Virtual & Augmented Reality and 3D
All the latest virtual reality and augmented reality plus 3D related news, with everything related to gaming headsets & plenty more.
Microsoft rejected John Carmack's plan to bring Quake 3 VR to Meta Quest
As a programmer and pioneer of the first-person shooter genre, John Carmack needs no introduction. His credits include Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Doom II: Hell on Earth, Quake, Quake II, Quake III Arena, and more. John Carmack was also instrumental in making VR gaming successful after joining Oculus in 2013 as its CTO, where he continued to drive and shape the Meta Quest platform until 2022.
With the release of a fully playable and unofficial Quake 3 VR mod by Team Beef that uses the game's free demo version as its basis for multiplayer, the quality and impressive way in which it captures the iconic shooter's feel in VR has garnered a lot of attention in the VR and classic gaming community - including John Carmack. If you ever played Quake 3 back in the day, the Quake 3 VR footage above (via @verociity on X) will bring back some fond memories.
After being asked about the port on social media platform X this past weekend and about it being made cannon (as in official), John Carmack confirmed that's precisely what he tried to do while he was at Meta. He even went so far as to promise id Software and Microsoft over one million dollars in sales for Quake 3 VR to be officially available on the Meta Store, but was still rejected.
John Carmack calls PC VR gaming a 'boutique niche,' says Half-Life Alyx wasn't that important
As one of the fathers of the FPS genre and the programmer responsible for both Doom and Quake's smooth gameplay, John Carmack is an absolute legend in the game development and PC gaming community. After leaving id Software, he's probably best known for jumping in on the rise of VR gaming, joining Oculus and then, later, Meta.
John Carmack is no longer at Meta, but over the weekend, the talented programmer took to X to post his feelings on the current state of VR - specifically PC VR gaming. It's no secret that VR never quite took off in the way PC gaming handhelds have in recent years. It's still considered a niche thing to put on a headset to play a game, even heavy hitters like Half-Life: Alyx or Star Wars Squadrons.
John Carmack notes that when it comes to VR, the release of standalone all-in-one headsets like the Meta Quest was "the biggest win that VR ever had." And it was never a case of the right AAA title arriving before everybody would get into VR gaming and make it mainstream. "Beat Saber was far more important than Half-Life: Alyx," he adds.
Apple still cautiously working on standalone AR glasses after Vision Pro was a massive flop
Apple is being very cautious with its next move in the headset market, after its insanely expensive flop in the Vision Pro.
In his new PowerOn newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman explains that Apple is still hard at work on a new pair of AR glasses, with Apple's Vision Products Group boss, John Ternus, not wanting another (expensive) flop on his hands in a post-Vision Pro world.
Gurman explained: "As I reported last month, Apple recently scrapped plans for augmented reality glasses that would tether to a Mac. This device wasn't the dream AR glasses that everyone is waiting for, but it might have served as a nice stopgap product".
Apple kills off plans to build AR glasses, will leave the AR glasses market to Meta
Apple has reportedly axed plans to build advanced AR glasses that would've paired with the iPhone and Mac, adding another notch to the company's headset failures in a post-Vision Pro headset world.
In a new report from Mark Gurman on Bloomberg, Apple shuttered the program this week, with the "now-canceled product would have looked like normal glasses but include built-in displays and require a connection to a Mac, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the work wasn't public. An Apple representative declined to comment".
Apple launched its expensive, controversial Vision Pro headset for $3499 to not-so-great headlines, hoping to make a headset that everyday users could use, with a cheaper price tag. Meta has been selling its Ray-Ban smart glasses, with the company moving into a version that adds AR (augmented reality) and will reportedly have AR glasses on the market by 2027, which is when Apple had expected to launch its codenamed N107 headset.
Pimax Dream Air VR headset revealed: 8K display, spatial audio, DisplayPort connectivity for PC
Pimax has just teased the design and specs of its upcoming Pimax Dream Air VR headset, in a beautiful small-and-thin headset that rocks an 8K panel offering 27 million pixels, head, hand, and eye-tracking, integrated spatial audio, DisplayPort connectivity, and a self-adjusting backstrap. Check it out:
The new Pimax Dream Air is a PCVR headset, borrowing a bunch of components from the previously announced Crystal Super, including the micro-OLED panels and pancake lenses, but crams it into a small form factor headset. There's a new design language, which signals the small form factor era for Pimax.
The company says that while the Crystal Super excels as the ultimate PCVR headset for seated simulation experiences like flight and racing games, the new Pimax Dream Air is tailored to active VR users, with its portability and lightweight design perfect for VRChat, room-scale VR, and entertainment on-the-go.
Apple's new Vision Pro could sport in-house 5G modem, chaeper model with M5 chip in 2025 first
Apple's next-gen Vision Pro headset could feature an in-house 5G modem, with smart glasses expected to ship with a 5G modem in the coming years.
In a new report from insider Mark Gurman on Bloomberg, we're learning that the Apple Vision Pro successor launching in 2025 with the company's new M5 processor, will NOT ship with an in-house 5G modem. However, in future-gen Apple AR glasses we could expect a 5G modem, and a future Vision Pro successor of the future with a built-in 5G modem (because we all want, or need it.. Apple being Apple).
Apple's future AR glasses will most likely tether to an iPhone which will have a 5G modem inside, with the company's in-house 5G modem expected to beat the 5G champion -- Qualcomm -- with its future-gen iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max smartphones which should debut with mmWave baseband chips.
Apple's uber-expensive Vision Pro sells less than 500,000 units since its launch in February
Apple has reportedly sold just 500,000 units of its expensive Vision Pro headset since its launch earlier this year.
In his new PowerOn newsletter, insider Mark Gurman explains that current Vision Pro customers aren't using the $3500 headset anywhere near as much as Apple expected, and that it's a growing problem that's not affecting just Apple, but the likes of Meta and other headset makers.
Gurman explained in his PowerOn newsletter: "Since the Vision Pro went on sale in February, I'm told that the company has sold fewer than half a million units. And a large number of Vision Pro buyers (those who haven't returned it) aren't using the product as much as Apple anticipated, according to internal data gathered by the company".
Omni One Core is a VR treadmill for PC gamers and is compatible with all headsets
We've previously covered Virtuix's Omni One, a full-body VR system that offers 360-degree movement because you're on a treadmill. It solves one of the key issues of VR gaming: being able to move around freely when confined to limited space.
The Omni One, priced at $3,495, is a complete system that includes a Pico 4 Enterprise headset with an impressive 4K 4320 Ã 2160 (1200 PPI) resolution, 90Hz refresh rate support, and the Snapdragon XR2 chipset. It is an all-in-one system, ala the Meta Quest, with its games, storefront, and library, while also being able to connect a PC and access SteamVR.
That brings us to the Omni One Core, which brings the same immersive full 360-degree movement and freedom as the Omni One system for PC gamers who already have a VR headset with controllers.
Windows 11 support for Meta Quest arrives next month: huge virtual monitors for your desktop OS
Microsoft has announced that it's bringing support for Meta's VR headsets to Windows 11.
As part of the Ignite conference, Microsoft showed off the Meta Quest 3 and Quest 3S running Windows 11, featuring an array of massive virtual monitors, overlaid on real-world surroundings - check out the above launch video from YouTube.
You can stream your local Windows 11 desktop PC to the VR headset, or a Windows 365 Cloud PC for when you're not in your office or at home.
Apple could launch second-generation Vision Pro with M5 chip later than expected
Apple has been rumored to be working on a cheaper iteration of the Vision Pro spatial computing headset, and now recent rumors indicate the second-generation product might not be released until 2026.
According to Apple insider and Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman, Apple's next attempt at the Vision Pro headset will include the yet-to-be-unveiled M5 chip, which will be a substantial upgrade from the M2 chip that is in the available Vision Pro. Gurman writes the new device is currently in active development and that its slated to arrive between the "fall of 2025 and spring of 2026".
Notably, Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo previously stated the Cupertino company is planning on releasing its second-generation Vision Pro headset sometime in 2025. Additionally, a separate report from The Information claimed Apple's second-generation Vision Pro will re-use stockpiled parts from the first-generation model, which means there will likely be very limited physical design changes.