VR on Steam Bounces Back to Nearly 2.8 Million Monthly-connected Headsets
‘POPULATION: ONE’ Gets Medieval in ‘Kingdom Age’ Event, Starting August 5th
POPULATION: ONE (2020) is getting some fresh content starting this week that aims to bring a medieval twist to the battle royale shooter.
Oculus Head of Developer Relations Leaves for Niantic as it Ramps up Lightship AR Platform
Niantic announced today that long-time Oculus employee Dan Morris, Head of Developer Relations, is joining as the company’s new Director of Developer Relations as Niantic ramps up its Lightship AR platform, which aims to bring to third-party developers the same ‘world scale’ tech that enables Pokémon Go.
‘Carrier Command 2 VR’ Release Date Set for August 10th
Carrier Command 2, which was confirmed just a few weeks ago to be getting full VR support, is now set to launch on August 10th.
‘Moss: Book II’ Will Be Bigger Than the Original, Introduce New Progression & Interactions
Moss: Book II, a direct sequel to the lauded original, was finally announced earlier this month. And it hopes to answer what was perhaps the original game’s biggest problem: it was too short! In an interview with the game’s Design Director, Josh Stiksma, we learned that, this time around, the second ‘book’ in the series is set to be thicker indeed.
Social VR Platform ‘ENGAGE’ Generated Over $1.4M in Revenue in First Half of 2021
Popular App Lab Game ‘Warplanes: WW1 Fighters’ Releases on Oculus Store for Quest
World War I dogfighting game Warplanes: WW1 Fighters has done fairly well for itself since it launched on Oculus’ App Lab platform earlier this year. Now Warplanes: WW1Fighters has made the leap to the official Oculus Store for Quest.
nDreams Opening Second VR Studio Focused on Live-service Games
nDreams, the studio behind Phantom: Covert Ops (2020) and the upcoming PSVR exclusive Fracked, announced today it’s opening a second VR development studio called nDreams Studio Orbital, which will focus on creating games as a service for VR.
‘Synth Riders’ for PSVR Now Set to Release August 10th
Synth Riders (2018), the VR rhythm game for PC VR and Oculus Quest, was supposed to launch on PSVR on July 27th. After a last-minute delay which could have seen the game pushed back by “several weeks,” developer Kluge Interactive now says the PSVR version’s launch will officially arrive August 10th.
Varjo XR-3 Hands-on: Varjo’s Headsets Keep Getting Better, Even as They Get Cheaper
By now it can be said that Varjo is making the world’s most high-end VR headsets, and not just because they’re slapping on a hefty price tag. With a core premise of ‘retina resolution’ that really delivers, Varjo’s headsets keep getting better even as they’re getting cheaper. Their visual performance offers an early glimpse of what mainstream VR headsets are unlikely to deliver for years to come.
Facebook Creates New Internal Organization to Build “the Metaverse”
Facebook Reality Labs, the company’s AR/VR research and development team, announced the creation of a special product group focused on developing its future vision for “the Metaverse.” Apparently Facebook is betting big on the idea too, as it hopes in the near future to be viewed more as “a metaverse company” than a social network.
Oculus is “All in on OpenXR,” New Developer Features Will Come to OpenXR Only
Oculus is making hard shift away from its proprietary developer APIs in favor of OpenXR, an industry-backed project that aims to standardize the development of VR and AR applications. As of the latest SDK update, the company says OpenXR will become “the preferred API for all new applications going forward.”
Quest 2 Facepad Recalled Over Skin Irritation, Sales to Resume with 128GB Model & Silicone Facepad Cover
Facebook announced today that it has paused the sale of Quest 2 globally while it works to include a silicone facepad cover with the headset going forward. The move was prompted by what the company says was a “very small percentage” of customers who reported skin irritation from the headset’s foam facepad. When Quest 2 goes back on sale in late August, the company will also introduce a 128GB model, replacing the current 64GB model at the same price.
Parkour-shooter ‘STRIDE’ Releases on Oculus Quest on August 5th
Rezzil Secures $2.75M Investment for Oculus Quest Sports Training App ‘Player 22’
Rezzil, a UK-based VR sports training and analytics startup, announced that its secured an investment round of over £2 million (~$2.75 million), which will be used to promote its new consumer-focused sports training platform, Player 22.
