Virtual Reality

Next year, you’ll be able to play versions of Beat Saber, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney — Dual Destinies, and Tetris Effect in VR on the glasses just with your hands — no controller needed. When the glasses launch in the spring, Meta says more than 75 hands-enabled games will be available.

Meta is promising that “hundreds” of movies will be available “later this year” in the US, with “thousands of titles available internationally” when the new Meta VR Glasses launch in spring 2027.

Valve’s 0.3.0 update for Steam Frame claims “Substantially faster charging while unit is off / sleeping.” It’s true. I used to see 8-watt charging when plugging in a dead unit, and 27-watt charging at peak. Now I’m getting 19-21W charging right away and up to 42W in game.

The Steam Frame and Meta Quest headsets can natively beam your Windows monitors into a headset — but some still prefer Virtual Desktop, the app that pioneered the idea in 2016 before getting “sherlocked” by Meta. Developer Guy Godin says Valve didn’t send him a Frame, but he’ll try to port it anyhow.

I’m hopping in now to answer your questions, and I’ve got a Steam Frame on my desk to spot-check answers, too!

Did you think the Steam Frame was a VR headset? As I explain in my review, it does a lot more. Here, step into the lenses with me and I’ll show you. (Also on YouTube, if you’d rather!)

It’s rare that a video alone can make me motion sick, but yikes. This mod from RaYRoD TV puts you in the driver’s seat and is free to download. RaYRod has already put together similar mods for Star Fox 64, Sonic Robo Blast 2, and more. But something tells me this is the one most likely to make you lose your lunch.

As Microsoft continues its Xbox “reset,” the pared-down Game Pass bundle that arrived recently as a benefit for Discord Nitro is now also included in the 7.99 monthly / $59.99 annually Quest subscription. The starter edition also includes 10 hours of cloud gaming access to try some of the 50-plus games it unlocks before downloading them.

Apple is suspending work on a display made in partnership with Samsung Display for an entry-level XR device, according to a machine translation of a report by The Elec (which we saw thanks to MacRumors). Seems like Apple is moving away from headsets in favor of glasses.

With the VR app, you can still chat with friends on Discord using other platforms. Check the app out on the Meta Store.

Virtuix announced a new version of its Omni One treadmill that now supports the Meta Quest 2 and Quest 3 headsets directly as part of the Made for Meta program. For $2,595 you can physically run, walk, jump, and crouch to navigate VR games using the Omni One for Quest without crashing around your living room.

Literally — the upcoming visionOS 27 update lets you add a glowing, animated Siri AI ball anywhere on your workspace, and ask questions when you look at it. It’ll even shine light on any nearby surfaces, making it truly feel like part of the environment.

So says Meta spokesperson Che’von Lewis. Senior was previously Meta’s Product Lead for its Studio and New Vertical portfolios. You can read more about Supernatural’s forthcoming era here, and catch up on the buff ladies who worked so hard to save it here.

Supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, in a post today: “The Apple XR headset and smart glasses roadmap I put together about a year ago is no longer a useful reference. For now, only two smart glasses products remain visible in the roadmap.”

The New York Times and Reuters report that a memo was sent to Meta employees on Monday reassigning 7,000 of them, and said that “As org leaders worked on the changes, many of them incorporated AI native design principles ⁠into their new org structures.”

Meta says the event will offer “the first glimpse of what’s coming to the next computing platform,” with an “evening keynote” and “developer sessions where we’ll share the latest in VR, wearables, metaverse, and AI.”

It supports foveated streaming, which will show you the sharpest image right in front of your eyes, according to an iRacing blog post.

DirecTV now supports mixed reality with its new app for the Quest 2, 3, 3S, and even Pro headsets. There’s live TV for subscribers, plus on-demand and ad-supported content anyone can watch, available in the app store or through the Horizon TV hub Meta launched last year.

Unity already powers the “majority” of the top-selling VR games on Meta’s platform, according to a statement from Unity’s COO.

“This update improves network performance, allows streaming up to 4K resolutions, and allows you to dynamically adjust the curve of the display in panoramic mode,” Valve says. But the app doesn’t support VR content — it’s intended for streaming 2D games.

This time it’s at Polyarc, creator of PSVR, Meta Quest, and SteamVR darling Moss (and its sequels). Polyarc will “significantly reduce the size of the company.” We called Moss one of “the 14 best games to download for your new VR gaming headset” back in 2019.

Meta announced last month it would be shifting its strategy to go “all-in on mobile” for Horizon Worlds, and today, the company shared exactly when the VR version of the app would be going away.