WWDC 2023: what to expect at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference

Image: Apple Apple’s upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is expected to be one of its biggest yet. After years of rumors and leaks, Apple could finally take the wraps off of its mixed reality headset, entering the company into a new product ... more - theverge

Meta Quest will now let you customize your home virtual world

The new Custom Skybox View includes a few environments for your home to get you started. | Image: Meta Meta’s got a new update for its Meta Quest VR headset, and it includes new features like the ability to change up your home environment’s Skybox with ... more - theverge

I used the world’s first augmented reality laptop

Don’t mind me. I’m just in space. This laptop doesn’t have anything to do with outer space. That’s the first thing I need to establish here. I know — I was also a tad disappointed when I sat down with a company called Sightful to demo its new product, ... more - theverge

Why are video games always falling?

A screenshot of Lords of the Fallen , I think. Unless it’s Ashfall . | Image: Hexworks Yesterday, gaming website IGN posted a trailer for Ashfall , described as a “post-apocalyptic massively multiplayer online shooter/RPG.” Today, the same YouTube account ... more - theverge

Sony is holding an hour-long PlayStation Showcase next week

Image: Vjeran Pavic / The Verge The summer of gaming events is starting a little early this year. Sony announced that it will be holding a PlayStation Showcase event on May 24th at 1PM PT. And it sounds like a big one: the stream will be more than an ... more - theverge

Mark Zuckerberg seems to think people can’t wait for in-car VR

A research demo from Meta and BMW of in-car mixed VR and mixed reality, where the avatars are still legless. | Image: Meta If you’ve listened to The Vergecast lately, then you know Nilay is sold on the mix of cars and VR when it comes to Gran Turismo ... more - theverge

Valve just got sued by Immersion over Steam Deck and Index rumble

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Consider it a rite of passage: Valve has finally become successful enough at building gaming hardware that it’s getting sued by Immersion Corporation. Immersion — the haptic feedback company that’s purchased, developed, ... more - theverge

Humanity is a brilliant puzzle game that never runs out of ideas

Image: Enhance For some people, the basic premise of Humanity will be enough to sell them on the game. You, in the role of an ethereal Shiba Inu, guide humans through a world of puzzles in a game designed in part by the minds behind games like Rez and ... more - theverge

TikTok will pay creators of viral filters and effects

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge For the first time, TikTok is introducing a fund for creators making viral effects and filters — but based on the proposed payout structure, creators won’t be getting rich anytime soon. TikTok’s Effect Creator ... more - theverge

The PlayStation VR2 is now available at more retailers

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The PlayStation VR2 may be leashed by a USB cable, but Sony is finally untethering its sales exclusivity hold on the virtual reality headset. After a low-key Twitter announcement that the PSVR 2 is coming to ... more - theverge

Google and Taito are teaming up on an AR Space Invaders game

Image: Google Google and Taito are partnering on a new augmented reality version of the arcade classic Space Invaders. The new game, Space Invaders: World Defense , will use Google tools like ARCore and newly-announced Geospatial Creator to let AR Space ... more - theverge

Meta is making life even harder for its metaverse creators

Image: Meta Meta will no longer let creators using its Horizon Worlds social VR playscape make dedicated events, the company announced as part of the platform’s v109 update notes on Tuesday. It’s a surprising shutdown of a feature that some creators ... more - theverge

Researchers hope this tiny wearable could become Smell-o-Vision for VR

These odor generators can either be stuck into a wearable mask or on a pill-shaped holder that adheres underneath the nose. | Image: Nature Communications Smells have always been hard to recreate in virtual reality, but researchers may have figured out ... more - theverge

Niantic’s adorable pet game Peridot is a next-gen Tamagotchi

Image: Niantic It’s startling when a cuddly little critter, called a dot, stares at you with its gigantic eyes — even if it’s happening through a screen. Dots are the stars of Peridot , the latest release from Pokémon Go creator Niantic Labs, and they’re ... more - theverge

Snapchat is already testing sponsored links in its My AI chatbot

Image: Snap Snap has already begun experimenting with sponsored links in its My AI chatbot. During the NewFronts advertising event on Tuesday, the company announced that the bot will start surfacing paid links that are relevant to a conversation. For ... more - theverge

Now you can post Horizon Worlds photos to your Instagram Story

Illustration: Nick Barclay / The Verge Meta’s VR social platform is getting a new feature to help you show off what a fun time you’re having in the so-called “metaverse” with all your Instagram and Facebook followers. With its v108 update, Horizon Worlds ... more - theverge

Meta is hosting its next VR gaming show in June

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Meta is hosting another gaming showcase for its Quest VR headsets on June 1st, the company announced on Monday. The event will feature “over 40 minutes of content,” according to a blog post, including game ... more - theverge

Meta’s avatars are getting new body shapes and improved hair

Image: Meta Meta is introducing new body shapes and improved textures for hair and clothing for its avatars, the company announced on Thursday. The updates seem like good steps forward in helping people better represent themselves, but while you’re roaming ... more - theverge

New bill would add mandatory age verification to social networks

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge A group of US senators has revealed a bipartisan bill that would require social media platforms to verify users’ ages, stop anyone under 13 years of age from signing up, and set up special rules for minors ... more - theverge

Humanity is a throwback to the weird, wild world of early PlayStation games

Image: Enhance Some of the most memorable games in PlayStation history have been downright strange, whether about dancing wireframe rabbits, deadly cubes, or mannequins traversing impossible architecture. These “very designer-led games,” as Mark MacDonald ... more - theverge

Can Snap snap back?

For more than a decade, Snapchat has been a fixture in the lives of young people. But the business side of the app has been much less stable. This week I flew down to LA to check in on the company — and while Snap still has plenty of big ideas, I was ... more - theverge

Snapchat is releasing its AI chatbot to everyone for free

You can now change the look of Snap’s My AI. | Image: Snap Snap is releasing its “My AI” chatbot to all of Snapchat’s 750 million monthly users for free, a move that comes less than two months after the OpenAI-powered bot was first made available to ... more - theverge

Everything we know about Apple’s mixed reality headset

Illustration: Kristen Radtke / The Verge Apple is rumored to be announcing its long-rumored virtual and augmented reality headset at WWDC 2023. Here’s a timeline of all the details that have emerged about the device over the years. Continue reading… ... more - theverge

Meta is opening up its VR social platform to teens

Image: Meta Meta is opening up its Horizon Worlds social VR platform to teens in the US and Canada in the coming weeks, the company announced on Tuesday. For teen players, which Meta defines as between the ages of 13 and 17, Meta will have some extra ... more - theverge

Apple’s VR headset might run tweaked versions of iPad apps

Illustration: The Verge Apple’s long-rumored VR / AR headset might run adapted versions of iPad apps, according to a new report from Bloomberg . The mixed reality device’s new interface will also apparently let users access “millions” of already-available ... more - theverge

Pokémon Go developer Niantic is making a real-world Monster Hunter game

Image: Niantic Niantic is working with a different kind of monster for its next release. The studio, best-known for Pokémon Go , announced a partnership with Capcom to make a title based on the Monster Hunter franchise. The new game is called Monster ... more - theverge

Microsoft Teams now has Snapchat’s Lenses for video calls

Snapchat Lenses inside Microsoft Teams | Image: Microsoft Microsoft has teamed up with Snap to add Snapchat Lenses to Microsoft Teams. More than 20 Snapchat Lenses are now part of the Microsoft Teams app, including ones that will place a cat on your ... more - theverge

Apple might be getting into VR at the worst possible time

Illustration: The Verge Apple is heavily rumored to reveal its long-awaited mixed reality headset in just a couple of months, but that reveal seems to be arriving at a time when demand for high-end VR is actually quite low. According to a new blog post ... more - theverge

My bad VR trip

Image: Mengxin Li / The Verge I ripped off the headset, afraid I was going to throw up. I shouted for help. My partner found me in the fetal position in a cold sweat on the bathroom floor. I had spent just an hour in the metaverse dressing my avatar, ... more - theverge

You, me, and UI

Image: Mengxin Li / The Verge There’s a funny conflict to the idea of user interfaces: a good one tends to go unnoticed, the thoughtful design decisions too subtle to notice; a bad UX or UI is one that makes you want to scream. It’s a tension that designers ... more - theverge