Meta Quest 3 News & Reviews

Project Aria is a pair of sensor-packed glasses which Meta has been using internally to train its augmented reality perception systems. Now, Meta revealed it’s released Project Aria to a number of third-party research teams aiming to tackle some of the most complex challenges in creating practical, all-day AR glasses of the future.

Announced in 2020, Aria doesn’t include AR displays of any type. Instead, the company designed the glasses to help develop the “safeguards, policies and even social norms necessary to govern the use of AR glasses and other future wearable devices.”

One early collaboration was with BMW, exploring how Aria might inform how AR glasses will one day serve up stable virtual content in moving vehicles—undoubtedly a big piece of the puzzle considering Americans spend around one hour in a car per-day on average, according to AAA.

Now, Meta announced it’s also partnered with a number of universities to develop research projects centered around the sort of things that will be important for all-day AR.

Meta says partners using Aria are currently researching advanced topics such as goal-driven human interaction (University of Bristol), sound localization for hearing aid innovation (University of Iowa), driver intent prediction for accident prevention (IIIT Hyderabad), and audio-based indoor navigation for the visually impaired (Carnegie Mellon University).

Notably, Meta is still accepting applications, which gives approved teams access to Meta’s Aria Research Kit (ARK), which includes the Project Aria hardware and SDK. The company says it also hopes to spark a variety of research topics such as embodied AI, contextualized AI, human-computer interaction (HCI), and robotics.

Meta envisions a future where AR is an integral tool for communication, entertainment, and utility, although getting there requires slim, all-day wearable AR glasses, which hasn’t been easy.

At Meta Connect in September, the company revealed one such prototype, called Orion, which features an impressively slim glasses form-factor, a separate wireless compute unit, and EMG wristband that can detect subtle movements of the user’s hand and fingers.

While Project Aria focuses on foundational research, Orion showcases Meta’s future ambitions for wearable AR, which is expensive. According to a report from The Verge, it cost Meta nearly $10,000 per unit to build due to its difficult to produce silicon carbide lenses, which feature a class-leading 70 degree field-of-view.

While Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth says the company hopes to launch such a pair before 2030 based on its work with Orion, at its unveiling, Meta made a point to note that Orion is “not a research prototype,” making it doubtful we’ll ever see this particular iteration in the hands of university teams.

Meta has added an important puzzle piece to Horizon Worlds, as the company has quietly rolled out its premium digital currency on the social VR platform in the US, UK, and Canada.

Roblox has Robux, Rec Room has Tokens, and Horizon Worlds now has Meta Credits, letting users buy in-world digital goods from creators, such as avatar outfits and access keys to premium worlds. Unlike Quest Cash, Meta Credits can’t be used to buy hardware or accessories, just stuff in Horizon Worlds.

While it’s a big step, this isn’t the official start of the Horizon Worlds economy. Meta has been experimenting with monetization on Horizon Worlds since 2022, allowing users to buy digital goods directly with their local currency. The difference with Meta Credits (like all premium tokens) however is the all-too familiar obfuscation of the amount of real-world money being spent.

As seen above, you can buy packs of Meta Credits that come along with various bonus amounts, or go for the straight 10:1 conversion at the lowest 300 Meta Credit tier, which costs $3 and doesn’t come with a bonus amount.

Similar to how Meta rolled out Horizon Worlds itself, the company is keeping a short leash on Meta Credits; they’re only available to users in the US, UK, and Canada for now. Horizon Worlds-supported regions still waiting for Meta Credits include Australia, New Zealand, most of Europe, and many countries in East Asia.

Meta says parents or guardians of children aged 10-12 (ages vary by region) must approve any purchase requiring a credit card, including the purchase of Meta Credits, through a parent-managed Meta account.

Meta Credits can’t be transferred from one account to another either, meaning they’re tied to your individual account—i.e. not like a cryptocurrency—and can only used within Horizon Worlds, either in Quest or its standard mobile app.

With Meta Credits, Horizon Worlds is taking a definitive step towards building a sustainable virtual economy, although we’ll simply have to wait and see whether it’s enough to strip creators (and users) away from more mature ecosystems, like Roblox, Rec Room, or VRChat.

With Meta’s reach though, there’s more than a good chance we might see Meta Credit gift cards at the checkout aisles as we near Holiday Season.

Meta has revived its VR Animation Player (2019) with the new release of Theater Elsewhere, a fresh iteration of the free animation player app that allows users to experience immersive, hand-painted worlds created with in VR art app Quill by Smoothstep (2021).

Meta says the newly revamped Theater Elsewhere app includes a new user interface for easier navigation, faster performance, and enhanced controls, designed to offer a seamless user experience.

It also packs in over 50 VR-animated shorts, curated selections, and more than 2,400 user-generated content pieces, which you can explore more deeply in ‘Free Fly Mode’, letting you view the creations from any angle.

Supporting all Quest devices, including the original 2019-era Quest, Theater Elsewhere was internally developed by a small team since July 2023, composed of Art Director and legendary artist Goro Fujita.

Fujita, a DreamWorks Animation veteran, is also known for his work at the now defunct Oculus Story Studios on VR animated short films Henry (2015) and chapter 1 of Wolves in the Walls (2018), as well as a massive slate of VR animations, some of which you can see in the Theater Elsewhere app right now.

You can read the full Q&A over at the Meta blog, which dives deeper into Fujita’s passions, past and present. Meanwhile, Meta says it expects Theater Elsewhere to continue growing, with more content updates and new features planned for the future.

Magnopus, the veteran XR studio behind Mission: ISS (2017), launched Alo Moves XR, a new mixed reality fitness app for Quest that uses volumetric 3D captures to deliver classes from top fitness gurus in yoga, Pilates, and mindfulness.

Announced earlier this year, the Quest-exclusive Alo Moves XR app includes 32 classes out of the gate, and plans to add four to five new yoga and Pilates classes monthly, along with weekly meditation sessions.

As a subscription app similar to Supernatural (2020), Alo Moves XR features top instructors, including Ashley Galvin, Annie Landa, Bianca Wise, Kirat Randhawa, and Susy Markoe Schieffelin, who lead sessions across immersive destinations such as Spain, Norway, and Thailand.

Later this year, Magnopus says Alo Moves XR will also introduce new instructors and courses, including 20+ minute yoga sessions, quick toning and sculpting classes, Briohny Smyth’s and Josh Kramer’s yoga fundamentals, evening reset stretching, breathwork, and more.

“Users can interact with their 3D instructors, repositioning them and viewing every angle for a full 360-degree perspective, helping perfect form and movement techniques,” Magnopus says. “Within this unique immersive experience, mixed-reality allows for the seamless blending of the user’s physical environment, utilizing room mapping and object detection to create a safe and comfortable atmosphere. In mindfulness classes, serene, enveloping environments—Clouds, Water, and Abstract—offer an unparalleled escape, even in the midst of a busy day.”

Considering you’ll be down on the ground, Alo Moves XR also includes support for hand-tracking across all support devices, which includes Quest 2, 3, Pro and the upcoming Quest 3S.

Alo Moves XR is available for $69 per year or $10 per month, with a special bundle offer for $49 per year. Notably, Alo Moves XR is a separate subscription to the flatscreen Alo Moves app available across iOS devices, however those members can add XR for $20 annually.

Additionally, a seven-day free trial is available, with a one-month trial for those current Alo Moves members.

Announced at Connect last week, Meta is launching its next-generation avatars in Horizon Worlds today, giving users a lot more customization options to choose from before jumping into the company’s social VR platform.

Starting today, users can dig even deeper into adjusting their avatars’ appearance, including features like customizable body proportions, nose shape, eye size, and lip size. Like its previous avatars system, these also work across Meta’s other platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger.

The sort of flash marketing images you’ll see with smiling and laughing avatars only really paints a part of the picture though, since the sort of smooth, Pixar-esque scripted avatar animations seen on flatscreen simply aren’t a thing in VR. Still, the new avatar system brings a lot more flexibility to the table, which Instagram user ‘mistermavix’ shows off in a recent video:

Meta says in the most recent Horizon Worlds v182 release notes that world creators should make sure their virtual environments are ready for updated avatars, which includes things like making sure features of their worlds interact with the new avatars’ expanded range of body shapes and sizes.

Specifically, attachable items, lighting, and interactable objects like furniture may need adjustments to accommodate the new avatars, Meta says, noting that doorways and walkways should also be reviewed to ensure they comfortably fit the varied avatar proportions.

This follows an update in August last year that finally brought legs to Meta avatars, which came amid a greater push to attract more users to Horizon Worlds with the launch of support for Android and iOS mobile devices as well as standard PC browsers.

The newly discounted Meta Quest 3 (512GB) is now available on Amazon, along with pre-orders of the new Quest 3S (128GB) and (256GB), with that sweet, speedy Prime shipping. All now include the promised bundle that includes Batman: Arkham Shadow and a three month subscription to Meta Quest+.

It wasn’t initially clear exactly when the newly reduced Quest 3 price would hit—would we have to wait until Quest 3S actually launches on October 15th?

Turns out, nope! The newly discounted Quest 3 (512GB) is now available on Amazon for $500. Just yesterday the headset was listing at its original price of $650. It also now includes a bundled copy of Batman: Arkham Shadow (releasing October 22nd) and a three month subscription to Meta Quest+.

The Quest 3 (128GB) model is being phased out, with its own price reduced to $430 while stock remains. At the time of writing, Amazon says it’s already out of stock. But it’s currently offering an even further discounted refurbished Quest 3 (128GB) for just $380. The refurbished unit does not appear to include the Batman Arkham Shadow and Meta Quest+ bundle.

As for Meta’s new Quest 3S, both models can be pre-ordered on Amazon ahead of the October 15th release date, with the (128GB) model for $300, and the (256GB) model for $400. Both include a bundled copy of Batman: Arkham Shadow (releasing October 22nd) and a three month subscription to Meta Quest+.

Important note: right now the Quest 3S (128GB) is showing delivery from Amazon right around release date, but the Quest 3S (256GB) isn’t expect to deliver until the end of November. It’s unclear if this is a fluke. We’ll be keeping our eye on the date, but in the meantime it looks like ordering the (256GB) headset direct from Meta may mean an earlier delivery.

Other places to check for Quest 3S stock and favorable delivery dates include Best Buy, Newegg, Walmart, and Target.

Not sure if you should get Quest 3 or Quest 3S? Compare the specs and get our take right here.