Category Archives: Virtual Reality

App developer Chris Crew says most first dates are terrible.

"People are afraid ... there's alot of rejection on both sides," he told AAP.

Still, he met his partner Aurora Townsend on Tinder about two years ago and together they are solving the problem of awkward first encounters by making an app so people can meet up in virtual reality instead.

Planet Theta is the first virtual reality program dedicated to dating, designed for Oculus and Steam VR headsets by their company, FireFlare Games, which is based not in Silicon Valley but Wyoming.

While people can find love with a headset on in apps such as VRChat, Echo VR, Facebook Venues and AltSpaceVR, these aren't specifically designed for dating, and catfishing or creating deceptive online identities is a constant issue.

"There is nothing that is well regulated and for adults only, and focused on dating ... we're the only game in town," Mr Crew said.

On Planet Theta people can meet up in virtual nightclubs, parks, beaches and cafes, and they can use the settings to choose meeting others who live in the same area or elsewhere in the world.

And, as the developers note - there is no pandemic on Planet Theta.

First dates only last for five minutes, which Mr Crew believes is extremely convenient.

"You can go on four or five first dates in the time it takes the average person to just get ready for one in-person date," he said.

Unusually for a dating app, Planet Theta will encourage its users to create avatars that resemble their real-life appearance and verify that they have done so.

"We are trying to encourage people to look like themselves ... what we don't want is people to enjoy their date looking like a model and then find out they really look like normal people," Mr Crew said.

The developers have used high-end UK designers Dashvisual to make their dating venues, with a virtual forest a particular favourite for Mr Crew.

"Some of the scenes are just breathtaking; you walk up to these massive trees and they make a tingle go up your spine," he said.

Virtual reality may not seem mainstream at the moment but in the US about 60 million people use VR at least once a month.

Mr Crew expects between two and five million people will log on to find virtual love when the app launches in 2022.

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Virtual dating soon a reality with new app - 7NEWS

Lying perfectly still for 30 minutes or more while getting a magnetic resonance imaging study (MRI) can be a challenge for anyone. For younger patients who tend to be fidgety anyway, and not always adept at following instructions it can be especially difficult, doctors say, and often requires sedation. But a new virtual reality game making its U.S. debut at Miami Cancer Institute is helping lower anxiety and reduce the need for anesthesia for pediatric brain tumor patients, which results in higher quality imaging.

(Watch now: Dr. Matthew Hall at Miami Cancer Institute discusses benefits of the MRI Stillness Game, which helps young cancer patients stay perfectly still during what can be a loud and, for some, scary procedure. Video by Anthony Vivian.)

Anyone whos had an MRI knows what its like to be strapped on the table, rolled inside the tube and subjected to that loud thumping sound for half an hour, says Matthew D. Hall, M.D., MBA, lead pediatric radiation oncologist at Miami Cancer Institute, which is part of Baptist Health South Florida. Imagine what its like if youre a young child, in there all by yourself.

The MRI Stillness Game, a virtual reality game developed by healthcare technology manufacturer Reimagine Well and tested by Miami Cancer Institute, prepares kids for their brain MRI, easing anxiety and improving care, says Dr. Hall.

The virtual reality game helps train children to stay still and better cope with the often stress-provoking noises and claustrophobic feeling some get during an MRI, Dr. Hall says. The result is a reduction in the number of children who must be anesthetized for the study; a better, clearer image that leads to the highest-quality care; a shorter study time; and a happier patient.

If a child moves during the MRI, it can create a fuzzy image and make it more difficult to interpret, Dr. Hall notes. To plan and deliver the sharp-shooting radiation treatment our patients receive, we need clear images. Were excited that this technology will make this possible and make our patients more comfortable.

Miami Cancer Institute is the first cancer center in the nation to offer the Reimagine Well MRI Stillness Game as an option for pediatric patients. According to Dr. Hall, brain tumor patients typically require a number of MRI studies throughout their treatment and for several years during follow-up. Dr. Hall says that up to 50 percent of pediatric patients at Miami Cancer Institute require anesthesia for MRIs due to anxiety or discomfort.

Children use the simulation program during a pre-study visit, Dr. Hall explains. A specially trained child life specialist helps them don a virtual reality headset and positions them on the table as if they were having the MRI. The patient is first led through a virtual tour of the MRI suite and then the game begins.

The headset can measure tiny movements of the head, according to Dr. Hall; the longer the child remains still, the more immersive of an experience they can enjoy, as a black and white image turns into full and vibrant color. During three successive levels each more challenging than the last the child experiences a rainforest, a hot air balloon festival and a coral reef environment. The entire game takes about 20 minutes, according to Dr. Hall.

Kids receive immediate feedback, starting with the color changes, Dr. Hall says. Then, as they demonstrate they can lay still, the loud noises of the MRI machine decrease and are replaced by the more natural sounds for the image theyre viewing. With this biofeedback, they learn to drown out the noise. Children also see their stillness score increase as they improve, he adds.

For five-year-old Ayan Radu, the game not only helped him feel better about his scheduled MRI at Miami Cancer Institute, it was also fun and surprising. He saw an ocean in front of him, says his mother, Anca Radu. He was very interested to play the game. When he was inside, he was quite calm and very curious about what was happening there.

While there are a few cancer treatment facilities in the country using similar technology for children undergoing radiation therapy, Miami Cancer Institute, with its specialized pediatric team that works closely with young patients, doesnt see a need for virtual reality in that area. When it comes to MRIs, however, even many adults have difficulty remaining motionless, notes Dr. Hall, who says the Institute may eventually offer this program to adult patients as well.

Miami Cancer Institute is also collecting data to measure the effectiveness of the simulation. It will analyze the information to see if there is a correlation between lower game scores and the need for anesthesia or a longer amount of time in the MRI machine. Were hoping it will become a predictive measure to help guide us so that we can better forecast which children might need more support in getting through an MRI study, Dr. Hall says.

Tags: biofeedback, Matthew D. Hall M.D., Miami Cancer Institute, MRI Stillness Game, pediatric cancer

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Miami Cancer Institute First to Use New Virtual Reality Game that Keeps Kids Calm and Still During Brain MRIs - Baptist Health South Florida

Akihiko Hoshide, an astronaut with the Japanese space agency JAXA, spacewalks outside the International Space Station on Sept. 12, 2021. The spacewalk was captured in virtual reality by Felix and Paul studios for an upcoming episode of their multiplatform series, Space Explorers: The ISS Experience.

NASA/NASA

Communing with the infinite while floating high above the Earth is an experience that, so far, has been known to only a handful.

Now, a Montreal production company aims to share that experience with audiences around the world, following the first ever recording of a spacewalk in the medium of virtual reality.

Its something that has absolutely never been done before, said Flix Lajeunesse, co-founder and creative director of Felix and Paul studios, which developed the project in partnership with TIME Studios and NASA.

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The spacewalk is something that Ive dreamt about for years and we have worked for every week heading to that moment, he said.

The company, which specializes in creating virtual-reality experiences with cinematic flair, got its long-awaited chance in mid-September when astronauts Thomas Pesquet and Akihiko Hoshide ventured outside the International Space Station for about seven hours to install supports and other equipment in preparation for a new solar array.

Space Explorers: The ISS Experience is different from earlier space documentaries about life aboard the station in that virtual reality allows audience members to look around in any direction.

Felix & Paul Studios and TIME Studios/Courtesy of Felix & Paul Studios and TIME Studios

The footage will be used in the fourth and final instalment of Space Explorers: The ISS Experience, a virtual-reality journey to space that has already garnered a Primetime Emmy Award for its first two episodes.

From the outset, the production was developed to reach audiences through a variety of platforms for 360-degree viewing, including 5G-enabled smart phones and tablets. A domed theatre version of the experience for group audiences opened this week at the Rio Tinto Alcan Montreal Planetarium. Those who desire a more immersive experience can now see the first two episodes in VR form by using a headset available through the gaming and entertainment company Oculus. Scenes from the VR series are also on offer as part of The Infinite, an interactive exhibition developed by Montreals Phi Studio, whose works focus on the intersection of art and technology. The exhibition, which runs until Nov. 7, has attracted 40,000 visitors since it opened in July.

This is probably as close as youll ever be to going to the space station, said Myriam Achard, PHIs chief of new media partnerships. She said that the final part of the VR experience includes an opportunity to gaze down at the Earth from space as though from the cupola the space stations main viewing area.

It is a very powerful moment, she said, adding that some visitors have been brought to tears by the experience.

The company made its initial pitch to NASA in 2016 and gradually built confidence in its ability to tackle the project.

Felix & Paul Studios and TIME Studios/Courtesy of Felix & Paul Studios and TIME Studios

At a time when billionaires are able to head off on private extraterrestrial sojourns that almost no one else could dream of, Lajeunesse said his project was developed with a very different purpose in mind: making it easier for audiences to become eyewitnesses rather than distant spectators to humanitys greatest adventure.

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The concept was always to create a bridge, through technology and through media, to allow people to experience a glimpse of what it feels like [to be on the space station]. That remains the whole point, he said.

There were plenty of challenges on the way to the launch pad.

The company made its initial pitch to NASA in 2016 and gradually built confidence in its ability to tackle the project while filming astronauts in training at the Johnson Space Center in Houston and at the Russian Space Agencys training site near Moscow. The company also filmed at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, which, until recently, was the departure point for all astronauts heading to the space station.

To take the next step following crews into orbit the Montreal company needed to adapt its equipment to meet the strict specifications required by NASA and to enable filming in the vacuum of space. Since the filmmakers could not be on hand to man the equipment themselves, astronauts also had to be enlisted and trained as VR camera operators aboard the station.

We were willing to undertake those efforts because we know how valuable this production is, said Jessica Meir, a U.S. astronaut who was involved in filming for the project during a seven-month stint on the station starting two years ago. Its really such a unique platform.

She added that, after watching the results, she found the experience so immersive that it could be used in training to help acclimatize astronauts to the three-dimensional environment of the station, a place with no up or down in the conventional sense, before journeying there.

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The feeling was echoed by Canadian astronaut David St. Jacques, who contributed to the filming during his 204 days on the station in 2018-19, the longest Canadian space mission to date.

The crucial spacewalk shoot for Space Explorers: The ISS Experience was planned for early this year but technical problems intervened and for a time it was not clear if or when another chance might arise.

Felix & Paul Studios and TIME Studios/Courtesy of Felix & Paul Studios and TIME Studios

What makes Space Explorers: The ISS Experience different from earlier space documentaries about life aboard the station is that virtual reality allows audience members to look around in any direction they choose, rather than be led by a directors selection of shots. St. Jacques said that viewers may be surprised not just by the exotic nature of the location but by the sense of intimacy that the experience achieves by putting the audience in proximity with crew members during daily activities, such as sharing a meal.

Theres no backstage. Everythings on stage, he said. This is one of the most candid things thats ever been filmed in space.

For the final instalments, the storyline takes viewers outside of the space station with cameras mounted on the Canadarm, and for the climax of the series by following astronauts during a spacewalk. These scenes required extensive planning, not only because of the limited time frame in which they could be gathered, but because of the lighting challenges presented by a constantly shifting sun as the space station circles the globe once every 90 minutes.

The crucial shoot was planned for early this year but technical problems intervened and for a time it was not clear if or when another chance might arise. By the time the opportunity arose again in September it was with a different crew. Fortunately for the filmmakers, the spacewalkers were assigned a task similar to what the production company had originally planned for.

We were lucky because a lot of the work that we had prepared for the first attempt in terms of camera choreography and in terms of calculating where to be at what moment in time a lot of that could be applied to the new filming opportunity, Lajeunesse said.

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But Lajeunesse said that it was equally important to acquire shots that are not just technically spectacular but that serve the underlying themes of Space Explorers: The ISS Experience. These include an examination of human adaptation and advancement, and the unity that emerges within a group of individuals from many places and cultures and who must learn to co-exist in a high risk environment in order to achieve a common goal.

During the spacewalk Lajeunesse and his team were able to download low resolution stills of the unfolding footage, which provided a sense of what they were capturing. But he said he was still astonished when the VR footage began arriving during the following days.

Its mind blowing, he said when describing the fully immersive view of the station, the crew and the planet all at once in a VR environment. It almost feels like something that evolution did not prepare us to look at.

In the coming weeks the footage will be used to complete the series and augment The Infinite, when the exhibition begins travelling internationally later this year.

But Lajeunesse said he isnt ready to come back to Earth any time soon. As NASA and its international partners, including Canada, move toward a joint effort to bring humans to the moon, he said that the potential for virtual reality to document years of lunar exploration is too great not to pursue.

We want to be part of that, he said. Were not astronauts but were filmmakers. We develop the tech that enables us to tell those stories and we have a lot of work to do.

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Montreal virtual reality studio puts audiences into orbit with Space Explorers: The ISS Experience - The Globe and Mail

Resident Evil 4 is set to arrive on Oculus Quest 2 on October 21 and users will need close to 12Gb of storage to successfully install it.

Resident Evil 4 will reportedly take up approximately 7.8GB of storage on Quest 2 headset once it is successfully installed but players will need around 11.51GB of available space in order to download and install the app according to its listing on Oculus store.

This is much less than the Medal of Honor: Above And Beyond set to release later in the year and which will require a record 40 to 45Gb of space. This much space will barely fit the entry level Quest 2 headset which has 64GB of space. The Oculus Quest system software takes up about 11.3GB of space. This leaves roughly 52.7Gb of usable space on the original headset for use in both games and other content. It will be tricky fitting in Medal of Honor and Resident Evil 4 on the same 64Gb headset and these two are Facebooks biggest releases this year so many players will be eager to try them out.

Facebook is now selling the 128Gb and the 256GB models of the Oculus Quest 2 headsets. They retail at $299 and $399 respectively. Later in the month, Facebook is set to host the Facebook Connect event which will lay out the tech giants next steps for AR and VR. It isnt clear yet what this will be about. In the previous Facebook connect events, the company had announced key details of its standalone Virtual Reality headsets. It is also possible that we might see major new game announcements for the Quest platform at the event this year. However, the company has been categorical that its high-end in-development Quest Pro headset will not be launching this year.

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Resident Evil 4 Will Need 12GB of Storage to Install Successfully - Virtual Reality Times

Mixed reality company Unreal has finally unveiled its new cheaper and lighter augmented reality glasses which are iOS-compatible. They are known as Nreal Air and are set to ship in December 2021 across China, Japan and South Korea. Nreal didnt reveal the price but stated that the smart glasses will cost a fraction of the price of the Nreal Light glasses which began selling last year for $600.

According to the China-based mixed reality company, the new Nreal Air mixed reality glasses share some core similarities with the Nreal Light glasses that the company launched in 2020. However, Nreals latest augmented reality glasses have been designed to look as normal sunglasses as much as possible. The company has pitched them as the perfect devices for projecting virtual big-screen displays in front of the wearers eyes. They are therefore designed for binge watching TVs, just like the Nreal Light smart glasses.

Both the Nreal Air and Nreal Light smart glasses leverage microOLED displays for their augmented reality optics. Finally, both mixed reality glasses are powered by a smartphone to which they are tethered via a cable. Both of these glasses are aiming at the consumer market rather than researchers, businesses and the military like other mixed reality hardware.

The feature set in the Nreal Air is, however, different from that in their Nreal Light predecessor. Like the Microsoft HoloLens and Magic Leap hardware, the original Nreal Light mixed reality glasses were capable of mapping the physical space around the wearer by leveraging a set of outward-facing cameras. The new Nreal Air mixed reality glasses do not have the outward-facing cameras feature. While the Air can display both video and phone apps, they are incapable of seeing whats around the wearer and, as a result, they do not have spatial awareness or hand tracking options like their Nreal Light predecessor. Users will be able to control the Nreal Air sunglasses via a smartphone app. This option is also available in the Nreal Light mixed reality glasses.

The Nreal Air smart glasses have the form factor advantage. They are considerably lighter than the Nreal Light sunglasses and weigh just 77 grams. Nreal Light weighs 106 grams.

Besides, the form factor has improved considerably. The Nreal Air mixed reality glasses look like ordinary sunglasses and do not have the bug-eyed look seen in the Light glasses. When seen through the product renders, the Air looks more like the Facebook Ray-Ban Stories without the front-facing cameras. The Facebook Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses have the front-facing cameras but do not have the display and weigh just 50 grams.

The Nreal Air smart glasses allow the wearer to tilt its lenses at three angles. This makes it possible for users to more easily get clearer images.

When the Nreal Light mixed reality glasses launched, they featured support for specific 5G Android phones. The Nreal Air, on the other hand, will be tethered to iPhones, iPads along with most Android devices.

The Nreal Air mixed reality glasses also have a higher screen refresh rate of 90Hz. The pixel density has also increased to 49 PPD. According to Nreal, these glasses will have a field of view of 46 degrees. The Nreal Light have a FOV of 52 degrees. The Airs view is equivalent to that of a 130-inch screen from 3 meters away or a 201-inch screen from 6 meters away.

Through the Airs viewing party option, the screen can be transformed into a shared virtual theater where they can all watch the same media with other viewers who have Nreal glasses.

Nreal is planning on expanding the rollout of the Air glasses in 2022. Although the company is yet to announce any plans to launch in the US market, its sights are set in that market.

The company will also be selling the Nreal Air mixed reality glasses in partnership with leading phone carriers. So far, the company has partnered with Koreas LG Uplus, Germanys Deutsche Telekom, and Japans KDDI.

An Nreal spokesperson stated that the company had built the Air mixed reality glasses upon the realization that most of its users were primarily using the smart glasses either to watch streaming videos (and browse the web to a lesser extent) or to build apps for the platform.

78% of users in Korea used the glasses to watch streaming content. Nreal is responding to consumer demand for lighter and longer lasting AR glasses exclusively for streaming media and working from home, according to the companys founder Chi Xu. Nreal says that the absence of cameras in the Air is good for social acceptability as it will reassure bystanders that the glasses are not an infringement on their privacy.

Nreal is one of the handful of companies currently building consumer glasses. Its experience with the product so far might be a hint at what consumers are looking for when it comes to augmented reality headsets. While the company has been busy launching smart glasses over the past two years, it is yet to make a serious play for true mixed reality experiences that combine real and virtual worlds. Companies like Facebook, Microsoft and Magic Leap have been seriously emphasizing such mixed reality use-cases. Nreal, on the other hand, is taking the simpler approach by going for what people already love: binge watching videos.

Read more:

Nreal Unveils its New and Cheaper AR Glasses - Virtual Reality Times

The room is dark. On its floor sits a solitary soccer ball.

Suddenly, a glowing halo envelopes the ball. No matter where its kicked, the halo follows like sorcery. And then the walls light up, becoming giant screens. Thats when I realize this is no ordinary room. Its a giant video game.

[Image: DreamCube]Imagine Guitar Hero. . . but instead of riffing chords, you kick the soccer balland you can kick it as hard as you like, right into the wall of pixels.

The demo Im watching is but one of many possible apps built for DreamCube, an enticing new technology and brand thats already signed deals with the NBA as well as with the Manchester United soccer club. Its not sci-fi; its a real product. A total of 16 DreamCubes are already set up at Manchester United fan centers across China.

[Image: DreamCube]The DreamCube is basically a 256-square-foot virtual reality room. Its something of an oversize interactive cubicle: You step inside, and youre in VRno headset required.

Its powered by a complex set of motion-tracking cameras and projection mapping hardware. Instead of placing you into a VR headset, this system can move pixels around the DreamCube at 240 frames per second (which is four to eight times the visual smoothness offered by modern-day video game consoles).

[Image: DreamCube]It all adds up to a modular, virtual reality box that can be dropped into almost any environment thats in need of a little interactive entertainment, ranging from giant arenas to small bars. But perhaps the most important aspect of the DreamCube is that its only three-sided. The back wall is intentionally left open so that players can watch one another and swap in and out to take turns for a social experience.

Its kind of like a mixture of Topgolf, bowling, and karaoke, says Jake Barton, a co-owner of DreamCube who developed the technology at his firm Local Projects in conjunction with Harves Global Entertainment and the MTM collective. Were also using a lot of VR conventions, but in a way thats communal but not isolating. Its a big investment into physical space, and a [mixed reality] platform that doesnt involve cutting your senses off.

To be fair, many of the core ideas in the DreamCube have been lurking on the fringes of virtual reality R&D for nearly 30 years. In 1992, researchers at the University of Illinois developed the CAVE (which stands for cave automatic immersive environment), ostensibly a bespoke DreamCube with a similar setup of three glowing walls and an interactive floor. In the mid-aughts, Microsoft created a system called Kinect, which could track human bodies in 3D space. Then in 2014, Microsoft Research built the IllumiRoom atop some of that Kinect hardware. The IllumiRoom used projectors to transform any space into a giant, interactive screen.

These approaches were mostly abandoned. Aside from a few companies that are building giant, interactive entertainment spaceslike Illuminariumpersonal electronics have become the name of the game for interactive realities. Today, the HTC Vive and Facebooks Oculus Quest present a world of VR you wear in a headset, and Microsofts HoloLens is a set of glasses that can put holograms into your own environment.

Something was lost in this translation. Early digital reality experiments like the CAVE imagined your physical space as the anchor. Our physical environments are comfortable and social by nature, whereas headsets are essentially the opposite. And even while these headsets are technical marvels, receiving decent adoption from an enthusiast crowd, Barton still wonders if our physical environments are the key to VR.

Theres no such thing as a VR blockbuster, Barton points out. If the pandemic cant create that for VR, what the heck is going to? Theres clearly something [bad] about being alone and isolated. Even [sitting] alone in a room, your senses are occluded [by a headset].

[Image: DreamCube]Barton understands the importance of immersive space more than most people. At Local Projects (which was Fast Companys 2021 Design Company of the Year), Barton has spearheaded projects like the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, which mixed physical artifacts from 9/11 with all sorts of sounds and visualizations to contextualize the tragedy. More recently, Local Projects led the development of Planet Word, a museum full of magical opportunities, such as the ability to place a paper book onto a table only to have it come to life and tell its own story.

The DreamCube is a way to scale the bespoke interactive experiences that Local Projects developed largely for museums into a mass-produced, self-contained pod that can be dropped almost anywhere. The design of the cube itself is an important point. The technology is all squeezed into the ceiling, while the walls are just ordinary walls. Its a stark contrast to large-scale spaces like the $30 million Illuminarium, which require a massive retail footprint. Meanwhile, a DreamCube can fit inside most standard buildings (and its actually designed to squeeze perfectly into Chinas modern building code).

For now, DreamCube has signed two powerhouse franchises in sportsthe NBA and Manchester United. The Manchester United experience includes the aforementioned Guitar Hero soccer game. The NBA experience is yet to be revealed. While the company has a footprint already in China, its eyeing the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Africa for expansion.

The immediate [potential] is fan activations and short-term experiences, says Francis Person, CEO of DreamCube Innovations. But this also goes to trends weve seen accelerated by COVID. . . . Theres a need for malls and arenas to have properties that are communal, where people go out to shop and spend time.

So in the short term, DreamCube will entice partners in live entertainment, like sports and music, filling unused corners of stadiums with another draw aside from the main event itself. And in places like China, DreamCube will be a way for fans who live abroad to get a small taste of their favorite sports. But longer term, Barton and Person imagine that DreamCube could scale, getting more and more apps (created in-house or licensed by third parties). While its high-tech, the actual social experience of DreamCube would feel a lot like karaoke or bowling does today. People could watch one another play, then step up and take their turn.

In any neighborhood suburb, you could throw this in [a bar]. On an NFL Sunday, you could track players, you could have a matrix with different games going on, Person says. You could imagine this tied to fantasy sports . . . [but] you could be watching Jay-Z live in Brooklyn, too! Theres infinite capabilities.

Link:

See the DreamCube, the immersive spectacle that's like walking into a video game - Fast Company

Editors' note:A new version of the Quest 2 doubles the storage of the $299 model to 128GB, and includes a silicone cover for the foam face piece after a voluntary recall of the foam covers earlier this year due tofacial irritation concernswith a small subset of customers. Existing Quest 2 owners can order afree silicone cover.

Over the last year and a half, where people weremore distant from each other than ever, virtual reality took on a different meaning. VR has potential for the future, too, but at the moment it remains a fascinating outlier in most people's tech lives. It isn't a must-have social gathering spot or workplace yet. But: It's become a great place for games. The Oculus Quest 2 has become an excellent home VR consolego-to for the VR enthusiast, and it's one of my favorite places to play games. But VR is also still in flux, the technology ever-evolving. So, too, are the philosophies of the VR technology companies that make the headsets.

The Quest 2 remains our top pick, especially with a recent increase in storage to 128GB on the $299 model. But you do need a Facebook account to use it.

Right now, VR tech might be in a bit of a lull, which means it's probably a safe time to buy. There is an Oculus Quest Pro in the works, and a PlayStation VR 2, but neither should be arriving this year.

VR games are better than ever: from Valve's VR masterpieceHalf-Life: AlyxtoStar Wars: Squadronsand lots more on PCs, and plenty of Oculus Quest and PlayStation VR games, too. But you still have to decide whether you want a headset that plugs into your PC or console, or choose a standalone option like the Quest (which can double as a PC headset, too).

The Oculus Quest 2 is the best VR headset right now, but you may want another option if you have a PC or PlayStation 4/5.

More changes will come. Companies such as Qualcomm (which makes the chips inside most self-contained VR headsets, including the new Quest 2) arebuilding new chipsthat point to a wave ofbetter stand-alone headsetsat lower prices -- including ones that plug into your phone. The more expensive and business-targeted Vive Focus 3 shows where more premium standalone VR headsets could evolve.

Meanwhile, the mobile VR headset and phone-based VR headset -- like theSamsung Gear VR and Google Daydream-- isbasically dead. A good number of the current iPhone, Android and VR app options don't even work with the old mobile VR goggles. If smartphone-based VR comes back, the mobile headset will more likely be in the form of small headsets thatplug into phones via USB-Cfor VR content, VR gaming and other uses.

If you're a PC gamer, a solid gaming PC-connected VR headset offers the most versatile collection of software for an immersive VR experience and lets you use that headset for creative and business tools. Note that a more powerful VR system will still be largely tethered to a desktop or laptop and a PC VR headset may require external sensors, so they may not be the best option for everyone.

And what about console gaming? The aging PlayStation VR is still fun if it's on sale and you have a PS4, mainly because there are loads more great VR game options for this device than you'd think. But keep in mind that the PlayStation 5, while it works with PSVR, needs the older PS4 controller and PS4 camera in order to work. You might want to wait for the next-gen PSVR 2 (which won't be here this year).

Augmented reality headsets and mixed-reality headsets aren't ready for everyday use yet, so a solid VR headset is your best bet for escaping to other worlds in the meantime. Read on to figure out which offers the best VR experience for you. We update this periodically, but note that prices are subject to change.

Good:Self-contained and wireless; great touch controllers; comfortable design for gaming; doubles as PC VR headset.

Bad: Requires Facebook account.

At $300 with nothing else needed, the Oculus Quest 2 delivers virtual reality games and an immersive VR experience anywhere. It's faster, smaller, cheaper and more comfortable to wear than the original Quest, but you have to log in to Facebook in order to use it. The newest version has a storage bump to 128GB, fixing one of its biggest drawbacks (there's no expandable storage).

The Quest 2 reminds me of the Nintendo Switch for its versatility and fun, plus it takes mere seconds to start up and fits really well over glasses. The standalone VR headset has self-contained motion tracking and a full-motion six degrees of freedom (aka 6DoF) VR controller that is the same as the ones on the PC-requiredOculus Rift, plus a surprisingly great high-resolution display and built-in speakers. Apps are downloaded right to the standalone headset's onboard storage. Its more limited mobile processor still plays games such as Beat Saber, Moss and SuperHot VR extremely well, and it can even connect with a PC if you want to, using a single USB-C cable.

Facebook discontinued the Oculus Rift S, so the Quest 2 is the best and only option over Oculus VR right now. But PC VR users have lots of other headset options.

Read our Oculus Quest 2 review.

The good: Really sharp high-res display, great audio, comfortable design

The bad: Mediocre controllers

If you're looking for the best image quality in consumer VR, HP's newest VR headset wins. For serious gamers (or VR racing sim fans), this VR technology may be your best choice. The 2,160x2,160-per-eye resolution and 114-degree field of view are the best at this price range, and the lightweight, comfy headset also has fantastic drop-down speakers designed by Valve. It's technically a Microsoft Windows Mixed Reality headset that prefers to launch into Microsoft's native Windows 10 VR ecosystem, but it bridges with Steam VR and works with those games and apps, too. Built-in camera-based room tracking is easier to set up than the Valve Index's external base stations, but is more prone to tracking errors. The included controllers, based on Microsoft's VR controller design, feel clunkier than either the Oculus Touch controllers or Valve Index controllers. Also, the over-ear speakers are your only audio choice: there's no headphone jack.

The Reverb G2, reviewed as a sim racing peripheral.

Good: Amazing futuristic controllers; high-quality headset; works with Vive hardware.

Bad: Expensive; requires room setup and tethering cable.

Valve's headset might be the most interesting PC virtual reality experience this year, just for its fancy new controllers. Valve's "knuckle" controllers are pressure-sensitive and can track all five fingers, making them almost like gloves. Not many apps make the most of them yet, but Valve's hardware is mix-and-match compatible with the HTC Vive, which also is built on the Steam VR platform. The Index headset has excellent audio and a really sharp, wide field-of-view display.

The Index uses external "lighthouse" boxes, meaning you need to set those up in a room first. It's not as self-contained as Oculus' Rift S, which can track the room with in-headset cameras, or the HTC Vive Cosmos. It's also definitely not wireless, but if you already have some Vive hardware, you could add on parts of the Index to mix and match.

Read our Valve Index review.

Good:Plenty of games; lower price; works with many PS4 controllers like the DualShock and Move.

Bad:Resolution isn't cutting-edge; Sony hasn't yet made great VR controllers that match the competition, but a new version may be coming next year.

Sony's years-old PSVR headset is still the only head-mounted display for gaming consoles and its screen still offers a surprisingly immersive experience. Even better, this tethered headset isoften on sale for as low as $200, sometimes with games thrown in, too. But Sony's confirmed it's working on a next-gen PSVR headset for the PS5 (with a new set of controllers) that could be coming in 2022, if you want to wait. In the meantime, Sony has delivered (and continues to deliver) many excellent virtual reality games, many of them exclusives. All you need is the PSVR and a PlayStation 4and you can start playing. (A few good games to start with are listed here.) This VR system is showing its age, though, compared to the alternatives. And, the new PS5, while it'll work with the old PSVR, will need your old PS4 controllers and camera, plus a camera adapter, to work.

Read our Sony PlayStation VR review.

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Best VR headsets to buy in 2021 - CNET

TOKYO -- One of the world's key gaming conventions is getting creative in the face of the coronavirus by offering a virtual version of the event, which kicks off in Japan on Thursday.

The Tokyo Game Show is hoping to lure gamers from around the world to its virtual venues -- a maritime fortress and a watchtower floating in the sky -- which they can access via Facebook's Oculus Quest 2 VR headset or a browser on PCs and smartphones.

The VR venues will serve as an experiment for the gaming expo, which has been forced to go online for the second consecutive year due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Gamers can build their own avatars to roam the virtual spaces, visiting exhibition booths from their favorite games makers and interacting with other people. They might get to meet famous game characters, and will have the chance to collect special items that unlock exclusive information or the opportunity to change their avatars.

The gaming expo offered a regular online version of the event in 2020. But game developers and publishers had to rush to adapt to the new format, and many participants were disappointed as they were unable to try out new games, which has been a highlight of the show for decades.

Meanwhile, this year's expo is also holding what it describes as its first-ever music festival, with a full orchestra performing tunes from iconic games such as hit series Final Fantasy. Those who want to watch the event online will need to buy a ticket.

In a bid to make the experience even more entertaining, the convention has also teamed up with Japanese tour agency H.I.S. to offer free online tours. Tour guides will visit the physical exhibition booths so gaming enthusiasts can enjoy a simulated experience of actually being at the venue.

Over 300 companies are joining this year's event, showcasing their latest titles and technology online. For developers, the event is a chance to meet and form partnerships.

Like last year, the expo is once again collaborating with Amazon Japan. The tech giant has created a dedicated page on its online marketplace where gamers can buy new titles and merchandise while watching livestreams from developers.

The gaming industry faced unprecedented demand in 2020 following the coronavirus outbreak as lockdowns and other pandemic restrictions left people at home in need of entertainment.

The Asia-Pacific gaming market is expected to grow 3% in 2021 to $88.2 billion, according to Dutch research firm Newzoo. It says the region will account for half the world's game revenues.

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Tokyo Game Show turns to virtual reality in face of COVID - Nikkei Asia

From the earliest days of circling the planet in a tiny NASA capsule to Elon Musks current commercial SpaceX journeys, Houston and space travel will forever be linked.

So it's fitting that an unprecedented new immersive experience centered on the International Space Station is making its U.S. debut in Space City. The Infinite a multi-sensory, interactive virtual reality event will zoom into Houston's Sawyer Yards beginning December 20 for a special limited run, organizers recently announced.

The sprawling, 12,500-square-foot exhibition shuttles viewers into a never-before-seen perspective of life on the ISS, creating an almost-too-real feeling of being in outer space.

Tickets are on sale now for a soft open preview period; admission is $29. Tickets then jump to $36 for the full-scale limited engagement that starts on January 13, 2022.

Footage shot over a period of nearly three years creates some 200 hours of high-end virtual reality scenes, coming together in a four-part immersive series that documents the life of eight international astronauts inside and outside the International Space Station. (The outside experience promises to be an especially wild ride.)

The show comes to Houston off a wildly popular Canadian run in Montreal.

Specific to this Houston launch is new footage from the first-ever cinematic spacewalk captured in 3-D 360-degree virtual reality shot from outside the International Space Station on September 12, 2021 while offering visitors a self-directed experience aboard the ISS itself, according to a press release.

Throughout the 60-minute journey, viewers will engage with physical objects, virtual reality, multimedia art, soundscapes, light design, and even the subtle scents of a forest, meant to evoke memories of stargazing while lying on the grass.

The Infinite is the brainchild of Montreal-based Infinity Experiences, a joint venture of PHI Studio and Felix & Paul Studios, and is an extension of the recent Primetime Emmy Award-winning immersive series Space Explorers: The ISS Experience, the largest production ever filmed in space.

That this show will run next year is also especially timely for Houstons space saga. Next year marks the 60th anniversary of President John F. Kennedys famous moon-shot speech given at Rice University on September 12, 1962. That speech, with its now-legendary we choose to go to the moon line, galvanized the nation and propelled the U.S. into a space race that found Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon only seven years later.

The exploration of space and the unknown is an endless source of fascination to us, says Flix Lajeunesse, co-founder of Felix & Paul Studios and creative director of The Infinite, in a statement.

We are thrilled to bring The Infinite to Houston the global epicenter of human space exploration to share this massive, fully immersive exhibition, and we look forward to virtually transporting thousands of people off the Earth to enjoy the joy and wonder of space with audiences in the U.S.," he continues. "This unprecedented project is made possible thanks to our partners at NASA, the ISS National Lab, international space agencies, and the incredible power of virtual reality.

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Space-themed virtual reality experience blasts into Texas for first U.S. show - CultureMap Dallas

The concept of the metaverse first came from the 1992 sci-fi novel Snow Crash as a place that people flee to escape a dangerous corporation-dominated world. It has since come to refer to a range of virtual experiences that have gained popularity during the pandemic including video games such as Fortnite, non-fungible tokens or even online meetings and events.

But in recent weeks the term has gained new traction and concern over its potential ethical and societal implications after Mark Zuckerberg said that in five years, Facebook would be a metaverse company and declared it the successor to the mobile internet.

Sharing his vision of what it might look like, the founder and controlling shareholder of the $1tn (750bn) company described an online world where people wearing VR headsets Facebook also owns Oculus, the virtual-reality platform would not just view content but be inside it. It would be an online space built by companies, creators and developers in which people could also live their lives virtually going to performances and even work.

In Washington, Facebooks political push to promote the metaverse is reportedly already in full flow. Sheryl Sandberg, Facebooks chief operating officer, and Nick Clegg, its vice-president for global affairs and communications, are leading the lobbying campaign. On Monday, Clegg is set to lay out the companys plans for how the metaverse could reshape society in a talk entitled Journey to the Metaverse.

According to the Washington Post the company is in conversation with thinktanks about metaverse standards and protocols a move that some observers say allows the company to shift discussion away from issues such as the antitrust lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission last year.

But experts fear that with regulation still struggling to catch up with the impact of the first wave of social media, the metaverse is likely to be a way for companies like Facebook to capture and profit from even more data. They also warn that more foresight and government protections are needed to counter the risk of the space, and peoples lives, being overrun by big tech.

I know its not necessarily a popular view but I do think that the harms that we see after the fact, for children especially but also for adults, are sufficiently worrying that it would be more sensible to work to put in place governance arrangements checks on transparency, on data protection, etc, and harms, especially to children before these companies are permitted to come forth, said Robin Mansell, professor of new media and the internet at the London School of Economics.

While to most people the metaverse is an abstract term, internet giants are already investing much hope and money in it. Facebook recently launched a virtual-reality meeting service, Horizon Workrooms, where people gather remotely wearing headsets and meet as if they were physically there in an online virtual meeting space.

It has also launched Ray-Ban Stories, its first smart glasses featuring two cameras, a microphone, speaker and voice assistant. Meanwhile, Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella has said the company is heavily investing in the enterprise metaverse.

Mansell said the social-political issues associated with the metaverse will be identical to those on existing social-media platforms, such as Facebook including data, surveillance, regulation and representation of gender, race and ethnicity. But in the immersive world of the metaverse, they will be on a far larger scale. She believes tech giants should be forced to wait before launch until there is clarity about how theyre going to be governed.

For me, it seems like it is simply another step in the monetisation of data to the benefit of Facebook and other large platforms sold to people as fun, exciting, helpful for productivity at work and so on, she said.

Scott Galloway, professor of marketing at NYU Stern School of Business in New York, said Zuckerberg is at the heart of why the metaverse is attracting attention. The notion that hes decided that the only way to increase our attention is to become the universe is one of those problems when you sit back and ponder on it too long, it feels like it could go nowhere good.

He added: I dont think people are scared of the metaverse, theyre scared of the Zuckerverse. And that is what he has accomplished in social media. There are more people who get their information from Facebook than people in the southern hemisphere plus India.

Dr David Leslie, ethics theme lead at the Alan Turing Institute in London, said the metaverse would offer an escape hatch out of dealing with societys biggest problems.

The concept, he said, poses ethical questions around everything from who builds and controls it, the risk of losing the safe space of private life, and an unrepresentative virtual population. There is a risk that in terms of a socioeconomic, gender, ethnic makeup, the populace of the metaverse may be imbalanced. We dont live in a time where theres equitable access to the sorts of infrastructure that one would need to engage in these technologies.

Dr Brent Mittelstadt, senior research fellow in data ethics at the Oxford Internet Institute, said the potential social impact of the metaverse is far from certain. If it were as disruptive as, say, people going on virtual dates rather than meeting up, to be able to say what effect that would have on the nature of relationships would be very difficult in the same way that predicting the impact social media would have had when it was just being talked about as an idea.

But, he said, if Facebook manages to get you to spend lots of time there, it is accomplishing its goal of collecting more data and monetising it. Suddenly you have more data sources than currently exist being combined and funnelled through this one thing the metaverse. And if Facebook gets its way, then youd obviously be spending a significant chunk of your time on there.

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Is Facebook leading us on a journey to the metaverse? - The Guardian