Valve released an update to SteamVR this week that unexpectedly added new content to SteamVR Home.
Lynx, the French XR hardware startup known for crowdfunding the Lynx R-1 mixed reality headset, today announced it’s secured $4 million in its Series A round, led by social VR platform Somnium Space.
Pico Interactive primarily targets enterprise users outside of China, however now the company has taken a significant step into European consumer market, as it’s officially launched its new Neo 3 variant there, Pico Neo 3 Link, which features both standalone and PC-tethered capability.
New research from Kent State University and Meta Reality Labs has demonstrated large dynamic focus liquid crystal lenses which could be used to create varifocal VR headsets.
Niantic today launched its Lightship Visual Positioning System at its first developer summit. The system aims to form an underlying 3D map of the world so that AR devices can share the same frame of reference even on massive scales.
It looks like Magic Leap is holding a barn burner of a sale on its first AR headset, Magic Leap 1, as the one-time $2,300 device can now be had for $550.
Road to VR co-founder Ben Lang recently joined the crew of the Between Realities podcast.
Joy Way, the studio behind VR titles Stride and Against, announced it’s abandoning development on its most recent PC VR title, Outlier, which hit early access on Steam in March.
Qualcomm has revealed its latest AR glasses reference design, which it offers up to other companies as a blueprint for building their own AR devices. The reference design, which gives us a strong hint at the specs and capabilities of upcoming products, continues to lean on a smartphone to do the heavy compute, but this time is based on a wireless design.
Zero Latency, one of the longest running VR attractions in the out-of-home VR space, is dropping the backpack PCs that were once the backbone of the platform. Now the company says it’s moving to standalone Vive Focus 3 headsets with wireless delivery of PC-rendered VR content.
VR ice hockey training company Sense Arena announced that it’s closed a $3 million investment round, something the startup says will be used to support continued development on its ice hockey training platform as well as expand to new sports.
A new squad-based online battle game called World of Mechs is coming exclusively to Meta Quest 2 on May 26th, and it’s promising a bevy of mechs to pilot.
Apple is a notorious black box when it comes to internal projects, although sometimes details based on supply chain rumors shed a sliver of light on what might be happening with the company’s AR/VR headset behind closed doors. Much less common coming from Apple are direct internal leaks, however a report from The Information alleges that 10 people on Apple’s mixed reality headset project team have detailed some of the past design challenges and possible direction the headset may take moving forward.
Fixing up an old tower without tools sounds like hard work, but much less so when you have an army of robotic clones at your disposal. That’s the idea at least behind The Last Clockwinder, a VR automation-puzzle game from Pontoco which is slated to hit Quest 2 and SteamVR headsets next month.
The Last Clockwinder is officially slated to land on Meta Quest 2 and SteamVR headsets on June 2nd, 2022, Pontoco announced.
In addition to tossing out a new trailer, the studio has also confirmed that playtime is estimated to be somewhere between 4-6 hours of gameplay. We’re looking forward to learning more about the game soon as we dive in for review.
In the meantime you can also now wishlist the game on Quest 2 in addition to Steam. Check out the new trailer below, which reveals a little more of the narrative aspect to gameplay.
The Last Clockwinder developer Pontoco announced today that it has signed on with Cyan Ventures (the publishing arm of Cyan Worlds, ,the studio behind Myst, Obduction, and more) for publishing support, affirming plans for a Summer 2022 release date on Quest and SteamVR (though a specific date has yet to be announced).
The studio has also partnered with “boutique video games consulting agency” Robot Teddy (which has backed projects like SUPERHOT VR and Among US) who has contributed an unspecified amount of funding and will assist the studio with business development.
Speaking to the inception of the project, studio Pontoco said that it hadn’t specifically set out to make a VR game, but it found the tech was a natural fit for the mechanics they began to explore.
“We didn’t set out to make a VR game, initially. But we stumbled on this mechanic, and the more we played with it, the more we realised we had to make this game. We wanted to make an automation game, but where you were the machines. Unlike traditional automation games which have cumbersome programming steps, we worked hard to make the action of cloning effortless. You do normal tasks with your hands, and the clones are kept in perfect synchrony. Everything just works, every time.”
The original article, which overviews the game, continues below.
While on your mission to repair the ancient tower, which the team reveals is built into the trunk of a colossal tree, you find a pair of gloves that essentially lets you record your movements and spawn an army of clockwork automatons.
It ends up feeling like a mini steampunk version of Factorio crossed with an immersive take on the cleaning montage from Howl’s Moving Castle (2004).
Automatons help you grow plants, harvest resources, and “find a way to save the clocktower,” Pontoco says.
What is it being saved from? We’re still hoping to find out, as the game’s world-building looks already so mature that there must be some lore behind it all.
As it is, The Last Clockwinder seems rich with possibility, as you no doubt need to learn recipes and craft increasingly complicated things in your effort to get the old tower back in shape—something that definitely looks like a labor of love.
The Last Clockwinder is slated to arrive natively on Quest 2 (re: not the original Quest) and SteamVR headsets sometime in Summer 2022. You can wishlist the game on Steam here.
