Christmas is fast approaching, signaling the year’s close. I’ll be sending you all a special holiday greeting tomorrow, but today, I come bearing gifts! Get ready for not one, but two giveaways of keys for exciting XR games. Stick around through the entire update to find out how you can snag one of these cool gifts.
Top News of the Week
Meta’s Successful 2024 and Prepping for a Competitive 2025
Andrew "Boz" Bosworth, Meta’s CTO, shared an insightful post on the company’s blog reflecting on a successful year and forecasting the challenges ahead. Insights came from Mark Rabkin, Meta’s VP of MR/VR, and the Lowpass newsletter by Janko Roettgers. While some points were generally known—like the launch of the affordable Quest 3S—there were some gold nuggets worth noting.
- Sales of the Quest 3S: Boz was optimistic about the device’s performance, especially after a strong Black Friday. It will be intriguing to evaluate Holiday sales and compare them with those of the Quest 2.
- New Customers: There’s a significant number of first-time buyers for the Quest 3S, hinting at newcomers to MR/VR or users switching from other brands—thanks to its attractive price.
- Growing Younger Audience: Today’s youth, mostly playing social and co-op games, are re-shaping the Quest store’s economy. As Rabkin pointed out, a wave of younger users is thriving while adults explore more entertainment-centric content.
- Store Data Insights: Meta is delving into the most popular genres, like social gaming and MR-first apps, to fund future developments. If you’re aiming for Meta’s backing, focus on these categories.
- Popular Apps: Gorilla Tag, YouTube VR, and Horizon Worlds lead among app usage. The appeal of YouTube VR reaffirms interest in media content via VR/MR. Horizon Worlds’ rising popularity shows Meta’s social VR strategies are bearing fruit.
- Ray-Ban’s Smart Glasses: These have seen impressive success, bolstered by AI integration. Meta is ambitiously evolving AI assistants to become everyday proactive helpers—an exciting, albeit privacy-concerning, prospect.
- Anticipating Competition: With Apple and Google entering the XR fray, Meta feels the heat of potential competition. Bosworth emphasized to his team the stakes involved, highlighting the challenge of maintaining leadership as a trailblazer in this high-tech race.
For further details, check out Boz’s blog post and comments from Rabkin.
Other Relevant News
Spatial Intelligence’s Rising Significance
The synergy between AI and XR is paving new paths, especially in spatial intelligence—using AI for spatial understanding. This week, two notable projects emerged: Niantic’s exploration of Large Geospatial Models and a study by New York University on spatial insights in LLMs. Niantic’s AI aims to bridge data gaps in geospatial models, while NYU is focusing on improving 3D space comprehension in AI, which is poised to be a future XR trend.
News Worth Mentioning
8K Camera Pre-orders for Apple’s Immersive Video
Blackmagic Design is accepting pre-orders for its URSA Cine Immersive camera, tailored for shooting 8K VR180 footage for Apple. Equipped with stereo lenses, it’s priced at $30,000, suiting professional studios. DaVinci Resolve will soon support the format.
Meta’s New Audio-to-Expression Feature
Meta has enhanced its SDK with an "Audio To Expression" feature, allowing avatar facial animations from voice input. It’s a significant upgrade from the previous lip sync, now available to developers for free.
Resolving Quest’s Steam VR Stutter
A potential solution to Quest’s stuttering issues on Steam VR has surfaced. Disabling the Motion smoothing feature could enhance performance, as confirmed by some users. Hopefully, Valve will implement such solutions in their software.
Tokyo’s Digital Twin
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government released a free point cloud of the city, aiding AI training for spatial understanding, city simulation, or as a virtual playground.
Meta Winter Sale
This Christmas, indulge in discounted VR games during the Quest Holiday Sale with big titles like Demeo and Assassin’s Creed VR offering reductions.
Upload VR’s Games of 2024
As the year wraps up, Upload VR curated its list of the best AR/VR games for 2024, offering some exciting insights for enthusiasts.
Alien Rogue Incursion’s Release
While Alien Rogue Incursion has launched, meeting high expectations like Batman Arkham Shadow didn’t happen. Despite mixed reviews, these recent game releases are crucial in boosting VR adoption.
Content Corner
New releases and updates flood the XR market:
- COLD VR, inspired by SUPERHOT, is open for pre-order.
- Figmin XR debuts on Apple’s Vision Pro.
- Tentacular Playground offers creative island-building on Steam.
- Dino Hab mixes reality by letting you raise dinosaurs.
- Grimlord is now fully accessible on Quest and Steam.
- Zenni Vision VR brings eye tests to your headset.
- New game releases continue to offer diverse gameplay experiences.
Reviews at a Glance
- Attack on Titan VR is inspired but falls short on polish.
- Green Hell VR‘s co-op mode amps up cooperative fun.
- COLD VR shows promise but needs refining.
Other Highlights
- Genesis, an open-source engine, generates animated 3D worlds.
- OpenAI’s o3 Model promises significant yet costly improvements.
- VR shooter Vail by AEXLAB boasts $5.5 million in revenue.
- A festive feature round-up is released by Upload VR.
- XREAL vs. Viture Pro slags out AR superiority on Tom’s Guide.
- Discovery: The touching VRChat-inspired short film titled ‘The Reality of Hope’.
Partner News & Announcements
PatchWorld Update and Offer
PatchWorld gets a huge update with hand tracking and OSC support, plus a 50% discount until January 2025. Grab it now from Quest Store!
DeoVR CES Party!
Be at CES? Join DeoVR’s Afterparty and catch up with me there!
Home Sports & Party Versus Giveaways!
Join giveaways for fun-packed games like Home Sports and Party Versus or purchase them on the Quest Store.
A Bit of XR Fun
From amusing internet finds about tech to humorous takes on XR experiences, we’ve got some light-hearted links to brighten your day.
Charitable Endeavors
This week, consider supporting those affected by ongoing conflicts. Donation links to the Red Cross in Ukraine are below. A special thanks to my Patreon supporters for their ongoing generosity.
For more ways to contribute, visit: Support The Red Cross in Ukraine
(Header image by Meta)
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