Meta has been flirting with retail for years now, however a Business Insider report maintains the company is finally looking to expand its retail footprint beyond its first and only brick-and-mortar location.
Citing an internal communication, the report maintains Meta is looking to hire retail staff and roll out more physical stores, which are thought to go beyond the sort of pop-up locations the company experimented with late last year.
It’s said the plans could mirror Apple’s retail strategy, although the communication seen by Business Insider is “not broadly known internally yet,” suggesting it’s still early days.
While Meta’s latest pop-up in Los Angeles garnered a fair amount of press late last year, since 2016 the company has actually launched numerous pop-up stores in addition to partnering with retailers like Best Buy to offer demo spaces for its line of XR headsets.
Inside Meta’s LA Pop-up Store | Image courtesy Meta
Beyond pop-ups, the company currently operates a single permanent Meta Store in Burlingame, California, which opened next to its Reality Labs campus in 2022. There, customers can demo Quest 3 and Quest 3S, as well as Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses.
The biggest driver for the retail rollout is thought to be Ray-Ban Meta Glasses however, which are built in partnership with French-Italian eyewear conglomerate EssilorLuxottica.
Ray-Ban Meta Glasses, which pack in cameras for photos and video, as well as onboard Meta AI assistant and off-ear speakers, are already available in a number of styles and lens configurations, although that’s likely set to change.
Ray-Ban Meta Glasses, Image courtesy Meta, EssilorLuxottica
Notably, a report from Bloomberg in April alleged the company is aiming to introduce a number of new smart glasses, including a pair with built-in display and a sportier pair from EssilorLuxottica sub-brand Oakley.
And the segment is heating up. Google showed off its own pair of smart glasses on stage at Google I/O earlier this month, announcing it’s partnering with eyewear companies Warby Parker and Gentle Monster to release multiple versions of its Android XR Glasses in the near future.
Meanwhile, a report from earlier this month alleged Apple is also getting into the smart glasses segment too, as the Cupertino tech giant is reportedly now producing a smart glasses chip based on the low-energy processors used in Apple Watches, which is optimized for power efficiency and the ability to control multiple cameras.
In a twist that promises to make the inevitable Palmer Luckey documentary even more dramatic, Palmer Luckey’s military tech company Anduril has now officially partnered with Meta to build “the world’s best AR and VR systems for the US military.”
Luckey founded Oculus in 2012, the company whose Rift headset was the spark that rebooted the modern era of VR. As a rapidly growing startup, Oculus attracted the attention of Meta (at the time Facebook), which acquired the company in 2014 for more than $2 billion. Luckey continued in VR under Meta’s roof for several years but was eventually pushed out of the company due to backlash over his politics. After leaving Meta, Luckey went on to found Anduril, a tech-defense startup which itself went on to achieve a multi-billion valuation.
“Anduril and Meta are partnering to design, build, and field a range of integrated XR products that provide warfighters with enhanced perception and enable intuitive control of autonomous platforms on the battlefield,” the announcement reads. “The capabilities enabled by the partnership will draw on more than a decade of investment by both companies in advanced hardware, software, and artificial intelligence. The effort has been funded through private capital, without taxpayer support, and is designed to save the U.S. military billions of dollars by utilizing high-performance components and technology originally built for commercial use.”
“I am glad to be working with Meta once again.” says Luckey. “Of all the areas where dual-use technology can make a difference for America, this is the one I am most excited about. My mission has long been to turn warfighters into technomancers, and the products we are building with Meta do just that.”
Both Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and CTO Andrew “Boz” Bosworth—who were publicly at odds with Luckey following his prior ousting from Meta—both provided quotes as part of the announcement, further cementing a renewed relationship between Meta and Luckey.
Oculus & Anduril founder Palmer Luckey (left) and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg (right) pose for a new image demonstrating their renewed relationship | Image courtesy Palmer Luckey
Thus far it sounds like the work between the companies will largely be around the headset that’s being built for the IVAS project, a $20 billion program to build an AR helmet for ground soldiers. Initially headed by Microsoft, Anduril has purportedly taken a leading role over project, and has now tapped Meta to bring some of its technology to the battlefield.
Saber Interactive, the studio behind PC and console shooter World War Z (2019), revealed the franchise is getting its first VR game, bringing the iconic swarm of zombies to Quest and SteamVR headsets on August 12th.
World War Z VR is set to be an entirely new entry in the series built from the ground-up for VR, something the studio says “faithfully reimagines the intense action of the original World War Z game.”
Unlike the PC and console game though, which featured a third-person view and had a number of multiplayer modes, the VR release is said to offer up a first-person, single-player campaign set across New York, Tokyo and Marseille.
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Image courtesy Saber Interactive
Image courtesy Saber Interactive
Image courtesy Saber Interactive
Image courtesy Saber Interactive
Image courtesy Saber Interactive
Image courtesy Saber Interactive
World War Z VR promises to let you take on “over 200 zombies” at a time, with every gameplay mechanic of the original World War Z fully reimagined for VR, the studio says, which is set to feature seven playable characters in addition to its host of weapons, perks and three difficulty settings.
And like the in the World War Z (2013) film and 2006 Max Brooks novel, zombies are far from brainless walkers; the studio says zombies “will adapt to their surroundings and your playstyle to hunt you down, while special infected enemies raise the stakes even higher.”
Launching August 12th, World War Z VR is now available for pre-order on the Horizon Store for Quest 2 and above and on Steam for PC VR headsets, priced at $20. Although there’s no pre-order discount to speak of, pre-order customers will get an exclusive ‘Golden Skin Pack’ weapon bonus.
Brand ambassador and referral programs are everywhere, aiming to drive engagement and sales through influencers and loyal fans alike. But last week, Pimax crossed a line, the company publicly admitted. It was discovered the PC VR headset company was secretly aiming to launch a program that offered rewards for verifiably positive forum posts—an ostensible attempt at astroturfing that quickly unraveled.
It all started with Reddit user ‘Mavgaming1’ last week, who leaked a private conversation initiated by Pimax through its official Discord. The proposition was clear: Pimax was looking for users willing to take part in a new Community Engagement Program, which would allow them to collect points to unlock tiered rewards by posting about the company on social media.
The program, which Pimax confirmed with Road to VR to indeed be genuine before being discontinued following the leak, featured everything from $5 Steam gift cards to hundreds of dollars in discounts off future purchases of Pimax hardware. The top reward tier even offered a $1,000 subsidized trip to the company’s Shanghai headquarters.
The only thing selected participants needed to do was type up a verifiably positive post for Reddit “or any other forums you visit,” submit it to Pimax for approval, post it online, and rack up the points. Below is an excerpt from the posting guidelines given to Mavgaming1 via Discord.
Image courtesy Mavgaming1
Suggested topics included “Your First VR Experience with Pimax”, “Tips for Getting the Best Experience with Pimax” or anything else relevant to bringing a positive light to the company’s XR headsets.
The company was also prepared to give out redeemable points for making positive comments on Pimax-sanctioned social media posts. In effect, it resembled a coordinated astroturfing effort—an attempt to simulate grassroots support for the company’s PC VR headsets, including its upcoming modular flagship Crystal Super, and new slim and light entrants Dream Air and Dream Air SE.
Pimax’s response in a nutshell: The company claims it wasn’t an officially sanctioned program, but rather one regrettably devised by employees acting independently. The company quickly moved to shut it down. Additionally, Pimax says it has never paid for positive coverage in the past.
In all, the company admits to contacting nine Discord users about the program, three of which received the full pitch of content guidelines and reward structure.
Pimax’s Head of Communications Jaap Grolleman, who has largely become the face of the company over the last three years, tell Road to VR those messages “didn’t go through our internal application process for any external communication, but was sent privately over Discord messages by colleagues.”
“We have never demanded any journalist, developer or user to use any other voice but their own to describe our products, and never demanded a review or comment to be positive. That is in all 10 years of Pimax,” Grolleman tells Road to VR. “That is, with the exception of three messages being sent out around the 22nd of May.”
Grolleman characterizes the program as “a big judgment error in several areas from some individuals, who did nonetheless represent Pimax.” What’s more, he affirms “no reviews were published under this program.”
It’s more than just a marketing misstep though. While only three users received the pitch before the program was shut down, the initiative potentially could have violated marketing laws in multiple countries.
According to Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. § 45), “unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce are hereby declared unlawful.”
This language underpins the FTC’s endorsement guidelines, which dictates that companies must not solicit or compensate for positive reviews without clear, conspicuous disclosure of that material relationship. In other words, paying users for good coverage—especially when disclosure is omitted or downplayed—isn’t just unethical, it’s potentially a violation of federal law.
Cortopia Studios, the team behind GORN 2 (2025), announced it’s working on a ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ game which is slated to land on Quest and SteamVR headsets sometime next year.
We haven’t seen Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Empire City in action yet, as Cortopia Studios and publisher Beyond Frames Entertainment only released a quick trailer announcing the titular ‘heroes in a half-shell’.
The studio did release a few screenshots though, showing off a few distinctly New York environments in addition to Master Splinter himself—all of it rendered in a comic book-style cel shading.
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Image courtesy Cortopia Studios
Image courtesy Cortopia Studios
Image courtesy Cortopia Studios
Image courtesy Cortopia Studios
Image courtesy Cortopia Studios
In addition to playing solo, the studio confirmed it’s launching with four-player co-op, which sounds pretty radical—letting you play as Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo. The studio says you’ll also get a chance to master each Turtle’s signature weapon with precision strikes and blocks in this first-person action adventure.
In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Empire City, there will also be some ninja-style parkour on offer too, as users can “scale urban landscapes” while on their way to confront “fan-favorite villains,” the studio says.
While you won’t be able to battle everyone’s favorite baddie himself—the game is set following the Shredder’s demise—we can probably expect a fair share of Foot Clan members and other recognizable villains too.
Additionally, IGN reveals we should also expect pals like April O’Neil and Master Splinter to pop up, as well as a fully explorable Turtles’ lair.
There’s no launch date yet beyond the 2026 release window. In the meantime, you can wishlist the game on the Horizon Store for Quest, and on Steam for PC VR headsets.
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Anyone with a PC VR headset is invited to experience V-nova PresenZ, our next-gen VR movie format, by downloading the free ImmersiX app on Steam. See for yourself the power of high-quality CGI converted for true six degrees-of-freedom (6DoF) viewing in VR.
Read on to learn more about how it works.
For nearly a century, filmmakers have dreamed of letting audiences step inside movies, from early 3D experiments to today’s 360° VR. Yet these efforts fell short: traditional VR videos let you look around but not move freely, often causing discomfort and motion sickness. Real-time 3D graphics, meanwhile, can’t match the stunning quality of Hollywood cinematic productions like Mufasa: The Lion King (2024).
Today, the dream of truly immersing viewers in a cinematic story finally comes true. With the launch of the ImmersiX app on Steam and the breakthrough V-Nova PresenZ volumetric movie format, viewers can literally walk inside cinematic worlds, exploring them naturally with six degrees of freedom (6DoF).
Cracking the Code of Cinematic 6DoF
V-Nova PresenZ (pronounced “presence”, a nod to the 1999 film eXistenZ) is a hybrid-rendering volumetric technology. It transforms pre-rendered CGI into a smooth, point-cloud format for comfortable, nausea-free VR exploration. Unlike real-time game graphics, V-Nova PresenZ leverages Hollywood-quality pre-rendered visuals (think Pixar, WETA, or DreamWorks), enabling cinematic lighting, reflections, and animation previously impossible in VR without massive computing power. The difference between hours of rendering per frame versus the milliseconds available to game engines can be strikingly clear.
The result is a genuine virtual-camera experience: viewers can lean, peek, and move naturally around objects. Crucially, since the visuals are volumetric rather than flat video, close-up interactions don’t induce nausea. V-Nova PresenZ finally delivers true presence (that feeling of being there) without traditional VR trade-offs.
How is This Possible?
V-Nova PresenZ slots seamlessly into existing CGI pipelines. Studios continue using standard tools (Maya, Arnold, etc.), simply adding V-Nova’s plugins.
“What sets V-Nova PresenZ apart isn’t just technical innovation, but effortless integration with existing production workflows,” notes Jose Antunes of ProVideoCoalition.
Creating V-Nova PresenZ experiences from completed CGI scenes, including beloved films, is as straightforward as adapting films for IMAX 3D or ScreenX. Existing favorite content can be affordably re-released in immersive VR, unlocking unmatched audience experiences.
Historically, data size has been the primary challenge. Early versions of the format produced massive files impossible to distribute. V-Nova, leaders in advanced compression formats (MPEG-5 LCEVC, SMPTE VC-6), acquired the company that developed PresenZ, and empowered the team with its compression IP. After extensive development with Hollywood studios, V-Nova PresenZ is now a mature solution that efficiently streams at manageable data sizes. In the process, the format earned three prestigious Lumiere Awards from Hollywood’s Advanced Imaging Society.
ImmersiX: You Don’t Want To Miss This (Now on Steam)
Today, viewers can experience V-Nova PresenZ through the ImmersiX app, free on Steam for PC VR headsets. A streaming version for standalone devices (Apple Vision Pro, Meta Quest) arrives this summer, powered by NVIDIA’s GDN streaming infrastructure.
ImmersiX currently features three standout experiences:
Weightless (free): the world’s first 6DoF music show by Grammy-winning songwriter Diane Warren and pop artist Arilena Ara, immerses you in a cosmic performance, with incredible music.
Sharkarma: Guardian of the Oceans ($3.99): an interactive underwater thriller directed by veteran animator Cinzia Angelini, places you inside a visually spectacular oceanic survival adventure featuring a massive shark. Sharkarma entertains while informing audiences about the problem of shark finning. Early buyers of Part 1 will receive the full short movie free upon its completion later this year.
Construct (free): a robot-fight short and Lumiere Award winner, originally created as traditional 2D animation, now remastered into immersive volumetric format.
Major Hollywood studios, equipped with extensive CG libraries, are already actively evaluating the format. DreamWorks Animation recently showcased V-Nova PresenZ excerpts of beloved titles like How to Train Your Dragon (2010) and Abominable (2019), generating industry excitement for the potential of porting Tier 1 content IP to cinematic 6DoF. Leading Hollywood VFX house Luma Pictures is prominently certified as a V-Nova PresenZ partner.
Audience feedback to ImmersiX is essential. Showing viewer interest will directly inform major studios decisions to bring groundbreaking immersive titles to life. Your feedback can thus influence the future of this new medium.
A Glimpse at the Future
ImmersiX’s launch signals cinematic 6DoF’s arrival as a genuine entertainment medium.
“We’re entering a new era where audiences don’t just watch, they step inside movies and shows,” says Guido Meardi, CEO of V-Nova.
Imagine watching your favorite blockbuster movies from within or joining your favorite artists in surreal VFX shows.
Download ImmersiX today on Steam to get a first glimpse of this future. Explore ‘Weightless’ and ‘Construct’ at no cost, and secure early-access pricing for ‘Sharkarma’ (including a free upgrade to the full short upon release). Your support and feedback now will directly shape the future of cinematic VR storytelling. Step inside the story, and help define the next generation of immersive entertainment.
Gexagon, the developer behind early access PC VR shooter sandbox Hard Bullet, announced the game’s physics-based madness is finally available on Quest 3.
Hard Bullet initially landed on Steam Early Access in 2020, bringing brutal gunfights and physics-based melee action to PC VR headsets—basically like the sandbox mode in Blade & Sorcery (2024), albeit with realistic guns and loads of John Wick-inspired criminal baddies as fodder.
Starting today, the studio has finally released Hard Bullet for Quest 3 and 3S. Check out the graphics comparison below to see the PC VR and the new Quest version side-by-side:
Like the PC VR version, the new Quest version boasts three game modes:
RIDE Mode: Introduced in summer 2024, this mode focuses on player progression, offering unlockable weapons and challenges to earn new weapon skins.
Sandbox Mode: Allows players to set up custom scenarios and experiment with the game’s physics and mechanics in specially designed environments.
Arena Mode: Challenges players to combat waves of enemies or endure endless hordes across various locations from the RIDE mode.
As a physics sandbox, players can also craft their own scenarios, which include tools like the ‘Welding Tool’ to combine in-game objects, a ‘Custom Ammo Workshop’ to modify bullet effects, and the ‘Spawner Tool’ to generate props and enemies.
The game’s array of realistic weapons are available on Quest too, Gexagon says, which includes pistols, revolvers, submachine guns, shotguns, and rifles—all of which includes optional modes: tactical mode for realistic, manual reloading, or arcade mode for automatic reloading.
Additionally, players can wield blades and blunt melee weapons, like tactical knives, ancient swords, and environmental objects too, Gexagon says.
You can find Hard Bullet starting today over on the Horizon Store for Quest 3 and Quest 3S, priced at $20. And for the love of Woo, clear your playspace and wear your wrist straps. Your TVs and monitors will thank you.
VR indie Triangular Pixels announced its pioneering room-scale VR spy game Unseen Diplomacy (2016) is finally getting a sequel, and it’s coming to Quest 3 and SteamVR headsets this year.
Initially released in 2016 for PC VR headsets, Unseen Diplomacy was one of the first VR experiences to include a unique room-scale locomotion method that “redirected” the user by warping and manipulating the game’s various rooms around you.
Now, veteran VR developer Triangular Pixels announced it’s releasing sequel Unseen Diplomacy 2: Spy Harder sometime this year, which is set to again put its ‘redirected walking’ locomotion front and center, but this time with a full campaign, expanded gameplay mechanics, and deeper strategy.
“We’ve listened to our community and taken everything they loved about Unseen Diplomacy, amped it up and refined it,” says Triangular Pixels’ Katie Goode. “Unseen Diplomacy 2 is bigger, smarter, and more immersive, designed to push the limits of VR espionage action.”
Here’s how the studio describes the action:
In Unseen Diplomacy 2, players take on the role of a spymaster, leading their own elite agency while also getting their hands dirty out in the field in a 1990s inspired retro-futuristic setting with analog technology. Sneak around enemy bases to steal valuable intel and resources, sabotage their plans, and then successfully escape without being noticed. To fully immerse themselves into this role, players will physically crawl, roll under lasers, and dodge side to side while utilizing new gadgets, like the wire clippers, and wearing disguises to dupe the enemy. Those who prefer a less quiet approach can also utilize blow darts. To ensure every mission and campaign feels fresh, Triangular Pixels uses a new system that not only procedurally generates levels, but also tailors the experience based on the space you have and the actions you take.
In addition to the franchise’s usual spying action, Unseen Diplomacy 2 also promises to bring a new strategic layer to the game, letting players recruit agents, manage resources, and deploy operatives on high-stakes missions to infiltrate rogue corporations, mad scientists and secret organizations threatening global stability.
“Every mission will bring you closer to uncovering the truth, and depending on the choices the players make, the road to success varies from playthrough to playthrough,” the studio says.
There’s no release date yet beyond the 2025 launch window, although in the meantime you can wishlist Unseen Diplomacy 2: Spy Harder on the Horizon Store for Quest 3 and 3S (includes mixed reality mode), and on Steam for PC VR headsets.
COLD VR (2025) developer ALLWARE and publisher Perp Games announced their Superhot-inspired shooter is getting a host of updates next month in a new COLD VR: SUB-ZERO Edition.
As a spiritual successor to smash-hit shooter Superhot VR, Cold VR serves up a healthy dose of time-distorting action. Instead of time speeding up when you move though, Cold VR completely flips the script. When you move, time slows, forcing you to think and move quickly before enemies can overrun you.
Initially released in February, Cold VR is getting its first big update on June 2nd, which is among a slate of improvements, is set to bring five new levels to the Quest and PC VR versions of the game.
ALLWARE says a new main campaign with improved enemy AI is being introduced for better gameplay flow, which not only tweaks older levels, but also makes the game’s many Backroom levels optional.
Additionally, the game’s intro and Main Menu level are also getting a “complete overhaul” so players can jump into gameplay more quickly, the studio says.
Among the updates coming to ‘Sub-Zero’ is also a new weapon-catching mechanic, improved visuals, support for room-scale movement, and support for bHaptics haptic vests. The studio further confirmed that its long-awaited PSVR 2 version is still on the way in the near future.
In the meantime, you can find Cold VR over on the Horizon Store for Quest 2 and above, and on Steam for PC VR headsets, priced at $20.
Meta announced it’s now running a test in Quest’s latest Horizon OS release (v77) that overhauls the platform’s dock-based UI for a new launcher overlay. Additionally, Meta says some users will also see 3D Instagram photos in their feed on Quest too, which is neat.
First teased at Connect 2024, Meta is finally bringing Navigator to Quest, which serves as a new centralized hub for apps, quick actions, and system functions.
“As part of our work to develop a fully spatial operating system designed around people, Navigator gives you convenient access to your recently used applications, with the added ability to pin up to 10 items in your library for quick access and seamless task resumption. This makes it easier to multitask in-headset and connect with the people and things you care about most,” Meta says in the v77 patch notes.
Essentially, Navigator is supposed to make it easier to access system-level controls and then quickly return to what you were doing in-headset. More specifically, the new UI should feel pretty familiar to smartphone users thanks to its more traditional layout.
YouTuber ‘The Construct’ shows off Navigator, including a tutorial video and hands-on impressions:
“We designed Navigator based on everything we’ve learned over the last decade. It’s unobtrusive, intuitive, and built from the ground up for the unique needs of spatial computing,” Meta says.
The company says Navigator will begin rolling out as a limited test to some people on the Public Test Channel (PTC) v77, which is expected to roll out gradually to all users over the coming months.
Additionally, Instagram is getting a little love on Quest too, as Meta says it’s currently testing 3D-ified photos on the platform. For some users on PTC v77, Meta’s AI will automatically transform existing 2D photos not originally captured in 3D into an immersive format.
“And it’s an early look at our plans to continue bringing more social and entertainment experiences that are 2D today into a more immersive, 3D future,” Meta says.
Note: To enroll in Quest’s Public Test Channel (PTC), you need to use the Meta Horizon app on your phone and navigate to the ‘Devices’ section. Select your Quest headset and then go to ‘Headset settings’ and then ‘Advanced Settings’. Finally, toggle on ‘Public Test Channel’.
Valve founder Gabe Newell’s neural chip company Starfish Neuroscience announced it’s developing a custom chip designed for next-generation, minimally invasive brain-computer interfaces—and it may be coming sooner than you think.
The company announced in a blog update that it’s creating a custom, ultra-low power neural chip in collaboration with R&D leader imec.
Starfish says the chip is intended for future wireless, battery-free brain implants capable of reading and stimulating neural activity in multiple areas simultaneously—a key requirement for treating complex neurological disorders involving circuit-level dysfunction. That’s the ‘read and write’ functions we’ve heard Newell speak about in previous talks on the subject.
Mike Armbinder (left) and Gabe Newel (right) | Image courtesy Valve
The project aims to overcome current limitations of minimally-invasive neural interface implants, which are often bulky, power-hungry, and difficult to scale across multiple brain regions.
Current clinical technologies, like Elon Musk’s Neuralink (approved by the FDA in 2023), typically focus on single-region intervention in the brain’s motor cortex. In contrast, Starfish hopes to reduce surgical burden through miniaturization, making implants easier to place across multiple sites.
And at just 2 × 4mm, Starfish’s chip is tiny. If you never imaged reading a brain chip spec sheet from a company founded by Valve’s Gabe Newell, well, welcome to the future. Starfish’s first brain chip boasts:
Low power: 1.1 mW total power consumption during normal recording
Physically small: 2 x 4mm (0.3mm pitch BGA)
Capable of both recording (spikes and LFP) & stimulation (biphasic pulses)
32 electrode sites, 16 simultaneous recording channels at 18.75kHz
1 current source for stimulating on arbitrary pairs of electrodes
Onboard impedance monitoring and stim voltage transient measurement
Digital onboard data processing and spike detection allows the device to operate via low-bandwidth wireless interfaces.
Fabricated in TSMC 55nm process
It’s still early days though. The company is now calling for early-stage collaborators—particularly those working in wireless power delivery, communication, and implantable neural devices—to explore novel applications of this technology ahead of its expected availability in late 2025.
“I think connecting to people’s motor cortex and visual cortex is going to be way easier than people expected and doing things like […] reading and writing to somebody’s motor cortex is way more of a tractable problem than making people feel ‘cold’. And you never would have guessed that,” Newell said in a 2023 interview with IGN. “And I never would have guessed that before going into it. It turns out your brain has really good interfaces for some things and really badly designed, kludgy interfaces for doing other things. And the fact that your immune system gets involved in your perception of temperature means there’s all sorts of weird parts of your brain that participate in the sensation of being cold, whereas your motor cortex [or] your visual cortex are much more tractable problems.”
“We can measure responses to in-game stimuli. And we’re not always getting [data] reliably, but we’re starting to figure out how. Think about what you’d want to know about your players. There’s a long list of things we can get right now with current technology, current generation analysis, and current generation experimentation,” Armbinder said in his GDC 2019 talk, which was entitled Brain-Computer Interfaces: One Possible Future for How We Play.
Eye-tracking company Tobii announced it’s partnering with Prophesee to develop its next-generation of eye-tracking for AR/VR headsets and smart glasses, which will be based on Prophesee’s unique event-based vision system.
In short, Prophesee makes specialized cameras and sensors that work more like human eyes. Instead of recording everything like standard camera, their technology only captures changes, such as movement or light changes, making it faster, more compact and importantly more power efficient. Applications have included self-driving cars, industrial machines, smartphones, but also soon XR headsets and smart glasses with the help of Tobii.
The collaboration is said to combine Tobii’s industry leading eye-tracking platform with Prophesee’s event-based sensor technology, which the companies say will enable them to develop an “ultra-fast and power-efficient eye-tracking solution, specifically designed to meet the stringent power and form factor requirements of compact and battery-constrained smart eyewear.”
“Event-based vision is a perfect match for the growing demand for low-power, always-on sensing in next-generation wearable devices,” said Luca Verre, co-founder and CEO of Prophesee. “This partnership builds on a strong foundation of collaboration between our teams and expands our joint capabilities into the eye-tracking space. With Tobii’s proven leadership in eye tracking, combined with our experience in event-based sensing, we aim to set a new standard for what’s possible in AR/VR and smart eyewear.”
Emma Bauer, Tobii’s Senior Vice President of Integrations, calls smart glasses “one of the most demanding segments for eye tracking,” as it requires ultra-low power, high performance, and seamless integration into a standard glasses form factor.
Ray-Ban Meta Glasses, Image courtesy Meta, EssilorLuxottica
“Through partnering with Prophesee, we add event-based sensors as a complement to our existing camera technologies, giving our customers even more options and flexibility when designing their products,” Bauer says.
Nowadays, you’ll find Tobii eye-tracking tech in a host of modern headsets, including PlayStation VR 2, Pixel Crystal, Play for Dream MR, as well as the 2019-era HTC Vive Pro Eye.
Google has released its second Developer Preview of the Android XR software development kit (SDK) following its initial release late last year, introducing new features and improvements including wider support for immersive video, better adaptive UI layouts, hand-tracking in ARCore for Jetpack, and more.
Announced at Google I/O, the billet of updates to Android XR SDK is aimed at giving developers more standardized tools to either make their own XR-native apps, or bring their standard Android apps to headsets.
This now includes support for 180° and 360° stereoscopic video playback using the MV-HEVC format, which is one of the most popular codecs optimized for high-quality 3D immersive video.
Google announced that Android XR Developer Preview 2 also now has Jetpack Compose for XR, which enables adaptive UI layouts across XR displays using tools like SubspaceModifier and SpatialExternalSurface. Jetpack Compose is Google’s declarative UI toolkit, which aims to standardize UI design across mobile, tablet, and immersive headsets.
Image courtesy Google
A major update in ARCore for Jetpack XR is the introduction of hand-tracking, which includes 26 posed joints for gesture-based interactions. Developers can now find an updated samples, benchmarks, and guides to help integrate hand-tracking into apps.
Material Design for XR has also been expanded, which Google says will help “large-screen enabled apps [to] effortlessly adapt to the new world of XR.”
Still, a majority of Android XR developers likely don’t have access to official Android XR headsets, which will include mixed reality headset Samsung Project Moohan and AR glasses XREAL Project Aura when they launch later this year—making its Android XR Emulator an indispensable tool.
Samsung Project Moohan, image courtesy Google
Google says Developer Preview 2 now has improved Android XR Emulator by including AMD GPU support, better stability, and tighter integration in Android Studio, which ought to help with XR app testing and development workflows.
Unity, the most popular game engine for XR development, also now offers access to Pre-Release version 2 of the Unity OpenXR, which brings important performance bumps with Dynamic Refresh Rate and SpaceWarp support through Shader Graph. Unity’s improved Mixed Reality template also now features realistic hand mesh occlusion and persistent anchors.
Additionally, Android XR Samples for Unity have been released, showcasing features like hand tracking, plane tracking, face tracking, and passthrough to give developers a kickstart on integrating those features in their own Android XR apps.
That said, while Android XR wasn’t a exactly a massive headliner at this year’s Google I/O, the company is moving forward by not only releasing Android XR to more partner devices, but also by its releasing Android XR smart glasses from eyewear makers Warby Parker and Gentle Monster at some point.
Google says it’s releasing two main versions of its Android XR glasses: one strikingly similar in function to Ray-Ban Meta Glasses, as well as one with a on-board displays for basic tasks like reading text, viewing photos and videos, and navigation.