First revealed at GDC 2023 earlier this year, HTC has now launched its long-awaited inside-out tracking accessory, which is now dubbed the Vive Ultimate Tracker.

Unlike previous Vive Trackers, Vive Ultimate Tracker makes use of inside-out optical tracking instead of SteamVR base stations, making it useful for users of HTC standalones Vive XR Elite and Vive Focus 3. The company says support is also eventually coming to OpenXR/SteamVR based PC VR setups in the near future.

Vive Ultimate Tracker does this by imbedding two wide-FOV cameras to track its own location in 3D space. It also allows […]

Vrgineers, the US-Czech company known for its wide-FOV PC VR headsets for enterprise, announced it’s secured a $6 million Series A investment.

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 […]

In Inside XR Design we examine specific examples of great VR design. Today we’re looking at the details of Half-Life: Alyx and how they add an immersive layer to the game rarely found elsewhere.

You can find the complete video below, or continue reading for an adapted text version.

Intro

Now listen, I know you’ve almost certainly heard of Half-Life: Alyx (2020), it’s one of the best VR games made to date. And there’s tons of reasons why it’s so well regarded. It’s got great graphics, fun puzzles, memorable set-pieces, an interacting story… and on and on. We all know this already.

But […]

Meta paused shipments of its Elite Strap with Battery for Quest 3 amid widespread user reports of a charging fault that renders the battery useless. Meta says it’s now manufacturing new battery straps that fixes the defect, and that replacements are being handled on a case-by-case basis.

We reported earlier this month that the Elite Strap with Battery was facing serious reliability issues among its users. For some, the $130 accessory, which provides around two hours of extra playtime and better ergonomics than the stock strap, simply refused to charge Quest 3 after a certain point, rendering it […]

Varjo has announced its latest high-end enterprise headset, the XR-4. The company is going all out on the headset’s mixed reality capabilities, saying that the view of the outside world as seen through the headset is “indistinguishable” from how the world appears with your own eyes.

That’s a seriously lofty claim, but Varjo hasn’t made a habit of hyperbole. We’ll wait until we can actually look through the headset ourselves, but clearly the company is confident in what it’s built.

But not every XR-4 headset will have what the company says is a passthrough view with a whopping 51 pixels […]

Samsung has secured a trademark with the UK’s Intellectual Property Office for ‘Samsung Glasses’, which could mean we’re finally seeing some movement from the South Korean tech giant to release an XR headset.

Filed in August and later entered into registry in November, the Samsung Glasses trademark specifies that it covers “Virtual reality headsets; Augmented reality headsets; Headphones; Smartphones; Smart glasses.” The news was first reported by UploadVR.

Samsung announced in February it was partnering with Google and Qualcomm to develop an XR device, something the company said at the time was “not too far away.” We’re still […]

Black Friday is almost always when we see the best deals of the year on VR headsets and 2023 is no exception when it comes to HTC. The company is offering a big Black Friday sale on Vive headsets and accessories.

Updated – November 24th, 2023

The Best HTC Vive Headset Black Friday & Cyber Monday 2023 Sales

Vive XR Elite | Image courtesy HTC

Vive XR Elite

The best Vive XR Elite Black Friday & Cyber Monday 2023 sale so far is $870 from Amazon.

That’s a $100 (9%) discount over what you’d normally pay.

Image courtesy HTC

Vive Pro 2 (Full Kit)

The best […]

Dungeons of Eternity (2023), the VR hack-n-slash adventure, has big plans for post-launch content, as developers Othergate announced its roadmap for the next year.

Released on Quest in October, Dungeons of Eternity includes both co-op and solo gameplay, pitting you against ever-changing dungeons with up to three other players.

The game’s randomly-generated dungeons also include multiple game modes and realms, featuring stuff like combat arenas, puzzles, trap rooms, secret chambers, and more—basically everything you’d expect from a DnD-style VR game.

At any rate, that’s what the game launched with a little over a month ago, but now the studio […]

DAVIGO, the asymmetric VR/PC battle game in testing since 2020, is getting ready to release on Quest and PC VR headsets starting next week.

The David vs. Goliath-inspired combat game lets VR players take on the role of a massive giant who must defeat up to four pint-sized PC players armed with rockets. The little knights can run, fly, shoot, and block incoming missiles. Meanwhile, the VR headset-using Giant can pound the ground, rip trees and stones from the earth, and throw everything.

Now indie developer Davigo Studio say it’s coming November 29th, with the latest version set […]

The food coma is fast approaching, but you probably still have some fellow Americans to entertain on this holiest of holy feasts. What better way to liven up the post Turkey Day frivolities than popping your brand-new VR headset on a noggin or three?

Keep in mind: some of the best results we’ve had over the years tend to be with very noob-friendly games and apps. Your Thanksgiving Day guests probably won’t have enough time (or inclination) to learn complex mechanics, and keeping things quick and simple is usually the right way to go to make sure everyone not […]

VitruviusVR, the studio behind Shadow Legend VR (2019) and Mervils: A VR Adventure (2016), announced the upcoming release of a new sci-fi action-adventure game called Arken Age.

Coming to PSVR 2 and PC VR headsets, the single-player VR adventure is set to bring a host of headlining features that ought to raise an eyebrow among fans of the genre, including fully customizable melee and ranged weapons, physics-based combat, boss fights, over two dozen unique areas, and a 10-hour campaign.

Image courtesy VitruviusVR

Here’s how VitruviusVR describes the story:

Your journey begins in Celestial Custodian’s Tower on the shores of the Bio-Chasm, a […]

Industry Direct by VENTAVR

Industry Direct is our program for sponsors who want to speak directly to the Road to VR newsletter audience. Industry Direct posts are written by sponsors with no involvement from the Road to VR editorial team. Links to these posts appear only in our newsletter and do not intermix with our on-site editorial feed. Industry Direct sponsors help make Road to VR possible.

Are you a big fan of K-POP groups? Here is something you would never want to miss out on to make your fantasy come true. VENTA X, an 8K 3D Virtual Reality (VR) K-POP […]

We’re on the lookout for the best Meta Quest 3 Black Friday 2023 sales, and Cyber Monday too. Because the headset just launched last month, we don’t expect to see any major deals, however, there are a few offers worth looking at.

Updated – November 20th, 2023

The Best Meta Quest 3 Black Friday & Cyber Monday 2023 Sales

Image courtesy Meta

Meta Quest 3 (128GB)

The best Meta Quest 3 (128GB) Black Friday & Cyber Monday 2023 sale so far is $500 bundled with $15 store credit for Quest games, from Newegg.

That’s a $15 (3%) discount over what you’d normally pay […]

nDreams, the veteran VR studio, today announced it was acquired by video gaming group Aonic for $110 million.

The Farnborough, UK-based nDreams has changed a fair bit since its founding in 2006. Having taken up VR game development full-time in 2013, the studio went on to release a slew of VR titles complimenting nearly every major headset release, including games such as The Assembly (2016), Phantom: Covert Ops (2020), Fracked (2021), and Ghostbusters: Rise of the Ghost Lord (2023).

The acquisition by Aonic follows a $35 million investment from the group in March 2022, which at the time helped nDreams expand its publishing wing in […]