Oculus’ Passthrough API will enable experiences that mix VR and the real world

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Facebook announced a new API that will let developers incorporate video from the Quest 2’s sensors into their games and applications, creating a mixed reality experience. With the Passthrough API, developers ... more - theverge

The latest Oculus Quest update lets you easily invite others to play

Oculus Oculus is rolling out its v31 software update to Quest and Quest 2 headsets starting today, and it’s filled with some nice quality-of-life improvements. The big one is it’ll be easier to invite friends and recent teammates who aren’t friends to ... more - theverge

Netflix’s gaming expansion starts with mobile

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Netflix revealed that its initial efforts in gaming will be focused on mobile games and that the games will be included with users’ Netflix subscriptions, the company announced as part of its second-quarter earnings ... more - theverge

Snap buys another company to make AR shopping a reality

Snap and Gucci recently partnered to let users virtually try on a limited edition pair of shoes. | Snap Snap is making a big bet on AR shopping. The parent company of Snapchat has bought Vertebrae, a company that lets brands create and manage 3D versions ... more - theverge

Google Meet is getting a wider rollout on Google Glass

googleglass,glassenterprise,google glass enterprise Google Meet videoconferencing is adding fuller support for Google Glass, the company’s frequently overlooked augmented reality headset. Yesterday, Google announced an open beta of “Meet on Glass” for ... more - theverge

Netflix snags former EA, Oculus exec to lead its video game efforts

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge A report this spring from The Information said that Netflix was seeking an executive to lead its push into gaming, with an eye toward offering an Apple Arcade or Xbox Game Pass-like subscription bundle. Now, as ... more - theverge

Facebook is giving up on brain-typing as an AR glasses interface

Facebook’s prototype brain-computer interface headset. | Image: Facebook Reality Labs A Facebook-backed initiative aiming to let people type by thinking has concluded with new findings published today. Project Steno was a multi-year collaboration between ... more - theverge

Here are the 7 biggest games from Sony’s State of Play event

An image from Deathloop . | Image: Sony Sony showed off a lot of PlayStation games during its latest State of Play event, including more details about the remastered version of Death Stranding and an extended gameplay preview of PS5 exclusive Deathloop ... more - theverge

Google Meet adds Duo-style filters, AR masks, and effects

Image: Google Google Meet is getting new video filters, effects, and augmented reality masks for personal calls on iOS and Android, the search giant has announced. They’re available via the sparkle icon at the bottom right of your video feed during a ... more - theverge

Facebook’s new AR feature for Portal lets you dress up as Harry Potter characters

Facebook’s Harry Potter -themed AR masks for Portal. | Image: Facebook Facebook’s Portal video calling device is getting a Harry Potter and the Cursed Child crossover that lets you and up to three friends dress up as characters from the play using augmented ... more - theverge

The Witcher’s monster-hunting AR mobile game is out July 21st

Image: CD Projekt Red The Witcher: Monster Slayer , an upcoming Pokémon Go-like augmented reality game for mobile devices set in The Witcher universe, will be released on July 21st, CD Projekt Red announced on Friday. It will be available for free on ... more - theverge

Facebook has become a $1 trillion company

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Facebook has joined the ranks of companies valued over a trillion dollars as of today’s market close. The company’s market cap is sitting at $1.008 trillion according to Yahoo Finance, putting it over the mark ... more - theverge

TCL’s wearable display glasses will go on sale in July starting in Australia

TCL’s wearable display plugs directly into your phone or laptop. | Photo: TCL TCL says its wearable display will go on sale in July starting in Australia for $899 AUD (about $680 US), with more markets to follow. The company has been teasing the concept ... more - theverge

Google and Jio collaborate on ‘ultra-affordable’ JioPhone Next

The JioPhone Next. | Image: Jio Platforms Indian tech giant Jio Platforms has collaborated with Google on a new affordable smartphone called the JioPhone Next, Jio’s parent company Reliance announced today. The Next is aimed at helping the roughly 300 ... more - theverge

The VR Myst remake is also coming to the Mac and PC this fall

Myst | Cyan Worlds Last fall, Cyan Worlds, the original developer of Myst , released a built-for-VR remake of its game exclusively for Facebook’s Oculus Quest platform. Now, it has announced a timeframe for the game’s availability elsewhere: a version ... more - theverge

The one developer that publicly agreed to try Facebook’s VR ads is already backing away

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Last Wednesday, Facebook announced that it would begin testing ads inside of Oculus Quest apps and said that the paid title Blaston from Resolution Games and apps from “a couple other developers” would be the ... more - theverge

New Oculus Quest update adds multitasking and wireless streaming for original headset

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Facebook is rolling out its v30 update to the Oculus Quest and Quest 2 VR headsets. As previewed earlier this week by Mark Zuckerberg, v30 includes a new multitasking interface for Infinite Office that lets ... more - theverge

Three big questions about Facebook’s new VR ads

Yesterday, Facebook took a leap many people have been predicting for years: it started putting ads inside virtual reality. The company launched a limited test of advertisements inside three Oculus Quest apps, saying it would expand the system based on ... more - theverge

Instagram Reels now has ads

Get ready to start seeing ads in Instagram Reels. The app’s video feed / TikTok clone will start including ads today across the globe. They’ll look just like any other Reel — full-screen, looping, up to 30 seconds long — and will appear in between other ... more - theverge

Is Facebook cornering the VR market?

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Imagine that, over the past year, Facebook had managed to acquire the battle royale game Fortnite , the kid-focused game creation engine Roblox, and the best-selling game of 2020, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold ... more - theverge

Facebook will start putting ads in Oculus Quest apps

Facebook will soon begin testing ads inside its Oculus Quest virtual reality system. In the coming weeks, ads will start appearing inside the Resolution Games title Blaston as well as two other unnamed apps. Facebook will later expand the system based ... more - theverge

Sony reportedly plans PSVR successor for next holiday season

Sony’s next-gen VR controllers. | Image: Sony Sony’s next-gen PlayStation VR headset is likely to come out in late 2022, according to a new report. Bloomberg’s sources say Sony is “aiming to release the successor in the holiday period next year,” and ... more - theverge

Zuckerberg says original Oculus Quest will get Air Link wireless streaming

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Owners of the original Oculus Quest will get the ability to stream from their PCs to their headsets wirelessly, using the Air Link system that’s been available to Quest 2 owners for a few months. When the feature ... more - theverge

Pokémon Go creator Niantic is making a Transformers game

Niantic is expanding from cute critters to giant robots. Today, the game developer announced its next project: a location-based augmented reality game called Transformers: Heavy Metal . The game is expected to launch globally this year, with a soft launch ... more - theverge

The five coolest games from Upload VR’s E3 2021 showcase

Song in the Smoke. Upload VR returned to E3 with its third annual showcase of the most inventive and intriguing games coming to VR. As the medium continues to mature year after year, it continues to be a platform for developers to innovate. While not ... more - theverge

Unplugged lets you play air guitar in VR this fall

Image: Anotherway The studio behind the upcoming virtual reality air guitar game Unplugged gave an update at the Upload VR Showcase on Saturday and revealed one big band that will be part of the soundtrack. Unplugged uses hand tracking technology to ... more - theverge

Facebook just bought the Fortnite of VR

A character in Population: One . | Image: BigBox VR Facebook has acquired yet another developer of a popular virtual reality game, announcing on Friday that BigBox VR, makers of the battle royale VR title Population: One, will be joining Oculus Studios. ... more - theverge

Apple added beautiful 3D details to Maps, but it still can’t get me out of this forest

This is impressive, but it won’t help me get around town. During the iOS portion of Apple’s WWDC keynote, it showed some amazing demos of 3D cities and AR transit directions, but amid all the beautiful features there were a few things missing from the ... more - theverge

Three Magic Leap executives are reportedly leaving the company

Photo by James Bareham / The Verge Three top Magic Leap executives — chief technology officer Paul Greco, chief operating officer Henk Vlietstra, and chief patent officer David Lundmark — are reportedly leaving in the coming months. Insider reported ... more - theverge

Apple heads into developer conference under more scrutiny than ever

Apple needs a distraction, and it needs one fast. On Monday, the company will hold its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC 2021) during one of the most fraught moments for developer relations in Apple history. While Apple emerged from the Epic ... more - theverge