We’ve seen plenty of similar lens inserts from other companies over the years, such as VR Lens Lab and WIDOvr. These other companies have lens options for a wide range of headsets, including Valve Index and HP Reverb G2.
When you visit the web page on the Oculus website there’s a “Learn More” button that redirects you to a Frames Direct web page to purchase the VirtuClear Lens Inserts.
According to the product specifications on the web page, they’re available as SPH prescriptions from 0 to -8 and CYL prescriptions from 0 to -2. They’re 1.6 Hi Index Essilor lenses that are coated to minimize glare and should be easy to install by just clipping into place.
They’re marked as (L) and (R) and they just click on top of the existing headset lenses. Once they’re in, you might notice you need to slightly adjust the IPD slider since the lenses may be in a different position now relative to your pupils. Depending on your facial structure the glasses spacer that came with the Quest 2 might helps some as well.
You can get the VirtuClear Lens Inserts for your Quest 2 at a price point of about $80. For more accessory tips and recommendations for Quest 2, make sure and check out our buying guide and see our list of the best Quest games for ideas on something new to play.
Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs released in 2019, bringing the famed franchise into VR for the first time. Since its release, the game has received a wealth of updates and new content. But does the transition to VR bode well for the birds or does it all come crumbling down? Here’s our full Angry Birds VR review.
Angry Birds has been around since 2009, originating as a mobile game that spawned a bunch of sequels, spin-offs, merchandise and even a film series. 10 years on from the original, Resolution Games released the franchise’s first foray into VR with Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs. Initially just featuring 52 levels set across over four worlds, the game has received frequent free content updates over the last two years and become quite a beefy package.
Angry Birds VR Review –The Facts
What is it?: A VR arcade game where you slingshot birds at evil pigs housed in charming but unstable structures. Platforms:PC VR, Oculus Quest, PSVR Release Date: Out Now Price: $14.99
In addition to the original main campaign, there’s now a set of 52 ‘spooky’ levels and a full custom level creation system, with the ability to upload, play and rate levels created by others. If you’re an Angry Birds die-hard who just got a VR headset, there’s a lot to love.
Watch Those Birds, You Dirty Pigs
For a game that originated as a 2D mobile game, the iconic Angry Birds gameplay has translated remarkably well to roomscale VR.
Much of the gameplay is similar, if not identical, in concept to the original game, with some small adjustments to take full advantage of the new medium. It’s a fantastic translation — not only is the core gameplay preserved, but it all works intuitively in virtual reality with little to no explanation needed. If you had never heard of Angry Birds before playing Isle of Pigs, you could be forgiven for thinking the game was an original concept made for VR.
For those who have been living under a rock, here’s the quick version of how almost any Angry Birds games plays out. The evil green pigs have stolen the birds’ eggs. To get them back, you’ll play through short levels that involve slingshotting birds at structures housing the pigs, with the aim of taking out all the pigs before you run out of birds. You can do this by damaging the structure and causing it to collapse, or shooting the pigs themselves. Given your limited number of birds and increasing number of pigs per structure, you’ll often want to go for the former.
The structures are made out of ice, wood and stone, and different types of birds work better against certain materials. The standard red bird is the all-rounder, while the yellow bird is effective against wood, the blue bird against ice and the explosive black bird against stone. The birds also possess power-ups that can be activated with the trigger after they’ve been shot — yellow will speed up and fly completely straight, blue will split into 3 birds heading in slightly different directions, and black can be detonated to cause explosive damage to blocks around it.
You progress to the next level by killing all the pigs, but you’re also given a 3-star rating on your performance. The less birds you use and the more of the structure you destroy, the better.
Shooting Into Roomscale VR
All of this is standard fare for any Angry Birds game. Where Isle of Pigs differs is the subtle changes it makes to enhance the experience in VR. Instead of playing 2D levels where you shoot towards a structure from one angle, Isle of Pigs gives you much more freedom. The levels consist of stunning and creative 3D structures housing the pigs, which can be approached from 2 or more different shooting angles.
There’s no right or wrong approach to the levels, but assessing all angles will often reveal secrets or weaknesses that proves useful. An alternate angle might reveal a hole that exposes a TNT block in a critical position, for example, guaranteeing a higher score.
It’s a perfect change for VR that adds a richness and depth to the strategy of the levels that’s not found in the traditional 2D versions of the game. Plus, it means that the game deftly avoids the need for almost any guardian management while playing. A common design pitfall in VR games is not considering smaller play spaces and the annoyance of constantly managing your guardian while playing, which can hinder full immersion.
By using specified shooting positions, the player almost never has to worry about the outer limits of their guardian or having to recenter it. Had Resolution Games not specified any shooting positions and encouraged players to simply walk around the circular structures of each level, the size of your play space would have an impact on your ability to enjoy the game and become fully immersed. It’s a small but absolutely sublime design choice that eliminates an annoyance prevalent in so many other VR games.
Pigging Out On Content
There’s an incredibly solid amount of content available in Isle of Pigs.
The main campaign is a quaint reintroduction to the traditional Angry Birds mechanics and gameplay. It slowly introduces each bird type as you progress through the four worlds, gradually increasing the difficulty and requiring you to think about levels and structures in new ways.
As a veteran Angry Birds player, I managed to cruise through the main campaign in about an hour with 2 or 3-star ratings on most levels. The difficulty does ramp up as you progress, but it’s definitely still pitched to someone who hasn’t played Angry Birds before, or is getting started with VR in general.
A newcomer would likely find the levels more challenging. Likewise, the target demographic for Angry Birds games has always understandably skewed to the younger side. The difficulty starts to feel appropriate when you take that into consideration as well. Nonetheless, veteran players will want a bit more of a challenge.
The second ‘spooky’ campaign that was added gradually post-launch provides a little more of a challenge. These 52 extra levels aren’t necessarily much more difficult, but they introduce some new mechanics and require you to approach things in new ways. Unlike a lot of the main campaign, there are situations where you can’t just brute force your way through. These levels often rely on one specific creative solution, which you’ll need to discover and perfectly execute in order to progress. In some cases, there’s only one method and you’ll just have to experiment until you find it.
While this does mix up the gameplay and prove more challenging, it’s not always for the better. One of the best parts of the Angry Birds formula is being able to find your own approach and feeling that wonderful ‘a-ha’ moment when you discover a flaw in a structure. Those moments make you feel smart, as if you’ve discovered a loophole in the level, even if it’s likely a carefully designed option by the developers.
This feeling is lost in some of the spooky levels, and it sometimes feels more like a puzzle game than one of strategy. Not all of them are limited in this way, but the ones that are can be a bit frustrating and less compelling. The Angry Birds physics and interaction system is also a bit wonky by nature — a structure will never fall the same way twice, even if you use the exact same method. This can lead to some moments of confusion, unsure if you’ve not found the right solution or if something just went slightly wrong in your execution.
That being said, this is bonus campaign is clearly trying to offer something different from what came before it. Had it been more of the same, I might have felt equally disappointed. It’s still worth playing through and it’s fantastic to have extra content, the levels just have a different pace of play.
Build Your Own Chaos
One of the major post-launch editions to Angry Birds VR was the level editor, allowing you to create and share you own Angry Birds levels. The creation tools are mostly intuitive (but a duplicate attachment like the one in Gadgeteer would be a nice quality-of-life addition to speed up building) and allow you to build crazy structures with pigs abound. You can pick which 3 birds will be used in the level, along with their order, and then test it yourself before uploading the level online for others to play.
You can browse other users’ levels online, with a system in place to rank ‘hot’ levels, based off the post-game thumbs up or down rating users can give a level after finishing it.
My one gripe with the custom level system is the absence of the 3-star rating of your performance found in all ‘official’ Angry Birds levels. It’s an understandable omission — each level in the official campaign probably has the threshold for each star rating calculated manually by the developers, and can’t be done automatically — but it’s nonetheless disappointing. The goal simply becomes to destroy all the pigs, with no motivation to go back and do better on a second attempt.
Angry Birds VR Review – Final Verdict
Angry Birds VR is a truly fantastic, intuitive VR title. For younger VR players or fans of the Angry Birds franchise, it’s an absolute perfect fit. The move to VR works seamlessly, retaining the gameplay from the original series while adding in some new VR twists that give it just enough of an edge to be different.
While I found both campaigns to be pretty easy, I think it’s important to keep the target audience in mind. Angry Birds has always been a franchise for the younger demographic and for them, this is a perfect VR game. It’s got a mix of interesting campaigns, a fun aesthetic, some challenging levels and huge creative potential with the level editor.
The main campaign itself was already a massive win for Resolution Games, but the mountain of additional free content that has been added since release makes this an absolutely fantastic package. This is a VR game that is easy to pick up and hard to put down, even if you’re an absolute beginner. Don’t sleep on it.
For more on how we arrived at this score, see our review guidelines. What did you make of our Angry Birds VR review? Let us know in the comments below!
VRCover is introducing another new accessory to its lineup of add-ons and replacement parts with the Oculus Quest 2 Headstrap Replacement. You can buy one right now for $24 plus shipping on the VRCover US Store (ships to US, Canada, or Mexico), EU Store, or International Store.
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Just from looking at it you can tell the main difference is that it has two back straps instead of just one, which should disperse the weight more and sort of cradle the back of your head. Stylistically, it looks more similar to the original Rift’s strap design.
We haven’t had the chance to try out this new replacement headstrap for the Quest 2, but we often recommend VRCover to people in our buying guides and in standalone VRCover reviews. I personally swear by the VRCover facial interface replacement for Quest 2 and I’ve heard good things about the controller grips. My other main comfort enhancement I use on my Quest 2 is a VR Power battery pack / counterweight.
They’re also debuting a new blue foam replacement set for the Quest 2 and a facial interface replacement similar to the existing line on Quest and Quest 2, but now for the HP Reverb G2. Or, if you’d prefer silicone, you can get one of those for the Reverb G2 as well.
You can buy the new Quest 2 Headstrap Replacement now for $24 plus shipping on the VRCover US Store (ships to US, Canada, or Mexico), EU Store, or International Store.
If you decide to get one and try it out, let us know down in the comments below!
Guardians is a unique hybrid VR game that melds shooter and RTS mechanics into one experience, complete with PvE and PvE modes. It’s out now on PC VR and Quest via SideQuest (App Lab submission pending) for $15, including crossplay.
We originally covered Guardians back in November and it already had a lot of promise back then. In Guardians you take on the role of an elite operative that’s responsible for protecting a galactic federation that’s mining for a powerful energy source on a strange new planet on the outer rim of the galaxy. You’ll fight off enemies not only by using a powerful arsenal of weapons, but also by setting up defenses and summoning robot companions.
One really appealing aspect of Guardians, at least based on the footage and store description, is the sheer variety of everything. There are lots of different weapons including guns and bows, as well as droids, drones, tanks, mechs, turrets, and more. Combat looks extremely hectic and reminds me a bit of Evasion. Not to mention solo, co-op, and PvP on top of it all.
You can pull out a datapad map to get a “tactical view” of the area which includes information about minerals and nearby enemies, as well as locations you can teleport to across the map. This will serve as a eagle’s eye view of the battle to manage your forces from while controlling the commander on the ground. There’s tremendous freedom of movement too including even a jetpack for hovering and gliding.
Guardians is technically in Early Access according to the Steam page and includes all primary game mechanics, six solo or co-op levels and two PvP maps across three PvP game modes. There’s also a tutorial and practice range already with seven weapons and eight enemy types.
Developers VirtualAge plan to keep Guardians in Early Access for approximately 4-6 months before flipping the switch for full launch. You can grab it for PC VR via Steam or on SideQuest for Quest/Quest 2 right now for $15. Full crossplay is supported and an App Lab release is pending.
In another one of his increasingly-frequent Instagram AMAs, Facebook’s Vice President of Augmented and Virtual Reality Andrew ‘Boz’ Bosworth hinted at the potential of a new Quest Pro model and discussed other upcoming features.
One user posed a question to Bosworth that read “Why can’t Oculus make a 600$ headset and put the best specs like Quest Pro 3 etc plz.” Bosworth then said “Quest Pro, huh… Interesting…” and gave a wink to the camera.
While Quest Pro is an interesting prospect and clearly a teasing response, it shouldn’t be seen as confirmation of the idea. Nonetheless, Facebook claims that Quest 2 is heading toward mainstream acceptance while aggressively targeting a low price for a gaming product that people desire. It is certainly possible now that the market is proven Facebook could consider differentiating the line with a higher specification model.
Bosworth also responded to a question asking if there were “any plans for implementing eye tracking on Oculus Quest.” He said that eye tracking is a “super interesting” area that Facebook has been researching for a long time, and that “it’s something we will fit into some future headset.” He then pointed out one of the major benefits of eye tracking technology is that you can “dramatically improve performance by only rendering things that are in the field of view of the fovea.”
“I’m certainly glad they’re making one,” said Bosworth in regards Sony’s confirmation of a next generation headset. “PSVR was such a tremendous hit and was a huge place for our developers to make cash and I hope PSVR 2 is as well.”
Bosworth also touched on app sharing, a new Quest feature, and why it isn’t currently available for Beat Saber. “One thing that is very tricky, as it relates to Beat Saber and other music-oriented software, is licensing and how that licensing model works. So we are still looking at this and we will let you know more when we have it.”
In regards to Virtual Desktop’s PC VR streaming returning to the official Oculus Store earlier this week, Bosworth said that after being “super conservative” about quality control of store content when Quest first launched, they’re now “putting more and more control into the hands of consumers.” He also noted that “so many people” were sideloading the alternate version of Virtual Desktop through SideQuest that bringing it back to the official store was now “kind of a no-brainer.”
You can participate in future AMAs over on Bosworth’s Instagram account, @boztank.
Oculus Quest and SteamVR’s latest cooking game sees you serving up steamy ramen.
Counter Fight Ichiran is available on both platforms now for $13.49 developed by Tricol. It’s the latest entry in the strangely long-running and VR exclusive Counter Fight series (which is up to its fourth mainline edition with multiple spin-offs such as this) and the first to reach Quest. Ichiran itself is a real life chain of restaurants founded in Fukuoka in 1960. In the game, you become an official employee of the brand and need to prepare the different elements of a dish and serve them up on time.
If you’re familiar with other VR games like Cook-Out then you’ll pretty much know what that means; keeping your cool as you assemble different dishes without getting your mind in a muddle. But Ichiran also judges players by the standard of presentation in their dishes. Check it out in the trailer below. Wholesome, no?
The game’s single-player only, with no multiplayer modes, which seems like a bit of a missed opportunity. Instead you’ll be aiming for high scores and taking in the atmosphere, which Tricol says has been authentically replicated for VR. If you’re looking for other VR cook-offs then we definitely recommend Cook-Out’s cooperative campaign antics.
Counter Fight Ichiran isn’t the only new Quest and SteamVR game out this week. We also saw the full launch of multiplayer VR shooter, Hyper Dash and a Quest version of horror shooter, Crashland. Are you going to be picking anything up this week? Let us know in the comments below!
A Wake Inn is a deeply creepy and tense VR horror game with some clever puzzles, but ultimately the tedium and laborious (albeit immersive) controls get in the way of the fun and fright just a bit. Here’s our full A Wake Inn review!
The elevator pitch for A Wake Inn is a bit odd. But then again, if you were to describe the concept behind most VR games, it wouldn’t really click if you didn’t put the headset on and try them for yourself.
A Wake Inn Review –The Facts
What is it?: Immersive VR horror game that takes place entirely in a wheelchair Platforms: PC VR (Rift, Vive, Index,WMR) – [Steam] Release Date: February 25th, 2021 Price: TBD
In this creepy VR thriller, you step into the lifeless shoes of a human-sized doll trapped inside the Silver Inn Hotel with no way to move beyond the use of a wheelchair. The mysterious Dr. Finnegan talks to you over the radio as a guide to help you try and escape the dark depths of the hotel. This means you’ll sit down in real life and reach down to the sides of your chair to push the virtual wheels forward in order to explore environments. Everything about A Wake Inn from a design perspective flows down from this high-level concept of making it feel as immersive as possible.
You can adjust your height with a lever on the side of the chair, just like you can do in an office chair in the real world right now, and your inventory is handled with a little cigar box in your lap. Unfortunately the items don’t exist as physics objects inside the box, there is a grid they snap to kind of like the Tetris inventories from Resident Evil, but it’s still much better than a non-VR menu. If you’re tired of floating rectangle menus in VR, then A Wake Inn should be a welcomed respite for your weary laser pointer hands.
Visually, A Wake Inn has a really evocative steampunk style that reminded me a bit of Bioshock mixed with Close to the Sun. It sets the tone and mood immediately. Stylistically it’s very consistent even to the point that the main menu interactions all feel directly tied to the world. A Wake Inn is acutely immersive and interactive in ways most VR games are not.
A Wake Inn Review –Comfort Options
A Wake Inn does a good job of offering an assortment of comfort options. The most immersive way to play the game is by using the actual wheel-pushing movement system it was designed with. Everything about the environments and pacing are enhanced when you use this movement style, but it’s a little stuttery and finnicky to handle. Luckily, they’ve also included things like smooth joystick movement and teleportation movement as options.
One major downside to this focus on ‘immersive’ design is that it’s just finnicky and inaccurate due in large part to the limitations of current VR hardware. Since you have to put your hands down by your sides sometimes my Quest 2 wasn’t able to see what they were doing so well. Naturally, an outside-in headset like an HTC Vive, Index, or Rift CV1 would avoid this issue. Also, turning is difficult to do reliably. If you spend enough time in a real wheelchair you eventually get the hang of rotating the wheels to turn the chair, but it’s not as fluid as I’d have liked in VR.
When you start running into the enemies that roam around the Silver Inn Hotel some of the cleverness of the design starts to fade away. If you need to quickly escape the joystick movement is a bit too slow for my taste and the wheel movement isn’t quite reliable enough. Panic sets in and it’s easy to get frustrated. Plus, the animation quality on the creepy adult-sized doll creatures just isn’t up to the same standards as the rest of the game’s visuals, so a lot of the terror dissipates when they get close.
Unfortunately, that focus on tension and stealth doesn’t remain at the center of the game for very long. You’ll eventually find weapons to defend yourself, but it doesn’t take long for everything to start shifting towards more of an action game. The ingredients are here for things to remain creepy, but the encounter design and flow of enemies is more like canon fodder than actually intelligent creatures stalking you through the halls.
After the opening couple of hours there’s no reason to be thoughtful about how you progress through rooms since you’re encouraged to just bash enemies to death quickly and get it over with. If the combat was more nuanced or interesting it would have been less tedious, but it’s all pretty one-note here.
A Wake Inn Review – Final Verdict
VR Bros has the pieces for something really great with A Wake Inn, but just falters in stringing things together in a way that remains compelling. The core design ideas are fantastic in terms of how you move through the world, interact with the environment, solve basic puzzles, and creep through the halls, but that thoughtful nature is discarded once a weapon is in your hand and the once terrifying mannequins are just combat dummies waiting to be mauled. A Wake Inn isn’t as terrifying as it could have been, but it’s still an interesting look at some clever VR mechanics others could learn from.
A seemingly accidental leak from PlayStation itself suggests PSVR exclusive shooter Farpoint will be included in March’s PlayStation Plus line-up.
Plus is Sony’s console subscription service that grants access to online multiplayer and a catalogue of free titles launched monthly. This coming month’s selection was just posted on the official PlayStation Netherlands Facebook page before swiftly being removed again. But not before people saved the accompanying image, of course. Oops. Just keep in mind there could be some changes before a proper announcement then.
But, if things don’t change, Farpoint will debut alongside Final Fantasy VII Remake, Maquette and Remnant from the Ashes. Released in 2017 and developed by Impulse Gear, Farpoint is a sci-fi shooter in which players find themselves stranded on an alien planet. They must try and fight their way off world in a single-player campaign, with some small multiplayer modes also available.
We were quite fond of the game, awarding it 7/10 in our original review, though it definitely suffered from simplistic design and other issues. However, while it’s great to see Farpoint go on the list of monthly games, we can’t stress enough that you should really track down a PlayStation Aim controller if you intended to play it. The game was designed with the rifle-shaped device in mind and, while you can play it with motion tracking on a DualShock 4, the experience is far superior with the proper tools in-hand.
It’s been a little while since Sony included a PSVR exclusive title in the PS Plus line-up. Last month saw Concrete Genie and its add-on mode go free, but the company has never included VR titles on a monthly basis. That said, we’re usually used to getting three titles in a Plus line-up; could the addition of a fourth suggest we might get new VR titles from here on out? It would certainly be a great way to build up to the launch of the recently-announced new PS5 VR headset, so here’s hoping.
Will you be trying out Farpoint on PS Plus? Let us know in the comments below!
Virtual Desktop, an Oculus Quest app which allows users to control their Windows PCs from inside the headset, now officially offers the ability to stream PC VR games wirelessly to the headset. Facebook had previously not allowed the feature to be included with the app, restricting it to a complicated sideloading process.
Virtual Desktop—which is also available for PC VR headsets—is a long-running piece of virtual desktop software which allows users to access their Windows PCs from inside their VR headset. The Quest version launched on the headset back in 2019 and was later updated with a new feature which allowed users to stream PC VR content from Oculus PC and SteamVR to Quest—much like a wireless version of Oculus Link.
Image courtesy Virtual Desktop
Shortly thereafter, Oculus forced the developer to remove the feature, saying it didn’t meet its quality guidelines. The developer made it possible to patch the app with the feature, but it required a complicated sideloading process which involved users posing as developers in order to get the necessary files onto their headset.
The controversial move stood for more than a year and a half—until today, when Oculus reversed course and allowed the full-featured version of Virtual Desktop, including PC VR streaming capabilities, onto the Quest store, UploadVR reports.
The move comes shortly after Oculus introduced App Lab, a long-awaited official avenue for developers to distribute apps on Quest while bypassing Oculus’ ‘curation’ process for the main Quest store.
At the time of App Lab’s introduction, it was thought that if Oculus wouldn’t allow the Pc VR streaming feature of Virtual Desktop onto the main Quest store, it should at least allow it an App Lab version since the capability didn’t explicitly violate any of Oculus’ technical guidelines. In a surprise move, Oculus actually wound up allowing the full featured version of Virtual Desktop onto the main Quest store, rather than just App Lab.
While Quest has been seen as a largely closed platform due to Oculus’ decision to hand-curate its store for quality, between App Lab, Virtual Desktop, and a growing number of non-game applications being allowed onto the store, a marked shift is happening in the company’s content strategy for the headset.
Oculus today announced that it’s rolling out a small but welcomed change to Quest’s voice commands feature: the ability to activate it with a wake phrase—”Hey Facebook.”
Quest got voice commands last year, allowing users to double-tap the Oculus button on their controller to then say phrases for quick and useful navigation, like launching apps, browsing the store, or taking a screenshot. When using the headset with controllerless hand-tracking, however, the only way to activate voice commands was to open the Quest menu, navigate to settings, and click the voice commands button—somewhat defeating the purpose of quickly navigating the headset with your voice.
Today Oculus announced it’s adding a wake phrase to Quest’s voice commands, making it easy to get the headset to listen whether you are using controllers or hand-tracking. But the company settled on a seemingly odd choice: “Hey Facebook.”
Obviously Facebook is Oculus’ parent company, but it seems a little strange to refer to the headset by the name of the social media company, especially considering its poor reputation on privacy and widely criticized move to require Facebook accounts to use Oculus headsets after promising it wouldn’t. “Hey Oculus” or “Hey Quest” seems much more intuitive, and comes with less baggage.
The move happened alongside the company also adding “Hey Facebook” as a wake phrase for its Portal smart displays, which helps explain the company’s thinking.
Facebook likely wants consistency between voice commands on any of its voice-activated devices to create a more cohesive perception of Facebook’s wider business activities which have grown well beyond a mere social media network media. The company may also be readying its own competitor to the likes of Alexa, Google Assistant, and Cortona (currently Quest voice commands are limited to navigation and fall short of ‘digital assistant’).
Practically speaking, “Hey Oculus” or “Hey Quest” is not only more intuitive, but may also be more practical… if a user has both a Portal and an a Quest headset, how will they avoid activating Portal with “Hey Facebook” while trying to talk to Quest? This seems like it would be problematic, at least until the devices have awareness of one another.
Oculus says the “Hey Facebook” wake phrase is rolling out gradually to Quest 2 headsets as an experimental feature; in due time the company plans to deploy it to the original Quest as well, and eventually move it from an experimental feature to a default option. The company maintains that the wake phrase will be an opt-in feature, and that Quest doesn’t listen for “Hey Facebook” when it’s asleep or powered off.
According to multiple unnamed sources, VGC reports that Sony Japan Studio is shutting down and spinning off ASOBI Team (the Astro Bot devs) into a new standalone studio. The news comes mere days after the confirmation of a next-generation PSVR designed for PS5.
In the report from VGC, their sources say that the studio is currently winding down and it seems legitimate. Several key members of the studio have departed in recent months. According to source, the studio hasn’t been profitable in recent years and changes in leadership hadn’t helped recently. A Bloomberg report from late last year mentioned expiring contracts and the studio falling out of the spotlight of focus for the PlayStation brand.
There is of course precedence for this sort of thing happening. Last year, almost a year ago exactly in fact, it was revealed that the mysterious UK-based studio Sony founded to work on a “AAA” PSVR game was shut down before its project was even revealed. When Evolution Studios closed, DriveClub VR was shut down and pulled from the PlayStation Store. A similar situation occurred with Starblood Arena. And of course Guerilla Cambridge, the developers behind RIGS: Mechanized Combat League, was shut down shortly after the game first launched on PSVR.
While this is unfortunate news for one of the most storied Sony studios with a stable of talented developers, the good news seems to be that ASOBI Team is living on in its wake wit hopefully more resources to continue building Astro Bot games.
Let us know what you think down in the comments below! We’ve reached out to Sony for comment and will update this story if we hear back.
Oculus Quest 2 owners can now address Facebook directly while using the headset to accomplish certain tasks with the phrase “Hey Facebook.”
The new opt-in experimental feature is rolling out to Oculus Quest 2 headsets starting today, with plans to expand the feature to the original Quest over time. Facebook says, “Quest doesn’t listen for the ‘Hey Facebook’ wake word when the microphone is turned off, or when the headset is asleep or powered down.” You can also deactivate the feature once it has been turned on, according to a company blog post.
The feature works with Facebook’s existing Voice Commands that started rolling out last year. There’s a full list of them on the Oculus support website but some of them include launching apps, recording gameplay, or casting your view.
From Facebook’s post about the feature:
“You also have control over whether your voice commands are stored and potentially used to make the feature better. You can easily view, hear, and delete your voice commands activity at any time or even turn off voice storage in your Settings, while still taking advantage of the Voice Commands feature. It’s our responsibility to protect your privacy, and you can learn more about how we do that here.
We’re curious how our readers feel about this feature. Apple of course uses “Hey Siri” while Google has you address the company itself with “Hey Google,” Microsoft uses “Hey Cortana,” and Amazon relies on the unusual word “Alexa” to activate its constellation of listening devices.
Population: One’s first official ‘Season’ of content, dubbed Uprising, is now live. It will span 10-weeks and includes not only free map updates and new weapons, but also a $5 Battle Pass with premium cosmetics. Check out our Population: One review for more on the game as a whole.
Population: One Season 1 – Uprising
Yesterday we reported on a handful of new details about the big season update, including the new weapons such as the knife, katana, and LMG, map changes, and so on. But now we have more concrete details about what’s new.
In addition to those new weapons, there’s also the Zone Grenade, which creates a zone similar to the one that closes in on the map but it does so in a localized area to try and push enemies out of buildings and into the open. Then the Energy Shield Soda will top up your shields on the go, like in Fortnite, as opposed to only finding shield power-ups as items laying around like before.
For the map, there’s a new Bureau Base in the new Summit area at the edge of the Foothills and later on this season the giant Tower at the center of the map will actually open up. Titles, sprays, and calling cards are all new social features that are getting introduced this season and at the end of the season there will be a big tournament in-game that brings together the top squads. You can see more specific patch notes right here.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly for big communities of friends or popular streamers, later this season Population: One is getting private servers so you can play matches of just friends or just viewers and start a round at any time. This will also be a great way to do custom, smaller matches too.
Then there’s of course the Battle Pass. This is an optional premium tier available for $5 that will grant access to cosmetic rewards like new character skins, legendary weapon skins, calling cards, sprays, and new titles. You can see it all teased in the image above.
Let us know what you think and if you plan on diving into Season 1: Uprising in Population: One. You can get the game on PC VR via Steam and on Quest, with full crossplay, right now for $29.99. The update is live now across all platforms.
Want to play PC VR content on your Oculus Quest or Oculus Quest 2? Here’s everything you need and how to do it.
The Oculus Quest 2 is a fantastic standalone headset from Facebook. There’s heaps of native content available on the Oculus Quest store, but one of the key features of the Quest and Quest 2 is their ability to also play PC VR content as well, while connected to a VR-ready PC.
This guide was first published in October 2020, but was updated and republished in December 2020 and February 2021 to ensure all information remains correct and up-to-date.
There’s two ways to do this. First and foremost, there’s Facebook’s official method called Oculus Link, which uses a USB cable. However, there’s also a more advanced wireless option that uses a third-party Quest app called Virtual Desktop.
We’ve included instructions for both below, focusing primarily on the official Oculus Link method.
While PC VR streaming through Virtual Desktop is now available on the Oculus Store, it remains an advanced and (for some users) potentially unreliable method, depending on your setup at home.
VR-Ready PC
In addition to your Oculus Quest headset, you’ll also need a VR-ready PC.
Take a look at Facebook’s Oculus Link compatibility page to see if your computers meet the minimum requirements for Oculus Link. Also check that all your hardware is compatible — not everything is compatible with Link yet (but it’s getting better).
The specification requirements will change depending on the game as well — some PC VR games require beefier specs than others — so be sure to check game requirements too.
Cables
For Oculus Link, you’ll need a USB-C cable to connect your Quest to your computer. Virtual Desktop is a wireless (and therefore potentially less reliable) solution, so no cable is needed.
The USB-C to C cord that comes included with the original Oculus Quest will work with Link (for either headset). If your computer has a USB-C port, then you can plug it directly into that. If not, you’ll need to be a USB-C to A adapter — just make sure it’s from a reliable brand, as we’ve found that Oculus Link can act a bit funny when you’re using less reliable equipment.
The Oculus Quest 2 does not come with a cable that’s long enough for use with Oculus Link, so you’ll need to buy one yourself. Facebook sell an official cable for $79 that is a thin, flexible 5m optical cable. While on the pricier side, you’ll be guaranteed reliability with the official cord.
Alternatively, any USB C to C cable that meets at least USB 2.0 specification should work (or you could use a USB-A to C with an A to C adapter, both of which need to be at least USB 2.0). The cable should be at least 3 meters minimum, ideally 5 if you want a maximum range of movement.
Download the official Oculus Quest app, which if the software that will run Oculus Link and allow you to play PC VR games on your headset. You can get it here, listed as Oculus Link setup software.
Oculus Link also works with SteamVR, so make sure to download Steam and install SteamVR if you want to play any of that content.
Oculus Link Setup
Before using Oculus Link, you’ll need to perform a first time setup.
Make sure your Quest is turned on and connected to your computer with your USB cable. From there, open the PC Oculus app and press ‘Add a New Headset’ and select either the original Oculus Quest or Oculus Quest 2. The app will then run you through an easy first-time setup process.
After you’ve set up Oculus Link, it will be available to use whenever you plug your headset into the PC — a prompt should appear in VR asking if you want to enable Link. From there, you can launch any Oculus games directly or start-up SteamVR on your PC to jump into other experiences.
Another way to play PC VR content on your Quest is with Virtual Desktop, which provides a wireless, unofficial alternative to Link. However, keep in mind that this method is more complex to set up and won’t necessarily work well for everyone.
Virtual Desktop allows you to bring your computer’s display into VR, providing you with a streamed version of your desktop that you can interact with and control from within VR. It requires the Virtual Desktop app on your headset, along with a companion streamer app installed on your computer.
The app is available for purchase on the Oculus Store for Quest. Up until February 2021, users had to sideload an alternative version of the app to enable PC VR streaming in Virtual Desktop. This is no longer the case — all you need is the Oculus Store version of Virtual Desktop.
The feature works similarly to Oculus Link, but is a fully wireless solution. However, the reliability of streaming PC VR content to your Quest via Virtual Desktop can be different for everyone, as it’s heavily dependent on the strength of your internal network and the hardware running it.
What You Need For Virtual Desktop
You will still need a VR-ready PC, just like Oculus Link. You’ll also still need the Oculus PC app installed, along with Steam and SteamVR if you want to play non-Oculus content. Also make sure your computer is connected via ethernet to your router and not wirelessly — the stability and higher speed is essential.
Speaking of routers, in general terms you’ll need a ‘reliable’ Wi-Fi router with a 5Ghz network. Make sure your Quest is connected to your 5Ghz network and not the 2.5Ghz one — again, stability is key.
Last of all, install the Virtual Desktop streamer app for PC, which is available here. Once installed, launch the app and make sure your Oculus username is entered into the text field on the app’s main screen.
Streaming PC VR Content Using Virtual Desktop
After all of the above, you should now be able to open Virtual Desktop on your Quest, connect to your PC and launch PC VR content from there. You can do this by either manually opening a game through the PC or by launching a game directly from the Virtual Desktop menu, which has shortcuts.
Some important warnings — Virtual Desktop is an unofficial solution and may not be as reliable or comfortable as Oculus Link. Some UploadVR staff have been able to use it perfectly without problems, while others sometimes have a sub-par experience.
Depending on your setup, you may experience high latency, stuttering or black edges when moving fast. The chance for poor performance is higher, which may also increase nausea for those who are susceptible. Make sure you’re playing close to your router as possible, with as minimal interference as possible. Physical barriers, such as walls, can affect wireless stability, as can a congested internal network or unreliable hardware.
So that’s how you can play PC VR content on the Oculus Quest and Oculus Quest 2. Got any questions? Leave them in the comments below.
VR-Ready PC
Oculus Link Setup
Virtual Desktop Setup
