You can play Half-Life 2 in VR thanks to this free mod

Image: Valve A third-party mod that lets you play through Valve’s Half-Life 2 in room-scale virtual reality will be available in public beta starting at around noon ET. The developers, Source VR Mod Team, are offering it for free; you just need to own ... more - theverge

Lil Nas X is performing at the League of Legends World Championship

Lil Nas X. | Image: Riot Games The opening ceremonies for the League of Legends World Championship are traditionally a big spectacle, featuring everything from augmented reality K-pop groups to rapping holograms. But this year’s edition will have an ... more - theverge

Walmart now lets you virtually model clothing on your own body

Walmarts latest Be Your Own Model feature lets you upload your own images to use in place of default clothing models. | Image: Walmart Walmart shoppers will now be able to virtually try on clothes from the comfort of their own homes using AR technology ... more - theverge

iOS 16.1 beta adds Apple’s ugly new battery percentage indicator to the iPhone Mini

This isn’t an iPhone Mini, but it’s what the indicator looks like. | Photo by Victoria Song / The Verge Apple released the first iOS 16.1 beta to developers on Wednesday, and it lets iPhone users with an iPhone 13 or 12 Mini, an iPhone 11, or iPhone ... more - theverge

We finally got our hands and eyes on the PlayStation VR2

Verge reporter Victoria Song wearing the PSVR2. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge And it’s pretty good Continue reading… ... more - theverge

‘Quest Pro’ pictures may show a sample of Meta’s next VR headset

Image: Ramiro Cardenas via Facebook Images of what appears to be the packaging for a “Meta Quest Pro” virtual reality (VR) headset surfaced online, posted by Facebook user Ramiro Cardenas, who claims it was left in a hotel room (Thanks, Peter! via Reddit). ... more - theverge

Apple might have fixed the notch by putting it on an island

The Dynamic Island may be a goofy name, but its real good looking. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge Before there were commercials and whole branding exercises hailing the notch on the Apple iPhone there was a long row of iPhones Xs devices in the ... more - theverge

Meta will reveal its new high-end VR headset on October 11th

New Meta hardware is on the horizon. | Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Meta has announced that its Connect Conference will be livestreamed on October 11th at 1PM ET / 10AM PT. In a post on the Oculus blog, the company says it’ll cover the progress ... more - theverge

Sony’s PlayStation hardware chief to retire next month

Sony’s PlayStation hardware chief retires on October 1st. | Image: Famitsu Sony’s longtime PlayStation hardware chief is retiring on October 1st. 60-year-old Masayasu Ito, who led the engineering for both the PS4 and PS5, is retiring according to Bloomberg ... more - theverge

Meta’s chip deal with Qualcomm may reflect its unrealized VR ambitions

The heat may be hitting Meta’s big bet. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Qualcomm and Meta have signed a multi-year agreement promising to team up on custom versions of Qualcomm's Snapdragon XR chips for the "future roadmap of Quest products" ... more - theverge

Lenovo’s Glasses T1 let you bring a private big screen display with you

Image: Lenovo Lenovo is the latest company promoting a USB-C monitor made for your face. The company’s new Glasses T1 put a Full HD OLED screen in front of each of your eyes and were revealed today during IFA and on Lenovo’s virtual showcase. This wearable ... more - theverge

Inside Mark Zuckerberg’s biggest bet

A screenshot of Horizon Worlds | Image: Meta Mark Zuckerberg is betting his company’s future on the metaverse — a virtual space in which people interact with each other using avatars and developing AR / VR technology — investing tens of billions of dollars ... more - theverge

Snap is canceling several projects and laying off 20 percent of employees

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Snap is laying off around 20 percent of its more than 6,400 employees and canceling its original shows, in-app games, and several other projects as part of a corporate restructuring. In a company memo on Wednesday ... more - theverge

Snap plans to lay off 20 percent of employees

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Snap is planning to lay off approximately 20 percent of its more than 6,400 employees, according to people familiar with the matter. The layoffs, which Snap has been planning for the past several weeks, will begin ... more - theverge

Trademark filings point to ‘Reality’ branding for Apple’s mixed reality headset

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Trademark filings spotted by Bloomberg suggest Apple might incorporate “Reality” in the name and branding of its long-rumored mixed reality headset. Three separate filings show trademarks for “Reality One,” “Reality ... more - theverge

Meta’s VP of Horizon is leaving the company

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Meta’s Vivek Sharma, the company’s VP of its Horizon social VR platform, is leaving the company, as reported by Reuters . Meta spokesperson Bryan Pope confirmed Sharma’s departure to The Verge and said that Sharma ... more - theverge

How to switch your Quest from a Facebook account to a Meta account

Samar Haddad / The Verge If you’ve bought an Meta (formerly known as Oculus) Quest or Quest 2 virtual reality headset in the past few years, you’ve likely had to set it up using a Facebook account. While that makes sense given that the device is made ... more - theverge

Mark Zuckerberg confirms new Meta VR headset will launch in October

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has confirmed that Meta’s next virtual reality headset will arrive in October. Zuckerberg made the comments on Joe Rogan’s podcast, indicating the device — almost certainly the headset ... more - theverge

The Settlers of Catan will become a holographic AR board game in early 2023

“Not actual gameplay footage,” unfortunately. | Image: Tilt Five Catan , one of the most critically acclaimed board games ever made and one that averages over a million copies sold per year, is about to leap off the tabletop thanks to a unique augmented ... more - theverge

Quest VR owners have new Meta logins to use instead of Facebook

Adi Robertson using the Quest 2. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Meta will now allow users of its Quest VR headsets to log in with a new Meta account instead of a Facebook account, the company announced on Tuesday. The company had said ... more - theverge

Sony says the PlayStation VR2 is coming in early 2023

The PlayStation VR2 | Image: Sony Sony’s PlayStation VR2 headset is coming in “early 2023,” according to posts the company made on Twitter and Instagram. Sony has been trickling information out about the upcoming headset over the past several months, ... more - theverge

Mark Zuckerberg has responded to the metaverse memes

The new and improved Zuckerberg, coming to a Quest 2 near you. | Image: Mark Zuckerberg Earlier this week, Mark Zuckerberg posted a screenshot of his digital avatar standing in front of the Eiffel Tower and what I think is supposed to be la Sagrada Família ... more - theverge

Lego’s new motorized lighthouse has a working fresnel lens

Image: Lego In 1822, Augustin Fresnel invented a lens made of ringed prisms that could concentrate beams of light more effectively than reflectors or huge convex pieces of glass. These days, they’re used in spotlights and even most VR headsets. But originally, ... more - theverge

This Kickstarter project turns an iPhone into your smart home’s magic wand

Fluid One is an app that lets you point and click at smart home devices to control them. | Image: Fluid The smart home has an interface problem, and six undergrads from Duke think they’ve solved it with a Raspberry Pi and Apple’s U1 chip. They believe ... more - theverge

Logitech’s Chorus open-back headphones slide onto the Quest 2

The Chorus can be swiveled to find the right position for your ears. | Image: Logitech Logitech has announced the Chorus, a $99 audio accessory that aims to bolster sound quality coming out of the Meta Quest 2 VR headset. The appeal of the Chorus, as ... more - theverge

Final Fantasy VII Remake unofficially comes to VR with this PC mod

I still remember the hush that fell over the audience when Sony revealed the first trailer for Final Fantasy VII Remake — and the cheers. Fans couldn’t wait to see these characters again in HD. But there may now be an even more immersive way to thrust ... more - theverge

Snap is planning to lay off employees

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel unveiling the company’s pair of AR glasses last year. | Photo by Snap Partner Summit 2021 - Snap Inc/Getty Images for Snap Inc Snap is in the early stages of planning layoffs, according to two people familiar with the plans. The ... more - theverge

Meta is shutting down one of its biggest VR games — but only for Quest 1 owners

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Around the same time Meta hiked up the price on its Quest 2 headsets, it also announced that it’s ending Quest 1 support for Population One , a popular battle-royale shooter set in virtual reality. BigBox VR, ... more - theverge

You can now preorder the Steam Deck in Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Valve is expanding Steam Deck shipments to some regions that could take the handheld PC-meets-console to new heights. The company just announced that reservations are now open in Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan ... more - theverge

Tinder steps back from metaverse dating plans as business falters

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Amidst a disappointing set of earnings for the last quarter, Match Group has announced it’s scaling back Tinder’s metaverse dating ambitions and scrapping plans to offer an in-app Tinder Coins currency. Tinder ... more - theverge