yet but it won’t be long before your Quest 3 automatically downloads it if you have that set in your options. If not, just keep checking regularly.

The post Quest 3 v66 update – what changes does it bring to Meta’s flagship VR headset? appeared first on ReadWrite.

If you are into your virtual reality you will likely know Meta’s Chief Technology Officer Andrew “Boz” Bosworth from his many posts conferences and videos. Now Boz’s latest podcast – Boz to the Future (spoiler, he likes being called Boz), sees the Quest head honcho go into great detail while looking into the future, at what kind of standard VR we will be getting by the year (randomly) 2031 and to be fair he is extremely pragmatic about it.

If you are expecting him to say it will all be implemented in your retina by Elon and his merry gang, or you will be living most of your day in Ready Player One’s Oasis, then you are going to be sorely disappointed as Bosworth firmly puts the boot in on that idea and the scale of ambition in the next seven years won’t take us dramatically beyond where we currently sit today.

In terms of what Meta will be focusing on, Boz doesn’t believe headsets will need to go beyond the 120Hz refresh rate we already have today. That might sound ridiculous when we have monitors that already do twice that. While it might be functionally possible Bosworth says, “I’m not saying 240 isn’t better than 120, just like I think 60 PPD is better than 40 PPD, but within these limited compute budgets you’re not seeing generational huge improvements on that.”

He also believes that the weight of a headset will come fairly dramatically and is one of the things Meta will be pushing for as a lighter headset is obviously much more comfortable to wear for longer periods of time.

“I do think comfort is a tremendously important part of it. You’d like to see the weight pushed down. In particular, it’s not just the raw number of grams. It’s not the most important thing. How you balance it on the head, how close can the optical stack be to the eyes, that lever that is on the edge of your nose out to the edge of the device that controls the comfort on your nose, on your cheeks, the amount of pressure on your forehead, depending on what kind of strap you’re using, that’s determined there. So you can move that stack in a little bit, which is one of the big shifts from Quest 2 to Quest 3, that distance is quite a bit in so it feels more comfortable. So I’d like to see the weight reduced by, you know, 100-200 grams by that point.”

In terms of Field of View Bosworth predicts we will get a taller field of view rather than huge gains in the width of it that we might expect, “I actually think taller field of view matters more than wider field of view, for immersion. Certainly wider field of view is more important for us as a species in terms of information density, because our eyes do see more horizontal, but vertical is a good way of convincing you that you’re immersed in a space, in a way that’s kind of deceptive.”

UploadVR goes into a lot of depth reviewing the episode or If you want to listen to Boz from the Future in full, seek it out where you usually get your podcasts such as Spotify

Featured image courtesy of Meta

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The Rennsport open beta is with us, and while we found it pretty easy to just jump straight into the car and start racing, what if you have a VR headset? There is nothing obvious in the menus that lets you take the gorgeous looking race sim and attach it directly in front of your face, but you can, it’s ace and we are going to show you exactly how to do it right here, right now.

Play Rennsport in virtual reality

First things first if you haven’t already you are going to need to head to Epic Games Store, find Rennsport, and add it to your library it’s totally free to play although you can add some extra goodies if you buy one of the three available editions in-game, and you can find out all about those in our previous Rennsport article.

Once you have it installed – it comes in just under 30GB so it’s not a small download, you will need to sign up for a Rennsport account by linking your email, setting up a username, having to re-enter it again because you were stupid enough to put a capital letter at the beginning of your username, verify the email address and then log in via the client.

If it is your first time playing you will need to set up your controls and it is definitely better to do this in flat before trying to jump into VR.

Chances are you will be playing with a wheel and pedals so go ahead and calibrate those, but not, check everything is working with your game controller.

One useful button to bind is the ResetVRPosition which can be found in the Camera Options. Set it to something easy for you to remember that you can just tap with your headset on. I used Spacebar. This will make it easy to realign in game if anything goes weird.

If you have used any VR previously you will more than likely have SteamVR installed already no matter whether you are using something like a Pimax Crystal or a Quest 3. Whatever headset you use, just make sure SteamVR is your runtime. You can do this in the setting, and chances are if you have played any PCVR before it will be, but best to check.

Now we need to tell Rennsport to play nicely with virtual reality so go to your Epic Game Store library where you installed Rennsport and click the three dots to bring up its options.

Now click on Manahe and then Launch Options and flick it on. Now you will get a box and all you need to yupe into this box is -vr.

This will force the executable to run in native VR – don’t forget, if you want to play flat again, you need to pop back in and delete this bit.

The devs suggest changing the “cockpit viewing distance” for an optimal look. This is something you should do before going into VR and can be found under Gameplay, Gameplay Camerasa, and then Distance in the settings.

This will likely change for each car and it is purely a personal preference thing.

At this stage of the game in Open beta expect a rough ride and a lot of bugs, especially in VR but the more data the devs get from people playing, the better and quicker things should progress.

The post How to play Rennsport in VR appeared first on ReadWrite.

Summer Game Fest kicked off on Friday with a two-hour showcase in which host and gaming impresario Geoff Keighley came out swinging haymaker punches on behalf of embattled video games developers for publishers and developers large and small.

“This has been a tumultuous and difficult year with company layoffs and studio closures that have disappointed all of us.” Keighley said in his opening statement.

Then, introducing a title card for what the audience could expect over the next two hours, he showed a list of the top 10 selling games on Steam so far. Two, he said could be considered the kind of big budget, big marketing console-style games. The other eight come from independent, mid-size, or even solo development teams.

“I look at this list and I get inspired that new ideas, new teams, and new creators, can and will break through,” Keighley said. “It’s a reminder to big companies that they have to treat their developers right, because today, there are many paths to sustainability and success, and that’s what makes this industry so, so great,” Keighley added.

And with that said, let’s take a look at the big announcement and reveals over the two-hour long showcase of Summer Game Fest 2024.

Lego Horizon Adventures

Yep, Lego’s next crossover is with Sony’s award-winning Horizon IP. Or maybe Sony’s post-apocalyptic canon, whose most recent release was 2022’s Horizon: Forbidden West, is crossing over with the latter. Either way, it looks like a lighthearted take on Guerrilla Games’ otherwise very serious (and critically acclaimed) adventure series for PlayStation. It launches on PlayStation 5 this holiday season.

No More Room in Hell 2

A hardcore multiplayer survival shooter, No More Room in Hell 2 is the sequel to a 2011 Source engine mod launching, appropriately enough, by Halloween for PC on Steam and the Epic Games Store. There’s permadeath and a whole lot of swear words.

Harry Potter Quidditch Champions

If Quidditch was a real sport, a player taking its pitch on a broomstick during the sport’s debut in the 2001 film Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone would likely be a retired champion today. Finally it gets triple-A treatment with Quidditch Champions. Notably absent from 2023’s Hogwarts Legacy (the Hogwarts headmaster announces the Quidditch season has been canceled for safety reasons) Quidditch returns to the first Harry Potter title solely dedicated to the sport since 2003’s Quidditch World Cup. The game launches Sept 3 on PlayStation 4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, and Windows PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store.

Cuffbust

Cuffbust is a prison-break roguelite that — well, see for yourself and then ask the inevitable question, “What did I just watch.” You have cartoon characters babbling simlish as they hatch a plot to blow up toilets and bust out of the joint. Count me in. It’s all the work of a single developer, Gavin Eisenbeigz. Players can cooperate or subvert one another’s plans.

Star Wars Outlaws

In advance of a fuller reveal at Ubisoft Forward on Monday, Summer Game Fest presented a narrative teaser showing Star Wars Outlaws, the open-world space pirate adventure announced last year. Star Wars Outlaws pulls at the oldest and most romantic thread in the sprawling space adventure’s continuity, and it premieres Aug 30. Tune in Monday, June 10 for a fuller reveal.

Civilization VII

Leaked earlier on Friday, Summer Game Fest confirmed the next installment of the revered strategy title is coming August 2025, Sid Meier himself followed a debut trailer with a message to the longtime fans of the 30-year-old strategy title.

Batman: Arkham Shadow

This Meta Quest VR game takes players into Gotham City to confront a new menace: The Rat King. Jim Gordon looks ready to violate some suspects’ rights to due process to stop the danger; Batman, as always, is willing to go even further is his vigilante escapades. Batman: Arkham Shadow launches this fall exclusively for Meta Quest headsets.

Tears of Metal

Billed as a roguelike co-op, hack-n-slash, Tears of Metal calls upon the finest traditions of Scotland, which start with going out with your tribe to beat ass galore with a very large sword. In Scotland’s defense, that’s a good tradition to have. Tears of Metal does not yet have a release date.

Dragon Ball Sparking Zero

If Tears of Metal didn’t go enough over the top for you, there’s always Dragon Ball Z’s next fighting game. Break the heavens in the ultimate Dragon Ball showdown with Dragon Ball Sparking Zero, launching Oct. 11 for PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X.

Blumhouse’s horror games

Blumhouse, the horror movie studio behind crowd-pleasers like Get out, M3gan, and Five Nights at Freddys, is trying its hand at video games with a slate of titles launching year or so: Crisol Theater of Idols, Grave Seasons, Sleep Awake, Fear the Spotlight, The Simulation, and Project C. Release dates and platforms have not been announced.

Alan Wake II’s Night Springs expansion

Featuring three fan-favorite playable characters, Remedy Entertainment is delivering the first expansion content for the 2023 horror/mystery adventure on Saturday, June 8. Alan Wake II is available on PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X.

Skate

Once again, fans of Electronic Arts’ skateboarding franchise, which last launched in 2010 and whose reboot was announced 2021, got an ironic, eff-the-man live-action trailer, some “pre-pre-alpha footage” and no launch date, but a promise of console testing coming sometime this fall.

Slitterhead

First announced in 2021, Slitterhead is a horror adventure from the creator of Silent Hill, Keiichiro Toyama, who founded Bokeh, an independent game studio in 2020. It launches Nov. 8 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox Series X.

The post All the major announcements from Summer Game Fest 2024 appeared first on ReadWrite.

Are you ready to don your Meta Quest 3 and be transported back to 16th-century Italy? Of course you are. Indie team Blue Brain Games from Slovakia is bringing its PC puzzle hit – The House of Da Vinci over to VR where it seems like it will be a match made in heaven.

Many people are obsessed with Da Vinci and all the slightly freaky stuff like the Da Vinci Code. As Da Vinci’s most promising apprentice, you must strive to solve the mystery of your master’s disappearance by solving mechanical puzzles, discovering hidden objects, and escaping from rooms filled with Leonardo’s inventions. Dive into an authentic and beautifully recreated Renaissance world and use all your wits to uncover the secrets behind your master’s disappearance.

The game has been totally re-imagined for Quest 3 but it has a solid pedigree background to work from, having sold over half a million copies on PC and an astonishing four million units on mobile devices.

The Quest 3 therefore seems a natural jump for the next stage. Blue Brain Games says: “In this captivating VR puzzle adventure that shares the story with our first game, you will experience the world of The House of Da Vinci like never before. Every puzzle has been re-created with VR in mind, and every location has been carefully brought to life with more depth and even more beautiful views.

You can check out the trailer above which looks very nice indeed. The devs say the “first instalment will launch later this year” which obviously suggests a chapter-based experience, we will have to wait and see on that one, but it looks like one that we will be wishlisting at this stage.

The House of Da Vinci features

Discover a new VR perspective – Finally, you can touch the mechanical puzzles and bizarre inventions with your own hands and be immersed in the stunning VR world of 16th-century Renaissance Italy.

Solve mechanical puzzles – Brain twisters and baffling riddles are all based on Leonardo’s inventions.

Enjoy intuitive controls – Navigate Leonardo’s workshop intuitively. Playing the game couldn’t be more fun.

Experience the Renaissance – War machines, complex lockboxes, mechanical puzzles, room escapes will all test your skills.

Master unique mechanics – Detect hidden objects by seeing through the surfaces around you.

Peek into the past – An unusual gauntlet allows you to witness events that happened earlier and learn more of the story.

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Sony has announced that the PlayStation VR2 will allow players access to games on PC via an adapter.

The Japanese console giant released a new statement on the adapter and the changes coming to the virtual reality headset. Owners of the PlayStation VR2 will be able to access these features on August 7.

PlayStation VR2 PC compatibility

As we reported late last month, details emerged about a possible adapter for Sony’s flagship headset. No major updates were announced, but a Sony blog post did hint at a non-descript 2024 release for PC compatibility.

The statement said, “We are currently testing the ability for PS VR2 players to access additional games on PC to offer even more game variety in addition to the PS VR2 titles available through PS5. We hope to make this support available in 2024, so stay tuned for more updates.”

Sony has now made good on its decision to leap into the PC realm and make it possible for expensive tech owners.

Players can access the Steam library of games, meaning “thousands of VR games, including fan favorites like Half-Life: Alyx, Fallout 4 VR, and War Thunder.”

The adapter isn’t cheap, though. It costs $59.99 / €59.99 / £49.99. Sony also mentioned a “commercially available DisplayPort cable (sold separately) that is compatible with DisplayPort 1.4, as well as a Steam account and a PC that meets the minimum requirements.”

Minimum requirements:

• Operating system: Windows 10 64-bit / Windows 11 64-bit
• Processor: Intel Core i5-7600 / AMD Ryzen 3 3100 (Zen 2 or later architecture is required)
• RAM / memory: 8 GB or more
• GPU / graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 or later (Turing or later architecture is required), NVIDIA RTX series, AMD Radeon RX 5500XT or later / AMD Radeon RX 6500XT or later, (For the best performance, we recommend that you use an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 or later or AMD Radeon RX 6600XT or later graphics card)
• DisplayPort: DisplayPort 1.4 (must have a standard DisplayPort or Mini DisplayPort output port)
• USB: Direct connection only
• Bluetooth: Bluetooth 4.0 or later

Players can access a large library of Steam games, but Sony hasn’t made the transition as accessible and easy as possible. Sony hopes players stick to their manufactured devices, but this is a positive step in a much-needed direction.

Image: Sony.

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The name of Meta’s next – and rumoured to be more affordable – virtual reality Quest headset has seemingly been leaked.

Meta’s upcoming mixed reality headset will apparently be called the Quest 3S. The news comes via a Quest Store listing spotted by UploadVR, Meta lists the Quest 3S as a supported device. Since this device is not yet on the market, it seems likely that this will be the next headset released.

There are a number of other apps included, suggesting that this isn’t a one-off or a glitch, and that the upcoming headset will have widespread functionality.

What is Meta’s Quest 3S?

Following on from the Quest 3, which has drawn criticism for being the most expensive headset yet, the next headset will reportedly be a more affordable alternative. This name appears to underline this rumor, mimicking Apple’s tendency to name its smaller, cheaper versions of the previous name with a simple ‘S’ afterward.

During an internal presentation last year from Mark Rabkin, Meta’s vice president of VR, he mentioned that a cheaper mixed reality headset was coming up on the company’s product roadmap, codenamed Ventura. At the time, Rabkin stated that the goal was to “pack the biggest punch we can at the most attractive price point in the VR consumer market.”

Seeing as the Quest 3 came out in October, we could see a Quest 3S release window as early as this fall, or there could be a longer wait in store. Not many details are yet known about the headset aside from the tight-lipped comments from Rabkin and some unsubstantiated rumors. With the Quest 3 playing a big role in generating $1 billion in quarterly revenue for Apple, it seems unlikely that the company will quit while it’s ahead.

Featured image: Meta

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Fans of Marvel’s animated series What If…? will soon be able to dive into the alternative timelines of the MCU using immersive VR.

In an exclusive, free limited release for Apple Vision Pro users, Marvel Studios and ILM Immersive have teamed up to create What If…? – An Immersive Story, the first-ever interactive Disney+ original. The mixed reality experience brings characters like Wong the Sorcerer Supreme and the Watcher into people’s homes in an hour-long narrative-driven show.

Users will meet variants from across the Multiverse, be faced with decisions to make about the Infinity Stones and hold the future of reality in their hands. From the look of the trailer, moving your hand can create portals, just like Wong and his sorcerers, but there appear to be many more opportunities to quite literally get hands-on with the characters from the MCU – and their variants.

“This project touches upon the cornerstone of the desire that our studios share to constantly experiment and innovate, and thanks to the capabilities of Apple Vision Pro, we get to place you directly inside a Universe that means so much to us all,” said executive producer Shereif M. Fattouh. “I can’t wait for fans to become the hero in this completely new way.”

Marvel’s What If…? An Immersive Story release date

What If…? – An Immersive Story will be available for a limited time only from Thursday, May 30. It will be a limited release exclusively to the Apple Vision Pro, with no word of it coming to any other platforms.

ILM Immersive, who partnered with Marvel Studios for this project, has also worked on home VR experiences such as Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge and the Emmy-nominated Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series, as well as location-based experiences like Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire and Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Damage Control. These titles demonstrate its existing relationship with Disney and its related IPs, suggesting there are further possibilities for more creations down the line.

Featured image: Marvel Studios

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One of the original best games for Meta Quest 1 will no longer support the aging VR headset and will instead concentrate on later models.

The game that helped sell so many VR headsets back in the day, Beat Saber, is finally pulling support for the original Oculus / Meta Quest 1 headset, citing its lack of power and developing for newer tech as a better use of the dev team’s time.

Beat Saber has been a staple of virtually every headset since the Oculus Rift but with the Quest 3 performing so well in the last few months and bringing with it so much more power, it is perhaps an inevitable end for the Quest 1’s version. More pertinently it perhaps signals the actual death knell for the original standalone headset.

The official Beat Saber account on X posted: “Dear players, to focus our development efforts on our next projects within Beat Saber, we will no longer support Meta Quest 1 as of November 2, 2024. The game will continue to be playable, but Multiplayer functionality will stop and Leaderboards might be phased out in the future.”

Dear players, to focus our development efforts on our next projects within Beat Saber, we will no longer support Meta Quest 1 as of November 2, 2024. The game will continue to be playable, but Multiplayer functionality will stop and Leaderboards might be phased out in the future. pic.twitter.com/h7Jefa3g75

— Beat Saber (@BeatSaber) May 6, 2024

So it appears that while the game will remain playable in some form, Quest 1 players will lose access to multiplayer and, going forward, Leaderboards.

Over the weekend Beat Sabre was also made cross-playable meaning people (like me) who had bought it on the Oculus Rift all those years ago on PC could now add it to their Quest libraries for free.

For a game that has been out for so long Beat Saber really has been a bastion of VR gaming and recently received a Daft Punk music pack. It will be interesting to see where it heads now that the Quest 1 is deemed not powerful enough to keep up.

While most players were pragmatic, the response thread was still scattered with those upset about the decision:

“Guess I’m not playing Beat Saber anymore. Shame. I don’t intend to spend another 400 on a headset. Multiplayer is part of the playability factor. You take that away it’s like 50% of functionality that adds to the game vs. playing solo.”

The Quest 1 came out some five years ago in 2019 so is now showing signs of age, especially when compared to the Quest 3. It seems as though the headset is destined to disappear from our desktops now, rather quickly we would suspect.

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