What’s in that case that says “Oculus Development Kit” in front of Oculus and Anduril founder Palmer Luckey, appearing beside Bigscreen VR’s Darshan Shankar and moderator Stephanie Riggs at Augmented World Expo? The new headset Luckey said he’d announce at AWE?
Nope! It’s exactly what you’d expect. A vintage 2013 DK1.
The feature has been limited to Apple’s Camera app since launch, but third-party apps will be able to record in the format starting later this year.
Called the Logitech MX Ink, it will work on the Quest 2 and Quest 3, and can be used to draw in 2D on surfaces or 3D using “full 6DoF positional tracking,” according to UploadVR.
The MX Ink will have haptic feedback, pressure sensitivity, multiple buttons, and will support a double tap feature. Users will reportedly be able to seamlessly switch between it and Quest Touch controllers.
Previously an experimental feature, WebXR support is on by default for Vision Pro beta testers, RoadtoVR wrote last week. The open standard allows for VR and AR experiences on the web, such as those listed on this GitHub page.
However, the outlet writes that AR experiences do not seem to work quite yet, limiting it to fully-VR ones for now.
Just Dance VR: Welcome to Dancity — the first VR title in this popular dancing game series — will be available on October 15th for the Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest Pro, and Meta Quest 3.
Ubisoft says the game supports up to six dancers, and features customizable avatars, 25 songs, and a new social hub called “Dancity” where global players can interact with each other.
visionOS 2 also adds mouse support for additional workflow options, and Vision Pro will now reveal the user’s physical Magic Keyboard — even when they are fully immersed in an Environment or app.
I can’t wait to see my keyboard floating in the clouds like Falkor from The Neverending Story when visionOS 2 comes out this fall.
A month ago, we got news that a new Batman: Arkham game was in the works, this time exclusively for the Meta Quest 3. Now, we have a brief trailer detailing a very bad July 4th in Gotham City. Unfortunately, Arkham Shadow still doesn’t have a release date — only that it will arrive in fall 2024.
Meta is hosting its Connect event on September 25th and 26th, where it will share announcements related to AI and mixed reality. This means we could get a look at the Quest 3S — a potentially more affordable version of the Quest 3 headset that Meta briefly listed on the Quest Store.
“Even Palmer would rather release a handheld than a VR HMD, just like Valve,” joked Valve watcher Brad Lynch, after seeing Luckey’s new Game Boy. (Valve context here.)
Luckey replied: “I am going to be announcing the fact that I am working on a new HMD at AWE!”
Augmented World Expo starts June 18th in Long Beach, California.
Three stores in New Jersey, California, and North Carolina will let you use a Vision Pro headset to visualize kitchen designs in virtual reality. The experience uses Lowe’s Style Studio app, which launched on the Vision Pro in February.
You can book a Vision Pro session on Lowe’s website. The store will also allow a “limited number” of walk-ins.
Job Simulator and Vacation Simulator have arrived on Apple’s Vision Pro headset, letting you stack up virtual sandwiches or soak up simulated rays. Both VR titles are now optimized for hand and eye-tracking, too.
Marvel says What If...? – An Immersive Story will have viewers (players?) casting spells, fighting battles with Marvel characters, and using the infinity stones. Judging from the trailer, that means making Doctor Strange’s magic sparks with your hands.
This edition of What If...? will be “free for a limited time” when the app is available on May 30th.
A Peridot, that is. Pokémon Go maker Niantic is attempting to expand its virtual pet game with a new mixed reality spinoff for the Meta Quest 3. If you own the headset you can check it out right now.
As part of its v65 release, Meta has announced that Quest 3, Quest Pro, and Quest 2 owners with iOS 17 can now upload panoramic images to the Quest mobile app and view them in VR. It’s also expanding the ability to upload and view spatial videos to all iPhone users with iOS 17.
I have finally justified my Vision Pro purchase with the iOS version of the Delta emulator.
GamesIndustry.biz did the math to put it in perspective: Zuck’s Reality Labs has burned a billion dollars every month since June 2022, and plans to spend even more: “We continue to expect operating losses to increase meaningfully year-over-year,” CFO Susan Li said on the Q1 earnings call.
Meta is plenty profitable overall, though: it raked in $12 billion last quarter alone.
[GamesIndustry.biz]
Romulus is looking pretty scary, but if you’re in the mood for something more immersive there’s an Alien horror game for VR on the way as well. Unfortunately there’s no actual gameplay in this trailer for Rogue Incursion, but the developers at Survios describe it as a “single-player, action-horror game” launching this holiday on PS VR2, PCVR via Steam, and Meta Quest 3.
