Virtual reality kissing is finally here. And it features real-time haptics - Interesting Engineering

Valve’s ‘Great on Frame’ page highlights games specifically optimized for Steam Frame, and it’s now grown to over 130 titles.‘Great on Frame’ initially kicked off in July with a half-dozen titles guaranteed to be optimized for Steam Frame, which wasn’t exactly encouraging, although the curated portal has now grown to 130+ games and apps.A good number of the ‘Great on Frame’ titles are native VR games, although there’s a growing number

Meta is reportedly preparing a new slate of smart glasses that are ditching those pesky cameras.The NewsZuckerberg previously teased a pair of smart glasses in May alongside the official announcement of Connect’s September dates.
Now, according to a report from The Information, those may be a new class of camera-less smart glasses, slated to ship this Fall.
Internally codenamed ‘Luna’, the glasses are expected to be unveiled at Meta’s Connect developer conference, taking

Meta isn’t only rumored to unveil its next-gen mixed reality headset next week, but also a photorealistic “hologram-like” call function using its latest avatars.Images of Meta’s upcoming Project Phoenix headset have already leaked ahead of Meta’s Connect developer conference next week, which strongly suggests we’ll be getting an unveiling there, taking place September 23-24.Now, The Information reports that Meta is preparing a major demo of Project Phoenix wh

Valve today opened pre-orders for Steam Frame, its long-awaited standalone VR headset, which finally reveals pricing info, official accessories, and release date.Steam Frame is set launch at the following prices (inclusive of VAT where applicable):
Steam Frame 256GB: 1,059 USD/ 1,529 CAD/ 1,049 EUR/ 889 GBP/ 1,609 AUD/ 4,539 PLNSteam Frame 1TB: 1,299 USD/ 1,859 CAD/ 1,279 EUR/ 1,089 GBP/ 1,969 AUD/ 5,549 PLN
Valve says it’s following a similar approach to how it handled Steam Machine pre-

The rumors are true: Valve finally confirmed it’s creating a standalone port of Half-Life: Alyx (2020) for Steam Frame, although it won’t be ready at launch.Valve finally announced Steam Frame’s price and release date, starting at $1,060 with shipping beginning as early as September 18th.Amid the avalanche of news, Valve has also confirmed it’s officially developing a standalone port of the award-winning ‘AAA’ VR game, meaning you won’t need a VR-ready

So you’re looking to buy Valve’s first standalone VR headset, the long-awaited Steam Frame? There are a few things you should know though before plonking down your hard-earned cash.What is Steam Frame?Let’s get this one out of the way before we get into the nitty gritty. Here’s the short of it:Steam Frame is Valve’s wireless VR headset, largely seen as a successor to the Valve Index, a tethered PC VR headset released in 2019.Courtesy ValveIt includes the ability to

Valve essentially considers Steam Frame a ‘streaming-first’ VR device, capable of directly connecting to your PC via a Wi-Fi 6E dongle so you can play high-quality VR and flatscreen games. But don’t let the RAMpocalypse get you down: you don’t even need a PC, VR-ready or otherwise.Before I ever got my hands on Frame, I had already filed away the headset’s standalone experience as something of an afterthought.It’s a wireless PC VR headset that can do a few ext

Moss developer Polyarc Games announced it’s closing shop following a “major project” cancellation earlier this year.Polyarc announced the closure in a LinkedIn post (via Good Virtual Reality), marking the end of an 11-year stint in VR game development, most of which was spent creating its VR puzzle-platformer series Moss.You can read the full message below:
Today is the end of an era for Polyarc.After nearly 12 years riding the joyous rollercoaster of emotions that is mak

Linus Tech Tips’ secondary channel ShortCircuit appears to have jumped the gun on publishing its first impressions and unboxing of Steam Frame, suggesting we’re truly now right around the corner from launch.Valve’s first standalone headset is coming very soon, it seems, as the LTT side channel ShortCircuit mistakenly released its unboxing and first impressions video yesterday.Entitled ‘Our first 30 mins with the steam frame’, the video was quickly made private, alt

Images of Meta’s ‘Project Phoenix’ mixed reality headset appear to have leaked ahead of its anticipated unveiling at Connect later this month.The NewsSerial leaker ‘Luna’ appears to have found video within Quest’s Horizon OS showing off the headset’s prescription lenses, which are apparently set to be released in partnership by Meta’s official prescription lens provider, Zenni Optical.
First official visuals of Meta's Project Phoenix, found in the

Award-winning rogue-lite bow-shooter In Death: Unchained (2020) isn’t dead, at least not with a new season coming later this month.The last actual update for In Death: Unchained was three years ago when developers Superbright announced it was releasing enhancements for Quest 3. After that, it was assumed the game was essentially in developer purgatory.
Now, the studio announced that come September 29th, In Death: Unchained is getting its Fall 2026 Season. Like seasons past, the game is sl

Hello Games has released its biggest update yet to VR-supported space sim No Man’s Sky (2016), completely overhauling space itself.At the game’s 2016 launch, space was admittedly barebones, offering relatively sparse interactions outside mining asteroids for fuel and resources, and occasionally encountering pirates or other ships. And while there have been 40+ updates since then, space always felt a little more empty than it rightfully should.The game, which supports PSVR 2 and PC V

TikTok parent ByteDance is reportedly preparing an AI model that could let you create real-time spatial videos similar to Google Genie.According to a Bloomberg report, ByteDance is readying an AI model dedicated to creating real-time spatial videos, which the company hopes will act as a “flywheel” to its various companies, including video streaming giant TikTok and its XR hardware subsidiary, Pico Interactive.Citing people familiar with the matter, the report maintains founder Zhang

Pico’s upcoming Apple Vision Pro competitor, Space Pro, was initially meant to debut earlier this month, although the ByteDance subsidiary cancelled the event and postponed its reveal and release date. Now, the company’s next flagship standalone XR headset just cleared the FCC.Previously known as ‘Project Swan’, Pico Space Pro has now surfaced in FCC filings, which is typically one of the last hurdles before a company can commercialize electronics in the US. The news was

In Inside XR Design we examine specific examples of great VR design. Today we’re looking at the clever design of Red Matter 2’s ‘grabber tools’ and the many ways that they contribute to immersion.
Editor’s Note: Red Matter 2 was released four years ago this month! Despite its age, it remains one of the best looking and most immersive games on Quest. In celebration of the game’s release anniversary, we’re bumping this episode back up to our fro

Valve has pushed an update to the Steam Link PC VR streaming app on Quest that finally includes the ability to play games via wired connection.As first spotted by data miner and serial leaker ‘Luna’ (via UploadVR), Valve’s Steam Link app for Quest rolled out its 2.17.8 public beta update, finally bringing support for wired USB streaming.Here’s the full patch notes:
Adds initial support for USB streaming.USB streaming can be used without WiFi by opting into the Steam Clie

The Unity Cube is an objectively terrible game (it’s literally just a floating cube, after all) that was built to test the limits of what Quest content Meta would allow into its uncurated App Lab program. After Meta dissolved App Lab, The Unity Cube moved to the main Horizon store and showed that Meta would stay truly hands-off when it came to the scope or quality of what’s listed in its VR game store. The experiment continues to prove its worth; The Unity Cube h

Steam Frame isn’t here yet, and we’re no closer to knowing the price or release date, although the component supplier behind the headset’s built-in camera tracking system is officially producing a color passthrough module for Frame.Steam Frame only includes monochrome passthrough, which the headset primarily uses for computer vision tracking in addition to letting the user to check their surroundings, albeit in a less immersive way than with a full color sensor.
Komodo Station

Bigscreen announced it’s permanently lowering the price of its slim and light PC VR headset, Bigscreen Beyond 2, which now starts at $959. The long-awaited Halo Mount is also now in production, with shipping estimated to largely take place in October.Despite inflation and rising component costs, Bigscreen is knocking a few bucks off its Beyond 2 series PC VR headsets, now bringing Beyond 2 to $959 (previously $1,019) and Beyond 2e to $1,159 (previously $1,219), the latter of which in

Pixelity Inc announced it’s hosting public demos soon in San Francisco for EVANGELION: Δ CROSS REFLECTIONS, the upcoming XR game based on the hit ’90s anime Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995).Hands-on previews of EVANGELION: Δ CROSS REFLECTIONS are slated to kick off on September 25th, 2026, near Union Square in San Francisco, which will include early builds of both the game’s ‘Story Mode’ and ‘Battle Mode’.Approximately 80 people will be s

Gunman Contracts is one of the most full-featured mods for Half-Life: Alyx (2020), and now the indie developer behind the project is about to release the long-awaited, built from the ground-up game for PC VR headsets called Gunman Contracts – Stand Alone.Arne Burkert (ANB_Seth) today announced that Gunman Contracts – Stand Alone is set to arrive in early access on September 10th, bringing an all new shooting experience to both PC VR and flatscreen users.Unlike the original mod, whic

Valve hasn’t announced the price or release date of Steam Frame, its first standalone VR headset, although the company is reportedly getting ready with a promo that could bundle in its award-winning VR game Half-Life: Alyx (2020) for free.The NewsAs first spotted by VR analyst and Valve watcher Brad Lynch, Valve appears to be actively working on the backend of Steam Frame’s store page, which now includes evidence the company may be giving away a copy of Half-Life Alyx to anyone who

Meta just pushed an update to Quest 3 that’s effectively boosted the headset’s refresh rate up to 240Hz—or 207Hz at the headset’s full resolution. Whether you’ll actually be able to make good use of it remains to be seen though.The NewsAs first spotted by ‘Luna’ on X, Horizon OS 2.7 just added support for ‘Extended Refresh Rates’ on Quest 3, which means the display can now go up to 207Hz for regular users, and 240Hz when in developer mode. N

The investment and development community are constantly striving to find the next profitable sector in XR, turning to new business opportunities following a turbulent time in the consumer VR gaming space. One area of interest is in out-of-home XR attractions, known widely in the industry as Location-Based Entertainment (LBE) XR. The sector deploys XR as a B2B2C business model that aims to surpass expectations of consumer gaming, presenting XR technology to a wider audience.
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Schell Games, the veteran VR studio behind spy-themed puzzle series I Expect You to Die and Among Us 3D, confirmed it has laid off around 10 percent of staff.As initially noted by Game Developer, multiple Schell Games employees posted on LinkedIn late last week that the studio was conducting its first layoffs in its 20+ years in existence.“Schell Games had their first ever layoffs today. I was not let go but my heart goes out to my former coworkers who were,” said Principal Engineer

GTA 6 will surely be among the most asked for VR ports of the next decade, and that made a parody in the newly released gameplay showcase especially vicious.Developer Rockstar Games today finally made its big GTA 6 gameplay reveal, showing 26 minutes of gameplay from the highly anticipated title. In just two hours, the extended look gameplay showcase has racked up 1.5 million views on YouTube; a glimpse of just how many people are excited about the game.A major part of the allure of the GTA ser

Google is reportedly testing a new ‘Listening area’ mode for Google Live Translate on Android XR, something that sounds like a headlining feature for the company’s upcoming fleet of smart glasses.Google has always said it’s bringing real-time translations to its Android XR, so no surprise there, as the company promises its slate of smart glasses will serve up both translated audio matching the tone and pitch of the speaker’s voice as well as the ability to translat

Meta has introduced Meta XR Operator, an experimental tool designed to let AI coding agents autonomously build, test, debug, and visually verify VR apps.The NewsUsing AI agents, developers have been able to speed up code-reading and writing in addition to running tests and fixing bugs, although verifying that all of it actually works has been a missing step.Now, Meta announced it’s introducing Meta XR Operator, an OpenXR API layer that is now available as an experimental component in the