Virtual Reality

The MeganeX Superlight 8K isn’t called “Superlight” for a random reason: it is actually small and light. I was impressed by how this headset can be so small and lightweight yet so powerful in terms of resolution. I would like to make a comparison with the Bigscreen Beyond, but I haven’t had the occasion to personally test a Beyond, so I can not do that, sorry.

MeganeX claims on its website that the headset has a special design that guarantees no pressure on the face because there is a halo headband that you put around your head that takes care of keeping the headset still on your head. Then the headset is just rotated with a flip-up design so that it gently lies in front of your face. This claim is true, but it carries its own problems. The demo unit was clearly overused, so the flip-up juncture was a bit loose and the headset so was not stable in front of my eyes. I had to keep it still with one of my hands, which not only was uncomfortable, but also resulted in the occlusion of the SteamVR sensors, which made my display often become grey. So the idea on paper is good to deliver a headset that is not uncomfortable on your face and that you can flip up when you have to take a pause from VR, but in reality, it works only as much as the hinge properly does its job, and if over time it becomes loose, then you have a problem.

The headset features two little dials on the bottom, one on the left and the other on the right corner so that you can adjust the focus for both eyes. I performed this operation pretty fast, closing before one eye and then the other one. After that, I had the whole scene in focus.

Visuals

Given the high resolution of the display, visuals are where I concentrated my attention the most during the hands-on. Let’s start from the bright side of them: the resolution is literally incredible and so are the colors. I could perceive no screen door effect (SDE is almost gone already on Quest 3, and this headset has 3x of the pixels of the Quest) and everything looked very crisp. Thanks to the OLED displays, the colors were very bright and the black pixels truly looked black and not greyish like on LCD headsets. I was impressed by this, the visuals were amazing. For comparison, the BigScreen Beyond has 2560 x 2560 pixels per eye, so in this category of compact headsets, the MeganeX SuperLight 8K, with its 3552 x 3840 pixels per eye, truly shines.

But I couldn’t avoid noticing some issues, though: first of all, there was a constant Barrel distortion I noticed in the imagery. The first unit I tried was showcasing a 360 video and this effect was very noticeable (maybe there was something wrong with the device or the video playback). The second unit I tried was showing a 3D environment I could navigate in and the effect was much less evident, but if I attentively looked at some straight lines, I could perceive it. Then the lenses gave a good image in the center, but the periphery of them showed clear aberrations signs, mostly spherical, but also a little bit on the chromatic side. As long as I looked straight, things were fine, but if my eyes started wandering around too much, the effect was evident. The eye box didn’t look too small. Regarding the FOV, I honestly didn’t pay much attention to it, but it looked a bit less than the one on the Quest 3 headset I usually employ. I guess FOV is perceived as a pain point for this headset because it is the only specification not listed on the website.

There have been a few teasers over the past few days, but now the cat is out of the bag: Fireproof Games has unveiled a new VR game called Ghost Town.

In Ghost Town, you take on the role of Edith Penrose, a witch turned ghost hunter who runs a successful paranormal investigation agency. Set in 1983, Edith roams the haunted streets of London, tracking down and exorcising restless spirits.

Her world is turned upside down when her brother disappears and a mysterious new lead promises clues to his whereabouts. Edith's journey begins with a visit to a remote Scottish island in the hope that a gifted psychic can provide some much-needed answers.

Four years of development have gone into the new project. If Ghost Town turns out to be as atmospheric, creepy and challenging as The Room VR, then we can expect a real VR highlight. Unfortunately, we don't know exactly when the VR game will be released, but the studio says it's coming soon.

Code discovered in a recent Google Play update indicates the company may soon roll out support for XR headsets on its Android app store, which would mark a decisive shift in the competitive landscape.

As reported by Android Authority, code in version 43.3.32-31 of the Google Play app contains mention of “XR headset,” including a new headset icon that ostensibly indicates whether an app works with the supported device.

Google has technically hosted XR games on Play in the form of Cardboard apps since 2014, which use Android smartphones as ad hoc VR displays—something that was big in kickstarting user interest in the early days of consumer VR, but not so much in the day of standalone headsets like Meta Quest 3 and Apple Vision Pro.

The addition of a dedicated section in the Play store and official device support however points to something bigger than Cardboard, or even its now-defunct Google Daydream platform, which the company abandoned in 2019.

Developed by Myron Games (Deisim), Underworld Overseer is a villain-protagonist adventure where you play as the god-like Overseer fighting human invaders across an 18-level campaign. You're given many tools for defending your lair like placing traps and casting spells, alongside creating specific rooms that cater to your minions' individual needs, like farms for your food supply.

We enjoyed Underworld Overseer in our preview earlier this year, praising the "impressive" presentation with enjoyable strategic gameplay. Underworld Overseer's presentation already shows an impressive amount of polish. The cel-shaded visuals look great on Quest 3 for both NPCs and environments, even when you move up close. What I've seen so far looks very promising, and I'll be keeping an eye out for the full release. Underworld Overseer arrives today on the Meta Quest platform and Steam.

Until now, the AR glasses have only been available to developers in the US. However, Snap announced that the latest version of its technological marvel will soon be available in Europe — but only for developers and creative professionals for the time being. I was invited by Snap Inc. to test the Spectacles 5.

The first thing you notice when you put on Spectacles 5 is the ultra-bright 2000 nits clear display. Thanks to the electrochromatic lenses, which can be darkened via the menu automatically, the headset can also be used outdoors in bright daylight — a really impressive feature!

Although the colors and resolution are far from perfect, the glasses already offer probably the best AR display available for the money.

Operation is entirely via precise hand tracking and gestures, which works surprisingly well after a short period of familiarization. The technology only reaches its limits in fast-paced rhythm games.

Two cameras in the front control all 6-DOF tracking and detect your surroundings. Two invisible infrared cameras on the bottom of the headset can also detect hands outside the central field of view. This feature is ingenious and will become the gold standard for everyday devices.

By the way, Snap offers spectacle wearers the option to insert their own prescription clip inserts into the inside of the Spectacles. However, I have also seen people pull the Spectacles over their own glasses if they were small enough. I don't know if and how much this can cause scratches.

VR pioneer, author, and studio founder Jesse Schell was interviewed by Meta on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of Reality Labs. In this interview he talks about the beginnings, the present and the future of virtual reality.

When asked what he is most looking forward to in the next ten years, Schell said:

"The thing that’s going to change everything the most is going to be AI, and there’s going to be this crossover between AI and virtual reality that I think people aren’t going to expect because the power that AI brings is going to be these in-game characters that behave in a realistic way.

They speak coherently. They can have a conversation with you, and they can have real emotions, and that’s going to all seem very real. And combining that with the immersion of VR so that these characters are in the room, in the space, in the place with you—I think we’re going to see a whole new medium of story-based games that are largely about talking."

Jesse Schell predicts a genre he calls adaptive in-home story games and gives an example:

"Imagine a mixed reality game. You put on your headset, and you’re just looking inside of your house, and the doorbell rings. So you get up, and you go to your physical door. You open the physical door, and standing outside is a virtual character, who says, 'Hey, I need to come inside.' They’ve got a bag of groceries. And you follow them into your kitchen because the headset knows how your whole house is laid out. So the character starts putting these items down on the counter and says, 'I need you to help me.' And you start helping them. You cut the virtual bread loaf and slice vegetables and get everything ready. [...]

While that’s happening, the character explains to you what’s going on. 'The problem is up in your attic. There are these creatures, and you and I, we’re going to go up there and we’re going to get them, but first we need to finish getting the bait ready."'

Schell believes such mixed-reality experiences could be possible in a few years, with stories and AI characters that adapt and improvise to spatial conditions.

Some of the first hands-ons with Survios’ upcoming Alien: Rogue Incursion have emerged, revealing a promising look at one of the biggest entries in VR this year.

In case you haven’t been following along, Alien: Rogue Incursion is coming to all major VR headsets this December, letting you take on the role of Zula Hendricks, a resilient former Colonial Marine with a complicated past on a dangerous mission to rescue friend and former squad mate.

Tackling the ship’s Xenomorph infestation, you fight alongside your synthetic companion Davis 01, tasking you to fight your way to the heart of the Gemini Exoplanet Solutions research facility and confront the secrets waiting within. There, we’re promised “deadly horrors” which could spell the end for humankind.

Now, a few outlets have published the first hands-on reports with Rogue Incursion.

In Leanne Butkovic’s preview for IGN, she said it “certainly had classic moments of Alien horror.” There’s no “but” there either. Butkovic goes on to praise the Rogue Incursion’s immersive environment, smart narrative beats, and intuitive weapons and tools.

It’s doesn’t appear to go too hard on wave shooter mechanics either, as Butkovic says the game “wasn’t endlessly frenetic.”

“If anything, it deliberately moves slowly in parts to spatially acclimate, to give people like me who can’t help but touch things that are laying around, a chance to explore and discover the story of this Alien property for myself,” Butkovic said.

Meta continues its reign as the XR industry’s dominant player, with its most recent moves signaling a shift into a new era for the company—and thus the industry at large. This year saw the introduction of the Meta Orion AR glasses prototype and the Quest 3S headset—two pieces of hardware that are not only crucial to Meta’s future but will be pivotal in shaping the industry’s direction as a whole.

One of Meta’s most significant announcements this year was the unveiling of the Meta Orion AR glasses prototype. Meta has long been signaling its ambitions in the AR space, and the Meta Orion prototype represents a major step toward that vision. With a compact form-factor and an impressive 70-degree field of view, Meta is aiming to push the boundaries of what AR hardware can achieve.

Meta’s Orion AR glasses stand as a benchmark for the state-of-the-art in AR glasses today. Unlike similarly sized AR devices—which suffer from a narrow field-of-view that make content appear constrained—Meta Orion’s 70-degree FoV is just scraping the boundary of ‘wide enough to be useful’. Achieving a compact form-factor and a wide field-of-view in the same package is crucial for making AR feel more seamless and practical in daily use.

It will be years yet before Meta ships something like Orion, but it’s an intentional ‘flag in the ground’ moment for the company.

Developed by VitruviusVR, Arken Age is a single-player action-adventure game that's been in development for three years. Set in a terraformed world called the Bio-Chasm that's "filled with unique lifeforms, strange artifacts, and endless danger," you're tasked with investigating the disappearance of this world's divine founder, the Grand Arborist.

The upcoming game promises 25 explorable areas across a 10-hour campaign where you play as a biological alien weapon. Arken Age uses physics-based combat through Arkenite-infused swords & guns to destroy the Hyperion threat, integrating features into your alien body like pickaxes, close-range melee weapons, and quickly deployable inventory items.

Hidden loot, collected scrap, and more can then be used for Hyperion Alloy, letting you purchase items like shields, grenades or ammo. Weapon blueprints are also available for crafting more powerful weapons, which you'll likely need upon encountering the different boss fights. A reinforcements console lets you deploy Hyperion squads as you see fit across the Bio-Chasm, letting you train further.

Arken Age arrives on January 16, 2025, on PSVR 2 and Steam.

According to several people directly involved in the production of components, Apple has significantly scaled back production of the Vision Pro since early summer, reports The Information. Luxshare, which assembles the Vision Pro, has been informed by Apple that production may cease in November. Currently, Luxshare is producing about 1,000 Vision Pro units per day, down from a peak of about 2,000 units per day.

According to The Information, this decision indicates that Apple has built up enough inventory to meet demand. So far, suppliers have produced components for about 500,000 to 600,000 headsets.

Market research firm Counterpoint Research estimates that Apple sold about 370,000 headsets in the first three quarters of this year and will sell only 50,000 more by the end of the year.

Apple is now focusing on a cheaper model, known internally as the N109, which could be released by the end of 2025. Apple plans to produce a total of 4 million units of the device, The Information reports, citing a person familiar with the supply chain.

An original adaptation of the flatscreen version of the game, Mudrunner VR takes you off the beaten track as you drive heavy all-terrain vehicles. Each comes with its own attachments and characteristics, as you journey across the landscape in an immersive driving simulator.

MudRunner VR launched earlier this year on Meta Quest and has since received updates, adding new content like a playable retro racer. The next update will introduce full locomotion to immerse yourself in the world of MudRunner VR even more. That's arriving with the Steam version and as a free update on Quest today. UploadVR has been informed the Steam release doesn't support steering wheels. At launch, the PC VR version includes eight vehicles, various sandbox environments, and perilous jobs to complete as you survive the harsh terrain. If you like what you hear, Saber Interactive is also offering a MudRunner bundle with both the flatscreen version and the VR version. There's also a story mode for those who want to experience a campaign in this world. MudRunner VR is out now on Steam for $20.

Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth revealed last week a mysterious wide field-of-view (FOV) headset prototyped in the Redmond, Washington-based Reality Labs offices. Bosworth now reveals the research prototype had something close to a 210-degree FOV, however wide FOV displays are a critical tradeoff the company isn’t ready to make.

And if you were hoping this was the wide FOV Quest yet to come, you’ll probably be disappointed. Bosworth revealed in a recent Instagram Q&A the device is actually a mixed reality headset, however he tempered expectations by calling the prototype “very, very, very low resolution,” which notably featured “giant gaps in the display where there was no image at all.”

Bosworth intimated Meta won’t be chasing after such a wide FOV because there are simply too many conflicting tradeoffs.

“I know how much ya’ll love field-of-view and want more. I’m with you. I like it. I get it, I do. The tradeoffs are so bad. The tradeoffs on weight, form factor, compute, thermals… it’s all bad,” Bosworth said in the Q&A.

The listing on User Interviews, spotted by VR enthusiast Luna, is titled 'Project Pismo: Opportunity to Test NEW Tech On-Site (SF Bay Area)', and the location is listed as a Meta building in Burlingame, California.

The listing describes a "wearable tech device that will record their facial expressions and eye movements, as well as voice capture". The title is particularly interesting because according to a July report from The Information, Pismo is the codename for the in-development Quest 4 family of headsets, consisting of a budget model and a premium model codenamed Pismo Low and Pismo High.

A few months ago, Blade and Sorcery's PC version received its 1.0 update, with no launch date for the standalone Nomad in sight. After months of hard work, developer Warpfrog is bringing the 1.0 content to Blade and Sorcery: Nomad, alongside the launch of Citadel, which has been a PC-exclusive map for years.

The 1.0 update adds Crystal Hunt, a progression game mode for those seeking a campaign-based mode. There's also the introduction of skill trees, more spell combinations, and plenty of exciting skills to use for the first time.

This day 1 review can only deserve laughter, after all I have gone insane and I applaude HTC for making someone want to be in an insane asylum after mere hours of use.

Introduction

Obvious disclaimer: I've only had the headset for one day. I'm not a VR expert by any stretch, but I've spent some quality time with the Pico 4 and the Quest 3. So, naturally, I thought, "How bad could the HTC Vive Focus Vision be?" Spoiler alert: I was about to find out.

Moments after pre-ordering the Focus Vision, I stumbled upon discussions criticizing its lenses. "Bad lenses?" I mused. "How bad could they really be?" Oh boy, was I in for an eye-opening—or rather, eye-straining—experience.

Initial Setup

Setting up the headset was like assembling flat-pack furniture without the instruction manual. Sure, I got there in the end, but not without some unnecessary improvisation.

Controller Pairing: The controllers seemed to play hard to get, requiring a bit of back-and-forth before finally agreeing to pair. It felt like trying to connect with a moody teenager. Wi-Fi Issues

The headset's relationship with Wi-Fi was complicated, to say the least.

Despite my Wi-Fi 6E network broadcasting loud and clear, the headset acted like it didn't exist. Other devices connected effortlessly, but the Vive Focus Vision remained blissfully unaware.

After connecting to a secondary 5 GHz network and performing an update, the headset had a brief moment of clarity and recognized the Wi-Fi 6E network—for about 20 minutes. Then it went back to pretending it didn't know it. Battery Performance

The battery life was shorter than your average toddlers attention span.

Within 30 minutes, I received a low battery warning, even though I started at 90%. Impressive, if the goal was to set a record for fastest battery depletion. Maybe it would have lasted longer if i had put on Subway Surfers and a car jumping GTA platforms? Plugging in the charger didn't help; the battery continued its dramatic decline until the headset shut down. Apparently, charging is just a suggestion. The device seemed to come with a hidden "sauna mode," causing the battery to overheat. It’s nice to have warm hands, but not at the expense of functionality. The charger is 1.5 meters long, the first time in my life I wish I was a Pygmy. Lens quality, eye strain

Now, let's talk about the lenses—or as I like to call them, the "portal to migraine town."

The visual clarity was so poor that I double-checked to see if I'd accidentally left the protective cover on. Spoiler: I hadn't. Struggling to focus on the indistinct visuals led to significant eye strain. After a short session, I had a headache that could rival any caused by staring directly at the sun. Software and Interface Challenges

Navigating the headset's software was an adventure in frustration.

Every time I took off and put on the headset, it insisted on showing the IPD (interpupillary distance) adjustment screen, commandeering the entire display. It was as if the headset had trust issues with my eyes. Could you not just do the calibration and get on with it? My play space chair faces away from the calibration direction. This meant that accessing the menus required me to stand up and perform a 180-degree turn each time—a great workout, but not ideal for convenience. The wireless streaming experience was akin to watching a slideshow over a shaky dial-up connection. Jitters and lag were the norm, a stark contrast to the smooth sailing with the Quest 3. Exiting SteamVR and turning off the headset caused it to reboot SteamVR, like a clingy app that just can't take a hint. Gaming performance

The gaming experience left much to be desired—and that's putting it kindly.

The frame rates seemed to have an aversion to climbing above 40 FPS, except when I was navigating the menus (which, admittedly, were stunning at this point). Tweaking the graphics settings to their lowest didn't improve matters; perhaps the headset was determined to keep things cinematic. I normally run 80 stable in most games. Enabling face tracking and eye tracking features turned my 7800X3D CPU into a furnace, with usage consistently over 90%. The eye tracking had a mind of its own. If I so much as blinked, my eyes in VRChat would jump around like it was imitating my REM sleep patterns. The face tracker had commitment issues, randomly stopping its function. Unplugging and re-plugging became my new VR ritual. Convenience and usability

Convenience was clearly not a priority in the headset's design.

Controllers: In my mixed VR setup (Quest 3 with Index controllers and Vive 3.0 trackers), I couldn't find a way to turn off the Vive Focus Vision controllers. To avoid controller conflicts in SteamVR, I resorted to hiding them out of sight, like a parent hiding candy from a child. The streaming software incessantly nudged me to set the quality to "Auto." When I obliged, the visual output transformed into a grainy mosaic, reminiscent of a pixelated 8-bit game. Nostalgic? Maybe. Helpful? Not at all. Conclusion

In summary, the HTC Vive Focus Vision offers a VR experience that's more comical than immersive—but not in a good way. Between the battery that drains faster than a leaky faucet, the lenses that could double as a blur filter in Photoshop, and the software quirks that test the limits of patience and sanity, it's hard to recommend this headset over competitors like the Quest 3.

Unless you're in the market for a new headache or enjoy troubleshooting as a hobby, you might want to explore other options. After all, VR is supposed to be a gateway to other worlds—not a source of eye strain and frustration.

I tested in total with 5 games on BOTH headsets: VRChat, DCS, MSFS2020, Pavlov and VTOLVR. The Vive and its streaming software (shitware) didn’t stand a chance. I’m returning tomorrow, and I will never look back to HTC.

From the first moment you see your pointy ears casting a shadow onto the ground in front of you, Camouflaj invites you to say "I'm Batman." 2016's Arkham VR from Rocksteady was disappointingly brief, and it left me wanting a full-length game for a long time. Following Camouflaj's work on Iron Man VR, it's immediately clear that Arkham Shadow understands the assignment.

What follows is a compelling tale that's thoroughly gripped me as a Batman fan, and we find Gotham City besieged by the mysterious Rat King, whose followers threaten to execute them in a "Day of Wrath." While it's set before Asylum, Shadow can be played without prior knowledge of the series, though long-term fans may be pleased to find a few references to Origins throughout.

Huawei is launching several products next week and one of these could be a VR headset. The company might unveil its long-rumored Virtual Reality device on October 22 to compete with the Apple Vision Pro in the Chinese consumer market.

VR or Virtual Reality headset is a head-mounted device. It offers immersive virtual experiences through a 3D near-eye display (lenses). The display uses key technologies like positional tracking to generate a virtual environment for the user.

A new input says that Huawei may launch its first high-end VR headset next week. The company has been in the news for its secretive VR device since February 2024. Many tipsters said the OEM has a dynamic headset in the pipeline.

Now it seems we don’t have to wait much to see the amazing Virtual Reality headset. Huawei hasn’t announced any details or teased the device so far. Thus, let’s hold patience till October 22 launch event for an official confirmation on this matter.

Some early leaks have claimed that Huawei’s VR device would be far better, lighter, and more cost-effective than Apple Vision Pro. According to the former executive of Meizu Li Nan, the Huawei VR headset will equip a Sony 4K micro-OLED screen.

This display panel might have the same capabilities as the Apple Vision Pro. Also, the device could use Huawei’s self-developed chipset and weigh 350 grams.

Two weeks ago, the studio released the acclaimed VR platformer Max Mustard for Playstation VR 2. It was first released for Meta Quest six months ago and on Steam on 16 October.

In a Reddit post, the studio thanked PSVR 2 players for the positive reception of the VR game, writing

"Now we all know that the PSVR2 hasn’t quite received the attention or hardware sales it truly deserves, with approximately 2,000,000 units shipped (10% that of Quest). Despite being a fraction of the market, Max Mustard has sold BETTER on PSVR2 during the first two weeks of launch than it did on Meta Quest. We thought this was an interesting statistic that breaks the norm of what the industry is seeing."

It's unclear where this number comes from. VR studios like Toast Interactive should know the approximate size of the ecosystems they develop for, so it's unlikely the numbers are completely made up. Meta is known to have sold more than 20 million Quest headsets by March 2023.

Half-Life: Alyx (2020) is one of the most moddable VR games out there, which has spawned high-quality DLC and some impressively detailed levels. Now, the developer behind the ‘Gunman Contracts’—one of the best HLA mods out there—says we’re getting a full, standalone title next year.

Called Gunman Contracts – Stand Alone, the single player game is heading for Steam Early Access sometime next year, which is said to include core features such as customizable weapons, shooting challenges, and demo areas.

While initially announced last year with release targeting early 2024, Gunman Contracts mod developer ‘ANB_Seth’ announced they’re now teaming up with games publisher 2080 Games, which was founded by Mike from YouTube channel Virtual Reality Oasis.

2080 Games is partially funding the development of the title, allowing the solo developer to focus on creating the game full-time.

From October 14–21, Steam Next Fest is giving you the chance to try out a number of PC VR games for free. In total, there are 52 demos available. We present four exciting titles that couldn't be more different. All other demos can be found at the source link below the article.

Cold VR — Like Superhot, only in reverse

Cold VR is a fast-paced VR shooter that reverses the concept of time and motion in its mechanics, reminiscent of Superhot VR: time only stands still when you move. This results in a dynamic and chaotic gameplay that keeps you on the move and challenges your ability to react.

Final Fury: The VR Street Fighter in first-person perspective

Final Fury, from the developers of Synth Riders, brings the classic arcade fighting game experience to virtual reality. You step into the arena as a fighter and use your physical movements to perform combos and attacks. Thanks to online multiplayer, you can compete against other players around the world.

All on Board: A must-have for board game fans

The creators of the Blasphemous series bring the world of classic board games into virtual reality with All on Board. You can play original licensed board games in an immersive environment alone or with friends around the world. In addition to the award-winning Terraforming Mars, Richard Garfield's The Hunger, Escape The Dark Castle, Rallyman GT, The Binding of Isaac: Four Souls and Istanbul are also available as full versions. More titles will follow via post-release updates

From indie studio OP Softworks comes Clamb, an upcoming VR game that maroons you on an island with one goal: clamber up the mountain with your sledgehammer—that, and don’t fall.

You’d think things would actually be easier in VR than controlling the wibbly 2D sidescroller original because you have more direct control and have more flexibility in your movements. But after having played the free SteamVR demo, I can safely say that’s not true. At all.