Monday, 28 February 2022

Best Meta Quest 2 Fitness, Exercise And Workout Games [Updated Spring 2022]

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The cord-free, standalone Meta Quest system is one of the best options for VR fitness, exercise and workout routines. Here are our picks the best Quest 2 fitness and exercise apps to get your blood pumping.

[This article was originally published in March 2020. It was edited and updated in March 2021 and again in February 2022.]

The following list is in no particular order, however there are two general categories of apps on the list.

The first category is apps that are specifically designed for working out in VR — usually with specifically designed sessions that you follow for a workout session.

The second is incidental workout apps — apps and experiences that weren’t designed specifically for working out, but can be used in such a way because they get the blood pumping enough when played at a high intensity.

Workout and Exercise Apps — Quest 2

FitXR

FitXR DLC

Originally launched as BoxVR, this Quest fitness app was revamped and relaunched with new features in 2021. Since then, it’s also added a bunch of new programs, formats and coaches, along with some seated workout classes for increased accessibility.

Despite all these new additions, the basic premise has always remained the same — it’s features rhythm-based boxing, dance and HIIT routines that gives you points for speed and accuracy. In July last year, the app also added a bunch of notable artists to its music catalog, including Calvin Harris and Tiesto.

FitXR is free to download on the Quest Store, with a subscription-based service in place for access to workouts. There’s a 7-day free trial for new users.

Read more: FitXR’s Head Of Fitness Talks Designing VR Workouts


Supernatural

supernatural screenshot vr

Let’s not beat around the saber – initially, Supernatural started out as a fitness-focused Beat Saber clone. Notes fly at you in time with music, which you have to hit in-time using bats and occasionally you’ll be forced to squat to avoid obstacles. However, the service has since added new boxing workout as well, expanding its offering of guided coach workouts.

Every 24 hours, there’s a new workout playlist/routine for you to run through. The aim is to get you sweating with big arm swings and quick squats. The better you perform, the harder the routine will get, thanks to Supernatural’s adaptive difficulty.

Supernatural is free to download on Quest, but is only currently available in select regions. Access to workouts uses a subscription pricing model, with a free trial period for new users.

Read more: Interview Q&A With Supernatural’s Head Of Fitness Leanne Pedante

Supernatural Update Makes It Easier To Find The Right Workout


Les Mills Bodycombat

Les Mills Bodycombat Quest

One of the newer entries on the list, Les Mills Bodycombat is an attractive option for those looking to avoid a subscription model.

The app is brought to you by the Les Mills brand, which has gyms globally as well as a substantial online workout offering. The Quest Bodycombat app adapts one of these online workout classes into 30 boxing workouts for VR, available as a one-off purchase.

You’ll be punching and squatting to the beat of the music, with the option to select a playlist between five and 20 minutes. It’s not the most original VR workout option, but it gets the basics right in a polished experience available for a one-time price.

Les Mills Bodycombat is available on Quest for $29.99.

Read more: Les Mills Bodycombat Is An Effective Quest Workout Without The Subscription


Holofit

If you’re looking to pair a physical fitness machine with a virtual workout, then Holofit is one of two apps that lets you do so. The app pairs your headset with compatible bikes, elipticals and rowing machines, allowing you to use your physical machines in a virtual location.

However, even without any machines, the app also has HIIT, fat burn and time-attack programs that see you recreate skiing, running or cycling using movements with the Touch controllers.

Holofit is available on Quest via a yearly or monthly subscription model with a 7-day trial for new users.


VZFit

vzfit oculus quest

Another option for connecting physical machines and fitness trackers, VZFit uses Google Street View to let you virtually exercise anywhere you want. The app has Strava and Fitbit support, alongside connectivity with “most smart bike devices and trainer sensors.”

There’s also full body workouts and support for an optional cadence sensor, which you’ll have to buy separately, that allows you to connect a stationary exercise bike that’s missing smart bike functionality.

VZFit is available for Quest with a 7-day free trial and $9.99 monthly subscription.

Read more: VZfit Fitness Service Comes To Oculus Quest Store With Google Street View


Incidental Workout Apps – Quest 2

Beat Saber

beat saber purple background slash

Beat Saber was definitely never intended to be used as a workout app, but there’s a significant amount of people who use it for just that. A couple of levels on Expert or Expert+ in Beat Saber will get your heart rate pumping like there’s no tomorrow.

Beat Saber is available for Oculus Quest for $29.99.

Read more: Top 10 Best Beat Saber DLC Music Packs


Synth Riders

synth riders quest

Synth Riders is, yes, another VR rhythm game and while it takes some visual notes from Beat Saber and other entries in the genre, the gameplay is quite different. You’ll hit floating spheres to the rhythm of the music, and move your hands in circular or curved motions to follow tails that fly off each sphere. It’s similar in concept to other rhythm games, but with its own spin.

The game has implemented a variety of fitness-focused features, such as a calorie counter and a fitness update that arrived earlier this year and included live VR workout sessions, guided by a trainer.

Synth Riders is available for $24.99 on the Oculus Store for Quest.


OhShape

OhShape Review

Jamie described this game as “Beat Saber for your body” and said it was a “genuinely authentic fitness game.” It’s not a workout in the traditional sense, but it will get your blood flowing as you throw your body around to the music, fitting and moving yourself into all different shapes.

With the intensity ramped up, you might end up burning calories faster than some of the other fitness games on this list.

OhShape is available on the Oculus Store for $19.99.


Pistol Whip

pistol whip combat 3

Pistol Whip might seem like a strange entry for a VR exercise list at first, but play a couple of the levels on harder difficulty and you’ll quickly see how Pistol Whip could qualify as a workout. The ducking and constant quick movements will have your glutes and quads burning after a long session.

There’s also loads of modifiers and new levels added over the last year, allowing you to customise how you play to maximize the impact and frame the experience more towards a workout to your liking.

Pistol Whip is available on the Oculus Quest store for $24.99.

Read more: 5 Best Pistol Whip Styles: Which Modifiers To Use For Workouts Or Extreme Challenges


Until You Fall

While not designed as a fitness app, Until You Fall is a VR roguelike that will have you hacking and slashing in heart-racing melee combat. At its most intense, the game should offer you something comparable to a light upper body workout. That being said, its roguelike mechanics means it’s more game-y than other entries on this list. If you’re looking for something fun to play that also gives you a bit of a workout along the way, Until You Fall might be best.

Until You Fall is available on the Oculus Store for $24.99.


The Thrill of the Fight

thrill of the fight quest screenshot from oculus store

There are a number of boxing games available on the Quest, but The Thrill of the Fight uses mechanics that aims to be more of a true-to-life simulator in a boxing ring, as opposed to a workout-first approach to VR boxing. A few rounds in the ring and you’ll be sweating profusely. We definitely prefer this one over Creed VR on Quest.

The Trill of the Fight is available on the Oculus Store for $9.99.


Oculus Move

Oculus Move isn’t a VR workout app, but rather a feature that will let you track your progress, workouts and calories burned while in VR. It was announced in 2020 at Facebook Connect and should work Quest-wide on all of your apps. It’s a good option to natively track your fitness and workout sessions in VR across all activity on Quest.

Oculus Move can be enabled in the Quest system settings.


What are you favorite Quest exercise apps that keep you active in a VR workout session? Let us know in the comments.



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Population: One’s All-New Map Revealed, Coming In March

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Following on from teases last week, BigBox VR has confirmed that Population: One is getting an all-new map next month.

The map is called Metropolis and goes live on March 17. A tweet confirmed the news after we speculated that last week’s teaser would be for a new section of the existing map and not, in fact, an entirely new area.

Population: One New Map Revealed

But the tweet confirms this new map offers a full battle royale mode in the futuristic urban sprawl, where neon-lit cities dominate. The new environment will look to mix things up by adding more verticality and twists and turns to the game.

Metropolis, then, is arguably the biggest change to Population: One since BigBox VR put its premium battle pass plan on hiatus in summer last year after two seasons. Since then, the developer has been pursuing a strategy of free updates and events for the game, bringing in limited-time duos and solos experiences.

There’s still a lot to learn about this coming update, though. Will players still be able to access the original map? Will there be any other new concepts or ideas added into the game at the same time? We’ll be sure to let you know as soon as we have more information.

Will you be heading into Metropolis next month? Let us know in the comments below!



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Friday, 25 February 2022

Valve: Steam Deck A ‘Stepping Stone’ To ‘High Performance’ Standalone VR

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Valve president Gabe Newell described Steam Deck as a “stepping stone” to high performance standalone VR, but noted “we’re not really there yet”.

Newell was interviewed about Steam Deck for the latest edition of Edge Magazine. When asked about Deck’s significance for VR, he said the following:

“One of the things [Deck] represents is battery-capable, high-performance horsepower that eventually you could use in VR applications as well. You can take the PC and build something that is much more transportable. We’re not really there yet, but this is a stepping stone.”

This seems to echo comments made by Valve product designer Greg Coomer back in August. When asked directly by The Verge whether Steam Deck’s chip could be used in a standalone VR headset, Coomer said it would “run well in that environment” and “it’s very relevant to us and our future plans”.

Deck uses a custom AMD-made chip Valve helped design. The performance is similar to what you’d find in a mid-range gaming laptop. Deck is able to play the latest AAA non-VR games because the display has a resolution only slightly above 720p, but VR headsets have significantly higher resolution.

When Deck was first announced and Valve was asked about VR support, the company warned “that’s not really what we’re optimizing the performance for.” Last week, ahead of the device’s launch, Valve marked all VR titles on Steam as ‘Incompatible’ with Deck.

Despite being less powerful than Steam Deck, Meta’s Quest 2 runs many of the most popular VR titles available on Steam. But this is achieved by requiring each developer to heavily optimize and simplify graphics. To deliver its own standalone VR system, Valve may need to ask developers to do the same. That could risk fracturing the SteamVR content ecosystem between high end PCs and standalone, and causing confusion for buyers. That said, Valve could launch a separate store or a specific subsection of Steam.

In September, YouTuber Bradley Lynch found evidence of a Valve standalone headset codenamed ‘Deckard’ in SteamVR driver files. Ars Technica said its sources confirm Deckard’s existence, though noted that Valve’s manufacturing capacity is currently dedicated to Steam Deck. Newell’s comments seem to support the idea that a standalone headset is in Valve’s future, though it may be further away than expected by those hoping for competition in the VR market.



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‘Virtual Virtual Reality 2’ Update Purportedly Addresses Key Issues

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Virtual Virtual Reality 2, the latest VR title from developer Tender Claws launched early this month. While the underlying game design felt promising, it was overshadowed by a range of technical issues. A new update released today purports to have fixed key issues which should improve the player’s experience.

Earlier this month we made the decision to withhold our review of Virtual Virtual Reality 2.

It’s abnormal for us (and we don’t intend to make it a habit) to delay a review so that a broken game can be fixed. But we didn’t want to throw out the baby with the bathwater. Virtual Virtual Reality 2 is impressively ambitious and wildly creative; its underlying design is clearly competent, even if it hasn’t seen nearly enough quality assurance before launch.

We opted to give the studio time to get a quick turnaround patch out the door before diving back in to complete the game before a full blown review.

That patch was made available to all Virtual Virtual Reality 2 owners today and we have the full list of patch notes here:

New Features
  • Option to set music levels in settings
  • Addition of more fine grained motion controls in settings (smooth movement and blink teleport split out)
  • Quest board during the Tucson Alley chapter keeps track of ongoing quests
General Improvements
  • Subtitle color, positioning, and completeness
  • Music / Dialogue balance and roommate VO spatialization improvements
  • Reduced Mech Motion does more to limit mech movement
  • Additional VO + text + graphics hints to player throughout
  • Mech does a better job of resetting its state chapter to chapter, preventing edge case conditions that pop up in playthroughs spanning many chapters
  • Fixed edge cases where players could bypass some sequence start triggers using scrunch
  • Various conditional non-progressions fixed or safeguarded
  • Various graphics / culling / animation fixes
  • Misc NPC VO levels boosted
Specific Fixes
  • Fixed edge case where player could escape out of world onto roof of Bush labs
  • Post ending in Maine, player movement restored if player loads into new chapter
  • Gavin consistently shows up in correct place for Board Boss Fight
  • Madame glove auto releases if you use the left boxing glove at security desk
  • Extra reminders and more lenient requirements for uploading Dewey
  • Fixed overlapping text on the initial boost tutorial + ensured VO line plays and visual feedback is clearer

The list appears to indicate fixes for many of our technical concerns. With the new patch now in hand, we’ll be diving back into Virtual Virtual Reality 2 to bring you the full verdict soon.

The post ‘Virtual Virtual Reality 2’ Update Purportedly Addresses Key Issues appeared first on Road to VR.



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Meta Scraps Next-Gen AR/VR Operating System And Reassigns Team

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Meta reportedly stopped work on a next-generation operating system for its headsets and future glasses, reassigning a team with hundreds of employees who had been working on it.

The Information’s Sylvia Varnham O’Regan reported (subscription required) that Meta disbanded a 300+ person team working on a new operating system code-named “XROS” to power VR headsets and future AR glasses. Late last year Mark Lucovsky, who was a key member of the operating system effort at Meta, jumped ship to Google where he’s now leading efforts to build an AR operating system there. The Information reported that XROS team members were notified the team was disbanded last week after “most work on XROS” stopped last November. According to the report, some members of the team still “haven’t yet found out where they will land.”

We reached out to Meta for comment and received the following response over email.

“We are always evolving our team structures to help us bring great products to market quickly. By embedding more OS engineers directly into our AR and VR teams, we can speed up the development of solutions that are hyper-tuned for each product line. As we’ve said before, there are several technical directions we’re pursuing to build these and we remain committed to building highly specialized systems. We continue to invest and optimize to move fast so we can deliver against the aggressive goals we’ve set,” a Meta company spokesperson wrote.

Meta’s current operating system for the Quest standalone VR headset is based on the open source core of Google’s Android, which is used globally on a majority of phones. Co-opting the system allows Quest headsets to run traditional flatscreen Android apps and provides the basic structure of an operating system for its headsets without requiring the company start from scratch. At the same time, using Android may hamper Meta’s ability to fundamentally reshape personal computing in its own image — a key goal outlined by the company’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Meta recently reported the first-ever dip in user numbers for legacy social networking services like Facebook while simultaneously reporting its Reality Labs division is now seeing revenue measured in billions annually. Zuckerberg, meanwhile, has warned investors its costs to invest in VR and AR technologies are likely begin at $10 billion annually. While the company works to develop next generation technologies, like cellular-enabled VR and AR headsets, it has also been on a years-long hiring spree as it competes for talent with other tech giants like Apple.



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Lone Echo 2 Takes Immersive Reality Game of the Year At 25th DICE Awards

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Ready at Dawn’s Lone Echo 2 took home both VR-focused awards at yesterday’s 25th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards.

The sci-fi epic won both in Technical Achievement and overall Game of the Year in the two ‘Immersive Reality’ categories. For Game of the Year, Lone Echo 2 beat rivals including Demeo (which was awarded UploadVR’s own Game of the Year award), I Expect You To Die 2, Resident Evil 4 VR and Song in the Smoke. That’s a tough category for sure.

Lone Echo 2 Wins Big At DICE Awards

“Really the degree to which the original Lone Echo resonated with players as a world and characters and story that was so immersive and deeply personal was really humbling us as a team,” Game Director Nathan Phail-Liff said in an acceptance message. “And continuing that was, frankly, a nerve wracking endeavor.”

We thought Lone Echo 2 was a good follow-up to the original that featured the same stunning levels of immersion thanks to the incredible zero gravity locomotion and high-end visuals. Ultimately, though, we argued that it moved at too slow a pace for its own good and could have streamlined some of its lengthy narrative-driven segments, though it was definitely still worth playing for anyone with a PC good enough to actually run it.

Lone Echo 2 was, however, the last full Oculus Rift exclusive we’re likely to ever see, so it’s nice to see the headset at least go out on a high note with awards such as these. We’re eagerly waiting to see what the now Meta-owned Ready at Dawn does next.



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Sword Art Online Hosts Global Exhibition Through March 10

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Fans of the globally popular anime Sword Art Online can immerse themselves in exhibits inspired by the series through March 10.

Sword Art Online (SAO) is a successful light novel with over 22 million copies sold worldwide and a story set inside a massively multiplayer online game which explores the positive and negative impacts of technologies like VR and AI on humanity. Through March 10 Pacific time, fans of SAO can visit Sword Art Online -EX-CHRONICLE- Online Edition to immerse themselves in SAO’s universe. The event is a revival of the physical exhibitions held in Tokyo and Kyoto in 2019 and 2020, while the online edition takes the event to multiple countries and makes it accessible in VR as well as on PCs and smartphones. There’s also official merchandise available to purchase that was produced specifically for the event.

The event features some attractions available for free and more available via paid ticket starting with a portal inspired by the Town of Beginnings followed by the main exhibition hall based on the exterior of the floating castle of Aincrad. A four-sided screen theater at past exhibitions allowed visitors to have an immersive view of the SAO world and a new version of it is also here in the Online Edition. Visitors can also participate in a free event in the VR space where they can try to defeat The Skull Reaper. You can find more information about the exhibits here.

Physical items such as T-shirts and towels are available to order for fans in Germany, Hong Kong, Korea, Macau, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, UK, and US. Tickets to the event are priced around $33 to access via the VR app, or around $29 to access via a browser window.

For more information, you can visit Sword Art Online -EX-CHRONICLE- Online Edition or check out the Twitter account and YouTube channel.

This is sponsored content which has been provided by REKI KAWAHARA/KADOKAWA CORPORATION/SAO-P Project.



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Thursday, 24 February 2022

How to Play Minecraft On Quest 2: Java Edition & Link Instructions

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Want to play Minecraft on your Quest 2? Here’s our guide on the various options, both standalone and PC VR, and how you can set it up.

Minecraft is one of the most popular games of the 21st century, so naturally it’s one of the most requested and sought-after games for Quest 2 players.

How To Play Minecraft On Quest 2

Minecraft Quest headsets

The good news is that there’s a couple of ways to play Minecraft on Quest. The bad news is that none of them are perfect — Microsoft has yet to bring an official, standalone version of the game natively to Quest 2.

However, a new port of the Java Edition (QuestCraft) unofficially brings Minecraft to Quest in standalone format for the first time, albeit with incredibly variable performance and a somewhat finicky install process.

If you’d rather play something more stable and official, your only other option is to connect your Quest to a VR-ready PC, either wired or wirelessly, and play the Oculus Rift version of the game on Quest via Oculus Link or Virtual Desktop.

Here’s a breakdown of the process for both.

Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition on Quest 2 via PC VR

MinecraftVR RenderDragon

If you own the Windows 10 version of Minecraft on the Microsoft Store (also known as the Bedrock Edition), it will show up in your Oculus Library automatically, as that version supports PC VR through the Oculus app.

All you have to is have Minecraft for Windows 10 installed on your system, then you can start it in VR mode through the Oculus app for PC.

How to Play Minecraft PC VR on Quest via Oculus Link or Virtual Desktop

To play PC VR Minecraft on Quest, you’ll need to follow the usual steps for playing PC VR content on Quest, using either a wired Oculus Link, wireless Air Link or wireless Virtual Desktop connection. If you’re not sure how to do this, you can read more about it in our guide.

This version of Minecraft should run stable (presuming your VR-ready PC meets the requirements to do so) and is a full version of the game, with support for all the modern updates, features and multiplayer (including Realms servers). The only downside is that you need to have a VR-ready PC to play it on Quest — it’s not a standalone native version that you can play on your Quest wherever you are, without a PC.

QuestCraft: A Java Edition Port –Standalone Minecraft on Quest 2

Questcraft

If you’re really keen to play a standalone version of Minecraft on Quest (or if you simply don’t have a VR-ready PC on hand), then QuestCraft is your next best bet.

QuestCraft is a recently released port of the Java Edition of Minecraft, made for Quest headsets with full VR support and motion controls.

It is still in beta and although it is playable, it is not a fantastic or seamless experience at the moment. It is a standalone version of Minecraft running on your headset, but it’s not a native Quest app. QuestCraft is essentially using a Java wrapper to run the game on Android in VR, similar to when you emulate classic video game platforms to play old games on a modern device.

This means it has all the features of Java Edition, including mod support and multiplayer/server capabilities (you can even play alongside players using the standard non-VR Java Edition).

It is an impressive technical feat, but the nature of how it’s achieved means that, understandably, performance is less than ideal and it is graphically lackluster compared to playing the PC VR version over Link.

It is a serviceable experience that does run, but the framerate varies quite significantly and it’s still a subpar, janky experience compared to any standard Quest app.

That being said, if you want to give it a try, here’s how.

QuestCraft on Quest 2: Prerequisites

Here is some prerequisites that you’ll need to know or have before we get started:

– You will need to own the Java Edition of Minecraft.

The QuestCraft app doesn’t actually distribute the game itself, only the wrapper that allows it to be launched and played on Quest. The launcher will automatically download a legitimate copy of the game from the servers after you log in with your Mojang or Microsoft account.

The Java Edition is different to the Bedrock/Windows 10 edition of the game — you can own the latter without owning the former.

– You will need to understand how to sideload content/install APKs through SideQuest.

Additionally, you’ll need to be able to browse the Quest file system and know how to transfer files onto the Quest, using SideQuest or any another method.

You can read our guide on sideloading via SideQuest here.

Installing QuestCraft on Quest 2

You can find the GitHub page for QuestCraft here — keep it open, we’re going to refer back to it a lot.

Note: While QuestCraft is now available to install via SideQuest’s app library/store, we’re going to stick to the manual installation method, as either method requires some level of manual configuration anyway. 

Step 1: Download the the app-debug.apk and extracttoroot.zip files from the latest release on the GitHub.

At the time of writing, it’s Release 1.1.1. You can view the latest releases here. 

Step 2: Connect your Quest to your computer and install the app-debug.apk to your Quest.

Step 3: Extract the zip files and find the net.kdt.pojavlaunch.debug folder.

You’ll notice that inside the zip files, this folder is stored within an /Android/Data folder — copy the net.kdt.pojavlaunch.debug folder (the actual folder itself, not just its contents) to the same /Android/Data folder on your Quest filesystem, where other Quest applications are installed.

Step 4: Go to unknown sources on your Quest and open PojavLauncher. This will then prompt you to login with your Mojang or Microsoft account.

Step 5: Once logged in and the launcher is open, go to Settings -> Video and Renderers and select the third option.

Step 6: On the main page of the launcher, you can select a profile (a version of Minecraft for it to install). This will look something like 1.17.1 by default — click on that version number and select the profile that begins with ‘fabric-loader…’, which should be last on the list.

Step 7: Press play. The launcher will download, install and launch Minecraft.

(You can play the game as is, but the developers recommend installing some mods to improve performance — we would go as far to say they are essential for the boost in framerate. More details below.)

At this point, a dialogue box may come up talking about renderer compatibility, with an option to press OK, Cancel or Play Anyway — counter-intuitively, you don’t want to press OK, press Play Anyway instead.

Depending on your headset model, it could take up to 1-3 minutes for the three loading dots to disappear and the game to start. Likewise, the game will freeze when creating a new world (or loading an existing one) — be patient, it should load in due time.

QuestCraft: Known Issues, Workarounds and Performance Mods

The above outlines the basic install process, but you might still encounter some hitches before the game is working properly.

Infinite Loading/Crashes On Start

Some user have found the the game crashes before starting or takes longer than 1-3 minutes to load, stuck infinitely on the 3 loading dots.

If this happens, you want to close the app entirely and reopen the launcher (you may have to restart your Quest for it to close properly).

On the launcher login screen, tick the ‘Keep Me Logged In’ option. Then click on ‘Select Account’ and select the account you previously logged in with. The game should now launcher/load properly.

This is a known issue/bug that might be addressed in a future update. You may have to do this every time you launch the game.

Recommended Mod Installation

The development team recommends installing five mods in order to improve and optimize performance for Quest. We would say these are essential as they provide a very noticeable performance boost.

The recommended mods are listed at the bottom of the GitHub page.

Follow the links and download each one — they should all be .jar files.

To install these mods, you just need to copy them over to Minecraft’s mod folder on your Quest, found at /Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch.debug/files/.minecraft/mods.

Connect your Quest to your computer and locate this folder on your headset. Then, copy all of the downloaded .jar files into that mods folder. The next time you start QuestCraft, the mods will be applied and you should hopefully notice an improvement in performance.

Quitting the App/Launcher

Properly quitting the app and the launcher can be difficult.

It’s possible to close the Minecraft game itself through the normal Quest quit menu, but closing the launcher is more difficult.

Pressing the x does make the launcher window close, but it seems like the launcher is often still running in the background, as it resumes where it left off if you open it again.

To close it properly and ensure it’s not running in the background, you may need to power down/restart your Quest.


Have you tried playing Minecraft on Quest, either via Link or using QuestCraft? Let us know what you think in the comments below.



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Until You Fall To Get Two-Handed Weapons And More In New Update

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The previously-teased Until You Fall update has now been revealed, and it includes new weapons and more.

Version 1.3 will launch on March 17 and is headlined by three new weapons. The Cold Iron Greataxe, Captain’s Warhammer and Fate’s End are all two-handed weapons, meaning they’ll change up the game’s regular dual-wielding combat. Check them out below.

New Until you Fall Update Revealed

Until You Fall New Weapons

The Greataxe will increase in damage as players take more hits, and features a Super that trades health for yet more attack power. The Warhammer, meanwhile, hits hard and can have its defensive abilities boosted, whilst Fate’s End is a greatsword that can occasionally be used with just one hand.

If you’re starting the game fresh then these items will have to be unlocked, but if you’ve already beaten a run of the game they’ll be automatically unlocked.

Elsewhere, 1.3 brings a lot of quality of life improvements to Until You Fall, including localization for Chinese, French, German and more, smooth turning options and more volume settings.

These updates mark the first significant changes to Until You Fall in over a year and will no doubt be welcomed by fans of the game. In our review, we said the roguelite game offered a great melee combat experience with a moreish hook and fantastic arcade-inspired combat.

Developer Schell Games, meanwhile, is now working on a VR version of Among Us. We’ll keep our fingers crossed for yet more Until You Fall updates in the future, though, as Schell recently told us it had plans for the game’s future.



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Wednesday, 23 February 2022

Meta AI Concept: Create VR Worlds By Just Describing What You Want

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Meta today showed off an AI powered ‘concept’ for creating VR worlds with your voice, called Builder Bot.

Instead of picking objects from a user interface and placing with controllers, Builder Bot lets you create by simply describing out loud what you want. In the demo, Mark Zuckerberg asks for a beach, then for a specific type of clouds, then props like trees and a picnic. His colleague is even able to ask for specific ambient background sounds and Zuckerberg asks the stereo to play a music genre.

Zuckerberg describes Builder Bot as a “concept”, warning that “there are a lot of challenges we still need to solve”. The delay between giving a command and seeing it actualized in the demo seems impossibly short. Further, Meta didn’t make clear how much of the demo is actually real, nor whether the 3D models are dynamically generated or picked by the AI from a library.

Meta says Builder Bot is possible thanks to self-supervised learning (SSL), a relatively new way to train AI models the company has helped pioneer in recent years. Most AI today uses supervised learning (SL) requiring vast amounts of data carefully labeled by humans. But that’s obviously not how humans or animals learn, and Meta’s researchers say relying on labelling is a bottleneck to developing more generalized AI. With SSL, AI can get a deeper understanding of a concept from far less data that doesn’t need to be labeled. Existing projects like OpenAI’s DALL·E use SSL to generate images you describe with text, but this is the first time we’ve seen this idea applied to virtual world creation.

With Horizon Worlds (which this demo seems to be based on) Meta is already trying to lower the barriers to creating VR experiences. Like Rec Room, Worlds lets you build inside VR by using your controllers to place & manipulate shapes and using a visual scripting system to add dynamic functionality. But not everyone is comfortable using console-like controllers to navigate intricate menu systems. Projects like Builder Bot hint at a future where just like in Star Trek, anyone can create their own virtual worlds with just their voice.



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Hands-On: Green Hell VR Is Inches Away From Nailing It

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Green Hell VR is in desperate need of optimizing and fine-tuning, but it’s much closer to getting there than you might expect. Read on for our preview!


I went into Green Hell VR’s Steam Next Fest Demo fearing the worst. Everything we’ve seen from Incuvo’s latest VR port has looked quite good, but perhaps a little too good. Surely somewhere between the original’s dense vegetation and sheer ambition of its survival systems, the developer was biting off more than it could chew. After all, the bitter taste of the deeply disappointing Hitman 3 PC VR support from last month still lingers in the mouth.

And, sure, Green Hell VR isn’t quite there yet. But it’s a fair bit closer than I thought it would be.

Green Hell VR Hands-On

For starters, this isn’t a straightforward PC VR port of the gritty survival adventure. Whilst Green Hell VR does translate the entire original game into headsets, it’s benefited from a top-to-bottom reassessment of how every element could and should work on its new platform in a way that reminds me of the effort Hello Games went to with No Man’s Sky. As you might expect, a lot of that equates to added labor; tree trunks and plants are efficiently chopped to size with a machete, ropes are climbed one arm after the other, and bandages are applied by rolling them around your arm or leg.

You’ll spot a lot of interactions — like dressing those wounds — directly lifted from The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners. The placement of your notebook on a shirt breast pocket is the same, and the inventory system is practically identical, relying on an over-the-shoulder backpack that can be suspended in mid-air. It’s encouraging to see more titles finally adopting some of the design lessons that game taught us two years ago now, and Green Hell VR feels all the better for it.

There are some smart shortcuts, too. When I need to build a campfire, for example, I don’t have to dig into my backpack to find tinder and twigs – if they’re in my inventory I can simply point at the designated area and press the grip button to automatically place them there. Some of these moments do seem finicky — from accidentally picking up the wrong item from a distance to just not picking up anything at all — but some extra time and polish could smooth that out.

Beyond controls, I’m just a huge fan of the way the original game’s body horror is given unnerving new life in VR. Later on in the 20-ish minute demo, you take a tumble and are left with huge cuts on your arm and leg. They’re really rather gruesome – oozy, gleaming, and, based on the trailers, just a taste of the misfortune that awaits in the full game.

Green Hell VR Demo

But, much like those grotesque injuries, problems do fester beneath the surface. You might have heard by now that performance in this demo isn’t great and that was certainly my experience. With a 3070 Ti on medium settings, I was experiencing regular judders and texture pop-in that detracted from the otherwise stunning set-building. Incuvo has gone as far as to put a note about optimizations to come in the game’s opening, and we can only hope it doubles down on that promise in the weeks and months to come before launch.

There’s also something to be said for the trials of navigating the jungle in VR. Even in just the starting area, it’s tough to pick different plant types apart, and, while this is certainly authentic, I can imagine becoming quickly frustrated trying to tell them apart in the wider world. A priority system that highlights plants you’re on the hunt for could go a long way to relieving some of that stress. As for the UI in general, the overlay and subtitles currently take precedent, and it’s a strange senstation not to be able to bring your hands over the top of health and stamina meters which, again, I hope is fixed for full launch.

And don’t forget there’s still a lot of elements not revealed in this demo. Hunting and combat will be two key aspects that the game could really live or die by, but you don’t get a taste of them here.

Overall, though, I came out of this demo far more optimistic than I thought I’d be. Green Hell VR certainly needs a lot more work to get it in fighting shape, and that’s without having even seen the Quest 2 version supposedly arriving in the same launch timeframe. But it’s got the right design philosophy to carry the experience and a few of its own unsettling twists to help the game stand out. We’ll of course save our final verdict for a full review when the game launches later into the first half of 2022.



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Pistol Whip’s Encore Update Adds New Songs, Pass-And-Play Party Mode

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Pistol Whip’s Enore update will add new songs and a pass-and-play party mode.

Initially teased last week, the update will be free to existing owners when it arrives on all platforms tomorrow, February 24. Headlining the Encore update is Party Mode, which introduces an element of local multiplayer to the game. Essentially you can pass the headset between friends and compete for high scores on the same tracks. Check it out alongside other additions in the trailer below.

Pistol Whip Encore Update Revealed

Elsewhere, Encore adds two new playable tracks, The Way Home and Fist Fight. Specifically, these were first seen in the credits for the 2089 and Smoke & Thunder campaigns respectively. You’ll also get new weapons and skins to play with.

Finally, there’s some updates to the game’s Styles System. You can now enable No Beat mode for an experience that ignores shot timing, for example, or go the other way and have scores entirely defined by your own rhythm. You can also now switch out enemies for targets, making the game a tad bit more family friendly.

It’s a small set of updates but, in spite of the naming, there’s no indication from Cloudhead that this will be the last we see of Pistol Whip as we speculated on in last week’s Gamecast. We’ll have to see what the rest of 2022 brings for the shooter sensation and its developer, then.

Are you going to be checking out Pistol Whip’s Encore Update when it hits tomorrow? Let us know in the comments below!



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‘Jurassic World Aftermath’ Studio is Developing a PSVR 2 Launch Title

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Jurassic World Aftermath studio Coatsink is currently working on a launch title for PSVR 2, the upcoming next-gen VR headset for PlayStation 5.

Thunderful Group, Coatsink’s parent company, released a quarterly report that maintains Coatsink is “now working on a launch title for PSVR2, PlayStation’s next-generation VR console.” The news was first spotted on Reddit.

The report states that Coatsink is currently in development of two VR titles. The first is a sports action game, codenamed ‘Salted Caramel’, which is slated to release in the second half of 2022.

The second is a VR co-op survival game, codenamed ‘Date’, which is set to release sometime in 2023. Both games are said to be based on IP developed in-house. The studio is also concurrently developing two other non-VR titles.

It’s not clear how comprehensive the report is, and whether theses two prospective VR games point to a launch window for the newly unveiled PSVR 2. It’s thought that PSVR 2 will release sometime in late 2022, which may possibly coincide with the holiday season, however that hasn’t been confirmed by Sony. If so, that

Coatsink, a British studio and publisher founded in 2009, has developed a number of VR titles over the years including: Esper (2015), Esper 2 (2015), Onward (2016), A Night Sky (2017), Augmented Empire (2017), They Suspect Nothing (2018), Shadow Point (2019), and Jurassic World Aftermath (2021).

The post ‘Jurassic World Aftermath’ Studio is Developing a PSVR 2 Launch Title appeared first on Road to VR.



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Tuesday, 22 February 2022

VR’s Favorite Melee Combat Sim is Making a Killing on Quest

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If you take a look at the most reviewed apps on Quest over time you’ll notice there isn’t a whole lot of movement happening. The chart is dominated mostly the same group of apps, and all are growing at fairly similar rates… with one exception.

Beat Saber has been a Quest staple ever since the headset launched. It’s the most reviewed app on the headset by nearly a factor of three. And its trajectory has consistently exceeded those among the top 20 most reviewed apps on the headset. But recently, another app has shown even faster growth.

Blade & Sorcery is a fan-favorite melee combat sim that’s been available on PC VR since 2018. It finally came to Quest in November of 2021 under the name Blade & Sorcery: Nomad [our review] and seems to have tapped into serious demand for its brand of up-close-and-personal melee action in VR.

‘Blade & Sorcery: Nomad’ on Quest | Image courtesy Warpfrog

Nomad has seen a meteoric rise among the most reviewed apps on the headset; in just a little over three months since launch, the game has found itself in the #6 position with more than 11,000 reviews.

Comparing its rise side-by-side with the other most reviewed apps on the headset shows just how quickly it has overtaken other games in review count (which is a strong relative indicator of unit sales). Its pace shows little sign of slowing down, and it looks like Nomad is set to continue to overtake other titles in the near future.

If it makes it to #2 however, there’s still a huge gap to cross before it would even begin to approach VR’s killer app, Beat Saber. Though there’s something to be said about its immense pace.

Given the numbers, we’d estimate Blade & Sorcery: Nomad has sold around 560,000 units on Quest so far, to the tune of $11.2 million in revenue (assuming all sales at the full USD price). It’s a tremendous success for indie studio Warpfrog, especially considering that its founder (which goes by the alias Kospy) is a first-time developer.

Beyond just being a game that people clearly want, there’s other factors that have surely contributed to Nomad’s speedy growth on Quest. For one, there’s many more Quest headsets out there today than when our graph view starts (back in late 2019). That means the game launched into a larger market than any of the games before it. It also launched just ahead of the 2021 holidays (which was huge for Quest), giving it visibility on the Quest store at just the right time.

And last but not least, there really isn’t anything quite like Blade & Sorcery: Nomad on the Quest store, giving the game a first-mover advantage on untapped demand for a melee combat sim. Yes there’s other melee games on Quest like Until You Fall, but that’s more of a fantasy experience with gesture-based combat. Blade & Sorcery, on the other hand, is more of a melee physics sim, with combat that’s distinctly brutal in comparison.

– – — – –

I spoke with Warpfrog Producer and Community Manager Paul “The Baron” O’Halloran to learn more about what the studio makes of Nomad’s success on Quest thus far.

“We knew that there was an audience for a standalone version of Blade & Sorcery from the amount of fan mail we would get from non-PC VR players requesting a port, and we were also hearing anecdotal reports from other VR devs that the Quest player-base was more robust than PC VR,” said O’Halloran. “So we were confident that Nomad would at least do okay on the Quest market, but honestly the response from the Nomad fanbase has been incredible and far beyond our best hopes.”

As for whether there are any clear differences in player behavior between the PC and Quest versions of the game, O’Halloran said that engagement metrics look similar and he suspects this is thanks to the game’s underlying design.

Blade & Sorcery is one of the few VR games that is completely blessed to have a high replayability and retention value, and the player metrics show that on average Nomad players are playing the game about as much as PC VR players, both in play sessions and overall hours played,” he said. “This suggests it is the Blade & Sorcery game design formula that is resonating with players more so than any particular version [of the game] or headset.”

Blade & Sorcery was already a well known success among PC VR enthusiasts, and while it’s no surprise to see it received well by the Quest playerbase, what is surprising is how little influence the game’s success has had on the broader VR game marketplace. While there’s a handful of indie projects going after the melee combat sim genre, none of VR’s well known studios have picked up the proverbial dagger to take a stab at this end of the VR marketplace.

The post VR’s Favorite Melee Combat Sim is Making a Killing on Quest appeared first on Road to VR.



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PSVR 2 Revealed! Everything We Know

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PSVR 2: Everything We Know About PS5 VR (Updated Spring 2022)

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PSVR 2 (or PS5 VR) – it’s no longer a question of if, but when?

Note: This is an evolving article, originally published at the beginning of 2020.

There’s still a lot to learn about Sony’s future plans for VR in a crucial year for PlayStation itself. PS5 is now with us and, as of February 23rd, 2021, we know for certain it will eventually have a VR headset to call its own. So far, though, very little has been officially confirmed about PSVR 2. In fact we only just learned that it will be officially called PSVR 2. Let’s go over what we do know, though, as well as rounding up some of the other bits of info that help fill in the picture a bit more.

Without further ado, here’s everything we know about PSVR 2, or PS5 VR.

PSVR 2: Everything We Know About PS5 VR

PSVR 2 Design Revealed

After a year on from its initial announcement, we finally know what PSVR 2 actually looks like. The headset boasts a sleek white form factor with a white shell similar to the PS5 console’s faceplates (and not too far off from a Meta Quest 2). Take a look below.

PSVR 2 PlayStation VR 2 Headset Design 3

Not bad, right? We’re keeping the halo strap design from the original and you can see four front-facing cameras on the visor for inside-out tracking. The motion controllers also now have the same white shell (you can see the initial designs in black below). But let’s get into what all of this actually means.

PSVR 2 Release Date? Is It Coming In 2022?

In a post on the PlayStation Blog this February 2021, CEO Jim Ryan confirmed a new headset is in the works. Then, at CES in January 2022, Ryan confirmed the device would be called PSVR 2 (it had previously been referred to as ‘the next-generation of VR on PS5’). During a recent developer conference, the company reportedly codenamed the headset NGVR, or ‘Next-Generation VR’.

We’re hopeful that the PSVR 2 release date is sometime this year given that Sony seems to be actively talking about the headset now. But the company is yet to explicitly confirm a 2022 launch window and, given the ongoing component shortage plaguing the hardware industry (not to mention Sony’s own PS5), there’s every chance it could launch in 2023 instead.

There was some uncertainty about if PSVR 2 could ever happen. In the weeks leading up to launch of the PS5, Sony delivered somewhat mixed messages about the future of VR. In October 2020, PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan said the future of the platform was “more than a few minutes away”, and the recent closure of Sony’s VR-dedicated studio in the UK didn’t inspire much confidence. Today, we can rest easy that those fears were unfounded: PSVR 2 (or PS5 VR) is definitely happening.

PSVR 2 Specs: Near-4K Resolution, Wider Field Of View And A PSVR vs Quest 2 Comparison

Official PSVR 2 specs have now been announced and confirm UploadVR’s report of the first reveal details in May 2021. The headset features a massive jump in display resolution over the original with 2000×2040 per eye and retains an OLED display with HDR support. It’s also got a 110 degree field of view and new features like eye-tracking and in-headset vibration. Below is the spec sheet stacked up next to the original PSVR’s specs and a comparison to Meta’s Quest 2, too. You can also read a much larger comparison between Quest 2 and Meta’s upcoming Project Cambria right here.

Specs PSVR 2 PSVR Quest 2
Display Per Eye 2000×2040  960×1080 1832×1920
Display Type OLED OLED LCD
HDR? Yes No No
Refresh Rate 90Hz/120Hz 90Hz/120Hz 72Hz/90Hz/120Hz (limited to only some apps)
Field of View “Around 110 degrees”, direction undisclosed Estimated around 95 degrees horizontal, 111 degrees vertical Estimated around 90 degrees horizontal and vertical
Lens Separation Adjustable (specifics TBA) Yes 3-point adjustable
Eye Tracking? Yes No No
Hand Tracking? No No Yes
Headset Vibration Yes No No
Microphone? Yes Yes Yes
Audio Headphone jack Headphone jack Built-in speakers, headphone jack
Controllers Bundled Sense controllers with buttons, sticks, capacitive touch sensors, haptic feedback (single actuator per unit), trigger resistance  Support for DualShock 4, PS3-era PlayStation Move controllers and rifle-shaped Aim controller Bundled Oculus Touch controllers with buttons, sticks and capacitive touch sensors

PSVR 2 Will Run On PS5 Via A Single Wire

PlayStation 5 PS5 Laid Down Side

This one’s a bit of a no-brainer but, just in case you didn’t know; PSVR 2 will run on PS5. Sony’s next-generation console is now rolling out across the globe and, although supply has been an issue, it’s slowly but surely finding its way into people’s homes.

In February 2021’s blog post, Ryan confirmed that the new headset connects to the console via a single cord, meaning a much simpler setup than the mess of wires included in the original PSVR. There’s no confirmation of any possible wireless connectivity just yet, but we’ll come to that in a bit. Either way, the added processing power of the PS5 should go a long way to improving the PSVR experience. Again, more on that further down.

PSVR 2 Has Inside-Out Tracking – You Won’t Need A Camera

The original PSVR had a camera-based tracking system that required you to place a PlayStation-branded camera in front of your play area. It allowed for full positional tracking when facing the lens, but there was a lot of drift and motion controls would be lost if their lights were obscured from the camera, so no turning your back around. PSVR 2 won’t have this issue – cameras on the headset will track the controllers and thus give you a much easier setup and a much great degree of freedom.

PSVR 2 Features Include Eye-Tracking, Foveated Rendering And More

Beyond the PSVR 2 specs, the headset will have some big new features. The kit will be able to track the direction of your eyes, for example, to use a technique called foveated rendering. This is when an experience only fully renders the area of a screen you’re looking at; the rest isn’t fully rendered but this should be noticeable in your peripheral vision. This should help dramatically improve performance on PS5. It can also be used to mimic your eye’s gaze on a virtual avatar. It’ll also have a lens separation adjustment dial for people to find the clearest image possible with.

It’s Got Haptics… In The Headset

PlayStation 5 & PSVR

Another interesting feature is the haptic feedback within the headset itself. This apparently isn’t as advanced a sensation as the haptic feedback seen in the new DualSense controllers, and might be employed more for comfort than enhancing immersion. We’re yet to really learn how the feature will be used exactly, though.

Sony Says PSVR 2 is A ‘Completely New Format’ For VR

In a follow-up interview with GQ, Ryan hinted that the new PS5 VR headset will be a “completely new format”. Exactly what he means by that isn’t clear. It might mean the device has its own ecosystem and UI on PS5 rather than just using a virtual screen of the standard menu.

The First PSVR 2 Game Has Been Announced

Sony’s CES announcement wasn’t just for a name – we also saw the first-ever PSVR 2 game confirmed. That game is Horizon Call of the Wild, a spin-off to Sony’s popular open-world series set in a post-apocalyptic world with robot dinosaurs. It’s been developed by Firesprite, the studio behind The Persistence that Sony acquired in 2021, with help from Horizon developer Guerrilla Games. You can see the first trailer for the project above – you won’t be playing as series protagonist Aloy but you will meet her as you take on the role of an entirely new character. A release date for the PSVR 2 exclusive hasn’t been confirmed.

PS5 Specs Show Promise For PSVR 2

The PS5 is an absolute powerhouse, capable of delivering native 4K games with stunning graphics. Meanwhile, the specs promise high-end PC power for console VR. Here’s a chart outlining the specs for the console stacked up against the PS4 and enhanced PS4 Pro, whipped up by our own David Heaney.

PS5 Specs

Based on these specs, PS5 is comparable to Nvidia’s RTX 2070 Super in terms of GPU power, and six times more powerful than the standard PS4. That will enable a huge leap forward for console VR games; hopefully no more blurry PSVR ports at the very least. In fact we’ve already seen as much; No Man’s Sky’s PS4 version is able to tell it’s running on PS5 and deliver much clearer visuals than on PS4 (see below).

Plus the console boasts an on-board solid-state drive (SSD) that Sony says reduces load times to near-instant. Again, that could have a big impact on crafting believable virtual worlds.

It Has New Controllers Inspired By DualSense

Another piece of official information Sony has revealed about PSVR 2 so far is for the controllers. Earlier in 2021, it revealed these orb-shaped devices, which look like a huge step up from the now decade-old PS Move controllers used with the first PSVR.

ps5 VR controllers 1

At a glance, you can see these controllers feature analog sticks, two face buttons per device and trigger and grip buttons as well as the usual share and options buttons. These are much more in-line with modern VR controllers like the Oculus Touch, and PSVR Without Parole also reports they’ll have capacitive touch sensors for your thumb, index and middle fingers too.

ps5 vr controllers 2

Sony confirmed the controllers will even implement features seen in the new DualSense PS5 gamepad. This device iterates on the DualShock 4 with advanced haptic feedback technology and trigger resistance, two features that seem ideal for future VR support. If you haven’t, give Astro’s Playroom a try and marvel at the feel of Astro’s footsteps across different surfaces, or the push-back you can when controlling him in spring mode. They give you plenty of hints about what to expect from the VR controller.

Finally, no more Move controllers.

Wireless, Resolution And More: Sony Research Gives Us Hints At What To Expect In The Future

Sony’s research into a successor headset for PSVR 2 dates back years. In mid-2019, Sony’s Vice President of R&D, Dominic Mallinson gave a talk outlining what to expect from the next generation of VR headsets.

He outlined devices that boast ‘roughly double’ the pixel count of then-current headsets (PSVR, Rift, Vive) and support for high dynamic range, which brings a wider array of colors to the screen. Plus Mallinson pointed towards a wider field of view to see more of the virtual world, and optional wireless support. There might even be eye-tracking included.

Granted, Ryan’s blog post said the new VR headset connected to PS5 via a single cord, but that might not be the whole story. Mallinson’s quotes pointed towards the possibility of two models, or maybe that wire being an option. This was just a prototyping phase, of course, and all that could change, but the hope for wireless isn’t completely dead yet.

Not to mention that there’s been a steady stream of revealing patents for a potential PSVR 2 over the past few years. We’ve seen fillings for new tracking tech, systems for local multiplayer VR and more.

Sony Could Be Seeking ‘Hybrid’ AAA VR Games For PSVR 2

Resident Evil Village

Okay, onto the games. So far the only officially confirmed PSVR 2 game is Horizon Call of the Mountain. But, at its August developer conference, Sony reportedly said it was appealing to bigger, AAA game developers to implement VR support into their titles as an option. PSVR 2 will of course support native VR titles too, but this could be a path to seeing other, bigger games in VR, much like PSVR 1 enjoyed Resident Evil 7, No Man’s Sky and Hitman 3.

We’re already seeing titles that look primed for PSVR 2. Resident Evil 8 returns to the first-person format from the VR-supported Resident Evil 7 and, although it’s already out, PSVR 2 support later down the line seems like a possibility. Gran Turismo 7 is also an obvious choice, while Sony has teams with great VR experience like Blood & Truth developer Sony London and Stormland studio Insomniac working away too. Combine that with support for third parties and PSVR 2’s potential line-up already sounds promising.

It remains to be seen, however, if the headset can play old VR games.

While You Wait, PS5 Supports PSVR For Backwards Compatibility

Sony PSVR Move

Not only is PS5 backwards compatible, but the console also supports the original PSVR, too. That means you can play original PSVR games on the headset, but you’ll need a special adapter to attach the PS4 Camera to your PS5. You can’t use the new HD Camera for PS5 with the headset, but Sony is sending out the adapter for free and bundling it in with new units. You’ll need to use all of your existing controllers for PSVR on PS5, though gamepad-supported games that don’t use tracking like Resident Evil 7 can use the next DualSense controller.

We also know that PSVR developers can update their titles with PS5-specific features, perhaps improving the visuals and performance of existing games. Along with the No Man’s Sky visuals upgrades, Blood & Truth has improvements as does Firewall: Zero Hour. Also bear in mind that not every PSVR game is compatible with PS5. Sony says the ‘vast majority’ of PS4 games will work on PS5, but we do know Robinson: The Journey isn’t compatible with the new console.

…But PSVR Can’t Be Used With New PS5 Games

While backwards compatibility support for PSVR seems robust, one thing you can’t do is use the headset with new PS5 games. That means cross-generation games with PSVR support on PS4 like Hitman 3 and No Man’s Sky don’t support PSVR on PS5. You need to run the old versions via backwards compatibility for it to work.

What’s your take on PSVR 2? Are you looking forward to the headset? Let us know in the comments below!



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