LG denied reports from South Korean news outlets claiming it canceled its XR partnership with Meta, but said it is "controlling its pace".
>Previous reports from Maeil*** ***Business Newspaper and The Korea Economic Dailydescribed this headset as a high-end Quest Pro successor aimed for 2025 at a price around $2000. >[…] >According to the new report from Seoul Economic Daily, the delay to 2027 is due to differences of opinion between LG and Meta that have emerged since the partnership was formalized. > >Seoul Economic Daily also claims LG is talking to other US tech companies, "most actively" with Amazon, and may even end up excluding Meta from its 2027 headset in the end.
Apple has launched another round of steep discounts on iPhone 15 models in mainland China, in a bid to boost sales in its biggest smartphone market...
>Apple is offering discounts of up to 2,300 yuan ($318) on select models. >[…] >Apple has become dependent on discounts to shift mid-cycle iPhone 15 stock, with strong competition from Huawei's latest high-end series of Pura 70 phones said to be partly behind the most recent drop in sales.
It’s a new product that has specific demos and tons of custom facial interfaces. I’m sure the logistics aren’t trivial and they tried to learn as much as they could from a more narrow launch before selling it everywhere. They also seem to be supply constrained.
I don’t know if letting everything into the store is ultimately good for anyone. Users won’t be able to distinguish between shovel ware and quality titles. And developers will see their games drown.
Using a headset on the plane is one of these use cases that are blown way out of proportion. I get the appeal, but how often do you have to take the plane for something like this to be worth it. Also, you usually want to travel light, why waste all that space on a headset.
Apple is about to start selling Vision Pro outside the US, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports.
> Gurman, who reliably reported many details of Vision Pro before it was officially revealed or even acknowledged to exist by Apple, reports today that Apple is now conducting Vision Pro training sessions for retail staff from Germany, France, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and China.
Quest 2 and Quest 3 now have an "experimental" Travel Mode to make their positional tracking work on airplanes.
> Enabling Travel Mode will make positional tracking work on a moving airplane. Other forms of transport such as trains aren't officially supported yet, but will be at some point in the future, according to Meta.
>Holoride, the Germany-based startup bringing XR entertainment to car passengers, has filed for bankruptcy, citing the inability to secure its latest investment round. >[…] >Co-founded by Audi in 2018, Holoride connected XR headset-wearing car passengers with with motion and location-aware vehicle data, allowing bespoke XR content to match up with the physical world. The company still sells its consumer-focused kit, which bundles in an HTC Vive Flow, puck-like device to translate car movement to the headset, gamepad, and three months of its game subscription service.
Ghosts of Tabor, the hit VR extraction-based shooter, is out now on Pico.
Very possible. I don’t think there’s a general convincing use case for the Vision Pro currently. It’s probably very impressive, but too cumbersome to use regularly for things you can do elsewhere.
Probably depends on how the game will turn out. Big IPs often turn into shit VR games, because the studios don’t have VR experience. It’s a more experienced studio here, but who knows how it’ll turn out.
I‘m guessing it’s mostly exclusive to the Quest 3 because of the hardware requirements. If a Quest 3 light is released I’m sure it’ll run on that as well. Third party headsets most likely won’t be released for a while, but I’m pretty sure if they have enough processing power they will run all games, not just some.
I‘m not sure if you’re arguing for Meta or against them.
Regardless, they‘ve been investing heavily into VR, the landscape would look very different without that. Ofc they’re only doing that to eventually turn it all into shit, but for now at least, they’re focusing on growing and improving it, even if they loose money every quarter.
Idk. They’re paying for it and it‘s by far the biggest VR market, many games are only on Quest. PC VR hasn’t been the focus for a while, for many studios.
>And where is the hate coming from? […] Batman: Arkham Asylum (2009), Batman: Arkham City (2011), and *Batman: Arkham Knight (2015) *garnering a pretty big following across console. > >Then, *Batman: Arkham Shadow *shows up on the radar, a VR-only game that is exclusive to Quest 3—two things that aren’t communicated to the casual viewer until they physically click on the video. This presents not only a bit of a bait-and-switch for gamers hoping for the next long-awaited *Arkham *title, but also an all too real sign that Meta is likely phasing out Quest 2 and Quest Pro later this year.
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/14977733
> Meta’s Former Head of VR: Oculus Go Was His “biggest product failure” & Why it Matters for Vision Pro
>Barra notes that poor retention for Oculus Go had to do with a few common factors, including user comfort, friction in starting a session when not already wearing the headset, and the social isolation of watching content alone—all of which is true for Vision Pro as well. > >Barra concludes that, at least as far as Oculus Go went, traditional media consumption was “not a core ‘daily driver’ pillar but more an ancillary use case that adds some value to other core pillars (such as productivity or gaming).” > >Granted Barra says Vision Pro brings more to the table […] but those same challenges that Oculus Go contended with basically remain.
Tim Cook said that during an earnings call. I don’t know if it means much for the industry, but I don’t have any doubts that that fact is true.
I think they’re reworking the Chromecast sharing as it was never working great. An alternative is to use the phone to share the screen and put that on the TV if I remember correctly (or use a laptop or just the phone).
There’s also a few asymmetrical games, where one player plays in VR and the other one flat (there’s probably more):
- Acron: Attack of the Squirrels
- Keep talking and nobody explodes
- Carly and the reaperman
- Demeo (can be played flat or VR)
Regarding isolation: that’s definitely true. But I’d argue most players (flat or VR) play games alone in a room anyways and VR multiplayer games have a bigger social component. But playing with friends and family is definitely more fun.
>Barra notes that poor retention for Oculus Go had to do with a few common factors, including user comfort, friction in starting a session when not already wearing the headset, and the social isolation of watching content alone—all of which is true for Vision Pro as well. > >Barra concludes that, at least as far as Oculus Go went, traditional media consumption was “not a core ‘daily driver’ pillar but more an ancillary use case that adds some value to other core pillars (such as productivity or gaming).” > >Granted Barra says Vision Pro brings more to the table […] but those same challenges that Oculus Go contended with basically remain.
Overall improvement is pretty much what I would want, but apart from that: software improvements. The 2D window management is quite bad on Quest.
Also, what I’d love to have is a custom home. Maybe just a horizon world map that I can make myself and use as a home environment, perhaps with friends being able to just stop by.
30% cut is the default for consoles, isn’t it? I hate meta just like the next guy, but the quest is the most attractive platform for VR games due, simply due to the user base and that stems from selling the hardware as cheaply as possible.
Most people don’t care about a platform being open or closed, what they care about is the experience, ease of use and the content. Meta bought a lot of studios, but they’re far from owning or paying for the majority of studios with games on Quest.
Imo VR‘s main problem is comfort, friction and people disliking having something stripped to their face.
Dungeons of Eternity's spring update is now live on Quest, adding a new two-handed longsword, bHaptics support and more.
Batman: Arkham Shadow is a brand new entry in the Arkham series, coming exclusively to Quest 3.
> Developed by Meta-owned Camouflaj (Iron Man VR) and published by its Oculus Studios, Batman: Arkham Shadow marks the second VR entry in the Arkham series, following 2016's Arkham VR from Rocksteady Studios. "Evil stalks the streets. Gotham City is in danger. And you’re the only one who can save it," states Meta. The teaser trailer doesn't reveal any gameplay footage but more details will be announced at Summer Game Fest on June 7 at 2pm PT.
Headlines are circulating claiming Apple cut Vision Pro production by almost 50% due to weak demand. But here's why this is almost certainly false.
>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. >[…] > >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. […] 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.
I don’t think it’s a political fight what he’s doing here, he’s just saying what he thinks the advantages or disadvantages of this are.
The Vision Pro targets a niche within a niche within a niche: people that can and want to afford it, that are interested in VR/AR, but are not interested in playing actual VR games and use it to mostly watch 2D videos on it.
Gaming is a proven use case for VR/AR (basically the only one), but Apple doesn’t seem to wanna go there. And I don’t think it would work at that price even if they wanted to.
I hope they stick with it though and make it cheaper, lighter, and get rid of that tethered battery. Excited to see what’s coming in that space.
>Kuo, a respected figure in supply chain leaks and analysis, says in and in a new blog post that Apple has cut 2024 shipments for Vision Pro to 400–450k units—significantly lower than the reported 700–800k units or more expected for worldwide production this year. > >“Apple cut orders before launching Vision Pro in non-US markets, which means that demand in the US market has fallen sharply beyond expectations, making Apple take a conservative view of demand in non-US markets,” Kuo says in the post.
John Carmack just gave his take on Meta's new strategy of providing its headset OS to third-party hardware companies.
> Here's Carmack's full statement from X:
> "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."
VR headset iterations are definitely a lot more interesting than phones are, they feel way more significant.
I‘m deep into Apple’s ecosystem (I‘m also developing iOS Apps) and I‘m super interested in the Vision Pro, but proper VR games are likely the only real reason to use a VR headset currently and Apple doesn’t seem to want to go there.
Reading reviews it seems like the interest is dying down and people have very few reasons to come back and use their headset, which is a shame, but a core problem that VR has had since forever. Excited to see what’s coming though :)
Making your own OS is likely very difficult, especially if it involves having your own store that developers have to submit to.
Maybe part of the reason why they’re doing this is to have a stronger stance against google if/when they release something with the Android play store included, which seems like one of the biggest problem meta currently has.
I wonder if the other headset makers get a cut from the games they sell on their devices. Meta is taking a hit selling the hardware and tries to make up for that with selling software. If others don’t get a cut, that likely means they’re going to be more expensive. I’m excited to see what comes from this.
Roguelike shooter The Light Brigade adds an archer class, a new world and more in today's 'Shadow Hunter' update.
It sounds to me like you’ve basically decided already and thought this through. Probably the PSVR is the one to get. I own both PSVR2 and Quest 3. I only play PSVR occasionally for exclusives and I enjoy Quest a lot more, so what I’m about to say isn’t impartial, but here’s a few more things to consider, apart from the stuff you already mentioned:
- I find the PSVR quite uncomfortable and charging the controllers by plugging them in is really annoying (I fixed both by buying accessories)
- if you strap a battery pack to the back (with valcro) you get infinite battery (also sessions usually aren’t long enough to actually kill the battery in the first place)
- The Quest lenses are so much nicer and clearer (the sweet spot is really tiny on PSVR)
- if you don’t already, you have to pay an additional monthly subscription to play PSVR games online
- Quest games usually have a discount and are cheaper, also you can refund every game if you played up to 2h. PSVR games are more expensive and you cannot return them
- There’s more friction to get a PSVR game started, compared to the Quest (doesn’t seem like much, but it adds up and I’m pretty sure that’s the number one reason for VR not being bigger)
- the Quest has a lot more games and will get a lot more
- think of meta what you will, but they’re 100% committed to VR and constantly putting out new stuff and improvements, PSVR on the other hand feels pretty abandoned by Sony which will result in even fewer new games
- the PSVR grab buttons are klick buttons and you have to squeeze hard to grab. Some games support touch or toggle klick, but I much prefer the quest controllers in that regard
- Quest has mixed reality games and the passthrough is night and day difference to PSVR
- there’s some really great games on PSVR (gran truismo, re8/4, Vertigo 2, synapse, …) you cannot get on Quest
- the PSVR haptic triggers are really great, but not every PSVR game makes use of haptic triggers, e.g. Vertigo 2 doesn’t
Again, the PSVR is probably the one to get for you, but I thought I‘d summarize a few of the things I noticed while playing with each.
Also, question: why would you pack up your PSVR? To move somewhere? Or are you bringing you PlayStation with you?
You’re probably partially right, he made the Altstore specifically for his emulator and since Apple doesn’t like people using other app stores they changed their own rules last second to allow them in, as there’s basically no downside of doing so.
The Altstore has plans to open up to other apps as well, but why not put your own apps on it, especially if they are the only ones currently available.
The "Riley Tax" as you called it is mostly just an Apple tax though and to pay for infrastructure. I don’t see him getting rich from that.
VR Skater: SL is coming to the Quest Store and brings skateboarding with VR controllers to Meta Quest headsets.
> VR Skater: SL will be available in the Meta Quest Store for Meta Quest 3, Quest 2 and Quest Pro on April 11th, 2024. Built specifically for VR, the game offers an authentic skating experience where the skateboards are controlled solely with the VR controllers. This allows for precise tricks and grabs. There is a progression system with medals, trophies and experience points, and you can also customize your setup in a skate shop.
Tactical VR shooter Breachers adds the anticipated Competitive Mode today on all platforms.
> One of the biggest post-launch updates yet following the Arctic and Ship maps, Breachersintroduced a ranked competitive mode that begins with Season Zero. Previously detailed in a deep dive, you can play alone or with a team and you'll earn your initial rank after five placement matches. That's split into the following tiers - Bronze 1-3, Silver 1-3, Gold 1-3, Platinum 1-3, Diamond 1-3, Master, Grand Master and Global Champion.
The Quest v64 update is all about Quest 3. It brings improved passthrough quality, external microphone support, and lying down mode.
