Virtual & Augmented Reality and 3D News - Page 17

Like looking at a dream of playing 16-bit SNES games back in the 1990s come true, Super Nintendo World is officially opening its doors and warp pipes at Universal Studios Hollywood on February 17.

And the main attraction will be Mario Kart: Bowser's Challenge, a recreation of the classic Mario Kart using physical vehicles and augmented reality (AR) helmets that riders will put on. The track will feature several moving pieces but adding AR will push the immersion to the next level.

As a real-world version of Mario Kart, "the creative use and integration of head-mounted AR goggles" does sound like riders will be able to collect and use items and interact with the course. Very cool.

The Oculus Quest launched in May 2019 alongside the Oculus Rift S and was a game-changer for consumer-grade VR. An all-in-one headset that didn't require a PC, with inside-out tracking and some great software support.

When it launched, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said, "This is it. This is the all-in-one VR experience that we have been waiting for. It's wireless, it's got hand presence, six degrees of freedom, and it runs Rift-quality experiences."

But, a recent email sent to users outlined that support for the original Oculus Quest (or Meta Quest) is wrapping up. The email notes that they'll still be able to use their Quest but won't be able to use social features. And presumably, the unit will no longer fall under the minimum spec requirements for upcoming games.

Apple is reportedly set to unveil its first mixed reality headset, the Reality Pro, in the coming months ahead of its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC).

The device is expected to be a high-end, premium device with a price tag of up to $3,000, making it more than twice the price of Meta's competing Quest Pro mixed reality headset, which when combined with the available software, was ill-received by users. Apple's headset will feature a hybrid of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technology, giving it its 'mixed reality' label, and is said to be using a new operating called xrOS.

Reports indicate that third-party developers are already building apps for the device, which may be released later this year alongside new iPhones and other refreshed Apple devices. The Reality Pro will be a standalone device, with its own dedicated operating capable of overlaying digital imagery on users' views and handle immersive VR experiences that will range from games to productivity, communication, and much more.

Thanks to chip shrinkage, more affordable processing power, and panels improving year-on-year, wearable display technology has seen continued advances. That said, getting all of that tech into something the size of everyday glasses isn't easy. And even in 2023, augmented reality (AR) smart glasses still carry the air of oversized joke glasses. This is where TCL's new RayNeo X2 comes in.

Smart glasses that might be a tad chunky but they're relatively small and stylish, with some impressive tech under the hood. We're talking full-color binocular Micro-LED optical waveguide displays that feature a high-contrast ratio (CR) of 100,000:1 with a peak brightness of up to 1,000 nits. These are high-end TV numbers, and with the glasses themselves actually looking like something you'd wear out and about they might just live up to the promise of Google Glasses from all those years ago.

With Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 processing power some of the day-to-day usages include a smart GPS that supports gesture recognition and can seamlessly showcase nearby landmarks. Keeping things in the travel wheelhouse, TCL has even developed a way for the glasses to recognize languages and offer up real-time subtitles and captions. Very cool. All of this sits alongside the usual smart glasses stuff like on-screen notifications for calls and messages and upcoming meetings.

Apple was expected to unveil its game-changing AR/MR (augmented reality/mixed reality) headset at its own big media reveal event in January, but one of the biggest analysts in the business has said that the Apple MR headset has now been delayed.

Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has tweeted out some new details on Apple's new MR headset, saying that it has been delayed until the second half of 2023... according to unknown "software-related issues". Ming-Chi Kuo tweeted that their latest survey indicates the mass shipment schedule of Apple's new MR headset may be delayed through to the second half of 2023 "because of software-related issues". The previous shipping estimate was aiming for Q2 2023.

The tweets continued, with Kuo explaining that the mass shipment of components is still penciled in for 1H 2023 or Q2 2023, but due to the postponed mass shipment schedule of the end product, Apple's new MR headset shipment forecast for 2023 should be less than 500,000 units... down from the market consensus of 800,000 to 1.2 million units throughout 2023.

Sony has revealed the final details of its PlayStation VR2 headset, including price, launch date, and available games.

The new PlayStation VR2 headset will cost more than an actual PS5, Sony has announced. The PSVR2 headset will retail for $549.99 / €599.99 / £529.99 / ¥74,980, roughly $50 more than the disc-based PS5 model in North America. For comparison's sake, the original PSVR launched at $399, the same price of a retail PS4 model. The price reflects the headset's significant upgrades, chief of which is removing the snake's mess of cords from the original PSVR--this upgraded model uses a single USB-C cord to connect directly to the PlayStation 5.

The PSVR2 will release on February 23, 2023 but pre-orders will begin later this month on PlayStation's direct storefront. Users can now register for a chance to be invited to pre-order the headset.

German automaker BMW plans to take its Le Mans Daytona h (LMDh) car, the BMW M Hybrid V8, to the iRacing driving simulation platform. Race fans will have the chance to get behind the wheel - only digitally, of course - and see what they can do on the same Le Mans tracks the drivers use.

BMW and iRacing have a relationship that has developed over a few years, as the German automaker must trust its technology partner. The company is currently sharing technical car details, such as CAD data and simulator/racetrack results, with iRacing. This additional information should allow for a significantly more realistic virtual driving experience for motorsports fans.

Both companies have teamed up to take cars like the M8 GTE, M4 GT4, and M4 GT3 from the real-world into the virtual world. Direct support from automakers helps create an even more realistic experience with the immersion of cars identical to the ones we watch race around the track on TV.

The founder of Oculus, which was bought by Facebook several years ago, has voiced his thoughts on what Mark Zuckerberg has created with his virtual reality technology.

Palmer Luckey, the founder of Oculus, which was acquired by Facebook back in 2014 for $2 billion, spoke at The Wall Street Journal conference Tech Live where he discussed his thoughts on what Zuckerberg is creating at Meta, formerly Facebook, specifically Meta's core virtual reality product Horizon Worlds. Luckey said, "I don't think it's a good product", and further explained that it's currently "not good" or "fun". Adding, "most people on the team would agree it's not a good product".

Despite Luckey's criticisms of Meta's metaverse project in its current form, the Oculus founder does want to see Zuckerberg succeed and believes he is in the best position out of anyone in the world to create a viable metaverse that attracts millions of users. Luckey explains that Zuckerberg is the "number one virtual reality fan in the world" and that he is and will "put the money in to do it. They're in the best position of anyone to win in the long run."

It's no mystery that some deaf people struggle to hold fluent conversations with people who don't know how to sign, especially if that deaf person or individual that's hard of hearing isn't able to read lips or sign themselves.

Luckily, technology is being developed that may very well change the game for the hearing impaired as new software joined with smart glasses converts conversations into subtitles in real-time, allowing the user to read and participate in the discussion on-the-fly. XRAI Glass has created software that, when hooked up to an Android device and Nreal's AR glasses, allows the user to see the conversation in subtitles as it appears in their field of view (when wearing the glasses).

So, how does this work? The XRAI Glass software simply picks up the conversations happening around the user by using the microphone on the smartphone. Notably, the company hasn't specifically stated how well the software works when in extremely noisy environments, such as a party with lots of music or multiple individuals talking, but it has released a promotional video that shows the software being used in various settings.

Mark Zuckerberg's multi-billion project called Horizon Worlds is facing some real problems as internal documents leaked online have revealed its seemingly failing in slow motion.

The leaked internal documents on Horizon Worlds were obtained by The Wall Street Journal and revealed that Meta put forward a goal of getting as many as 500,000 monthly active users within its metaverse by the end of 2022. However, that goal has fallen incredibly short, with the company now reining back its goal to just 280,000 monthly active users. The only problem is that Horizon Worlds is still yet to hit 200,000 active users, with one of the documents even describing the experience within Meta's metaverse as an "empty world".

It was only recently that Zuckerberg outlined that Horizon Worlds will be designed in such a way that creators can build their own worlds and profit from the experiences they provide players via services, merchandise, etc. However, these player-built worlds require visitors for this to be a worthwhile prospect, and according to the leaked documents majority of player-built worlds didn't pass more than 50 users. This point on relying on online purchases for profit was further illustrated by Zuckerberg when he explained that Meta would be breaking-even on the initial sales of its flagship VR headset, the Meta Quest Pro.