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 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.”
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.
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.
Facebook announced today that an upcoming update to the Quest development SDK will include experimental support for a Passthrough API which will allow Unity developers to build AR experiences and features into apps on Quest 2.
Two new Harry Potter VR experiences have launched at the Harry Potter New York retail location. Wizards Take Flight and Chaos at Hogwarts were developed in collaboration with Dreamscape, Wevr, and Keylight.
Carrier Command 2, a modern sequel to the 1988 game, puts players in control of a futuristic aircraft carrier, allowing up to nine players to manage the ship’s many systems from the bridge. Developer Geometa today announced the game will get full VR support, including cross-play with the non-VR version. Both versions will be bundled together and are expected to launch in early access later this year.
HaptX, the company building VR gloves with advanced haptics, this week announced that is has raised $12 million in a Series A-1 investment which will be used to open a new headquarters based in Redmond, WA, and expand its team.
Schell Games today announced that its long-awaited follow-up to I Expect You to Die (2016) is set to launch on all major VR headsets August 24th. The spy-themed puzzler is already looking like a worthy sequel, offering fun and interesting ways to die, plenty of easter eggs, and a story that would be the envy of any would-be writer of a James Bond film.
Impulse Gear announced that Larcenauts (2021), its 6v6 hero shooter for PC VR and Oculus Quest, is getting a few key updates today which focus on increasing immersion in the game.
The long-awaited sequel to Ready At Dawn’s space adventure Lone Echo (2017) is delayed again. Lone Echo II was set to arrive on August 24th, but now it’s coming “later this year,” likely making it one of the last PC-only games funded by Facebook to arrive on the Oculus Store.
Fracked, the upcoming PSVR exclusive from developer nDreams, is now due to launch next month, and today we got our first hands-on time with the game thanks to a new demo that’s available today.
