Apple WWDC 2021 announced as online-only event

Apple just announced that its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) will take place on June 7th through June 11th this year, and that like last year it will be an online-only event. The announcement, as is typical for Apple, is opaque when it comes ... more - theverge

Google is making some big upgrades to directions in Google Maps

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google is announcing a bunch of new features planned for Google Maps, including a new tool to help with indoor navigation and suggestions for eco-friendly driving routes. The features announced today aren’t rolling ... more - theverge

Sony’s next batch of free PS4 and PS5 games is now available

Sony’s “Play at Home” initiative continues with a huge stack of excellent games, including Astro Bot Rescue Mission and Subnautica , that are free to own for a limited time. No PlayStation Plus membership is required, meaning you can keep these games ... more - theverge

Rec Room rides uptick in users during the pandemic to become a VR unicorn

Rec Room Gaming platform Rec Room is now a unicorn, valued at $1.25 billion during a recent funding round of $100 million. It appears to be one of the first, if not the first, virtual reality-focused startup to achieve unicorn status, a notable feat ... more - theverge

Save $150 on the original price of Sony’s 1000XM4 headphones at eBay

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge I usually prefer to highlight the best deals you can get on new tech, but sometimes a refurbished deal is good enough to make the grade. Sony’s 1000XM4 noise-canceling headphones haven’t slipped below $278 new (down from ... more - theverge

Half-Life: Alyx is 40 percent off for the first time

Image: Valve Valve is celebrating the anniversary of its launch of Half-Life: Alyx by offering the best price yet on the VR-exclusive game at Steam. Normally $60 (and worth every penny), you can snag it for $36, totaling a 40 percent discount that lasts ... more - theverge

Apple’s upcoming mixed reality headset will reportedly weigh less than an iPhone

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple’s long-rumored mixed reality headset could weigh less than 150 grams, which would make it much lighter than many other headsets on the market, according to a new research note from Apple analyst Ming-Chi ... more - theverge

This Friday is a ‘Monster Hunter Holiday’ at one Japanese game studio

It’s a big cultural moment in Japan when a new Monster Hunter game releases, especially when it’s made for portable consoles. Monster Hunter: Rise is one of those, releasing this Friday, March 26th for the Nintendo Switch, then coming later to PC in ... more - theverge

The startup trying to augment audio reality in public spaces

Spatial Studio | Spatial A startup called Spatial is unveiling its first suite of products today, focused on creating audio experiences that are immersive, interactive, and automatically generated. The products themselves are a little complicated to ... more - theverge

Pikmin is the next AR game from the makers of Pokémon Go

Image: Niantic Niantic, developer of the smash hit Pokémon Go , has announced a new partnership with Nintendo. The first new game from the collaboration will be a mobile augmented reality game based on Nintendo’s popular Pikmin franchise, and it will ... more - theverge

Gucci designed virtual sneakers for hypebeasts in Roblox and VRChat

Gucci is diving into virtual luxury footwear with a new exclusively digital pair of sneakers called The Gucci Virtual 25 that can be “worn” in augmented reality (AR) or used in partnered apps like Roblox and VRChat. Surprisingly, the shoes are a lot ... more - theverge

Super Nintendo World is sensory overload

Nintendo’s theme park is finally open Continue reading… ... more - theverge

Facebook shows off how you’ll use its neural wristbands with AR glasses

Facebook has offered a glimpse inside its plans for a new augmented reality interface, based on technology from CTRL-Labs, the startup it acquired in 2019. In a video, it shows off wristbands that use electromyography (EMG) to translate subtle neural ... more - theverge

Amazon’s Echo Show 8 smart display is over 40 percent off at several retailers

Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge Amazon’s Echo Show 8 is on sale at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target for $75 right now. While this is not its lowest price ever (the previous best price was only $5 less), it is still an incredible deal on the normally $130 ... more - theverge

Sony is giving away Horizon Zero Dawn and a bundle of great indie games for free

As part of its “Play at Home” initiative, Sony has announced the next 10 games it is giving away completely for free to PlayStation owners, including Horizon Zero Dawn and indie darlings, such as Enter the Gungeon and The Witness. Incredibly, all of ... more - theverge

Microsoft reiterates ‘VR for console is not a focus for us’ following localization bug

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft has once again reiterated that VR support for Xbox was not a focus for the company, following reports earlier today that hinted it was working on a VR headset compatible with the Xbox Series X / S. The ... more - theverge

Almost a fifth of Facebook employees are now working on VR and AR: report

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Facebook has nearly 10,000 employees in its division working on augmented reality and virtual reality devices, according to a report in The Information based on internal organizational data. The number means ... more - theverge

Text Adventures: how Twine remade gaming

In the video game Howling Dogs , released in 2012, players wake up in a prison with few options: a shower, a nutrient dispenser, a garbage chute, and a recreation room with a virtual reality headset. For the first few clicks, all you can do is navigate ... more - theverge

HTC announces Vive Pro lip tracking module and new VR body trackers

Image: HTC HTC has announced a new set of trackers for its Vive virtual reality headsets, including one that captures facial expressions and mouth movements. The $129.99 Vive Facial Tracker attaches to the Vive Pro headset. It uses two cameras and an ... more - theverge

Sonos partners with Audi to bring its audio tech to cars

A Sonos-branded speaker inside Audi’s new TV, the Q4 E-Tron. | Image: Audi Sonos has partnered with Audi to equip the automaker’s Q4 E-Tron with sound, a first for the California-based audio company best known for home speakers. The news was confirmed ... more - theverge

HTC may be teasing the release of a VR lip tracker for Vive headsets

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge HTC may be teasing new modules and attachments for its Vive virtual reality headsets, including a lip tracker, UploadVR reports . HTC’s been building up to some kind of announcement on its Vive Twitter account ... more - theverge

Mark Zuckerberg says realistic avatars are Facebook’s next big VR bet

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Facebook’s future virtual reality headsets should capture users’ facial expressions for more realistic digital avatars, says CEO Mark Zuckerberg. In a podcast interview for The Information , Zuckerberg expounded ... more - theverge

Apple mixed-reality headset likely coming sometime in 2022, analyst predicts

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicts in a new research note that Apple will release a “helmet-type” mixed reality headset next year, augmented reality glasses in mid-2025, and an AR contact lens product by 2030-2040, ... more - theverge

Gaming ruled this week’s best deals

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge This was another week of gaming dominating our deals coverage. That’s mostly because my colleague Taylor Lyles has been diligently keeping readers in the know about every (fleeting, sadly) restocking of the ... more - theverge

Get a refurbished Oculus Quest with a one-year warranty for under $200 today

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Oculus released its first-generation Quest VR headset in 2019, and it quickly became a sought-after head-mounted display, if you were looking to play virtual reality games without being tethered to a gaming ... more - theverge

Sony announces six PlayStation VR games, including Doom 3 for VR

Sony has announced a new slate of PlayStation VR games for later this year. It includes a virtual reality adaptation of Doom 3 , as well as titles from a few successful VR studios and a couple of relative newcomers to VR. Sony announced a new generation ... more - theverge

Microsoft Mesh feels like the virtual future of Microsoft Teams meetings

Microsoft Mesh enables shared virtual experiences. | Image: Microsoft Last week, Microsoft’s Alex Kipman, the inventor of Kinect and HoloLens, appeared in my living room to hand me jellyfish and sharks. That might sound like I had a weird dream, but ... more - theverge

Google is boosting AR performance on Android phones with dual cameras

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Google is updating its augmented reality SDK so that phones with dual cameras can capture better depth information. As noted by Android Police , the most recent update to the Google Play Services for AR app, which is ... more - theverge

Sony winds down Japan Studio to focus on Astro’s Playroom team

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Sony has confirmed that Japan Studio, its internal video game developer based in Tokyo, will essentially wind down and refocus around a single team. In a statement to IGN, Japan Studio said as of April 1st it would be ... more - theverge

Get an Oculus Quest 2 at Newegg and score a gift card for up to $20

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The Oculus Quest 2 standalone VR headset has been tough to find throughout the pandemic. Several retailers now have it back in stock, but only at Newegg can you snag one and get a complimentary gift card with ... more - theverge