Why Mark Zuckerberg Won’t Own the Metaverse

vrcoin on May 26, 2022

I can’t remember a period in my lifetime where the political and social conversation was more polarized. For every opinion, no matter how inane, you can find someone on the internet to vehemently disagree. However, one take is nearly universally endorsed across the sociopolitical spectrum: Mark Zuckerberg is not a force for good in the world. The recent news that Meta can take nearly a 50% cut of goods sold on Horizon Worlds, its metaverse platform, received widespread condemnation, uniting everyone from Fortune 500 CEOs, to left-wing Twitter, to whatever category Elon Musk falls into. The headlines hit many of the familiar talking points levied against Meta: greedy, hypocritical, unfriendly to creatives, and run by a cruel young cyber-monarch. But, more importantly, this news also sheds light on Zuckerberg’s troubling concept of the metaverse: a top-down, closed system controlled by a single organization. .ud361b6b33f4172bfc566fdcd954594e4 { padding:0px; margin: 0; padding-top:1em!important;

Lynx Says $4 Million Investment ‘Secures Our Supply Chain’ Ahead Of R-1 Deliveries

vrcoin on May 26, 2022

Lynx says it raised $4 million in a funding round ahead of delivery of its R-1 mixed reality headset.Lynx creator Stan Larroque posted  on Twitter about the funding, writing that “after our successful Kickstarter we’re now able to secure our supply chain completely and fulfill the insane demand we’re facing.” The highly anticipated system is based on the same XR2 chipset powering Quest 2 while providing full color passthrough for mixed reality/AR with an open air view of your surroundings. The sides can also be closed off for a VR viewing experience as well. Lynx recently showed off the hardware at GDC in San Francisco and confirmed to UploadVR Correspondents that backers could “expect the first headsets to come between June and July,” instead of the original April delivery target. The headset is also listed on the Lynx website for $599 with “delivery starting June 2022” listed. [embed]https://youtube.com/watch?v=4WfWEZY50Hg&feature=oembed&showinfo=0&rel=0&modestbranding=1&iv_load_policy=3&playsinline=1&enablejsapi=1[/embed]

“Navigating the Metaverse” Book Review

vrcoin on May 23, 2022

saidNavigating the Metaverse: A Guide to Limitless Possibilities in a Web 3.0 World is a new book by Cathy Hackl, Dirk Lueth, and Tommaso Di Bartolo. We got an advance copy of the book, and spoke with the authors, as well as the editor John Arkontaky, to learn more about how the book came together. Navigating “Navigating the Metaverse” Navigating the Metaverse consists of information-dense chapters broken up into manageable sections – a necessary consideration for a topic so branching and nebulous. While the metaverse itself may be a rats’ nest of uncertainty and conflicting ideas, the book is easy to follow and the ideas are presented with confidence and clarity. “The reason we have a full writing room is because the metaverse is complex. Different viewpoints add color and context. The co-authors’ combined forces offer a blend of industry knowledge, hard business, and blue sky aspirations.” – Introduction Many

Team-based Combat Game ‘World of Mechs’ Coming Exclusively to Quest 2 May 26th

vrcoin on May 19, 2022

A new squad-based online battle game called World of Mechs is coming exclusively to Meta Quest 2 on May 26th, and it’s promising a bevy of mechs to pilot.

Developed by Studio 369 and funded by Meta’s Grant Program, World of Mechs lets you choose from 32 different mechs for online team battles that pits you against teams of four. The game is also said to include five maps, four multiplayer modes, and a 20-mission single player campaign.

The developers say the game will include missiles, jump jets, radar jammers, landmines, and the ability to physically ram other players. Check out a quick peek at some of the gameplay below:

“World of Mechs delivers the feeling of thrashing across city blocks in a 10-ton robotic steel gladiator while launching a salvo of barrage missiles on the opposition,” says Studio 369. “Feel the adrenaline rush of leading a flanking charge with weapons ablaze and jump-jets engaged. Blast off into the single-player campaign to take down menacing bosses, walk away with their mechs, and become the world’s most-feared ace pilot.”

Studio 369 is made up of industry veterans previously from Activision, Epic Games, Paramount Pictures, Skybound, and Sony. Prior to founding the studio its members worked on a host of games including Fortnite, H1Z1, The Walking Dead, Star Trek, and Gears of War 3.

Besides World of Mechs, the studio is also currently developing a blockchain-based play-to-earn MMO for flatscreen PC and mobile called MetalCore, and a unnamed “AAA” game for PS5, Xbox and PC.

World of Mechs is set to launch on Meta Quest 2 on May 26th, priced at $20. You can wishlist the game here on the Oculus Store. And in case you missed it, here’s the reveal trailer which was published late last year:

This article was originally published on roadtovr.com

Mental Health Awareness Month in XR

vrcoin on May 18, 2022

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and there are plenty of XR applications and outfits that deserve highlighting. We’ve teased out a couple of projects and products that deserve a closer look. Hit the Mind Gym in Virbela Virbela is an enterprise-first solution focusing on remote work and events through the use of shared or custom virtual campus spaces. However, they’re also very community-focused and create special “islands” on their open campus for various causes. In fact, their virtual library landed in our Black History Month roundup. This time, we’re highlighting a new experience, the “Mind Gym.” “I was talking with a colleague about Mental Health Awareness Month and how we could handle that kind of thing at an enterprise level,” Virbela VP of Community, Sarah Segrest, told ARPost in an in-app interview. “We kind of thought about a mashup of futuristic exercises and a mid-century style gym.” Modeled

The XR Week Peek (2022.05.16): Meta teases Cambria, Google shows new AR features, and more!

vrcoin on May 16, 2022

This has been a week full of interesting news. But before digging into them, let me show you the first episode of The Spatial Show, the comedy show about the metaverse organized by Ori Inbar in which I took part. If you watch the video, you can see me say stupid things about XR… well, more or less as I do every day in my life…  Have fun! Top news of the week (Image by Mark Zuckerberg)Zuckerberg teases Project Cambria Mark Zuckerberg has teased Project Cambria, the upcoming headset by Meta. In a video published on Facebook, he showed himself wearing the headset and let us also see what he was seeing inside, with some footage directly from his point of view. To hide the real appearance of the device, his face wearing it was pixelated: the most interesting things in life are always pixelated, as in the hentai movies. Zuck has also

Artist Carrie Able Believes VR/AR Will Help Drive Collaboration

vrcoin on May 15, 2022

The popular artist says XR technology will allow more people to explore their creativity in exciting new ways.Carrie Able is an internationally known XR artist whose work peels back the layers of where art and XR intersect to uncover an unexplored space of creativity that blends VR sculptures, oil painting, and coding. The outcome is a series of one-of-a-kind virtual art that becomes a stream of consciousness while at the same time unintentionally reflecting her own identity.Able is also a well-known musician with an international following who attracts over 71K listens a month on Spotify. Two of her songs have over 1 million streams each while her Instagram page has almost 185K followers. Able’s creative perspective has even caught the attention of Forbes Magazine calling her a “Pioneer in XR Art as a multidisciplinary artist who breaks genres within the field of art”. [embed]https://youtube.com/watch?v=y8wOEZze7HM&version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en-US&autohide=2&wmode=transparent[/embed] Just recently, Able traveled to Venice,

Eyes-On: JDI & Innolux Present A 3K LCD For Compact VR Headsets

vrcoin on May 13, 2022

At Display Week 2022 JDI and Innolux presented compact 3K LCD panels for VR headsets.Japan Display Inc (JDI) is one of the world’s largest display providers, formed 10 years ago as a merger of the LCD manufacturing divisions of Sony, Toshiba and Hitachi. Innolux is Taiwan’s largest LCD producer. Both new displays are roughly 2.27 inch diagonal, with a refresh rate of 90 Hz and resolution of 3240×3240 – equating to 2016 pixels per inch. The identical specs are likely due to a patent cross licensing agreement between JDI and Innolux. This isn’t the first 3K LCD panel we’ve seen presented by display providers. At 2019’s Display Week AUO presented a 3456×3456 LCD panel with more than 2000 backlight elements to support HDR. However, that panel was larger (2.9 inch) and we haven’t heard anything about it since. In fact, AUO’s booth at this year’s