Meta unveils new virtual reality headset Quest Pro

SAN FRANCISCO, United States - A year after it rebranded itself in the name of building a metaverse, Meta unveiled a new version of its virtual reality headset tailored for working professionals.

The $1,500 Meta Quest Pro features a number of new features that are meant to improve users' perception of truly being in the presence of other people.

The headset makes it possible to view not only virtual worlds but also the real environment of the user, thanks to high-resolution outward-facing cameras.

"The moment that they begin to break into a smile or when they raise their eyebrow... your avatar should be able to express all of that and more," Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg said at Meta Connect, the company's giant's annual conference focused on virtual reality.

Customers can begin ordering the Quest Pro starting Tuesday, and the device will ship at the end of the month.

Meta said it is partnering with Microsoft and others to tune popular business and productivity software to virtual worlds using Quest Pro. 

Capabilities being worked on include using Quest Pro during virtual meetings on the Microsoft Teams platform, according to the two companies.

"At Microsoft, we're incredibly excited about the metaverse and how digital and physical worlds are coming together," Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said during the presentation.

Facebook renamed itself Meta in October 2021 to signal a pivot to building its vision for an interactive virtual and augmented reality world that it sees as the future.

The move came as the company was facing a backlash after a whistleblower leaked documents suggesting the social media giant put profits over safety.

Meta is undergoing a difficult period financially due to dropping advertising revenues and fierce competition from other platforms such as TikTok, whose popularity has exploded.

About a third of the apps in the Quest app store brought in millions of dollars in revenue since launching there, according to Meta chief technology officer Andrew "Boz" Bosworth.

Some $1.5 billion has been spent overall on games and apps in the Quest store, and titles on the way to its virtual shelves include an "Iron Man" game set for release in November by Marvel Entertainment and Sony Interactive Entertainment, according to Meta executives.

Agence France-Presse

Facebook buys maker of hit VR game 'Beat Saber'

SAN FRANCISCO - Facebook-owned Oculus on Tuesday said it is buying the studio behind hit virtual reality game "Beat Saber" as it looks to expand VR technology to wider audiences.

Oculus, which makes Rift and Quest VR headgear, did not disclose financial terms of the deal to acquire Prague-based Beat Games.

"Beat Games is joining us in our quest to bring VR to more people around the world," Oculus director of augmented and virtual reality content Mike Verdu said in a blog post.

"Beat Games' accomplishments are already impressive, but Facebook and the Beat Games team know that there is so much more that can be done across VR, games, and music."

Verdu assured players that the studio would continue to ship content and updates for "Beat Saber" on platforms where it is already available.

In the virtual game, players use light sabers to slash oncoming, large cubes to the beat of music, sometimes twisting or ducking to avoid oncoming walls.

"VR reimagines old genres and invents new ones," Verdu said.

Oculus is exploring ways, including acquisitions, to accelerate the adoption of virtual reality technology, which Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg has heralded as the next major computing platform.

"With the resources and know-how that we can offer, Beat Games will be able to accelerate, adding more music and more exciting features to 'Beat Saber' as well as bringing the game to more people," Verdu said.

Facebook is planning a virtual social community where users of its Oculus headgear can "explore new places" via its Horizon virtual world, which is set for a beta launch in 2020.

Oculus users will be able to choose an avatar and interact with others in the virtual community, Facebook said earlier this year.

Horizon will replace earlier versions of the social VR community Facebook Spaces and Oculus Rooms.

Oculus remains a small part of Facebook, whose core social network and other platforms reach more than two billion people worldwide.

Analysts expect sales of 1.3 million units in 2019 of the Oculus Quest, a wireless VR headset unveiled last year.

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Facebook unveils virtual social space for its Oculus users

SAN FRANCISCO - Facebook said Wednesday it will launch a virtual social community where users of its Oculus headgear can "explore new places" and "create their own new experiences."

The Horizon virtual world set for a beta launch in 2020 represents a new initiative for the Oculus virtual reality unit of the leading social network.

Oculus users will be able to choose an avatar and interact with others in the virtual social community, Facebook said as it opened its Oculus Connect 6 conference.

"Our goal is to put people at the center of computing, not just with great hardware, but with amazing software experiences as well," Facebook said in a statement.

Facebook Horizon will be "a new social experience in VR where you can build your own worlds with easy-to-use tools (no coding skills required)," the company said.

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg told the conference, "Because everyone is going to be able to create their own spaces and experiences within it, Horizon is going to have this property where it just grows and expands and gets better and better over time."

Horizon will replace earlier versions of the social VR community Facebook Spaces and Oculus Rooms.

Oculus remains a small part of Facebook's services, with its core social network and other platforms reaching more than two billion people worldwide.

Analysts expect sales of 1.3 million units in 2019 of the Oculus Quest, the headset unveiled last year.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Virtual reality to get real at E3 video game show

An attendee tries on the Oculus VR Inc. Rift Development Kit 2 headset at the 2014 Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, California, in this file photo. Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Files/Reuters

SAN FRANCISCO -- Virtual reality and the battle to stream play online will take center stage at an Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) video game extravaganza kicking off in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

Blockbuster video games will once again be the main event at the industry's biggest trade show, but in the wings attention will go to the promise of stepping into the games virtually and streaming them as spectator sport.

"Like every year, E3 will be about the marquee video game titles that will take the world by storm," TechSavvy analyst Scott Steinberg told AFP on Saturday.

"But, there are side battles going on. YouTube is making a play to be the absolute destination for gamers, but Twitch has a strong position. Of course, you have virtual reality."

Analysts expect this E3 to be a coming-of-age of sorts for virtual reality, which has been around for decades but remained an unfulfilled promise for gamers eager to immerse themselves in fantasy worlds.

Facebook-owned virtual reality firm Oculus has promised hands-on demonstrations of games at E3.

Oculus aimed squarely at video game lovers on Thursday as it unveiled Rift headsets that it will begin selling early next year. However, it did not disclose pricing for Rift, which will come with an Xbox controller due to an alliance with console maker Microsoft.

"There was always this distance between players and the game," said Oculus Studios head Jason Rubin. "Virtual reality lets you step through that window."

Sony's big presence at E3 will include demonstrations on Project Morpheus virtual reality headgear it is readying for market.

"Immersive technologies have a lot more to offer than video games, but it is a great place to start," said Gartner analyst Brian Blau.

"Game developers know how to get people immersed in graphical simulations better than anybody; it is natural to think they will be first in line to create content."

Blau expected the virtual reality market to be fiercely competitive.

YouTube takes on Twitch

Meanwhile Google-owned YouTube will be facing off with Twitch at E3, where it will preview a version of its video-sharing platform tailored for gamers.

YouTube is creating an online arena devoted to video game play, jumping onto a hot "e-sports" trend and challenging leading video game play broadcasting platform Twitch.

YouTube Gaming will debut in Britain and the United States in the coming months, according to product manager Alan Joyce.

"YouTube Gaming is built to be all about your favorite games and gamers, with more videos than anywhere else," Joyce said in a blog post.

Similarly, Amazon-owned Twitch will have a strong presence at E3, with plans to live-stream press conferences, demos and interviews.

Twitch, which was acquired by Amazon last year for $970 million in cash, will augment its English-language broadcast with regionalized shows from partners including Rocket Beans TV in German and Jeuxvideo in French.

San Francisco-based Twitch streams games being played for non-playing viewers to watch and hosts gaming events. It also allows viewers to chat with the players and others, lending it some of the qualities of social networking websites.

Twitch capabilities are built into new-generation Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles.

'More ambitious than ever'
US video game titan Bethesda is holding its first-ever major media event late Sunday in the Dolby Theater, best known as the home of the Academy Awards.

Bethesda has promised to show off a keenly-anticipated new installment to the "Fallout" post-apocalyptic action game franchise.

"We know what this game means to everyone," game director Todd Howard said in a release. "The time and technology have allowed us to be more ambitious than ever."

In keeping with years past, the day before E3 officially opens will be packed with theatrical media events revealing scenes from new versions of much-loved games on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 or Wii U consoles.

Winning game franchises getting new installments will include Batman, Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect and Call of Duty.

"You are going to see more of the same, only better," Steinberg said of game makers' trend towards safe bets on franchises with strong followings.

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