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"Free" Paid Games on Meta
Meta goes "Game Pass", March new games and updates, spatial video on Quest
XR = eXtended Reality (everything VR, AR, MR)
📣 If you only read one thing today 📣
🚀 Meta Quest+ enhances its subscription service by adding a rotating “free” game catalog similar to Xbox's Game Pass, starting in March 2024, and offers special promotions for new subscribers.
🎮 Here are some of the games in the new Meta Quest catalog.
🥳 But there’s more:
You can watch spatial video on Quest now.
There’s a VR Battle Royale coming soon.
And we have news on the new Meta Quest Pro (with LG!) and Apple Vision Pro 2 (or next gen?).
🚀 Also, there’s a list of all games launching in March on all platforms, further down below.
eXtend your gaming:
Welcome to XR Gamer Digest #10
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).
🔻 Sony's "Mega March" sale is slashing prices on hundreds of games, including big hits for PlayStation VR 2 like the remakes of "Resident Evil 4" and "Resident Evil Village," with discounts up to 60% in the PlayStation Store.
👓 Apple Vision Pro users complained about problems with their eyes caused by eye tracking. Well, apparently your eyes will be ok, but you still need some eye drops.
🎥 Don’t forget you can watch spatial videos on the Quest now. Yes, the ones you created with your iPhone Pro. There are some cons on watching these videos on the Quest, as well.
XR Games
👻 "Ghosts of Tabor" rolls out a significant update featuring a new underground map and boss, enhancing exploration with sewers and subterranean environments, alongside new weapons and a streamer camera for PC VR, available for $24.99 on SteamVR, Rift, and Quest
🔫 The VR sci-fi shooter "Guardians Frontline" received a free content update for Quest and PC VR, introducing stronger enemies, new skins, and an increased level cap
🧛♂️ "Asgard’s Wrath 2" introduces "Bloodsuckers," its third cosmic event, featuring challenges with parasite-infested enemies.
🚜 The VR farming simulator "Across The Valley" is now available on Quest App Lab, offering a virtual farming experience with tasks like picking fruits and vegetables, keeping livestock happy, and expanding the farm.
🚀 Meta Quest+ enhances its subscription service by adding a rotating “free” game catalog similar to Xbox's Game Pass, starting in March 2024, and offers special promotions for new subscribers. Here are some of the games.
🔫 The VR battle royale shooter "Contractors Showdown" begins its open beta phase this week, available for SteamVR and Quest 2, Quest Pro, & Quest 3 users over three consecutive weekends.
🪨 "Rock and Roots" is a new VR fantasy adventure game launched on Steam, featuring a story-driven quest to reclaim your home using strategic battles and magical creature summons, following a young heir framed for his father's murder.
🪦 Team Beef is developing an unofficial VR port for "Tomb Raider" for Quest and Pico platforms, featuring a first-person viewpoint, full 6DOF tracking, motion-triggered actions, and dual-wielding capabilities.
⚔️ The VRMMO "Zenith: Nexus" relaunches with a new free-to-play mode called "Infinite Realms," featuring a season-based procedural action-adventure RPG, revamped locomotion, and a redesigned social hub.
⚛️ "Proton Pulse," one of the first Oculus Rift games, has been effectively re-released on Apple Vision Pro, standing out for its unchanged, gaze-based gameplay and adaptability across a decade of XR platforms, highlighting a unique approach in the early stages of immersive gaming on Vision Pro.
🤖 Owlchemy Labs is bringing its celebrated VR experiences, "Job Simulator" and "Vacation Simulator," to Apple Vision Pro. This move signifies a major leap in VR entertainment, utilizing Apple’s advanced technology to immerse users in virtual worlds.
🫀 The critically acclaimed VR game "Humanity," previously available on Playstation VR 2 and Steam, is set to be released for Meta Quest 3, Quest 2, and Quest Pro on March 14, 2024, with pre-orders receiving a 20% discount.
📜 "Legendary Tales" is a game that's difficult to fully embrace or reject, with a mix of engaging physics-driven combat and RPG elements, but with issues like slow movement speed, exploration limitations, and frustrating combat mechanics against bosses with high health.
🏴☠️ If you want to be a pirate, "Wanderer 2: The Seas of Fortune" is currently in development. It promises a swashbuckling VR pirate adventure set during the Golden Age of Piracy in Jamaica, 1750, centered around swordfights and ship battles.
🚀 Here are the games launching this March (you can see all trailers here):
March 1: Rainbow Reactor: Fusion - Remastered (PSVR 2)
March 7: OVRDARK: A Do Not Open Story (PSVR 2), Swarm 2 (Quest), The Pirate Queen (PC VR, Quest), Walkabout Mini Golf: Ice Lair DLC (PC VR, Quest, PSVR, Pico)
March 8: Akka Arrh (PSVR 2), Stilt (PC VR, PSVR 2, Quest), System Critical 2 (PSVR 2)
March 12: Little Cities: Bigger! (PSVR 2)
March 14: Humanity (Quest), Monkey Doo VR (Quest), Paint the Town Red VR (PC VR, PSVR 2, Quest)
March 21: Lawn Mowing Simulator VR (Quest), Max Mustard (Quest)
March 23: MADiSON VR (PC VR, PSVR 2)
March 27: DYSCHRONIA: Chronos Alternate - Dual Edition (PC VR)
March 28: Medieval Dynasty: New Settlement (Quest)
XR Entertainment
📺 In case you didn’t know, here’s a reminder that your Meta Quest 3 can be your All-In-One home entertainment system.
🕺 If you’re a little older, you might be able to watch your favorite childhood boyband, Take That, in VR soon.
🧘 Or you can choose to meditate with Headspace XR on the Quest, coming soon on your device.
XR News
🤝 Meta and LG announced a partnership to fast forward the XR efforts for both companies, especially seeing Apple’s push with Vision Pro. Rumors suggest that Apple Quest Pro 2 might come in 2025 with LG as a hardware partner.
🕶️ Meta might show some “true” AR glasses soon, with Apple reportedly considering something similar soon.
🥽 Apple is also expanding the production capacity of the Vision Pro due to better-than-expected US market performance, with plans to possibly launch in more countries before WWDC this year.
👓 The successor to the Apple Vision Pro is reported to begin mass production in late 2025 or early 2026, focusing on improving production efficiency and supply chain to reduce costs and increase capacity, rather than adding new features or making significant spec changes
🥽 Samsung announced its entry into the XR device market at MWC 2024, unveiling an upcoming XR headset created with partners Google and Qualcomm, set for release in 2025.
🗡️ Beat Saber co-founders left the company they founded and sold to Facebook years ago. I imagine we’ll see an announcement soon of a new studio started.
Until next time, enjoy your other reality gaming!
Bobby Voicu
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Did you know?
Beat Saber was developed by a small indie studio based in the Czech Republic.
The developers were inspired by their love of music, gaming, and the potential of VR technology to create a unique, immersive experience.
Upon release, "Beat Saber" received critical acclaim for its innovative gameplay, intuitive controls, and energetic soundtrack. It has won several awards, including the Best VR/AR Game at The Game Awards 2019.
It was the first VR game to sell over 1 million copies and has since surpassed multiple sales milestones, making it one of the best-selling VR games of all time.