VR veteran studio Survios finally revealed Alien: Rogue Incursion, the upcoming single-player horror game that’s sure to pit you against some nasty Xenomorphs. The officially branded tie-in game is coming to Quest 3 later this year, but not any other Quest headset, which could signal waning developer interest in supporting Quest 2 and Quest Pro.
In addition to launching on PSVR 2 and SteamVR, a Survios spokesperson told Road to VR that Alien: Rogue Incursion is indeed “native to Meta Quest 3 only,” i.e. not Quest 2 or Quest Pro. Given what we know about where standalone headsets are headed, there’s a fair bit we can tease from that statement.
And it case you misses it, here’s the Alien: Rogue Incursion announcement trailer:
Alien: Rogue Incursion is slated to launch Holiday 2024, putting release somewhere around eight months out from the recent Quest 2 fire sale, which slashed the company’s last-gen VR headset to just $200, and discounted a ton of official Quest 2 accessories.
Now almost four years old, Quest 2 has been supported by practically all games available on the platform since the VR headset’s release in October 2020. The same goes for Quest Pro, the company’s first true mixed reality headset which launched in October 2022 for an eye-watering $1,500—later lowered to $1,000.
Both were timed around Meta’s respective Connect developer conferences for those years. However now rumors maintain Meta is currently working on some sort of ‘Quest 3 Lite’ follow-up that would imply a cheaper version of the company’s flagship, which would conceptually displace Quest 2 in its lineup. Maybe in… October 2024? We simply don’t know.
Quest 2 (left) & Quest Pro (right) | Photo by Road to VR
If this article were published a month ago, it would have been pretty straight forward story: Meta is ostensibly getting ready to sunset Quest 2 and Quest Pro to make way for Quest 3 Lite…or whatever it will be called, and has tipped off Survios to let them know to not waste time or effort on making sure their fairly big budget official Alien game runs on older hardware.
Survios hasn’t said as much, but that “native to Meta Quest 3 only” caveat probably only applies to the Meta’s specific Quest first-party product line since it’s obviously supporting SteamVR headsets and PSVR 2, meaning we may see a wider distribution across headsets built by ASUS and Lenovo, and the Xbox-branded Quest hardware—whenever those arrive.
A few things are certain though: as one of the most veteran VR studios out there, Survios has created a dizzying number of games over the years, including Creed: Rise to Glory, Puzzle Bobble 3D: Vacation Odyssey, The Walking Dead: Onslaught, Electronauts, Sprint Vector, Raw Data, and Battlewake. And if such a prolific studio thinks its time to shelve Quest 2 and Quest Pro to get the best possible reach out of its official Alien IP game, it’s likely other developers will follow suit.
Insta360 X4 is a new $500 360° camera that can record 8K at 30fps, 5.7K at 60fps, or 4K at 100fps.
The device is 200 grams and fits in your pocket. The company claims its internal battery lasts for over 2 hours of recording time at 5K or over 2 hours at 8K, and charges to 100% in less than 1 hour via USB-C.
At 8K resolution, 2D 360° videos have enough pixels to almost match a Meta Quest 3's display angular resolution but will still fall far short of Apple Vision Pro's.
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The X4 features two F1.9 aperture lenses with 1/2'' sensors and records at up to 200 Mbps bitrate to an up to 1TB microSD card. The four microphone array features automatic active wind reduction thanks to an onboard 5nm chipset.
The footage is stabilized by a six-axis gyroscope which the company claims "keeps the horizon level even when completely rotating the camera".
Insta360 claims the camera is rated for temperatures between -20°C and +40°C (-4°F to 104°F) and is waterproof down to 33ft deep, with the $100 Invisible Dive Case accessory increasing this to 164ft.
The device can be controlled by the integrated 2.5" touchscreen, the smartphone app, hand gestures, or voice commands. The company then provides a Insta360 Studio PC application for reviewing and editing captured footage.
Previous 8K 360° cameras cost thousands of dollars, so Insta360 X4 makes 8K 360° recording available to a much wider market. While the footage won't be 3D, it can still make for compelling playback in a VR headset, especially given you'll be watching your own memories and experiences.
Insta360 X4 is arriving just as YouTube added support for 8K video playback on Quest 3, making it an ideal way to share videos captured with this device.
Vision Pro 2 is set for late 2026 and Apple is struggling to make a cheaper headset first, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports.
Gurman has a strong track record of reporting on Apple's future plans. He reliably reported many details of Vision Pro before it was officially revealed or even acknowledged to exist by Apple.
In his latest newsletter, Gurman writes that Apple's roadmap "doesn’t currently call for a second-generation model until the end of 2026, though the company is trying to figure out a way to bring a cheaper version to market before then".
But regarding that cheaper version, he claims Apple is "still flummoxed by how exactly to bring down the cost".
Supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo first reported that Apple was working on a cheaper headset a full year before Vision Pro was even revealed, with Kuo at the time saying Apple aimed to launch it in 2025.
Last year Gurman too reported on the existence of this cheaper headset, saying it will feature an A-series chipset (used in iPhones) instead of an M-series chipset and "likely" drop the EyeSight front display. The A17 Pro in the iPhone 15 Pro models has a GPU with 6 cores that's roughly 60% as powerful as the M2's GPU, so it seems reasonable an A18 Pro or A19 Pro might close the gap.
In that same report last year, Gurman said Apple "discussed prices ranging from $1500 to $2500". That he now says Apple is "flummoxed" by how to bring the price down suggests either these downgrades won't be sufficient to meet that price range, or Apple simply doesn't want to sacrifice features like EyeSight in any headset.
The largest cost by far in Vision Pro is its near-4K micro-OLED displays from Sony. Estimates place the cost to Apple at $350 each, meaning $700 per headset. Using small LCD displays would significantly reduce cost, but would result in inferior contrast and necessitate either significantly reduced resolution or a much bulkier design, so it's extremely unlikely Apple would take this path.
The real path to a much cheaper Vision headset relies on the price of high resolution micro-OLED displays falling over time.
Micro-OLED are manufactured directly onto silicon wafers with a process very different to regular OLED. While the technology itself isn't new, it was mainly only used in low volume products like high-end camera viewfinders and in some industrial smart glasses, and not at this kind of resolution. Mass production of micro-OLED of this resolution only just came online this year. Sony is reportedly Apple's sole supplier, but can only produce enough for 500,000 headsets this year.
Last year The Information's Wayne Ma reported that Apple was testing micro-OLED microdisplays from two additional suppliers, both Chinese, BOE and SeeYa Technology. If the samples meet Apple's standards, Ma wrote, displays from these companies could be used in both Vision Pro 2 and the cheaper headset.
Apple bringing in new suppliers could enable much larger production volumes than the current Vision Pro, and thus more affordable Vision headset prices. But micro-OLED displays are extremely difficult to manufacture at high yield, so it's still unclear exactly which companies can manage to supply them at scale while meeting the quality standards companies like Apple expect. Difficulties with BOE and SeeYa samples be contributing to Apple's struggle to bring a more affordable Vision headset to market.
The long-awaited VR mod for World of Warcraft (2004) is here, bringing full PC VR support to players grinding the vast lands of Azeroth.
Created by Flat2VR community members ‘Streetrat’ and ‘Marulu’, the long-time modders have finally brought full 6DOF VR support to World of Warcraft in the aptly named WoVR mod.
According to the Github, where you can download WoVR for free, it also includes directional audio, synced eye rendering, the ability to switch between third and first person, motion controls and a floating UI.
While couched as an “experimental release,” WoVR aims to add PC VR support to 3.3.5a, the last patch of the second expansion of the game.
Take a look at it in action below:
“This mod is a experimental release intended to be played seated with VR motion controllers. Currently we do not have plans for active continued development, if there is enough support and interested from the community we could look into first person mount visibility and player character IK,” the creators say.
It’s been a long road to get there too. WoVR has been in on and off development for over the past ten years, as it was originally conceived on the original Oculus Rift DK1 back in 2013.
“In January 2024 after a 4 year long hiatus we decided to restart development from scratch with everything we learned from creating XIVR,” the creators say. “This mod not only converts the game to be playable with motion controllers but also aims to add quality of life improvements from FF14.”
The modders are also known for having brought a similar VR mod to MMO Final Fantasy XIV (2010), which was initially released in 2022.
If you want to grab the WoVR mod, you can either do so by following the Github link above, or by visiting the Flat2VR Discord (invite link) where you can find precompiled versions for easier installation.
Editor's Note: Amanda Watson joined Oculus VR in 2015 and took a cubicle outside John Carmack's office in Dallas where she worked late nights on the mobile SDK. Later in California, she worked on Oculus Link and Air Link before leaving Oculus in 2022. In early 2024, Watson released CitraVRon Github. This letter was written "as an apology I never sent" to Carnegie Mellon University for an incident that happened in her final year there in 2014.
To Whom It May Concern,
I know this probably comes to you a little late. I’m notorious for putting things off (as you may know by now), but I still feel compelled to send this note. I told the University I was willing to apologize to anyone our actions may have hurt, and I fully intended to do it. I hope that the time, if anything, helps give context to my note.
I don’t actually get to know the affected parties to whom this letter is addressed, so I’m going to cover my bases and outline exactly what this apology is about. Last fall, a friend and I spent some time in front of an empty booth at the Technical Opportunities Conference (TOC). We collected resumes from students, and the administration became concerned that, possibly, we may have been mistaken as recruiters for the company of that booth. It was then brought to our attention that, while we may have meant well, this created trouble for students attending the career fair, as well as the staff who were in charge of organizing the event. Something we never intended, and something we would of course be very sorry to have caused.
I now understand that actions and intentions are not really as relevant as impressions, reactions and consequences of what transpired. That said, as long as I’m here, I figure some of you wouldn’t mind hearing the full story, as I remember it. Not to excuse my actions, but to grant insight into what motivated my friend and I, and why I am truly sorry for what happened.
On the morning of the incident, I was at the TOC 20 minutes before it opened. Normally, I’m not nearly this much of a try-hard, and honestly, suit-wearing try-hards make terrible impressions in tech culture. Yet I was going to risk it because, more than anything else in the entire world, I wanted to work at Oculus VR. As a computer science and drama major with a background in high-performance graphics and systems design, there aren’t a lot of obvious career paths for me. Last spring, I listened to a talk given by Oculus researcher Michael Abrash, and, as he explained the types of engineers they were looking for, I heard him describe me. To me, Oculus VR seemed like my one shot at validation, at doing my thing and making new technology happen as a result.
Also, to be honest, I wasn’t doing very well in my regular-job search. Places I’d gotten internship offers from in past years were now turning me down in the last stages of the interviews. I don’t really know why. The ones I asked gave vague answers about my just not being a good fit. Maybe I sounded like a jerk? Honestly, if anything in this apology seems like the kind of personality flaw that would prevent employment, please let me know. All I can say is that I was starting to get scared and bitter. I built up this meeting with Oculus at the TOC to be my one shot at making things right. I told myself again and again that I was going to do whatever it took to get myself noticed – for which I am, in retrospect, very, very sorry.
Of course, when the doors finally open and I make my way to the Oculus booth, it’s totally empty. The signs aren’t up, the complimentary water bottles sit untouched in the middle of the table. To say this was a disappointment would be a gross understatement. For maybe an hour – well into my next class – I just paced the TOC, hoping Oculus would show up. Of course, as we now know, other than one small blip later in the day, the Oculus VR booth would remain unstaffed.
Finally, I gave up and headed to my next class. I was crushed. CMU has a strong alumni footing in most tech companies you’d want to work for, some pipeline for resumes outside of events like these. But not Oculus. Oculus is too new for me to really know anyone who could push a resume along. I knew that if I could just get my foot in the door they’d be interested, right? I was desperate to talk to someone, anyone with connections. Honestly, I might have loitered around even longer if I hadn’t figured my best chance for getting in touch with Oculus was going to be sitting next to me in my next class.
In theory, having a friend like George would be the perfect solution to a problem like mine. He’s like a minor celebrity in the tech world, and has all sorts of connections in silicon valley. He even knows Palmer Luckey, the guy who founded Oculus VR. But if you honestly thought this was going to be my salvation, you don’t know George very well.
“What, I’m just going to email Palmer and be like ‘yo, I know this girl, she’s talented, you should hire her’? No, of course I’m not going to do that. You’re not exactly John Carmack. What do you think I’m supposed to do?” George speaks with a strong, high-pitched Jersey accent, which I think amplifies the amused condescension in everything he says.
“I...I dunno, tell him to leave my resume under a door somewhere? I just need it to get to a recruiter, not the CEO.”
“Look, if we’re all ever in the same place, I’ll get us together some night, and the three of us will go drinking. But I’m not just going to send him an email out of the blue vouching for you.”
You know what? Fair enough. Having a direct line of communication to the company’s founder isn’t really a great way to get a job through honorable means. It was agonizing to be this close, though. I just needed an in. Somehow, I was going to get noticed.
It’s at this point where people start blaming George for what transpired. I try not to get too insulted by this. “Elite Hacker Gains Privileged Access to University Gym, Exposes Vulnerabilities in Career Fair Security” makes for a better head canon than my soppy rant about unemployment, certainly, and doesn’t require nearly this level of exposition. In truth, it was me, embittered with my futility and disappointment, who convinced George to come with me to visit the Oculus booth after class. Some of our classmates would later claim they heard George say to me as we were leaving, “wanna go to the Oculus Booth and impersonate some recruiters?”, but I maintain that this does not make sense and is not true.
When we arrived at the TOC this second time, the event was in full swing. The once-empty booths were now being mobbed by kids in suits, and so I hoped Oculus would be the same. Of course, when we arrived, there was no one there because they were never there because no one showed up. We wandered around the event for a couple minutes before finally planting in one of the TOC’s few free spaces – in front of the Oculus VR booth – to regroup.
That’s when I saw it: a pile of papers sitting at the back of the table I hadn’t seen before. “Hey, look at this!” I called to George.
“Yeah, so?”
“I don’t remember seeing this pile before.”
“No, I saw it from before. It’s probably the resumes of all the kids that wanted to see Oculus…You think the recruiters will come back to pick them up?”
“Honestly? They’re just gonna get thrown out at the end of the day.”
Damn. The only thing worse than not being in the pipeline is not knowing you’re not in the pipeline. Honestly, when I looked at those resumes, I felt a lot of sympathy for those other kids. Like me, they probably were desperate to talk to Oculus, and didn’t have another way to do so. They’d probably been as crushed as I was when they saw the empty booth. And now their resumes wouldn’t even be seen! I wished I knew something I could do for them -- for us.
It was at that moment one of the suited kids approached the booth, shook George’s hand and introduced himself. After a 20-second monologue about his education, research and career aspirations, he gave us a resume. It was surreal.
George was blindsided. “Sorry, I don’t actually work for Oculus VR. If you want, I can put this resume on the table behind me. That’s what a lot of students have been doing.”
It was THE most awkward moment. Suddenly, all of suit kid’s enthusiasm vanished, and was he just staring back at us, unsure of what he’d done wrong.
“If I put my resume on the table...it gets to Oculus?” “I’m honestly not sure.”
Hesitantly, he placed his resume on the pile and left. “That was fucking tragic” I mumbled only moments before I was greeted by a smiling suit girl of my own. In a tiny, tiny voice I could barely make out, she asked if we worked for Oculus. This time, I cut her off as quickly as possible, giving the same explanation George did. Like the last guy, she was confused. “But recruiters pick up these resumes at the end?”
“Honestly, probably not? But hey, don’t take my word for it.”
After some hesitation, she just shuffled away, deciding not to part with her resume.
George and I broke the weirdness with some laughter. It was amusing, honestly. But more than amusing, it was refreshing, too. I’d spent the entire morning worrying about what I would look like to these recruiters, how they’d judge me. Now, I was that recruiter, and it all seemed so low-key. The fear - my fear – I was seeing on student’s faces seemed so unnecessary, their posturing so...counterproductive. It was like I could see right through it, look past their spiel and know with deadly accuracy who was worth spending time on. I was seeing behind the curtain, and it felt great.
I don’t want to make it sound like what happened next was motivated by this indulgence or my desire to “play God.” Honestly, at no point did we make any plans for impersonation.
I simply said to George, “Hey. ‘We’ know people at Oculus, right?”
“Sure.”
“If these resumes are just going into the trash anyway, maybe we can do something. Collect them and send them off to Palmer or someone he recommends.”
George claims that he never agreed to this, and I guess it’s possible I made it all up. But in any case, he went ahead with the plan. We had more students come up and ask if we worked for Oculus. Each time, we would say no, and direct them to the pile of resumes on the table. This time, however, we also said we would try and forward them, because we knew people at Oculus who might be able to help. These students, while still confused, seemed a lot happier than the first ones. They handed us resumes, shook our hands, and wandered back into the bowels of the career fair.
Now I can imagine what it must have looked like: two geeky-looking types standing in front of an otherwise empty booth, shaking hands, saying words, collecting resumes. I can understand, then, why the line of students may have started to form in front of us. It’s worth pointing out, though, that it’s really a stretch to say we looked like recruiters. The signs and water bottles still sat on the table, no one stood behind the table the way recruiters usually do, and we weren’t even wearing name tags (at some point George picked up a sticker that said “Full-Time Positions” and stuck it on his chest, but that was hardly an attempt at impersonation – he’s just an idiot). There was literally no Oculus insignia anywhere – the only corporate logos on our persons were George’s Google sweatshirt and my Palantir book-bag. It’s been said that a line formed because students were being misled, but if you ask me, they didn’t see us as recruiters. Like me, they were desperate for any contact at all with this company, and wanted exactly what we had to offer: any chance at all at being in touch with Oculus VR.
Again, I don’t want to sound like I’m trying to make excuses for myself. Student Life informed us later that, even if our impersonation wasn’t particularly believable, we should be held accountable nonetheless for “wasting student time”, an offense that, while not actually against the rules, is an interesting idea for a rule and might be fun to cite now and again. This may also be one of the points where intent and consequence didn’t align, because honestly, I didn’t think student time was being wasted. We gave those students a handshake and about 20 seconds of monologue time before telling each one, without exception, that we did not work for Oculus VR. Each time it was explained that we planned to forward resumes, as well as any notes they thought would be helpful to recruiting (I thought this was a nice touch, so as not to squander their chance at having a real human interaction).
Most students seemed to understand and still give us their resumes, sometimes hesitantly asking one of us what we might know about the company and its trajectory. I didn’t have much to say other than the research I’d gathered by googling Oculus VR on my phone. George, on the other hand, would happily launch into his own dystopian vision of VR’s future, where headsets have become mandatory for human interaction and images are projected onto your retina, paving the way for bionic eyes and, more than likely, the singularity. If anyone at that point thought that George was a real recruiter, I truly am being sincere when I say that I am really honestly sorry.
You’d think this would be a lot of fun. Yet, as nice as it was to play the part of the resume collector students had been so desperate to find, something didn’t feel right. We’d never intended to create such a scene. As nice as it might have been to stick to our principals and collect as many resumes as possible from the students who needed it, the attention we were getting was quickly becoming too much, and in 10 minutes it was all over. I turned to George and saw he was thinking the same thing. “Let’s get out of here”, he said. We picked up the resumes from the table, pushed through the crowd and left the career fair, as clandestinely as we’d arrived.
This is where a lot of people say I got in trouble. Remember what I said about putting things off? Well, I initially had trouble making good on that promise to get those resumes to Oculus. I asked George how we should go about sending them, and initially, he said we could get the contact info for the recruiting office and fax them. Later in the day, however, he was expressing doubts. First he claimed we hadn’t met anyone he thought was qualified to work at Oculus (a judgment he had no business making, because we never really took a hard look at any resumes). Finally, he admitted he was nervous about talking to Palmer. He had a lot of respect for the guy, and it would be “awkward” to have to explain the situation to him. Ok, fine. Without an immediate plan B, I decided to put it off and let it sit until I got back from my onsite with Nvidia four days later.
By then, I’m now told, alarm bells had started to go off in the bowels of the TOC administration. Still unaware of any of this, on my return, I flagged down an SCS professor I trusted and asked him what the best thing to do with the resumes would be. He said I could give them to him, and he would figure out what to do with them.
Again, I have this unfortunate habit of putting things off. It took me two days to come back with the resumes, during which time, an email was sent out to both students and non-students, warning that a pair of unidentified, unaffiliated suspects had entered the TOC, impersonated recruiters, and later left with a stack of student information. While this email was addressed to a large percentage of the student body, alumni network and industry partners, it was not actually addressed to me. George and I eventually heard about the email through a friend, and this was the first time I realized that other parties were not only aware of our actions, but had been alarmed by them such that it had become necessary to inform the university and the industry of the threat our actions posed. It was at this point that I finally handed the resumes off to our professor, made sure they had been seen by the concerned parties at the TOC, and figured that was the end of it.
As we all know now, this was only to be the beginning of the actions I was to feel very, very sorry to have caused. Apparently, the return of the resumes and the promise from our professor that we were undergrads and not terrorists prompted a rather large investigation, internal and external, to determine our identities. I heard the Pittsburgh PD got involved. I heard CMU’s detectives were put on the case to track us down. I, for one, didn’t know that CMU had detectives! What do they do all day? George dug up a case where the detectives got called to investigate a student who had brought three girls into his dorm room to “help assemble furniture”. At the end of the day, I like to think the CMU detectives appreciated having a real live mystery to solve. I’m not going to apologize for that.
At this point, we would have happily given ourselves up and prevented the ultimate scale of this investigation had it not been for two things:
First, something about George: George is very, very, very sensitive about the subject of cops. Between getting sued by Sony, going to court for some nasty marijuana possession charges, and just general, anti authoritarian personality traits, George doesn’t have a very good image of cops. In fact, I would go so far as to say he fears them. On the first day we heard there was an investigation, I got an email essay from George on what one should or should not say in an interrogation room, and he was making preliminary conversations with his team of lawyers. You need to understand, it isn’t enough to tell George that nothing bad is going to happen. For George, the American criminal justice system will take your tiniest infraction and use it as a chance to screw you.
Second, I guess I just sorta figured the detectives would find us. Honestly, we weren’t exactly trying to hide ourselves, and in a school of only 400 or so, it wouldn’t be hard to question a couple of SCS students and discover our identities. Besides, George is one of the most famous people in the entire university. Once we learned they had a photo of us, it seemed like only a matter of time before someone figured us out. So we waited. We put off doing anything about it.
As the days went by, however, the knowledge that he was being searched for began to take a toll on George. He wasn’t attending class, and would instead send me emails planning our strategy or the next session with his lawyers. When I finally saw him again, he looked shaken. “I can’t do this much longer. I think I need to get my lawyers together and turn myself in.”
“Well wait a second. You still know the CEO of Oculus. Couldn’t you get in touch with him, and have him tell the TOC folk he doesn’t care? I mean, he probably doesn’t, right?”
George thought about it. “No. Like I said, I really don’t want to bother him about something this silly. Like, I’m really going to ask the founder of a company to bail me out of what basically amounts to a dumb college prank?”
“What else are we going to do?”
Eventually, George gave in and sent Palmer Luckey an email. To our surprise, he responded almost immediately – he’d heard of the incident, and thought it was hilarious. At the end, he just said, “I’ll take care of it”.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“I don’t know, and we’re not going to find out, because I’m not emailing him again.”
We didn’t hear from Palmer for a really long time. Maybe he puts things off, too. In any case, this was too long for George. Only a few days later, he called me at 6am, panic-stricken. “I can’t take this any longer. The pressure’s too much. I’m going to turn myself in”.
I wasn’t there to see George come forward. According to George, he walked into CIT, greeted the TOC’s organizers pleasantly, and listened with patience and maturity as he was brutally chastised for all the damage we had caused. According to the administration, George was rude and combative, his coming forward serving only to make relations worse. I heard all this from our professor, who encouraged me to come forward as well, but to maybe try a little less “sass".
And so, after only a few days of putting things off this time, I drafted my first apology letter, outing myself and expressing regret for any damage my actions had caused the administration. I sent it to my professor, who forwarded it to the appropriate people. I’d hoped it would provide these people with closure, giving them information they needed to understand our actions and motivations, and to realize that we were in no way a threat to students or to the TOC. I was sincere when I said I felt bad about the reactions we had evoked, and now wanted to volunteer this information in the hopes of helping everyone finally rest easy.
Of course, as George and I had yet to understand, there would be a lot more repentance required from us before the TOC’s organizers could once again feel safe and secure.
A few days later, I received an email with the subject line: “Interview”. Nothing out of the ordinary for CS majors in the fall semester, though I couldn’t figure out who this interview was with. Finally, when the last lines specified the location of our interview – Craig St, between Quiznos and Razzy Fresh – it clicked: that’s where the police station is – this was going to be an “interview” with the police!
As you might be able to guess, George was having none of that. “There is no way I am talking to a cop! Their whole goal is to hang you with your own testimony! Goddammit, I really didn’t want to hire lawyers for this!” Our professor, who has legal experience himself, agreed. Cops were bad news, and any interaction with cops meant having expensive lawyers. So I replied to the police, saying we were refusing to speak with any cops, which is how we got directed to the offices of Student Life for our disciplinary hearing.
By now, George was really starting to lose it. He’d stopped attending classes 6 weeks ago, and was making plans to drop out once again. “I’ve been taking road trips to Ohio and listening to Hardcore History podcasts,” he told me. “That’s what’s making life worthwhile." He said that while his plans to drop out were motivated by the investigation, I shouldn’t see it as my fault. “If I’d seen this happen to someone else from afar, you bet I would’ve gotten as far away from this nightmare university as possible.”
The steps for Student Life’s disciplinary investigation would be as follows:
Step 1: they would collect testimony from me, George, and any students who were willing to come forward and describe their experience with us.
Step 2: they would bring me and George in for a meeting, where they would lay out the findings of the investigation and what rules in the CMU Student Conduct Handbook we were deemed to have violated.
Step 3: once all of us could agree on what the violations had been, they would dole out a punishment.
As their investigation proceeded, George and I would go over the CMU Student Conduct Handbook, trying to figure out what our violations would be. There are some really interesting ones, like disabling or altering a classmate’s life support device, or the violation for reverse-engineering and exploiting third party software. At the end of the day, however, we struggled to find a crime we’d committed during this incident. Sure, someone who hadn’t done an investigation might say ‘Impersonation of Another Person’, but that seemed weak, seeing as we’d made it clear who we were to everyone we met, and even if we hadn’t, we weren’t exactly trying to “impersonate” anyone in particular.
Finally, we got to the final violation: “Conduct Unbecoming of a Carnegie Mellon Student”. “What does that even mean?” I asked George.
“It’s like a catch-all, in case they want to tack something on. I don’t think they can just hit us with that. That seems too vague. I mean, you have to actually violate something to be in violation, right?”
Of course, we now understand how misguided we were in that moment. When asking why nothing we were being accused of actually fell in line with a real rule, we were informed that “We [CMU] didn’t think we needed one because we didn’t think anyone would ever do such a thing”, a perspective that resonated with George’s and my own backgrounds in computer security and systems software.
Student Life agreed that, while at first glance the incident had looked like impersonation, it wouldn’t meet the criteria for ‘Impersonation of Another Person’, since none of the students they’d interviewed had actually admitted they had felt misled. In fact, Student Life and I ended up agreeing on a lot of things: for the most part, students didn’t feel hurt, nor did Oculus VR, who had since gotten in touch with the University and given a statement.
However, Student Life also believed that we still ought to be punished for committing “Conduct Unbecoming of a Carnegie Mellon student” for the following reasons:
1. Wasting student time
2. Taking far too long to return the resumes and rectify the situation
3. Causing a reaction by the TOC that ultimately embarrassed them, exposing how easily impersonations could occur and creating a “blight” on their name.
I explained I was confused about how we could be guilty of standing in front of a booth and collecting the resumes students gave us with full information, especially since the fact that is wasn’t prevented by policy was the reason the TOC felt “blighted” in the first place. George, who’d recently listened to the Hardcore History podcast about WWI, compared the situation to the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, and kept insisting he wouldn’t be satisfied until he understood “who we’re paying reparations to”. I understand that this took our interviewers by surprise and was, in their words, “memorable”. I’m not going to apologize for that.
Eventually, after a far longer process, we reached an agreement: 20 hours of community service for Conduct Unbecoming, a reflective essay and perhaps an apology. This was, of course, directed solely at me, since George had by now dropped out of school and moved on to California to pursue greater, weirder things.
Or at least, so I thought.
Three weeks after my sentencing, he was back, having scheduled yet another meeting with Student Life. “No more WWI, right?” I pleaded.
“No way,” he said with an alarming grin. “I’ve been reading up on Genghis Khan this time.”
I was sure that this meeting would spell death for me and yet, a few days later, I got another email from Student Life. All charges against me were dropped. To this day, I have no idea what he did.
Now all I would have to do was send them an apology. This wouldn’t be a requirement, the email said, but since we had claimed to express real regret, it seemed only fair that we compose a genuine apology for the affected parties.
Again, I am not told who these affected parties are, but by process of elimination, my guess would be organizers of the TOC, the ones who had been “blighted” by our actions. I can understand their perspective: perhaps my actions and the resultant reactions had forever damaged relations with Oculus, as we’d exposed “vulnerabilities” that would create distrust in their event. It would, of course, make sense that such individuals would feel threatened and insecure in absence of an apology.
Allow me to put those minds at ease. Earlier this month, I did it – I finally got my foot in the door with Oculus VR! I met an engineer named Rob at a party, and it turned out he worked there, and we struck up a conversation. I managed to pass my resume along to him and, as luck would have it, they were doing a new employee review the very next day! I got put on the pile, they looked at my resume and, just as I had imagined it, they, too, thought I would be a good fit. Less than one week after submitting my application, I had an offer in hand.
A few days later, I was approached by the real Oculus recruiter. They’d heard about my new offer, and of course knew all about the business at the TOC last fall. As luck would have it, they were going to be at the EOC two weeks later. They wanted to know if I, now an official Oculus employee, was interested in working at the event as an official recruiter. Honestly, I was elated. It felt great to be welcomed as a member of the company so quickly, and to actually provide a service for students who had been so disappointed the semester earlier. We joked that, as the senior Oculus recruiter, I was going to have to show them what to do – “help us figure out which of these students are legit.”
After months and months of contemplating unemployment, of having to explain myself to dozens and dozens of accusatory faces, I was finally on the other side. I watched neurotic try-hards like me and George line up in front of my booth, hand me their resumes, and give me some nervous spiel about why I, Oculus VR, should hire them. Some were good enough that all they needed to give me was their resume. Usually, the ones that had big, fancy monologues were trying too hard, and it took me only a glance at their work experiences and some quick questions to see why. If there’s one lesson I’ve learned from this whole experience, it’s to not try so damn hard to get what you want. If you’re bright-eyed, genuine and deserving, the world will eventually turn the way it needs to ensure things work out in the end.
So in the end, representatives of the TOC, I hope you don’t judge me or my new company too harshly. Last fall, neither of us really knew what we were doing. We were young, nervous, desperate to make a good impression. Somehow, we both ended up getting misunderstood. By the spring, though, we think we have it figured out, and look forward to working with you in TOC’s and EOC’s to come. At least, I certainly do.
Of course, if you want it from the horse’s mouth, I encourage you to send me your concerns directly, and I’ll be sure to forward them to my guy Palmer ASAP. I hear we’re all getting together for drinks soon.
Amanda Watson returning to the Technical Opportunities Conference at Carnegie Mellon University after "the incident" as an official representative of Oculus.
Graphics can be a touchy subject in VR. Standalone headsets are only capable of so much on their own, but consoles and PCs are expensive. When something like Subside comes along, though, even an early access Steam demo can help us all pause, look around, and take in what really eye-catching visuals can do to transport you somewhere else.
The new demo from A2D is available on Steam as of this writing with a full release listed as "coming soon".
You can simply reach out in front of you and spread your arms out to swim beneath the churning waters to see a world that's teeming with life. Schools of fish dart through the water with fluid motion while sunbeams filter through the water creating shafts of light in a visual feast. Some may never get to experience diving into clear waters like these, making Subside immediately transportive on the power of these elements alone.
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A2D's swimming mechanic feels intuitive and, more importantly, realistic. The resistance of water feels palpable as you paddle through the sea, and buoyancy seems to replicate the feeling of bobbing and diving.
The demo for Subside offers a glimpse of a satisfying underwater excursion and we'll be curious to take a deeper dive into whenever we get the chance. Subside is definitely on our radar now, and if you have a PC and VR headset around we recommend giving the free demo a quick look on Steam.
Alien: Rogue Incursion was just announced, a new made-for-VR game in the Alien franchise.
The game is being developed by Survios in collaboration with 20th Century Games. Survios has been developing VR games for over 10 years now. It's the developer behind Raw Data, Battlewake, Electronauts, Sprint Vector, and Creed: Rise to Glory.
Survios says Alien: Rogue Incursion will be "the biggest, most ambitious VR game we have developed in our decade-long history".
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Here's how it describes the game:
"This brand-new single-player, action-horror VR game features an original story that fully surrounds players within the terrors of the Alien universe.
Designed by Alien fans for Alien fans, Survios brings their expertise to crafting this technically advanced, and frightfully immersive Alien virtual reality game."
Alien: Rogue Incursion is set to launch "holiday 2024" on Meta Quest 3, PlayStation VR2, and PC VR via Steam.
This is the biggest title yet listing support for Quest 3 but not Quest 2 and Quest Pro, something we've been warning about happening for some time now. Meta is rumored to be preparing to launch a cheaper version of Quest 3 with the same chipset, so this game should run on that headset too.
We’ve been waiting patiently for veteran VR studio Survios to finally offer up some details on its next game, and today we finally have them. Alien: Rogue Incursion is described as a “single-player, action-horror VR game,” with an “all-new storyline full of heart-pounding action, exploration, and terrifying Xenomorphs.”
Almost two full years after Survios confirmed development on an Alien game in partnership with 20th Century Games, the studio has now confirmed the game’s title, target platforms, and release window.
Alien: Rogue Incursion is planned for a release date of “holiday 2024” (so very likely early December). The game will be released on PSVR 2 and PC VR, and for Quest our understanding is it will be exclusively available on Quest 3.
“Our team at Survios are huge fans of Alien and have been building Alien: Rogue Incursion for a long time, honing our ability to pair the most technically advanced, immersive, and engaging VR experiences with best-in-class franchises,” says TQ Jefferson, Chief Product Officer at Survios. “This fully original story embraces all our favorite elements from 45 years of Alien, from kinetic action and heart-pounding exploration to our terrifyingly resourceful Xenomorphs that will truly make your skin crawl. We can’t wait for fans to get their hands on it this holiday season.”
Two and a half years ago, Pimax announced VR Station, a compact, console-like computer for running PC VR content that would be wirelessly streamed to its Reality “12K” and Crystal headsets. And while the “12K” still hasn’t shipped (and the Crystal still doesn’t have its wireless streaming add-on), Pimax insists the VR Station is still in the works.
The VR Station was announced in late 2021, and is said to be a compact PC that’s designed to play PC VR games wirelessly thanks to a high-resolution 60GHz accessory.
In its announcement last week, Pimax offered an update on the 60GHz ‘Airlink’ wireless accessory: it should ship later this year with a $300 price tag. While it can be used with any PC, the Airlink tech is an essential part of the VR Station.
But there was no update about the VR Station itself, so we reached out to ask. Pimax tells Road to VR that VR Station is still in development.
“Currently, the development of the VR Station is progressing smoothly. We are focusing on optimizing software usability, and our collaborating PC case manufacturers are producing a new batch of PC cases. Once delivered, we will assemble some VR Station prototypes,” a spokesperson says. “We believe that we will soon have further updates to share with everyone. For now, we can share that VR Station is a comprehensive solution combining a portable desktop PC with a [wireless transmitter for streaming VR games]. With VR Station, we aim to enhance the PC VR user experience and ultimately achieve a “plug-and-play” experience similar to gaming consoles. In our planning, both software usability and hardware stability are top priorities. Therefore, we are still in contact with several PC manufacturers to explore the possibilities of VR Station.
So there you have it. It’s still not clear when, but Pimax still expects to eventually deliver the VR Station.
When it does launch, it unfortunately won’t be compatible with either of the company’s latest headsets (Crystal Light and Crystal Super), because only the original Crystal headset is compatible with Airlink. But perhaps the Reality “12K” headset—which Pimax also says is still in development—will be ready by the time VR Station launches.
Note: We put the “12K” part of the headset’s name in quotes because Pimax isn’t referring to the same 12K that is often used to describe TVs and monitors. The headset’s total horizontal resolution is near 12K, but this is split across each eye. Additionally, the resolution height is just half the height of what one would expect from a 12K TV. When referring to the headset’s name, we put “12K” in quotes to help our readers understand that it’s being used differently than they might expect.
Contractors Showdown, a VR battle royale shooter that supports 60-player matches, is out now.
Developed by Caveman Studio, Contractors Showdown is a sequel to 2018's Contractors. Set across a 16-square-kilometer map, you can dive in with doubles, trios, or solo, and everyone can choose between three types of perks per match for strategic advantages. Progression lets you earn resource points, fulfill contracts, unlock blueprints, obtain cosmetics, and more.
For more details on gameplay, here's an official description:
Navigate the high-stakes arena using an array of tactical props, including airstrikes and UAVs. These game-changing elements elevate the intensity, offering players the opportunity to unleash powerful tools and outsmart their opponents. Plan your moves, coordinate with your squad, and deploy these strategic assets to dominate the battlefield.
It was initially unclear if Contractors Showdown would reach both Steam and Quest simultaneously, and we were told “unforeseen circumstances“ have held back a Steam release at the last minute following last month's open beta tests.
Contractors Showdown is available now on the Meta Quest platform and “a new release date” for Steam should be announced soon. The title is priced $19.99.
Headlines are circulating claiming Apple cut Vision Pro production by almost 50% due to weak demand. Here's why they're almost certainly false.
The source of these articles is a new note from supply-chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has been reporting on Apple's supply chain for more than 10 years. Kuo's claims sometimes turn out to be true, but not always, and his latest contradicts not only what we know about Vision Pro production, but what Kuo himself said just a few months ago.
Specifically, Kuo is claiming that Apple reduced its sales forecast from Vision Pro from a "market consensus" of 700-750K units to 400-450K units, a roughly 40% reduction.
Kuo claims this is due to weaker than expected US demand, leading to a production cut ahead of global launch. Yet as recently as February Kuo said Apple's US target was 150-200K units for 2024, and in January he said Apple sold almost 200K preorders. MacRumors separately cited "a source with knowledge of Apple's sales numbers" as saying Apple had sold 200K preorders, particularly ironic given it's now presenting Kuo's claim and as if it were official news.
Further, in January Kuo was also referencing Apple Vision Pro "achieving a shipment volume of 500,000 units". This isn't just a random number - it's what multiple sources report is Apple's supply limit for the year, regardless of demand.
The Financial Times, The Information, and The Elec have previously reported that Vision Pro production is heavily constrained by the extremely limited supply of micro-OLED displays. All three sources reported that Sony, the supplier, can only produce enough micro-OLED displays for less than half a million headsets in 2024. Given this, why would this claimed "market consensus" be 700-750K headset units in the first place? It simply doesn't make sense.
With a $3500 entry price Apple Vision Pro was never going to be a breakout mass market hit. The product's very name suggests it's just the beginning of the Vision headset line, and multiple sources have reported that Apple plans a more affordable model later in the decade. But Vision Pro's price is dictated by its production and supply constraints, and it's those constraints limiting its volume, not lower than expected demand.
Reality Labs is the division of Meta behind Quest headsets, the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, and research & development toward AR glasses and their neural wristband input device.
In its Q1 2024 earnings call today Meta reported $440 million Reality Labs quarterly revenue, 30% higher than Q1 2023. Meta CFO Susan Li told investors this record revenue was "driven by Quest headset sales". However, it's also 36% lower than Q1 2022 and 18% lower than Q1 2021.
This suggests Quest 3 is continuing to sell well after its launch quarter, which saw Reality Labs' highest quarterly revenue ever, though isn't maintaining post-launch sales momentum as well as Quest 2 did (though it does have higher retention).
That's almost certainly because Quest 3 launched with a $200 higher entry price. Even adjusted for inflation, that's still $150 higher, putting it in a different price segment than Quest 2.
A leaked Meta hardware roadmap from last year and reports from The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and a Chinese analyst who has been reliable in the past suggest Meta plans to soon launch a cheaper version of Quest 3 to directly replace Quest 2, rumored to be called "Quest 3S" or "Quest 3 Lite". Meta's recent actions suggest it's trying to clear stock of Quest 2 and its official accessories to make way for this new lower priced headset.
This cheaper version of Quest 3 will be crucial for Reality Labs' prospects of achieving overall yearly growth.
Reality Labs reported $4.29 billion costs in Q1 2024, a minuscule decrease of 1% compared to Q1 2023.
That means Reality Labs made a $3.85 quarterly "loss" in Q1 2024. But while describing this as a loss is technically correct in a financial sense, in reality it's more accurate to describe most of it as long term investment. XR headsets like Quest are still a relatively early technology, far from maturity, and Meta hasn't even launched its first AR glasses yet. More than 50% of Reality Labs spending is on the research and development of AR glasses.
Also, Meta managed to decrease quarterly costs by 1% while increasing revenue by 30%, this suggests Reality Labs is slowly progressing on the path to profitability. It might also suggest Quest 3 is less subsidised than Quest 2 was.
As in previous quarters, Susan Li told investors she expects these losses to continue to increase meaningfully over the next year due to "ongoing product development efforts and our investments to further scale our ecosystem".
Mark Zuckerberg has in the past told investors that he doesn't expect Reality Labs to be profitable until the 2030s, seeing it as a long-term investment in the future of computing.
Some of my favorite games over the years have been the ones that allow for the manipulation of time. In 2001, the release of Max Payne from Remedy Entertainment changed everything.
Suddenly we were given the ability to run into rooms filled with enemies while using our newfound ability to seamlessly slow down time at the touch of a button, giving players the ability to take out enemies in a slow motion ballet of pure carnage. This was a game changer for the action genre, and "Bullet Time" was born.
In the lead up to the launch of VR as a consumer platform we saw several other gaming franchises using variations of these time manipulation techniques and, in 2016, a new variant made its way into what is now considered a classic virtual reality gaming experience — SUPERHOT VR.
COLD VR - SUPERHOT
Comparing COLD VR to SUPERHOT
OK, so let's get this out of the way up front... It's almost impossible to talk about COLD VR without comparing it to SUPERHOT VR. While it's true that both games share a time manipulation mechanic, they approach it in fundamentally different ways.
In SUPERHOT, time moves only when players do, giving them the ability to plan their next moves in order to outwit enemies. So this take on the time manipulation mechanic creates a strategic and almost puzzle-like experience that ultimately rewards players for carefully planning precision strikes.
In Cold VR, the mechanic is reversed and time progresses at full speed only when movement stops causing players to have to think on their feet in order to react quickly to the ever-changing environment around them. The constant need for locomotion serves to create a more chaotic and adrenaline-fueled style of gameplay that's challenging, and it also makes you feel like a badass digital John Wick.
What Does COLD VR Get Right?
One thing that always seems to make a game stand out for me is when it has some level of story, especially when it's in VR. I like my virtual excursions to have a narrative so I can lose myself in the depth of these games, providing a connection that makes these adventures stay with me longer. With that in mind, I'm happy to say that COLD VR isn't just about gameplay mechanics, it also presents a cool blend of high quality live-action video sequences coupled with in-game storytelling that puts players in the position of ultimately determining the fate of humanity.
Look and Feel
As for the look and feel of COLD VR, it's clear that ALLWARE has paid a lot of attention to detail. There’s a challenging enemy AI and subtle environmental cues that help with guiding forward progress, coming together to complement the game's tense atmosphere. The visuals feature a sleek and modern aesthetic filled full of advanced lighting effects, dynamic shadows and reflections all set against a backdrop painted in a vibrant neon draped color palette that focuses on blues and whites presenting a futuristic and icy atmosphere.
The sound design in COLD VR is also a nice accompaniment to the games visuals. ALLWARE has filled the demo with a variety of musical styles, all serving to amp up the backtrack of the game's levels while bullets whiz past enveloping players in the sounds of glass shattering as enemies fall all around. Overall, everything blends together nicely to create a pleasing visual and auditory experience.
Comfort
Now with all of this fast paced movement I know some folks are probably wondering about the comfort levels in this one. This is a game played from a first person perspective and it has some fast paced movements like bullet dodging while sprinting toward multiple enemies, so for those without strong VR legs some discomfort might be in the cards. For the increased immersion it brings I found it best to play this one standing and as for the locomotion options in the game, in this early demo players have either snap turning by default or just turning with their own bodies. There were no other options to be found in this early demo build so for players who need or prefer to play the game seated, hopefully ALLWARE will consider adding a smooth turning option when the game officially launches.
A Cool Look At What's To Come
The demo for COLD VR on Steam offers a glimpse into an exciting upcoming game and, while it's pretty obvious this is SUPERHOT in reverse, there is enough new and different here to say that COLD VR seems to stand on its own merits. This game definitely has us both curious and excited to see what Argentinian developer Carlos Alfonso brings us when it officially launches. The full game is listed as coming soon so hopefully we will see a full release before the anticipation for more COLD VR melts away.
COLD VR arrives this year on PC VR, and the free demo is available now. PSVR 2 and Quest 2/3 ports should follow after the Steam release, followed by a flatscreen version on all major platforms.
John Carmack just gave his take on Meta's new strategy of providing its headset OS to third-party hardware companies.
If you somehow missed the news yesterday, Horizon OS is the new name for the Quest system software, which Meta will also make available to third-party headset makers, starting with ASUS, Lenovo, and potentially LG too.
But former Oculus CTO John Carmack, who architected much of the Oculus Mobile system software that eventually became the Quest system software, and soon Horizon OS, doesn't seem to think this is such a great idea for Meta.
Carmack points out that third-parties will have to price higher than Quest, since Meta sells its hardware at cost. Carmack has repeatedly called for lower cost headsets that open up the VR market to more people. While he says Meta's strategy will enable “boutique” headsets that push areas like resolution, field of view, or comfort, he suggests this "brings with it a tension" that Meta will no longer have the "shine of making industry leading high-end gear", which he suggests will force Meta to focus on "novel new hardware systems from the research pipeline for their high end systems, which is going to lead to poor decisions".
"VR is held back more by software than hardware"
But Carmack's biggest criticism of the idea is from a software perspective. He claims the strategy will be "a drag on software development at Meta", because the engineering resources needed to make the OS suitable for third-parties and "maintaining good communication and trying not to break your partners" will "steal the focus" of Meta's key software engineers that would be "better spent improving the system". This is vital, in his words, because "VR is held back more by software than hardware".
Carmack finished his statement by suggesting "allowing partner access to the full OS build for standard Quest hardware" instead, which he claims could be done very cheaply and enable specialty applications and location-based entertainment, though he acknowledges it would be "a much lower key announcement".
"Meta already sells the Quest systems basically at production cost, and just ignores the development costs, so don’t expect this to result in cheaper VR headsets from other companies with Quest equivalent capabilities. Even if the other companies have greater efficiency, they can’t compete with that.
What it CAN do is enable a variety of high end “boutique” headsets, as you get with Varjo / Pimax / Bigscreen on SteamVR. Push on resolution, push on field of view, push on comfort. You could drive the Apple displays from Quest silicon. You could make a headset for people with extremely wide or narrow IPD or unusual head / face shapes. You could add crazy cooling systems and overclock everything. All with full app compatibility, but at higher price points. That would be great!
This brings with it a tension, because Meta as a company, as well as the individual engineers, want the shine of making industry leading high-end gear. If Meta cedes those “simple scaling” axes to other headset developers, they will be left leaning in with novel new hardware systems from the research pipeline for their high end systems, which is going to lead to poor decisions.
VR is held back more by software than hardware. This initiative will be a drag on software development at Meta. Unquestionably. Preparing the entire system for sharing, then maintaining good communication and trying not to break your partners will steal the focus of key developers that would be better spent improving the system. It is tempting to think this is just a matter of increasing the budget, but that is not the way it works in practice – sharing the system with partners is not a cost that can be cleanly factored out.
Just allowing partner access to the full OS build for standard Quest hardware could be done very cheaply, and would open up a lot of specialty applications and location based entertainment systems, but that would be a much lower key announcement."
