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

I skipped this newsletter last week and thank you for the kind words asking about it.

I was actually present at Meta Connect, being there for the launch of Meta Orion which, in my opinion, is the future of computing and the way we will use computers in the next 5-10 years.

eXtend your gaming:

Welcome to XR Gamer Digest #37

Discounts and Tips

🥳 Meta significantly reduces Quest 3 prices and includes free Batman: Arkham Shadow plus three months of Meta Quest+, with the same offer applying to the newly announced $299 Quest 3S.

🥽 Amazon offers the best deal yet on refurbished Meta Quest 3 headsets, featuring a 1-year return policy.

XR Games

🤖 Iron Rebellion, a VR mech shooter inspired by Titanfall and Hawken, introduces new mech abilities and customizable classes in its final major update before full release in Q4 2024.

🔫 VR survival shooter Into The Radius launches on PlayStation VR 2 with enhanced features like foveated rendering, haptic feedback, and customizable graphics modes.

💀 Dumb Ways: Free for All, based on the Dumb Ways to Die franchise, launches on Meta Quest on November 7 with 50 mini-games, multiplayer support, and future free updates adding more content.

🚀 Starship Home on Quest 3 transforms your living room into a customizable spaceship for an immersive mixed reality adventure. 

⚔️ Tactical RPG Triangle Strategy is coming to the Meta Quest platform with mixed reality features on October 31, available for pre-order now at a discounted price of $25.99.

🎴 Vestiges: Fallen Tribes, a strategic deck-building and auto-battler VR game set in a dystopian world, launches in Early Access on PC VR on October 3rd, featuring solo missions and PvP battles.

👩🏻 The unofficial VR port of the original Tomb Raider, called Beef Raider XR, is now available for free on Quest 3 via Sidequest.

🔫 The co-op shooter Starship Troopers: Continuum is launching on Quest and PSVR 2 in October, featuring the return of Johnny Rico, voiced by Casper Van Dien.

🚈 Pre-orders for Metro Awakening Deluxe Edition are now live on Meta Quest, offering a 10% discount and exclusive cosmetic items ahead of its November 7 release.

🧟‍♂️ The multiplayer VR horror game You Can't Scare Me is launching on Meta Quest on October 10, 2024, featuring a scream-detecting microphone for added fun.

XR Entertainment

👓 Meta will release a Passthrough API for Quest in early 2025, granting developers access to the camera's passthrough view to enable more immersive and advanced mixed reality applications.

🧍🏻‍♀️ Meta is launching a major graphical update to its avatars on October 1, introducing more customization options, lifelike movements, and expressiveness.

📲 Meta introduces the Meta Spatial SDK to enable Android developers to port and enhance their apps for Quest's Horizon OS.

🥽 Meta announces Hyperscape, a VR app that allows users to scan and explore real-life spaces in high fidelity on Quest 3 and Quest 3S headsets, bringing photorealistic environments to the metaverse.

💃 Just Dance VR launches on Meta Quest on October 15, offering an immersive, 360° dance experience with multiplayer, social features, and over two dozen hits.

XR News

🤝 Palmer Luckey's company, Anduril Industries, is partnering with Microsoft to enhance the U.S. Army's HoloLens-based IVAS headsets by integrating Lattice software for real-time threat updates.

❌ Meanwhile, Microsoft is discontinuing production of its HoloLens 2 headset, with no replacement planned, while continuing support until 2027.

☠️ Also, with the latest Windows 11 update, Microsoft has discontinued support for its Windows Mixed Reality (WMR) headsets, effectively ending their functionality and access to SteamVR content after November 2026.

💰 Distance Technologies secures an oversubscribed €10 million seed round to advance its glasses-free mixed reality technology that transforms transparent surfaces into MR displays for automotive, aerospace, and defense industries.

🕶️ Meta introduces Orion, its most advanced AR glasses featuring immersive augmented reality and contextual AI, unveiled at Meta Connect as a major milestone toward consumer AR wearables, though not yet available for public release.

✍️ Logitech's MX Ink, the first tracked stylus for Meta Quest enabling natural 2D and 3D writing and drawing, is now available for purchase.

🥂 YouTube co-watching is coming to Quest's Horizon Home next week, while Amazon Prime and Netflix apps on Quest have added new features.

🥽 Meta Quest 3S, the affordable successor to Quest 2, is now available for pre-order ahead of its October 15 release.

🤝 GameDriver Inc. and Perform have partnered to enhance game and XR development, combining GameDriver’s automated testing with Perform’s performance optimization and DevOps services.

🍫 Nestlé is launching a virtual factory experience to reduce travel, showcasing its manufacturing processes and innovations through personalized VR tours.

📸 DPVR has introduced the P1 Pro Cam, a 4K mixed reality headset designed for education, featuring a 13MP camera, ergonomic design, and tailored classroom integration. 

📈 VR shooter Ghosts of Tabor has surpassed $20 million in revenue, driven by high player engagement and long play sessions, with over 835,000 registered players since its release.

🤩 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).

Until next time, enjoy your other reality gaming!

Bobby Voicu