XR = eXtended Reality (everything VR, AR, MR)

🥳 But there’s more:

🧑‍🌾 Farming Simulator VR is now available on Meta Quest.

👤 Meta's Avat3r AI can generate photorealistic, animatable VR avatars in minutes.

🕶 Meta unveils Aria Gen 2, an advanced research-focused smart glasses platform with enhanced sensors, eye-tracking, and AI capabilities

eXtend your gaming:

Welcome to XR Gamer Digest #54

Discounts and Tips

🤩 Don’t forget you can get up to 25% discounts when you buy a game from the Meta Quest store. Go here and look for your game (we’re not affiliated with the website, but it’s a great tool).

🔖 PlayStation VR 2 gets a permanent price drop to $400 starting March 1, making it more affordable than ever.

🎁 Hide-and-seek game Mannequin is now free on Meta Quest, with optional premium upgrades, while the PC VR version remains paid.

XR Games

🕵🏻 The mixed reality puzzle adventure Hidden Pictures: Agent Q launches on Meta Quest, blending hidden object challenges, rhythm gameplay, and interactive dioramas.

🌍 Wanderer: The Fragments of Fate launches March 27 on Quest & PS VR2, bringing its time-traveling VR adventure with rebuilt visuals, full-body avatars, and physics-driven gameplay.

🥊 GORN 2 brings back the over-the-top VR brawler with new weapons, enemies, and modes, launching later this year on Quest, Steam, and PS VR2.

🧑‍🌾 Farming Simulator VR is now available on Meta Quest, letting players cultivate fields, operate real-world machinery, and build their farming empire. 

🚂 Train Sim World VR arrives exclusively on Meta Quest on March 27, bringing an immersive train-driving experience through New York City's railways.

🕹️ Job Simulator, Ghosts of Tabor, and Eleven Table Tennis join the Quest+ catalog in select regions, with availability varying by location. 

😔 Vertigo 2's Into the Aether DLC is delayed to April, pushing back its anticipated release by a month.

XR Entertainment

👤 Meta's Avat3r AI can generate photorealistic, animatable VR avatars in minutes using just four selfies. 

💃 Learn to Salsa in VR: The New Salsa Academy launches on Quest, offering step-by-step dance lessons with real instructors and AI partners. 

🚶 Virtuix launches TREKS, a VR walking tour experience for Omni One, letting users explore iconic landmarks like the Grand Canyon and NYC from home.

🖼️ Apple Vision Pro's visionOS 2.4 Beta 2 introduces Spatial Gallery, a curated 3D media collection featuring content from top brands and photographers.

🎼 Symphoni, a mixed reality rhythm game blending spellcasting and conducting to classical music, launched on Quest.

💺 Astrea’s award-winning VR narrative experience, The Passengers, now available on Quest and PC VR for $5.

⚾ Apple Immersive Video brings VIP: Yankee Stadium to Vision Pro in April, offering a behind-the-scenes look at a Yankees vs. Dodgers game with Joe Buck.

XR News

🕶 Meta unveils Aria Gen 2, an advanced research-focused smart glasses platform with enhanced sensors, eye-tracking, and AI capabilities, paving the way for future AR innovations.

👓 Rokid's AI-powered AR glasses gain attention in China with real-world enterprise applications, integrating Alibaba’s Qwen LLMs and offering an affordable alternative to high-end competitors.

🆓 Meta confirms that over 70% of time on Quest is spent in free-to-play apps, highlighting a shift toward in-app purchases as the fastest-growing revenue stream.

🚫 Meta is shutting down Move, Quest’s fitness tracking feature, on March 31, citing legacy technology limitations and a shift in priorities.

🤝 MICROOLED, Quanta, and STMicroelectronics are collaborating on a low-power "Light AR" smart glasses design for real-time sports and outdoor activity displays.

💲 Social Discovery Group launches SDG Lab, a $20M annual fund to accelerate AI-driven virtual intimacy and XR-powered social connection startups.

💵 Rockstar Games acquires Video Games Deluxe, the studio behind L.A. Noire VR and the shelved Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas VR port, renaming it Rockstar Australia.

👁️ XPANCEO unveils three new AR smart contact lens prototypes at MWC 2025, featuring wireless charging, AI-driven glaucoma detection, and biosensing for real-time health monitoring.

🎮 The VR Games Showcase returns on March 11, featuring over 20 titles, including Hitman on PSVR 2, new Flat2VR ports, and major reveals from studios like Fireproof Games and Triangle Factory.

🥽 Samsung's Moohan XR headset, developed with Google and Qualcomm, made a major splash at MWC 2025, showcasing high-resolution micro-OLED displays, Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2, and deep Android XR integration—set to launch later this year for around $999.

😎 Meta and Ray-Ban are releasing a new limited edition of their smart glasses this month, featuring transparent frames and only 3,600 units available.

✋ Inseye has paused its Lumi eye-tracking add-on for Quest 2 & 3 to focus on integrating its technology into smart glasses, offering refunds to backer. 

🐶 Animal Company has surpassed Gorilla Tag as the top-earning Quest game this week, driven by its horror-inspired multiplayer gameplay and premium add-ons.

Until next time, enjoy your other reality gaming!

Bobby Voicu