Apple Vision Pro, expected to launch in the next few months, will use hand-tracking as its primary input method. While system-level interactions combine hand-tracking with eye-tracking for a ‘look and tap’ modality, developers can also build applications that allow users to interact directly with applications using their hands.

Hand-tracking on Vision Pro can be broken into two distinct capabilities: ‘hand-tracking’ and ‘hand-occlusion’.

Hand-tracking is the estimated 3D model of the hand, its joints, and the position of the fingertips. This model is used to determine when objects are touched, grasped, and interacted with.

Hand-occlusion deals with how the system overlays your real hand onto virtual content. Rather than drawing a 3D model of a virtual hand into the scene, Vision Pro cuts out the image of your real hands to show them in the scene instead. Doing so adds another layer of realism to the virtual content because you can see your own, unique hands.

A developer building for Vision Pro using Unity posted a video which gives a clear look at both hand-tracking and occlusion.

We can see that hand-occlusion is very good but not perfect; when surrounded entirely by virtual content and moving quickly, you can see some clipping around the edges of the hand.

Meanwhile, the actual hand-tracking position lags further behind the hand-occlusion, somewhere around 100–200ms behind. We can’t quite determine the true latency of Vision Pro’s hand-tracking however, because we only have a view of the occlusion-tracking hands to compare it to (which themselves will have some latency with regard to the real hands).

In this context, the video comes from a Unity developer conversation saying that their early experiments with Vision Pro showed very high hand-tracking latency, apparently in comparison to the latest Quest hand-tracking capabilities. Other Unity developers agreed that they were seeing similar latency on their own Vision Pro devices.

However, the video in question is a hand-tracking integration inside of a Unity app, which means the hand-tracking performance and latency may have additional factors relating to Unity that aren’t present when using Apple’s first-party Vision Pro development tools. And considering the headset hasn’t launched yet and these tools are still in development, we may see additional improvements by the time the headset actually reaches stores.

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While Thumper was a flatscreen game first with an eventual VR mode, the upcoming Thrasher will be the reverse—Thrasher is being built with motion controls in mind and will launch first as a VR-only game on Quest and PC VR next year, with a flatscreen version coming at some point further down the road.

It’s a bit hard to tell exactly how the gameplay will work from the initial trailer, so here’s some context going in:

THRASHER is a mind-melting cosmic racer and an essential audiovisual experience. Swoop, dash and thrash across the void, taking on wild bosses in a race for survival that begins at the dawn of time.

Immerse yourself in a dazzling adventure across space, where music, visuals and gameplay mesh into one transcendent experience.

Thrasher is being developed by indie studio Puddle, which is comprised of Thumper co-creator Brian Gibson and Mike Mandel (Rock Band VR, Fuser, Fantasia: Music Evolved).

From what we gather, players will guide the ‘eel’ around using their motion controller, almost like waving a ribbon around on the end of a stick. It doesn’t sound exactly like a rhythm game proper, but something of an audio-visual extravaganza.

We love seeing creative VR gameplay and Thrasher certainly looks intriguing!

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While you won’t be able to nab Half-Life: Alyx (2020) on the cheap this time around, there are a host of top games on sale to buy or gift to a friend for the holiday season.

That’s great news if you have a PC VR headset, but even greater news if you have a VR-ready PC and Meta Quest thanks to the new dedicated Steam Link App which makes playing Steam games on Quest even easier.

Valve highlighted some immersive games in the latest VR Fest hype video, although there are a ton more on sale to check out. Here’s some of the standout titles on sale from now until December 11th.

There are way more than that though, so check in at the Steam VR Fest site to see all of the games currently on sale.

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First launched on flatscreen monitors in 2022 and later in a separate VR version for Quest and SteamVR, NotGames announced it’s finally bringing the dystopian broadcast sim to PSVR 2, launching December 14th.

Primarily, Not For Broadcast is about live-mixing camera feeds and making sure the National Nightly News airs without a hitch. Pretty quickly though, you’ll find out that it’s also a game of moral compromises, as you’ll need to balance a finicky public and an increasingly dire situation in what feels like a prequel to George Orwell’s 1984.

You might need to favor a certain political party, jazz up otherwise banal segments with populistic controversy, or even turn in your family member to an increasingly authoritarian government.

This dark and brilliantly satirical take on modern politics and media is also chockfull of big buttons which control full motion video (FMV) clips, making the VR version of the game feel especially close to the bone. We liked in so much when we reviewed it in early 2023, we gave it a resounding [8.5/10]. Check out our no-spoilers review to see why.

In the meantime, you can find Not for Broadcast VR over on the PlayStation Store for your wishlisting pleasure.

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The funding round was led by Taiwania Capital, a venture capital firm based in Taipei, Taiwan. Returning investors include Czechia-based Nation 1, which has increased its share by $500,000 since the previous investment round.

Founded in 2017 and based in Delaware, United States and Prague, Czechia, Vrgineers is slated to use the funds to accelerate growth in addition to releasing a new version of its XTAL headset later this year.

Priced in the thousands of dollars, the XTAL platform is designed to appeal to enterprise, with the team putting a large emphasis on flight simulation. It offers both a ‘pure’ VR XTAL headset as well as mixed reality XTAL headsets for applications where users need to read real-world instrumentation.

“This investment is not just about the necessary funds to boost our activities and products, but it also brings a great deal of overlap,” Vrgineers CEO Marek Polcak said. “This strategic investment has connected us with the leaders in the electronics development and manufacturing industry. With this connection, we can now improve our technology to the highest level possible.”

The firm also offers a number of pilot training platforms in addition to its suite of wide-FOV XR headsets, ranging from portable, suitcase-style rigs up to custom-made trainers featuring integrated motion platforms.

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The studio’s breakout title Job Simulator went platinum in early 2020, owing not only to its fun and approachable gameplay, but also for having been a launch title for HTC Vive, PSVR, and Oculus Touch in 2016.

A testament to the staying power of Job Simulator: it’s still on all major VR headsets, including new entrants such as Quest 3, PSVR 2, and Pico headsets. Since it initially went platinum in 2020, the studio says Job Simulator is now “multi-platinum”.

Building on that success, Vacation Simulator continues the original’s mad cap, object-oriented gameplay, this time letting players explore idyllic virtual destinations while taking on a variety of activities—of course viewed through the same distorted lens of a robot society in the future who have crudely reconstructed what the human-populated past must have looked like.

Founded in 2010 and acquired by Google in 2017, Owlchemy Labs is also behind the Emmy-nominated Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality (2017) and their latest VR title Cosmonious High (2022), which includes more of the object-oriented fun of both Job & Vacation Simulator, but also emphasizes realistic character behavior.

To celebrate the news of now having multiple platinum-selling games, Owlchemy Labs launched updates to both Vacation Simulator and Cosmonious High for Quest 3, bringing enhanced visuals, such as real-time shadows and increased frame rate of 90fps.

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If you’re looking to use the headset long-term, ditching the default fabric strap is one of the biggest single ways to improve your overall comfort. Meta knows this, and if you’ve worn either a Quest 2 or Quest 3 with the stock strap for more than an hour, you probably know it too. Depending on your point of view, you might call it product modularity, planned obsolescence, or even exploitative accessorizing.

Since the release of Quest 2 in 2020, Meta has produced its own brand of aftermarket headstraps: Elite Strap and Elite Strap with Battery, the latter of which comes with an external battery on that back that adds around two hours of extra juice. Yes. They’re priced at an eye-blistering $70 and $130 respectively for Quest 3, and $10 bucks less for both for Quest 2 versions. They do improve ergonomics by a wide margin though, and the extra battery is nice too.

Granted, you definitely don’t have to buy them—one look at Amazon shows Meta’s first-party stuff is usually well and above double the current asking price for third-party alternatives—but Meta is betting you’ll at least consider it before hitting the checkout button.

And that would be fine if they didn’t break a few months out of the box like early batches of the Quest 2 Elite Straps did, or refused to work at all, which is the case for many who currently own the Elite Strap with Battery for Quest 3. Again, a $130 accessory. To be fair, Meta issued a two-year extended warranty on its Elite Straps for Quest 2 because so many users were reporting excessive and unwarranted breakages of the plastic struts, but at this point the product line is starting to feel cursed.

Since its launch in October, many users across Reddit and Meta forums have reported the Quest 3’s Elite Strap with Battery isn’t working. The battery works for a bit, but then won’t charge the Quest 3 at all, rendering it essentially an expensive counterweight.

We conducted an informal poll, and 43 percent of respondents who had the strap for Quest 3 stated they’ve experienced similar charging issues, which suggests it’s not simply user error either, but rather some sort of manufacturer defect.

So what? The answer should be easy. Just send it back and get a new one, right? Well, Meta isn’t suggesting its customers do that.

“While we typically offer RMA (Return Merchandise Authorization) for defective units, replacing the strap may not necessarily resolve the problem. We are aware of the emerging issue where the Meta Quest 3 Elite Strap with Battery is not recognized by the headset or fails to charge,” Meta support told Road to VR. “Our engineering team is actively working on finding a solution for this issue. Once they have identified a resolution, we will contact you with an update.”

Some users report successfully going through the RMA process, only to have to go through it multiple times to receive a unit that actually works.

I would say you should think twice about buying it, but just today Meta took down availability of its Elite Strap with Battery for Quest 3 across all of its supported regions.

While out of stock directly through Meta, you can still nab it from participating retailers though, like Best Buy and Target, both of which feature their fair share of 1-star user reviews citing that very issue.

For now, Meta hasn’t shared any further insight on what the problem exactly is, whether it be software or hardware related. Until the company addresses it though, we strongly advise you against buying the Elite Strap with Battery for Quest 3, as it could put a serious damper on the holidays.

We’re following this story as it develops. Check back soon for updates.

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Probably the most unexpected thing about the Apple Vision Pro reveal is the headset’s external display. This is something that no commercial XR headset has shipped with to date. Apple calls this the EyeSight display, because its primary function is to show the wearers eyes ‘through’ the headset, so people nearby can tell if the wearer is looking at them or if they’re fully immersed and unable to see.

Technically, the EyeSight display isn’t actually showing the user’s real face. It’s actually projecting a view of their Vision Pro avatar (or ‘Persona’ as Apple calls them). Apple masks this fact with a stereoscopic display and some clever blurring and coloring effects to hide the limited resolution and quality of the avatar.

To generate the avatar, users will use the headset’s own cameras to capture multiple views of their face. The exact procedure was found in the files of the VisionOS Beta 6 which developers can get access to.

In the video we see a pretty quick and easy process which employs the headset’s external display as a sort of step-by-step guide through the process.

The scanning process is interesting in itself, but perhaps more interesting is the way Apple is thoughtfully using the external display to help guide user.

It seems likely that Apple will leverage the display for more than just showing the user’s eyes and guiding them through the scanning process, which opens a bunch of interesting doors.

For one, the display could be used to let the headset communicate in other ways to the user when it isn’t being worn. For instance, it could light up green to indicate an incoming FaceTime call; Or blue to tell the user that a large download has finished; or red to indicate that it’s low on battery and should be plugged in.

While there’s nothing stopping Apple from literally just putting text on the display and going full Daft Punk, the company seems to be thinking of the external display as something a bit more organic and magical than a readout of how many emails are waiting for you or how many calls you missed.

Can you think of any other interesting use-cases for the headset’s external display? I’d love to hear more ideas in the comments below!

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First released on Steam Early Access by indie studio AEXLAB, the 5v5 team shooter is now serving up cross-play support on Quest and PC VR headsets.

With the release of the Quest version, the game hopes to make a much-awaited resurgence; concurrent user numbers have faltered since it went live on Steam in November 2022, as the CS-style shooter never seemed to garner the sort of cult status among fans as Pavlov or Contractors.

Even on Quest, which boasts more regular users than PC VR, for any multiplayer game it’s an upward battle to attract a strong concurrent userbase. Priced at $20 on App Lab, that puts it at par with its direct competitors which already have significant footholds on the platform.

Whatever the case, we’re eager to see how Vail progresses and how it continues to differentiate itself across one of the toughest categories in VR.

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Varjo has been steadily making its high-end enterprise focused XR headsets better and cheaper over the course of years. The company’s key differentiator has been its ‘bionic display’ system which adds an extra display to each lens which offers retina resolution quality in a small area at the center of the headset’s view.

The company has also focused heavily on making high-quality passthrough and interesting features to take advantage of it. It’s latest flagship headset, the XR-3, was announced back in late 2020.

Today the company announced a forthcoming “special event” with some photography that heavily implies we’ll see the announcement of a new XR-4 headset.

The online-only event will take place on November 27th at 10AM PT (your timezone here).

While it looks like we can probably expect to hear about the Varjo XR-4, it’s unclear if the company will have any updates on its high-end consumer headset, Varjo Aero, which got a big price cut recently. While we don’t know exactly what the company’s plans are for the future of the Aero, Varjo told us last year its plan was to make it a whole series of headsets, not just a one-off device.

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