New Realities
VR in space: Here's a great use of VR – in space! The HTC Vive Focus 3 is being used to help astronauts with both physical and mental health efforts. With the highly confined quarters on the ISS, astronauts are now using VR to experience more expansive environments back on Earth as well as to go cycling in Danish landscapes. Cool initiative – read more about it here.
Immersive Gamebox review: a genuinely fun alternative to movies or arcades
The photos look weird, but they just don't do it justice. Immersive Gamebox is a nice new option for some interactive fun in the heart of Sydney.
We recently mentioned the arrival of body trackers for HTC VIVE XR Elite. Now there's the VIVE Full Face Tracker as well. It tracks eye movement as well as face and mouth expressions. Also adds auto calibration to the headset for better comfort, while opening the doors to detailed capturing facial expressions in virtual environments and experiences.
All the attention on AI might give VR/AR/XR more breathing room to keep iterating and get us somewhere exciting in coming years. Like HTC Vive Ultimate Trackers adding positional data for your limbs for more detailed immersion in virtual spaces. A nice add-on.
Does Meta's VR Turing Test ambition make sense?
Meta's VR Turing Test intrigues Seamus on the latest episode of the Byteside podcast, while Nic is puzzled by a pop-up Metaverse shop.
The Visual Turing Test: a unified VR vision for the future
Showing your working helps us all grasp what we're aiming for.
PlayStation VR2 looks to be one heck of an upgrade
It's finally time to retire the PlayStation Move controllers: better visuals, eye-tracking, and haptics highlight the PlayStation VR2's upgrades.
There'll never be One True Metaverse
And that's a good thing.
Is Fortnite a beachhead for the metaverse?
We talk to Fortnite creative devs about the 'Lands Down Under' experience and their thoughts on the bigger potential for Fortnite as a metaverse platform.
HTC Vive Pro 2 review: ahead of the curve (too far?)
5K resolution @ 120Hz is amazing on paper, but sweet spot clarity is limited and you need an epic GPU to reach Vive Pro 2's full potential.
Has that MVP got the right V?
And why Ray-Ban Stories aren't all that viable.
Lost in the settings
I know my way around system menus. And I love exploring how to optimise the tools I use. The fact they exist can often be a big part of whether I feel like it’s safe to fall in love with a given piece of software – is this willing to let me make it work ‘just right’?
145km/h VR: Brendan Doyle's skeleton racing edge
We talk to the Irish skeleton racer about using a VR headset to improve his chances in one of the fastest sports on the planet.
Far Cry hits Zero Latency
Plus Windows 11 reveal date, ACCC fines two NBN resellers, the new Galaxy A arrives, and NASA is heading back to Venus.
Zero Latency launches its Far Cry experience
The Aussie VR arcade steadily taking over the world has now released its new Far Cry game experience, the first big licensed game of its kind.
New Pikmin game from Pokémon Go devs and Nintendo in development
There's a new AR Pikmin mobile game from Pokémon Go developer Niantic coming later this year to hopefully find Pikmin in your garden.
Enhance and augment
In the latest Byteside podcast we talk imaging technologies and interfaces, from Adobe's latest enhancement tech to AR and VR interfaces.
Gucci's $14 Virtual 25 shoes are real-life DLC, only wearable in AR
Gucci's digital-only, Roblox & VRChat-compatible Virtual 25 sneakers seem ridiculous at first glance. Is the reality as crazy as its concept?
Zero Latency VR review: think bowling or climbing but with a tech twist
We tried out the arena based VR at Melbourne's Zero Latency. Here are our thoughts on the free roaming VR experience.
Zero Latency: the rise of the freeroaming VR experience
With Sydney getting its first Zero Latency, we catch up with CEO Tim Ruse to look at the history and future of these freeroaming VR centres.