Friday, 25 July 2025

VRMMO ‘Eldramoor: Haven in the Mist’ Kickstarter Concludes with $170,000

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The Kickstarter campaign for Eldramoor: Haven in the Mist has come to an end, nabbing developer Resolute Games over $170,000 to bring its ambitious VR MMORPG to life.

The one-month campaign celebrated early success when it launched on June 24th, quickly garnering the project its minimum funding goal of $25,000 in just 1.5 hours of going live.

Within only a week, the Kickstarter crossed the $100,000 mark, going on to unlock a number of stretch goals along its way to $171,536: a bonfire healing system, more air and earth abilities, two new playable species, guest access to player housing, and pet abilities.

That said, Eldramoor is as ambitious as they come, promising a massive world with different biomes, multiple classes, crafting, dungeoning, player housing—the lot.

Here’s how Resolute Games describes Eldramoor:

Eldramoor is vast and full of unique environments to experience. The game world features five distinct zones—each with a wildly different biome—full of inhabitants to meet, treasures to loot, and challenges to conquer. Exploration is rewarded, and staying on the beaten path will miss half the fun, so be sure to leave no stone unturned as you run, climb and glide your way across the island.

At its core, Eldramoor is a social game designed around multiplayer interactions. With guilds, dungeons, PvP, and special events, there’s always something to do with your friends. Add in all the little experiences like multiplayer profession “trains”, player-to-player trade, and stacking powerups with the open-world bonfire system, you’ll quickly see why Eldramoor thrives on real interactions between real players.

While such ambition doesn’t always demand massive funding out of the gate, it’s a good bet Resolute Games is actively seeking additional outside funding beyond Kickstarter—not just to sustain its team leading up to launch next year, but to make good on the long-term vision of putting the “massive” in VRMMO.

The studio says Eldramoor is slated to deliver to backers in December 2026, which will include support for both Quest 3 and SteamVR headsets. You can learn more about Eldramoor over on the game’s Steam page, and follow backer updates on the its now-concluded Kickstarter campaign.

The post VRMMO ‘Eldramoor: Haven in the Mist’ Kickstarter Concludes with $170,000 appeared first on Road to VR.



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Brilliant Labs to Launch Next-gen Smart Glasses on July 31st

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Brilliant Labs announced it’s getting ready to launch its next generation of smart glasses at the end of the month, making it the company’s third device since it was founded in 2019.

In 2023, Brilliant Labs released Monocle, a developer kit which included a single heads-up display that was meant to be clipped onto existing eyewear.

A year later, the company released Frame, which evolved Monocle’s monoscopic display and housed it in a glasses-like form factor, including a single camera sensor—making for an impressively slim and light package weighing in at less than 40g.

Image courtesy Brilliant Labs

Frame was “designed to be your AI driven personal assistant,” the company says, emphasizing its access to AI models like Perplexity, ChatGPT, and Whisper, so you gets answers to questions about what you’re currently looking at, experience live translation from either speech or text, and search the Internet in real-time.

Now, Brilliant Labs says its next device is coming on July 31st. Information is thin on the ground, however company co-founder and CEO Bobak Tavangar is taking part in a launch day Q&A via the augmented reality subreddit.

Image courtesy Brilliant Labs

There, we also got a side glimpse of the device in question, which appears to have ditched the round, old school spectacle vibe for a more modern frame shape. Whatever the case, we’re sure to learn more come July 31st. We’ll be keeping an eye on the augmented reality subreddit and the company’s website then.

Meanwhile, the smart glasses segment is heating up. Meta and EssilorLuxottica announced its next-gen Oakley Meta HSTN smart glasses last month; shortly afterwards Chinese tech giant Xiaomi announced its was releasing its own AI Glasses. On the horizon is Google’s Android XR-based smart glasses, built in collaboration with Warby Parker and Gentle Monster.

Although Brilliant Labs is currently one of the few actually offering a pair of smart glasses with a built-in display, it won’t be that way for long. Google says it’s going to offer a model of its Android XR smart glasses with some sort of display. Leaks also maintain Meta’s next pair of smart glasses may also include a display and a wrist-worn controller for input.

The post Brilliant Labs to Launch Next-gen Smart Glasses on July 31st appeared first on Road to VR.



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Thursday, 24 July 2025

Hand-tracking Rhythm Game ‘BEATABLE’ Leaves Early Access on Quest with Massive Update

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XR Games today announced its hand-tracked rhythm game BEATABLE has left early access on Quest, bringing with it a rash of new features and content to keep you smacking your desk to the beat.

Using a table as a VR haptic device is pretty genius—no controllers required, only a Quest 2 and above to get you hitting and holding notes, and clapping at symbols in mid-air.

Along with leaving early access today, Beatable has also gotten its first big update following an initial five-song music drop back in April, which followed shortly after its initial early access release on Quest.

Image courtesy XR Games

Now, the game includes a few new features, including a custom song and map editor, letting you create, share, and compete on your own tracks.

You’ll also see a total of 24 songs now, 12 of which were available during early access. You can check out the full setlist over on the game’s Spotify Playlist, which includes an anime-inspired anthem by Kudo Haruka and heavy-hitting track from Mikee Goodman, formerly of SikTh.

When we went hands-on with the early access version in April, we noted that precision was the number one limiting factor to the game. Still, at the time Beatable was pretty much all the way there for a casual game.

Now, the launch-day update is also arriving with a refined gesture detection system, which XR Games says will “ensure you stay on the beat, every beat,” as well as improved visuals and gameplay feedback.

You can find Beatable over on the Horizon Store for Quest 2 and above, priced at $10.

The post Hand-tracking Rhythm Game ‘BEATABLE’ Leaves Early Access on Quest with Massive Update appeared first on Road to VR.



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Wednesday, 23 July 2025

‘Animal Company’ Becomes 5th Highest-grossing Quest Game, Peaking at 500K Daily Active Users

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Wooster Games, the studio behind Animal Company, announced earlier this year that its free-to-play Quest title had surpassed one million monthly active users (MAU), putting it on the fast track to becoming the next big social VR phenomenon. Now, the studio reveals it’s vaulted to the fifth highest-grossing Quest games of all time in just a year.

Launched on Quest in early access last July, Animal Company takes Gorilla Tag’s arm-powered locomotion mechanic and mashes it up with the game loop of Lethal Company—hence the name. And it appears to be a winning recipe, offering equal parts horror, mystery, and madcap social interaction.

We’ve been charting its success over the past few months, and watching as Animal Company successively trades back and forth for the top spot on Quest’s highest-earning game chart, competing against Yeeps 2.0, Beat Saber, and Gorilla Tag.

In a recent Meta developer interview, Wooster explains that while monetization came three months following launch, it was only done after strong engagement metrics emerged.

This includes 100 minutes of average daily playtime, 45% 28-day retention, and 1 billion TikTok views, the studio says—creating a critical mass of users to carry the viral sensation yet higher.

Now, the studio says Animal Company has managed to garner “9x paying user growth in 6 months,” putting it as the fifth highest lifetime grossing title on Quest.

At its peak between Christmas and March 2025, the game managed to triple its 145K daily active user (DAU) metric on Quest to 500,000 DAU on Quest, Wooster says.

If you’re looking for the full recap of the game’s history, from game jam to present day, make sure to check out the interview linked above in addition to the five-minute video below.

The post ‘Animal Company’ Becomes 5th Highest-grossing Quest Game, Peaking at 500K Daily Active Users appeared first on Road to VR.



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Tuesday, 22 July 2025

Sharp Unveils Prototype VR Controller, Combining Haptic Gloves & Standard Buttons

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Sharp announced it’s releasing a prototype VR haptic controller in Japan, which aims to reproduce the sense of touch in VR while serving a familiar button layout.

Japan-based Sharp says its VR haptic controllers can let users sense texture thanks to “multi-segmented tactile elements” placed on the device’s fingertips. Various vibration patterns on the surface are meant to convey different textures, such as smooth, rough, etc., the company says.

“Although the haptics are not at a level that reproduces the real thing, by changing the parameters we have been able to achieve a variety of tactile sensations,” Sharp says on the project’s Japan-facing website. “Rather than leaving it in-house until the developers are satisfied with it, we plan to work with our users to improve the quality of the content.”

Image courtesy Sharp

Sharp says the device, which will arrive in a left and right pair, “does not allow for delicate finger tracking like glove types.” It also lacks force feedback, or any sort of temperature feedback.

The prototype is supposed to also function like a standard controller, including sticks and buttons, the company says. One thing that isn’t clear though is how the gloves will be tracked, which Sharp says could include mounts for “high market share” tracking standards.

Sharp says the device is currently undergoing demonstration experiments, so it’s not clear whether it will eventually be commercialized; we haven’t seen anything beyond renders at this time. The company is aiming to put early iterations of the device in the hands of the paying public though, at least in Japan.

The company recently closed pre-registrations through its Japan-facing website, pricing units at ¥100,000 (~$680). “Please note that development or release may be canceled,” the company warns.

Granted, Sharp has more experience in XR than you might think. As the leading OEM supplier of high-end VR displays, at one time Sharp was the top display supplier for Meta Quest 2. In late 2024, Sharp and Japan’s largest telecom NTT Docomo also launched a pair of AR glasses, called MiRZA.

The post Sharp Unveils Prototype VR Controller, Combining Haptic Gloves & Standard Buttons appeared first on Road to VR.



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Monday, 21 July 2025

Meta Quest 3S Drops to $250 Alongside Accessory Discounts During Summer Flash Sale

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Quest 3S is on sale starting at $250 during a four day Summer sale from Meta. Accessories compatible with both Quest 3 and Quest 3S are also on sale with a 20% discount.

  • Quest 3S (128GB) is on sale for $250, a $50 (17%) discount
  • Quest 3S (256GB) is also on sale for $330, a $70 (18%) discount

Both deals are available directly from Meta from today through 9:00AM PT on July 24th (your timezone here).

Both headsets include a copy of Batman: Arkham Shadow (2024) [normally $50] and a three-month subscription to Meta Horizon+, which unlocks a library of solid VR games, with two new games added every month.

Quest 3S is Meta’s most affordable current-gen headset. It sits alongside the more expensive Quest 3. Wondering which one to buy? Check out our no-nonsense recommendation right here.

Beyond the headsets, Meta is also offering a 20% discount on accessories that are compatible with both Quest 3 and Quest 3S:

The post Meta Quest 3S Drops to $250 Alongside Accessory Discounts During Summer Flash Sale appeared first on Road to VR.



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Friday, 18 July 2025

Meta Researchers Reveal Compact Ultra-wide Field-of-View VR & MR Headsets

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Ahead of an upcoming technical conference, researchers from Meat’s Reality Labs Research group published details on their work toward creating ultra-wide field-of-view VR & MR headsets that use novel optics to maintain a compact goggles-style form-factor.

Published in advance of the ACM SIGGRAPH 2025 Emerging Technologies conference, the research article details two headsets, each achieving a horizontal field-of-view of 180 degrees (which is a huge jump over Meta’s existing headsets, like Quest 3, which is around 100 degrees).

The first headset is a pure VR headset which the researchers say uses “high-curvature reflective polarizers” to achieve the wide field of view in a compact form-factor.

Image courtesy Reality Labs Research

The other is an MR headset, which uses the same underlying optics and head-mount but also incorporates four passthrough cameras to provide an ultra-wide passthrough field-of-view to match the headset’s field-of-view. The cameras total 80MP of resolution at 60 FPS.

Image courtesy Reality Labs Research

The researchers compared the field-of-view of their experimental headsets to that of the current Quest 3. In the case of the MR headset, you can clearly see the advantages of the wider field-of-view: the user can easily see someone who is in a chair right next to them, and also has peripheral awareness of a snack in their lap.

Image courtesy Reality Labs Research
Image courtesy Reality Labs Research

Both experimental headsets appear to use something similar to the outside-in ‘Constellation’ tracking system that Meta used on its first consumer headset, the Oculus Rift CV1. We’ve seen Constellation pop up on a number of Reality Labs Research headsets over the years, likely because it’s easier to use for rapid iteration compared to inside-out tracking systems.

The researchers point out that similarly wide field-of-view headsets already exist the consumer market (for instance, those from Pimax), but the field-of-view often comes at the cost of significant bulk.

A Pimax headset, known for its wide field-of-view. | Photo by Road to VR

 

The Reality Labs researchers claim that these experimental headsets have a “form-factor comparable to current consumer devices.”

“Together, our prototype headsets establish a new state-of-the-art in immersive virtual and mixed reality experiences, pointing to the user benefits of wider FOVs for entertainment and telepresence applications,” the researchers claim.

For those hoping these experimental headsets point to a future Quest headset with an ultra-wide field-of-view… it’s worth noting that Meta does lots of R&D and has shown off many research prototypes over the years featuring technologies that have yet to make it to market.

For instance, back in 2018, Meta (at the time still called Facebook) showed a research prototype headset with varifocal displays. Nearly 7 years later, the company still hasn’t shipped a headset with varifocal technology.

As the company itself will tell you, it all comes down to tradeoffs; Meta CTO Andrew ‘Boz’ Bosworth explained as recently as late 2024 why he thinks pursuing a wider field-of-view in consumer VR headsets brings too many downsides in terms of price, weight, battery life, etc. But there’s always the chance that this latest research causes him to change his mind.

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