Meta’s Quest 3 headset will have better mixed reality tech, according to Zuckerberg

The current-gen Quest 2. | Photo by Owen Grove / The Verge A key feature from Meta’s $1,499.99 Quest Pro headset will make an appearance — in some form — in a more affordable consumer-focused headset coming later this year, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in the company’s latest earnings release. That key feature is support for Meta Reality, the...

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Meta reportedly wins fight to buy VR startup Within

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge A California judge is reportedly allowing Meta to close its acquisition of virtual reality fitness startup Within, despite an ongoing antitrust case by the Federal Trade Commission. Bloomberg reports that a pair of sealed orders deny the FTC’s request to block the deal but with a one-week delay that...

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Meta is inexplicably shutting down one of the best Oculus games

We’ve called it a cross between the Battle School from Ender’s Game and ultimate frisbee. We’ve called it Final Fantasy X blitzball meets VR. It made two of our Best VR Games lists — three, if you count the one I did for CNET before returning to The Verge. It convincingly sticks you into a robot body inhabiting a zero-G arena, where you have to use...

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Meta is testing members-only worlds for its social VR platform

Some Horizon Worlds avatars hanging out around a virtual campfire. | Image: Meta Meta is starting to test members-only worlds in Horizon Worlds, its social VR platform, which will allow people to build curated worlds for a select community of users. These members-only worlds will offer something of a middle ground for creators on the platform....

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The Meta Quest Pro is $400 off this week

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Meta has given its professional Meta Quest Pro headset a temporary $400 discount, bringing its cost down to $1,099 in the US. The deal, which, according to CNET, runs for one week in the US and two weeks in the UK at a price of £1,299, at least temporarily mitigates one major point of criticism...

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Apple is reportedly working on a way to make AR apps that’s as simple as talking to Siri

“Hey Siri, make an AR version of the Apple logo.” | Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Apple is apparently working on a way to let you make apps for its long-rumored mixed reality headset using Siri, according to a new report from The Information. Yes, that Siri, the one that routinely messes up basic requests or errors out in frustrating...

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Meta’s flagship VR app is catching up to the NES by making A the jump button

I, too, am throwing my hands in the air for this change. | Image: Meta Meta is making a big improvement to controls in its social VR platform Horizon Worlds: jump is being remapped to the A button, according to a blog post about the app’s new v94 update. You might be surprised to hear that wasn’t the case before, especially given that the...

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The Meta Quest’s improved hand tracking is now the default

Hand tracking could become a big battleground for virtual reality headsets. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge In April 2022, Meta released Hand Tracking 2.0, its upgraded system that can detect things like high fives and clapping, but the company is now making 2.0 the default hand tracking technology for Quest apps, according...

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Apple’s ‘Reality Pro’ VR headset sure sounds like a monster device

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Apple’s long-rumored VR / AR headset could be packed with ambitious technologies, including advanced hand tracking, the ability to see your Mac’s display, and even recreating digital versions of users in one-on-one FaceTime conversations, according to an extensive new report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman....

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AltspaceVR is shutting down as Microsoft’s mixed reality division shrinks

Image: Microsoft Microsoft will shut down AltspaceVR, the social virtual reality (VR) platform it acquired in 2017 (via VentureBeat), on March 10th, 2023. The company shared the news in a blog post just days after it announced job cuts affecting 10,000 workers, stating the move will help shift focus “to support immersive experiences powered...

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