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

🥳 But there’s more:

🌊 Echoes of Mora has slipped from its late‑April launch to a broader Q3 2026 window.

🍏 Apple is reportedly prototyping multiple acetate smart‑glasses designs.

 💸 Blaming a global RAM shortage and rising memory chip costs, Meta is hiking Quest 3S prices by $50 and the Quest 3 by $100.

eXtend your gaming:

Welcome to XR Gamer Digest #101

XR Games

🔫 From the Zero Caliber team, COVR is being built as a slow‑paced, consequence‑heavy VR milsim focused on realistic CQB, systemic solo/co‑op missions, and hardcore weapon handling rather than arcade action.

🌊 Echoes of Mora, the approachable deep‑sea narrative puzzler, has slipped from its late‑April launch to a broader Q3 2026 window while Selkies Interactive courts a publisher and uses the extra time for polish.

🌴 Green Hell VR’s 2026 roadmap will overhaul the neglected SteamVR edition by porting the PSVR2 version to PC for free this summer, finally adding co‑op and unifying content updates across all platforms.

👊 TaVRn’s Takedown – Naheulbeuk delivers a brief but gorgeously animated fantasy tavern brawler where delightfully weighty physics, slapstick bar‑fight chaos, and stellar voice acting outweigh repetitive enemies and underwhelming bosses.

🏁 Originally due April 23, FlatOut 4: Total Insanity VR’s PC VR Early Access launch has been nudged back two weeks to May 7 so Flat2VR Studios can squeeze in extra improvements and cockpit art polish.

👻 Evil Inside, a 2021 P.T‑style psychological horror, is being reworked with VR‑specific sound, lighting, motion controls, and puzzles for Quest 3/3S and PS VR2, now slated to release on May 7 instead of April 23.

XR Entertainment

 🌌 Lucent VR turns Quest 3 into an audiovisual art gallery, offering seven exquisitely rendered biomes - from rainy cabins to Saturn’s moons - as a meditative exploration showcase that functions more as interactive digital art than a traditional game.​

🗽 Apple’s Elevated: New York City episode for Vision Pro showcases stunning 180° vistas but, according to this critique, leans on rapid cuts and thin narrative framing that undercut any deeper emotional connection to the city’s spirit.

⭐ While shooting The Mandalorian & Grogu, director Jon Favreau used custom software on Apple Vision Pro to preview shots as if seated in an IMAX theater, integrating the headset into his pre‑vis and on‑set framing workflow.

XR News

🕶️ Qualcomm has struck a multi‑year deal to power Snap’s spun‑out Specs Inc., supplying custom XR chipsets for its first consumer‑focused, highly immersive standalone Spectacles launching later this year.

🎥 Aimed squarely at live Apple Immersive Video broadcasts, Blackmagic’s URSA Cine Immersive 100G dual‑8K, 90 fps VR camera plus Live Encoder system will ship in Q3 2026 for about $26,500 to capture stereoscopic sports and concerts in real time.

🍏 Apple is reportedly prototyping multiple acetate smart‑glasses designs - with varied frame shapes, colors, and a distinctive vertically oval camera lens ringed by lights - for a 2027 launch focused on audio, camera, and AI assistant features but no displays.

💻 Google’s XR Blocks Gem for Gemini introduces Vibe Coding XR, letting creators describe a scene in text and have full WebXR mixed‑reality experiences - with UI, hand interactions, and physics - auto‑generated and previewable in‑headset within about a minute.

🚨 Meta’s exploration of adding facial recognition to Ray‑Ban and Oakley smart glasses has triggered fierce opposition from an ACLU‑led coalition, which warns such “surveillance glasses” could endanger vulnerable groups and erode civil liberties at scale.​

💸 Blaming a global RAM shortage and rising memory chip costs, Meta is hiking Quest 3S prices by $50 and the Quest 3 by $100 , while keeping smart‑glasses pricing unchanged for now.

🎧 Bigscreen’s ultra‑light Beyond 2 and 2e PC VR headsets are finally getting a redesigned $180 clip‑on Halo Mount in June, adding a flip‑up mechanism, accessory screw mount, and broader strap/interface compatibility after a year of user‑driven iteration.

🚴 Engo’s new engo3 AR sports glasses pair with Garmin and Apple Watch to project color‑coded performance metrics like heart rate, pace, and power directly in athletes’ view, featuring gesture controls, 20‑hour battery life, and photochromic lens options from €349.95.

Until next time, enjoy your other reality gaming!

Bobby Voicu