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Oculus Quest v33 Update Improves Air Link & Link Visual Quality

From uploadvr

Oculus Quest v33 is rolling out to headsets now, featuring several smaller improvements.

Many of Facebook’s regular updates to the Quest platform are headlined by big new features or fixes, but Oculus Quest v33 seems to be more concerned with making some finer tweaks. Perhaps the biggest addition is improved visuals for Oculus AirLink and Link. Facebook says users may notice “improved image quality and text clarity” using a new Link Sharpening feature.

Oculus Quest v33 Changes Revealed

We haven’t tried out the update for ourselves but the Link feature compresses the image quality to allow a Quest to display PC VR content either when linked up with a USB-C or wirelessly over AirLink. Any reduction to this effect would be welcome.

Elsewhere, Oculus Quest v33 allows you to clear the history for your Guardians settings to help combat any tracking issues you might have, and Facebook says it’s improved security when using the Oculus Browser. Some of the multitasking features are also being moved out of Experimental release and there are updates to notifications and keyboard settings too. You can see the full list of changes right here.

It’s a pretty quiet update, then. Some have speculated that could be because Facebook is holding back announcements for its upcoming Connect developer conference, which will be held in late October. We’re also waiting on Facebook to reveal the Space Sense feature that was recently unearthed in v32 and, oh yes, the Oculus Quest Pro headset referenced in that update too. Seems like there might be a lot in store for next month.

Felix & Paul Studios Win Emmy For Space Explorers: The ISS Experience

From uploadvr

The Felix & Paul Studios and TIME Studios production Space Explorers: The ISS Experience has taken home the Emmy for Outstanding Interactive Program at the 73rd Emmy Awards this week.

Space Explorers: The ISS Experience is an immersive VR production and the second series in the Space Explorers saga by Felix & Paul Studios. Each series is split into a few episodes, with episodes one and two of The ISS Experience available now via the Space Explorers app for Oculus Quest and Rift. Episodes three and four of The ISS Experience are still to come.

The series takes place aboard the International Space Station, putting you right up in the action:

The largest production ever filmed in space, Space Explorers: The ISS Experience is an epic four-part immersive series that invites you to join eight astronauts on life-changing missions aboard the International Space Station. Shot over two years with exclusive access to the crew, The ISS Experience offers an intimate take on the joy, wonder, and dangers of life in orbit.

At this year’s Emmys, The ISS Experience was up against three other nominees in its category, only one of which, Inside COVID-19, was also a VR experience. The other nominees included a YouTube Original, Create Together with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and an Amazon Prime Video production, Welcome To the Blumhouse Live.

In other Emmy news, the AR experience ‘For All Mankind: Time Capsule’ won the Emmy for Outstanding Innovation in Interactive Programming (Juried) and Baobab Studios won its ninth Emmy with the Outsanding Interactive Media for a Daytime Program award for Baba Yaga.

You can watch episodes one and two of The ISS Experience now on Oculus Quest and Oculus Rift.

Facebook Announces Zoom Partnership For Horizon Workrooms

From uploadvr

Facebook announced a collaboration with video conferencing application Zoom, integrating Zoom meetings natively into Facebook’s new remote work solution for VR, Horizon Workrooms.

The integration won’t arrive until next year but will allow you to “easily join Zoom Meetings and use Zoom Whiteboard all from within VR.”

Horizon Workrooms is Facebook’s remote work collaboration tool for Oculus Quest 2, allowing several users to join a virtual boardroom and speak to each other as if they are in a real room, with avatars, spatial audio, remote desktop, keyboard tracking and group whiteboard features.

While the focus is on users joining using virtual reality, Workrooms also contains functionality that allows a non-VR user to join the meeting through a regular video call. However, starting next year, Workrooms will also allow VR users in the virtual boardroom to join an existing Zoom meeting and collaborate using Zoom Whiteboard. You can take a look at the announcement, which was made at Zoom’s Zoomtopia keynote speech, in the video embedded above. The Horizon Workrooms segment begins around the 34 minute mark.

Zoom Whiteboard was also announced at Zoomtopia, just before the Facebook and Zoom collaboration. It is an upcoming tool for Zoom that allows users to collaborate on a virtual whiteboard together, taking notes, making drawings, placing post-it notes and more. With Horizon Workrooms integration, VR users will be able to use Horizon’s desk whiteboard or the large standing whiteboard to alter the Zoom Whiteboard.

Zoom product manager Jordan Thiel said that they “envision” being able to save and share Zoom Whiteboards as well, which would allow you to save the end product after the meeting and send it around to those who weren’t in attendance.

Will you use the Zoom integration with Horizon Workrooms once it’s available? Let us know in the comments below.

Microsoft Flight Simulator VR Controller Support Coming Mid-November

From uploadvr

A developer roadmap from Asobo indicates that support for VR controllers is planned to launch with Simulator Update VII, currently set for a mid-November release.

In their weekly developer update, Asobo posted the usual ‘Virtual Reality Feedback Snapshot’ list which shows the top ‘wishes’ and the most important bugs as voted on by the community, along with their development progress. For bugs, the team notes whether the bug has been reproduced and report the progress on fixing it. For top wishes, Asobo marks some as started, some as under investigation, etc.

‘VR Controllers Support is Missing’ is currently the top trending wishes post in the feedback snapshot, with 482 votes. The status of VR controller support is now marked as ‘Started’, with a SU7 release date. This of course refers to to Simulator Update VII (or 7, depending on how you like to stylize), which the development roadmap has set for release in mid-November.

While that might be a few months out, there is some content set to land before then as well. On September 28, Asobo are adding a new plane to the mix — the Junkers JU-52 — and next month in late October the Simulator Update VI will release.

According to the feedback snapshot list, SUVI will includes fixes for VR users include missing anti-aliasing on VR menus and broken VR reflections, present since the last update. No doubt a larger list of changes will be available closer to release.

In the longer term, we also know that Microsoft Flight Simulator will receive helicopters in 2022 — Asobo marked helicopters as a ‘planned feature’ for 2022 on the roadmap in July. The most recent update also added a bunch of new landmarks, focused around Austria, Germany and Switzerland.

Are you looking forward to VR controller support in Microsoft Flight Simulator? Let us know in the comments.

Baobab Studios Nabs 9th Emmy Award Thanks To Baba Yaga

From uploadvr

Baba Yaga won an Emmy for Outstanding Interactive Media for a Daytime Program at the 48th Annual Emmy Awards, bringing Baobab Studios’ total Emmy awards wins to nine.

Baba Yaga also previously won two other Emmy awards — Outstanding Directing Team for Animated Program (Eric Darnell, director, and Mathias Chelebourg, co-director) and Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation for Character Design (Karl Athannossov).

“It was already such an honor and thrill for Baba Yaga to be awarded Emmys for both character design and direction,” said Baba Yaga director and writer Eric Darnell. “And now, to be honored with the award for best interactive is truly spectacular and a reflection of the team’s monumental efforts to give the audience the opportunity to be the hero of their own story.”

The immersive VR movie released in January exclusively for Oculus Quest after premiering at various film festivals in 2020, including the Venice Film Festival almost exactly a year ago. In our review at the time, we found it to be entertaining but slightly safe. It certainly wasn’t the ambitious step-up we were hoping to see from Baobab’s next offering:

This is a likable, sweet but ultimately safe adventure, highlighted by some great VR novelties but also equally limited by them. I want to see something from this studio that feels truly dynamic — like my presence has genuine impact in the stories it creates. Baobab remains one of VR’s most promising storytellers but, four years on from its debut, I feel like I’m still waiting for it to really hit its stride.

You can read our full review from last year here.

Baba Yaga is available now on Oculus Quest for $5.99.

HTC Vive Pro 2 Full Kit Ships In October For $1,399

From uploadvr

The HTC Vive Pro 2 Full Kit will start shipping in October, the company today confirmed.

Pre-orders for the bundle are already live in the US and will launch in Europe, Middle East and Africa on September 23rd. The kit costs £1,299 in the UK and you can also pre-order from Vive.com, Amazon, Scan or Overclockers to get a £50 voucher at the respective store. The pre-order window closes October 14th, so expect units to ship in the second half of next month.

HTC Vive Pro 2 Full Kit Ships Next Month

The Vive Pro 2 Full Kit includes the headset itself, two Vive wand controllers and two of Valve’s 2.0 SteamVR Base Stations. There’s also two months of the company’s VR subscription service, Viveport Infinity, thrown in too. Previously the headset had only been sold as a base model with just the device itself.

As we calculated back in May, though, you can actually get the Vive Pro 2 on its own and then buy the base stations and a pair of Valve Index controllers for $1,375. Not only are you saving yourself a little money, but the Index Controllers (which HTC has confirmed are compatible with the headset) support advanced finger detection and have analog sticks too.

It’s definitely worth doing a little digging if you’re in the market for a full PC VR kit, then. We haven’t tried the Pro 2 for ourselves yet but its specs certainly impress on paper – with dual 2448×2448 LCD panels, more than 2.6x as many pixels as the original Vive Pro. Hopefully we’ll be able to bring you some full impressions sometime in the near future.

Oculus Quest 2 ‘Space Sense’ Guardian Intrusion Feature Found In v32 Firmware

From uploadvr

Twitter user Basti564 has found updated graphics and settings options for the ‘Guardian Intrusion Detection’ interface, first found back in March, which is now referred to as ‘Space Sense.’

Basti564 posted a video on Twitter showing new graphics and an explainer video within the Quest running on v32. We’ve been able to get the graphics too. In Settings, under Device, we can see ‘Space Sense’ — a currently dormant feature, which shows an outline of people and objects that move in front of you while using a roomscale boundary.

The feature and the menus depicted above are not accessible natively to Quest users on v32. However, UploadVR was able to test the adb commands to bring up the menu on a Quest 2 and enable the feature. The menus seem to just be a placeholder for now — in our testing, the feature didn’t work even after it was enabled via hidden menu.

Here’s a transcription of the text from the dialog box:

Enable Space Sense to see outlines of people and things inside your Roomscale boundary. Staying aware of what’s around you while in VR helps keep you and others safe. 

You can see outlines up to 9 feet away, as long as it’s still within your boundary and directly in front of your headset. You can turn this feature off at anytime in Settings. 

Basti564 also posted a clear capture of the new explainer animation, which shows a Beat Saber player who is alerted by a ghost-like visual of someone entering their play area and walking across the player’s field of view. It also shows a user who is able to see visualizations of objects in their play area. The Quest can currently detect objects during guardian setup, but this feature looks to show a visualisation of them during regular use.

Evidence of this guardian intrusion feature was first found back in March by Basti564. At the time, it had graphics in the style of the older Quest UI and evidence suggested that it had been dormant in the Quest since v20.

While it’s still unclear whether the feature will release soon, the updated Space Sense name and the newer Quest 2-style animated instructional clips would indicate that the feature is perhaps still being actively worked on. If nothing else, the graphics look more polished than they previously did and the inclusion of a settings menu, where you can adjust the sensitivity of the feature, bodes well.

Would you use this guardian intrusion feature if it came to Quest? Let us know in the comments.

ProTubeVR Announces Haptic Module For VR Rifle Stock

From uploadvr

ProTubeVR announced a new haptic module this week, designed to be used with its MagTube Rifle frame, to provide more immersive VR shooter experiences using haptic feedback for recoil and other realistic gun effects.

The haptic module, dubbed the ForceTube Scout Haptic Module, is compatible with both Quest and PC VR platforms. The accessory “simulates the vibration of the firearm and the impact on your shoulder,” pitched as adding realistic recoil and haptic effects for shooters. It is said to ship with native support for titles like Sniper Elite VR, Onward, Pavlov, Contractors, Hot Dogs, Horseshoes and Hand Grenades and more.

The accessory is available for pre-order now as a standalone unit for a regular price of €249. However, this doesn’t include the rifle frame, which is needed to attach the haptic module and your controllers.

ProTubeVR haptic module oculus quest

For the full kit, you can pre-order a bundle that includes the stock itself, the haptic module and two grips to mount your controllers onto the stock. The bundle can be configured to include the appropriate grips for almost any VR headset — there’s options for most PC VR headsets, PSVR Move controllers and all generations of Oculus Touch controllers, to name a few.

For the bundle that includes the stock, haptic module and Quest 2 controller grips, the total pre-order price comes to around €311, depending on options.

ProTubeVR haptic module oculus quest

You can find out more and pre-order the ProTubeVR haptic module here. The expected ship date for pre-orders is “around 2 months from the day you place the order,” with shipments sent out on a first-come, first-served basis on order date.

Lynx R1 Standalone VR/AR Headset Costs $499, Kickstarter This Month

From uploadvr

Hopeful standalone VR/AR newcomer, the Lynx R1, will cost $499 to pre-order when it hits Kickstarter later this month.

The French startup confirmed the news this week in a new video you can see below. The campaign will launch in later September, though Lynx hasn’t revealed its campaign goals. We also don’t know when it ships other than sometime next year, or what you’ll get in the box, though Lynx doesn’t have its own controllers to pair with the device. You’ll be able to pre-order a special edition version of the headset which has a transparent front face. You can sign up to be notified of the launch here.

Lynx R1 Price Revealed

We’ve remained cautiously optimistic about this headset, which uses the same Snapdragon XR2 processor found in Oculus Quest 2 & HTC’s Vive Focus 3, since news broke in July that it was being redesigned to sell for “a few hundred dollars”. While $499 might be more than some were expecting, it’s still low for a standalone VR headset.

Lynx plans to subsidize the low cost of the consumer model with a cut from selling apps on its own app store and B2B sales. That said, $499 still puts the device at $200 more than the 128GB model of the Oculus Quest 2.

The kit also includes dual 1600×1600 LCD panels running at 90Hz with independent lens separation adjustment and supports hand tracking from Ultraleap. It will also support the upcoming FinchShift controllers and can connect to a PC with a USB-C cable to play SteamVR titles, and it’s compatible with OpenXR.

When it comes to AR, the kit uses two high-resolution color cameras for passthrough. The Oculus Quest 2 only uses low-resolution black and white images.

We’ll definitely be interested to see how the R1 performs with its lofty promises. Check back later in the month for more coverage of the device.  What do you make of the Lynx R1 price? Let us know in the comments below!

Facebook Reveals $299 Ray-Ban Stories Smartglasses With Camera And Assistant

From uploadvr

After a week of teases, Facebook and Ray-Ban are finally announcing Ray-Ban Stories, a new line of smartglasses with built-in cameras and Facebook features.

Check out the full announcement video including an introduction to the kit from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Rocco Basilico of Ray-Ban brand owner Luxottica below.

Ray-Ban Stories Specs And Features

As expected (and essentially confirmed in a leak earlier today), Ray-Ban Stories are sunglasses that resemble traditional Ray-Ban models with small cameras embedded in the top corners of the rims. Like the Snap Spectacles before them, you can use these cameras to instantly capture point-of-view footage, as was demonstrated by Facebook VP of VR and AR, Andrew Bosworth, in a tease earlier this week. The glasses don’t, however, feature any sort of VR or AR functionality.

The dual 5MP cameras capture up for 30 seconds of video or images. An LED lights up when the glasses are recording or taking a photo. There’s also built-in Bluetooth support and a 3-microphone audio array allowing you to connect to your phone to take calls or listen to apps.

As for Facebook features, the glasses are integrated with the Facebook Assistant, allowing you to operate the glasses with your voice. You can also use the Facebook View companion app to share media through other services including non-Facebook applications.

Ray-Ban Stories Price And Release Date

Ray-Ban Stories are launching today in the US, UK, Canada, Italy, Ireland and Australia and start at $299 USD, the same price as the entry-level 128GB Oculus Quest 2 VR headset. You can also pick them up with Polarized lenses starting at $329 or Transitions lenses starting at $379. The glasses come in three models named Wayfarer (Wayfarer L), Round and Meteor and are available in five different colors.

Are Ray-Ban Stories AR Glasses?

In a nutshell: no. AR technology has a spatial understanding of the world around you and then uses that information to project virtual images into your environment. Ray-Ban Stories won’t do this, and they won’t even have an overlay interface. They do, however, represent a form factor that Facebook is no doubt keen to one day reach with an AR headset; current devices like the Microsoft HoloLens 2 and Magic Leap One are bulky and unfit for all-day use. Facebook Reality Labs, the division of the company responsible for AR and VR technology, is using prototype AR glasses not intended for consumer use, but it will be some time before the company brings a true consumer AR headset to market.

What do you make of Ray-Ban Stories? Will you be picking up a pair? Let us know in the comments below!