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The XR Week Peek (2025.04.30): Meta keeps evolving Ray-Ban Meta, Quest 3S refurbished are sold for $270, and more!
These days, we are not having exciting XR news because many people are taking some extra days of vacation around the celebrations for the 1st of May. Actually I’m going to celebrate the day of the workers by working, since I have a few deliveries to take care of, and that’s also why this newsletter […] The post The XR Week Peek (2025.04.30): Meta keeps evolving Ray-Ban Meta, Quest 3S refurbished are sold for $270, and more! appeared first on The Ghost Howls.
These days, we are not having exciting XR news because many people are taking some extra days of vacation around the celebrations for the 1st of May. Actually I’m going to celebrate the day of the workers by working, since I have a few deliveries to take care of, and that’s also why this newsletter is coming a bit later than the usual (but the quality will be the usual, instead, don’t worry). In many countries, tomorrow is a holiday, so I hope you will take some time off and enjoy life with the people you love!
(And if you want to play a good VR game during the holidays, you can get a free copy of Harpagun in today’s giveaway!)
Top news of the week
Meta continues to work on Ray-Ban Meta glasses
While Meta is working full steam ahead to deliver its new HUD glasses in October, it is continuing to update its Ray-Ban Meta glasses. This week we had a bunch of updates about it that are worth a mention:
- Ray-Ban Meta can now perform live translation in English, French, Italian, and Spanish. I guess that French and Italian were added because of Essilor-Luxottica
- Meta AI services on Ray-Ban Meta are available in the UK and many European countries. But starting this week, even all the multimodal AI features will come to Europe. This is very interesting, because they were blocked in the past because of privacy concerns
- Live AI sessions, where you can enable a lasting session with AI (and that I’ve tried at CES) is coming soon to the US and Canada
- The glasses now let you do Instagram calls
- EssilorLuxottica has launched three new variants for the Skyler design of the glasses
- Ray-Ban Meta is expanding its international availability, launching in Mexico, India, & The UAE.
Meta is seeing the potential of these glasses and is continuing to invest in them. This is great news for the XR ecosystem. I guess we’ll see in the next couple of years if this hype for smartglasses was just a passing trend or is going to grow into a real commercial success.
More info (Meta working hard to deliver its HUD glasses)
More info (All the recent updates about Ray-Ban Meta)
Other relevant news
Meta sells refurbished Quest 3S for $270
Meta now sells refurbished Quest 3S devices for a price as low as $270 for the 128GB base model or $360 for the 256GB model. Meta guarantees a very high quality for the refurbishing units and offers the same one-year warranty as the new devices. Anyway, these devices do not come bundled with the Batman VR game.
At this price, the device is literally a steal. Quest 3S is a very interesting device, not as good as Quest 3, especially for what concerns the lenses, but still incredibly valuable. I think this offer will help in increasing the adoption of XR.
BigScreen delays shipping for its Beyond 2
Bigscreen Beyond 2’s first shipping batches have been delayed to June. Usually, I don’t give much attention to this type of news in the newsletter, but I think this is worth a mention for a particular reason.
Bigscreen informed the community that during the final testing phases, the company discovered that due to a design flaw in a printed circuit board (PCB), the controllers’ tracking may have issues in particular conditions. The company worked with Valve to fix the issue, and in the end, it came out with a solution.
The problem was, by the time it had confirmed the issue, it had already produced 5000 PCBs with the flaw. It could have decided to ship the devices anyway and work on RMAs just with the people that complained about the issue, but actually it decided to thrash away all the slightly-problematic PCBs so as to deliver a high-quality product for its customers. This is a big financial undertaking for a small startup like BigScreen, and it also caused a long delay in production, hence the shipping delay. The company is working hard to reduce the delay as much as possible, and it hopes to start shipping already by the end of May.
I thought that this attitude was worth praise in this newsletter. Just a couple of weeks ago, BigScreen announced that it would have absorbed the price of the US tariffs without increasing the price of the headset. This week, the company is losing money by throwing away slightly problematic PCBs so as to deliver the best headset possible to its customers. I think this is a great attitude, and it shows care for its users. Good job, BigScreen.
More info (BigScreen’s shipping delay — Upload VR)
More info (BigScreen’s shipping delay — Reddit)
Italy now has a strategy for the metaverse, sort of
I was very happy to discover that my country, Italy, has published a strategic document about the development of AR and VR technologies. I was definitely less happy after having read the document.
The document has been published by our ministry dedicated to companies and “Made In Italy” (whatever it means), and it should define our strategy related to immersive technologies. The long PDF file defines what immersive technologies are, what their use cases are, why they are strategic for our country, and how Italy is going to promote their development.
But instead of some specialists, the document seems written by ChatGPT. I report to you a couple of highlights:
- It is written that Italy is at the forefront of the AR/VR sector. I’m in Italy and I have never noticed that. Probably I’m too busy working at the PC that I’m not noticing that everyone is walking in the streets while wearing headsets, like in Ready Player One. Or maybe I’m in the Matrix and I don’t know
- It reports “The idea of AR and VR technologies was born in non-scientific literature in 1992” (original: “L’idea delle tecnologie AR e VR nasce nella letteratura non scientifica nel 1992”). I know a few people who told me that they worked in XR in the 80s, so probably they lied to me, because the IDEA, not even the development of XR, just started in 1992. So the Sensorama and the first headset by Ivan Sutherland didn’t even exist. Tom Furness pretended to work in AR 50 years ago, but actually it was just his cover job to not tell people he is Santa Claus. And also, the collection of old headsets that I saw at AWE last year was fake. My whole life is a lie! Probably I’ve been in the Matrix, as I’ve found above, and I’ve just found a glitch in it
- “Luxottica, in joint venture with Meta, has focused on the choice of “wearables” for AR, with Ray-Ban stories, and Oculus for VR” (original: “Luxottica, in joint venture con Meta, si è focalizzata sulla scelta ‘wearables’ per la AR, con Ray-Ban stories, e Oculus per la VR”). I thought that Luxottica was only doing the Ray-Ban Meta glasses, but from this document, I’ve just discovered that they also worked on Oculus for VR. I thought it was Palmer Luckey making Oculus, but I was wrong all the time. Looking on Wikipedia, I’ve just discovered that Palmer Luckey was born exactly in 1992, the year when the idea of AR and VR started. Is this a coincidence? I don’t think so. Probably, he was the idea himself, the incarnation of the Matrix, the Chosen One. Anyway, someone should tell the Italian Ministry that the name “Oculus” died years ago, and so the Ray-Ban Stories.
- There are then some examples of VR platforms that Italian companies may use for their production processes. The first mentioned is the “Oculus Quest 2”, which is dead. If you think this is bad, wait to discover the second one, “The HTC Vive”, which was the best headset around in 2017 and is now dead, too. In the fifth place, we have Mozilla Hubs, which is a product I loved, and it is basically… dead. There are more dead products in this document than in Google’s Graveyard. It’s a pity they didn’t also add the Google Cardboard, the Steam VR LG headset that was never released, and the Decagear: these would have been great additions to this list of products not to use. By the way, I can hear from here my friends at Pico saying, “Am I a joke to you?”
These are just a couple of comments, but the document is full of these gems. Anyway, the good news is that our local government understood the importance of immersive technologies and wants to invest in them. I can’t wait for the results of these investments, so we can all meet in Mozilla Hubs while wearing our Oculus Quest 2, eat some virtual pizza, and talk about how 1992 was important for all of us.
Anyway, there is hope: this document is an open consultation, so we can all send comments to improve it. The comments should be sent via email and can’t go beyond 300 characters, so it’s like we can only write short tweets to them. Since 300 characters are very few, probably the only thing I can write to them is “Can you please rewrite it all? Maybe I can also help…”
More info (Italy’s open consultation on XR technologies)
More info (Link to the PDF to our “strategy”)
News worth a mention
Spacetop for Windows is $200/year
Do you remember Sightful, the company announcing Spacetop, the laptop that instead of a display had AR glasses? As I told you some weeks ago, the company pivoted to a software solution. Now we have more details about it: Spacetop for Windows will work in the beginning only with Windows tablets and laptops powered by Intel Core Ultra chipset. It will allow you to use your XREAL Air 2 Ultra glasses and see some virtual displays around you, so that you can use your tablet as a workstation.
The idea is potentially good, but it also has to face the reality of the small FOV of current AR glasses. I’m curious to read the first reviews about it.
Varjo announces Teleport 2.0
Finnish manufacturer Varjo has just announced the second version of Teleport, its system to easily scan places with your phone and create very good volumetric recreations of them via Gaussian Splatting. In the 2.0 version, the quality of the reconstruction has been improved, plus it can now take input from any camera, including drones and DSLRs. It now also offers a free plan, so that you can try the service before spending $30/month for it.
Live room meshing on Quest 3
Thanks to camera access on Quest devices, someone has been able to create live room meshing on Quest 3. This feature is not available yet at the system level, but it is incredibly useful to merge the real and virtual world, because it allows you to have an always updated reconstruction of your room space. I’ve seen the video of it and I have been impressed by this work.
Insta360 X5 is a high-quality, affordable 360 camera
Insta360 has announced its new camera, Insta 360 X5, which improves upon the previous X4 model. It records 2D 360° video at the same resolutions and frame rates as its predecessor: 8K at 30fps, 5.7K at 60fps, or 4K at 100fps. But it adds a lot of enhancements to produce a better video: for instance, while the device records to an 8K file, Insta360 says it actually captures at 11K, offering sharper quality. It also added better HDR support.
And the price for this camera is definitely affordable: it is available on its website or on major retailers for $550.
Discover NewImages Festival 2025
Upload VR has written an interesting reportage from the NewImages Festival. If you are into XR and storytelling, I advise you to give it a look.
PlayStation’s “Big Games, Big Deals” Sale Kicks off
Sony PlayStation has just kicked off a new sale initiative called “Big Games, Big Deals”. There are also a couple of PSVR and PSVR 2 games involved, so you should definitely have a look at it.
Relic tries to augment your TV in mixed reality
Relic for Quest 3 and 3S explores the idea of adding spatial effects that pop out from the frame of movies. This is not a new idea: I remember samples with Kinect that could enhance your TV experience already in 2014. But now we have pretty good mixed reality headsets, and we have AI, which can extrapolate what is happening on the screen and create special effects around you to enhance your movie experience. For instance, if you see fire on the screen, there may be virtual fire generated around you.
The idea is good, but what matters here is the execution. Depending on how it is made, it could be a great experience or just a gimmick.
Some relevant news about content
- The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered just released on PC, bringing huge graphical improvements to the original game. Thanks to Praydog’s UEVR mod, some people are already playing it in VR, with amazing results. There are many PCVR people that are enthusiastically commenting on it on Reddit
- Ghost Town is a puzzle game from the creators of “The Room VR: A Dark Matter”. The game provides beautiful graphics and good puzzles, and is getting universal praise. Upload commented on it, saying “Ghost Town delivers a brilliant supernatural puzzle adventure that you won’t want to miss”. It costs $30 and is available for all the major VR platforms.
More info (The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered — Road To VR)
More info (The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered — A post on Reddit)
More info (Ghost Town — Road To VR)
More info (Ghost Town — Review on Upload)
Some news about content
- The much-awaited Vertigo 2 DLC “Into the Aether” has been released, and it is priced at $10. It should be the final conclusion of the Vertigo saga
- Creepy adventure “Pools” is getting a VR mode on May 30
- The arcade fighting game ‘FINAL FURY’ is coming to Quest & PC VR on May 8, priced at $10
- Elements Divided is available now on the Horizon Store and Steam, priced at $10
- Beta testing has begun for the terrarium simulator Vivarium
- Physics-based zombie killing co-op game Requisition VR is coming to Quest and Pico on May 8
- Room Invaders, an alien babysitting simulator, debuts on Quest 3/3S next month
- A new fantasy VR MMORPG, Eldramoor: Haven in the Mist, is coming to Quest and PC VR. The team is going to launch a Kickstarter for the project
- How to God is a new VR sandbox god simulator inspired by Black & White. Its release date has not been disclosed
- Stay: Forever Home, the charming new mixed reality pet sim from the creators of Bogo and First Steps, is now available on Meta Quest headsets, priced at €12
- Into the Radius 2 just got the Ghost Town Update, featuring a new location
- Echoes of the Sun is a post-apocalyptic puzzle platforming adventure, and it’s out on May 14 for PC VR
- Loop One: Done is a mixed reality sandbox game about automation. It is going to be released on May 2 for $12.99
- Soul Paint is a VR experience that combines 3D drawing with personal introspection. A home release is not in the works, for now
- Upload VR has published its XR News Roundup, with a collection of minor XR news
More info (Into The Aether)
More info (Pools)
More info (Final Fury)
More info (Elements Divided)
More info (Vivarium)
More info (Requisition VR)
More info (Room Invaders)
More info (Eldramoor)
More info (How To God)
More info (Stay: Forever Home)
More info (Into The Radius 2)
More info (Echoes of the Sun)
More info (Loop One: Done)
More info (Soul Paint)
More info (XR News Roundup)
Some reviews about content
- Upload VR had a preview and an interview about the upcoming Star Wars mixed reality game by ILM. It reported it seems a good product, even if I’ve the gut feeling it will not be as popular as Vader Immortal
- ReelRoom lets you relive the nostalgia moment of choosing your movie at Blockbuster
- Vestiges: Fallen Tribes is an engaging tabletop strategy game with intuitive pick up and play mechanics that only get deeper as you progress
- Elements Divided can be a nice brawl game for the fans of “Avatar: The Last Airbender”. You need some time to collect the abilities that let you enjoy the game, though
- Vertigo 2: Into The Aether is a great conclusion for an amazing saga.
More info (Star Wars game)
More info (Reelroom)
More info (Vestiges: Fallen Tribes)
More info (Elements Divided)
More info (Vertigo 2: Into The Aether)
Other news
Meta published the list of the 50 best-selling VR games
Google is having a couple of sessions about Android XR at its I/O Conference
Cire Games is a new developer that’s receiving funding from Meta’s Oculus Publishing Ignition program
Meta laid off 100 employees working both in its game studios and in Reality Labs
Learn more (Upload VR) Learn more (TechCrawlr)
Meta is now offering avatars of celebrities in Horizon Worlds, starting from Doja Cat
XROAM lets you create large-scale LBVR solutions
(Thanks Charles Perkins for the tip)
News from partners (and friends)
Watch Portal to the Next Stage
Portal to the Next Stage is a new podcast by renewed XR creator Kiira Benz. Each episode centres on a specially chosen guest and is a deep dive into what is happening in the immersive space, what’s next, and the real stories behind the works that are changing the world. Recent guests include:
- Liz Rosenthal — Programmer of Immersive at Venice Film Festival
- Lisa Sinaye Dring — Writer SUMO at the Public Theater
- Melissa Painter — Founder of Breakthru — Microbreaks, XR creator
- Caitlin Krause — Author of Digital Wellbeing
If you are into XR and creativity, this can be great for you. You can listen to it on YouTube or on Spotify. Learn more (YouTube trailer)
Learn more (Podcast on Spotify)
Follow 131XR on YouTube
131XR is a new channel on YouTube focused on XR and gaming. It is held by a previously well-known journalist of VRFocus… watch his videos to discover who I am talking about!
Learn more
Harpagun giveaway!
Here you are, another amazing key giveaway, this time related to Harpagun, a very fun FPS (First Person Smasher) game full of “sharp, improvisational combat, energizing music and stylish, headset melting visuals”. I advise you to have a look at this game on the Meta Quest Store or Steam, because it is a fun game, which also got a good review from Upload VR.
And the good news is that I have a key to have it for free, courtesy of its developers:
M433G-44R76-YQY9M-J7J4Q-JQWM3
Have fun with this game, either by buying it or by getting it for free!
Learn more (Harpagun on the Quest Store)
Learn more (Harpagun review on Upload VR)
Sponsored Area
Phygtl Is Hiring!
Who We Are
A Silicon Valley-Based Startup on a mission to transform digital engagement from the ground-up by merging the physical and the digital world. A Creator Platform for next-gen to ‘Socialize.’ With former leaders from Amazon, Riot, Ubisoft, Samsung, and a strong Advisory Board from Nike, Lego, Coca-Cola, and Mastercard, led by a serial-entrepreneur with 2 exits, UC Berkeley Faculty, 2x Author, we are handpicking brilliant minds and devoted souls like you to join the team.
Who Are We Looking For
Unity Developers (both Junior and Senior levels)
Join our Unity team and be at the forefront of innovation in the global mobile-AR industry. If you’re passionate about fine-tuning Unity components and creating groundbreaking AR experiences, we want you to be a part of our team, shaping the future of engagement.
Contact me and I’ll forward your CV to the team!
Some XR fun
Creed VR devs have a graveyard of broken monitors
Funny link
Play physics sandbox, they said, it will be fun, they said
Funny link
Donate for good
Like last week, also this week in this final paragraph I won’t ask you to donate to my blog, but to the poor people who are facing the consequences of the war. Please donate to the Red Cross to handle the current humanitarian situation in Ukraine. I will leave you the link to do that below.
Let me take a moment before to thank anyway all my Patreon donors for the support they give to me:
- Alex Gonzalez VR
- DeoVR
- GenVR
- Eduardo Siman
- Jonn Fredericks
- Jean-Marc Duyckaerts
- Reynaldo T Zabala
- Richard Penny
- Terry xR. Schussler
- Ilias Kapouranis
- Paolo Leoncini
- Immersive.international
- Nikk Mitchell and the great FXG team
- Jake Rubin
- Alexis Huille
- Raghu Bathina
- Chris Koomen
- Cognitive3D
- Wisear (Yacine Achiakh)
- Masterpiece X
- Dimo Pepelyashev
- Carol Dalrymple
- Keith Bradner
- Jennifer Granger
- Jason Moore
- Steve Biggs
- Julio Cesar Bolivar
- Jan Schroeder
- Kai Curtis
- Francesco Strada
- Sikaar Keita
- Ramin Assadollahi
- Juan Sotelo
- Andrew Sheldon
- Chris Madsen
- Horacio Torrendell
- Andrew Deutsch
- Fabien Benetou
- Tatiana Kartashova
- Marco “BeyondTheCastle” Arena
- Eloi Gerard
- Adam Boyd
- Jeremy Dalton
- Joel Ward
- Alex P
- Lynn Eades
- Donald P
- Casie Lane
- Catherine Henry
- Qcreator
- Ristband (Anne McKinnon & Roman Rappak)
- Stephen Robnett
- KaihatsuJai
- Christopher Boyd
- Anonymous Supporter
- Giuseppe Pippi
- Mark Frederiksen
- Sb
- Boule Petanque
- Pieter Siekerman
- Enrico Poli
- Vooiage Technologies
- Caroline
- Liam James O’Malley
- Hillary Charnas
- Wil Stevens
- Francesco Salizzoni
- Alan Smithson
- Steve R
- Brentwahn
- Michael Gaebler
- Tiago Silva
- Matt Cool
- Mark G
- Simplex
- Gregory F Gorsuch
- Paul Shay
- Matias Nassi
And now here you are the link to donate:
Support The Red Cross in Ukraine
(Header image by Meta)
The post The XR Week Peek (2025.04.30): Meta keeps evolving Ray-Ban Meta, Quest 3S refurbished are sold for $270, and more! appeared first on The Ghost Howls.
