Author name: Mike M.

microsoft-axes-social-vr-platform-&-xr-interface-framework-amid-wide-reaching-layoffs

Microsoft Axes Social VR Platform & XR Interface Framework Amid Wide-reaching Layoffs

altspace, altspace vr, altspacevr, microsoft, microsoft vr, News, Social VR / /

Microsoft is laying off 10,000 employees, and with it the company is axing social VR platform AltspaceVR and its XR interface framework, Mixed Reality Toolkit.

We’ve written about the death of AltspaceVR once before. In the summer of 2017, the company announced it was shuttering the social VR platform due to lack of funds. In a Hail Mary that few expected, Microsoft turned around and snapped up the ailing platform only two months after the planned shut-down date. It seemed, at least for then, that AltspaceVR would live on to compete in the rapidly diversifying social VR landscape, existing alongside VR Chat, Rec Room, and Horizon Worlds.

Microsoft says it’s shutting down AltspaceVR on March 10th, 2023, and shifting its focus “to support immersive experiences powered by Microsoft Mesh,” the company says in a statement.

Mesh is the company’s software foundation for building multi-user XR applications. Announced in 2021, the tool gives developers a framework for connecting users into shared instances which support spatial voice communication, cloud-based asset management, persistent scenes, and a common avatar system.

“The decision has not been an easy one as this is a platform many have come to love, providing a place for people to explore their identities, express themselves, and find community,” the AltspaceVR team writes. “It has been a privilege to help unlock passions among users, from educational opportunities for personal growth to the development of unique and wonderful events, groundbreaking art, and immersive experiences — enabling this community to achieve more. With Mesh, we aspire to build a platform that offers the widest opportunity to all involved, including creators, partners and customers.”

Also seeing an abrupt shutdown is the company’s Mixed Reality Toolkit (MRTK). Team member Finn Sinclair shared the news via Twitter on Friday, saying the entire team was eliminated from the company. MRTK was a Microsoft-driven project that provided a set of components and features, used to accelerate cross-platform XR app development in the Unity game engine. Sinclair says the project is remaining open source.

Microsoft’s most recent round of layoffs are said to affect around 5% of its overall workforce. In a letter to employees, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella notes “changes to our hardware portfolio”; reports from Bloomberg maintain the company’s Xbox games teams are also affected, including Bethesda Game Studios (‘The Elder Scrolls’ series) and 343 Industries (Halo).

Microsoft Axes Social VR Platform & XR Interface Framework Amid Wide-reaching Layoffs Read More »

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New Year, New Goals: Hit Your Fitness Goals This Year With Immersive Workouts From FitXR’s New Studios

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Towards the end of last year, FitXR launched new music collections with over two dozen new workout classes in Box, HIIT, and Dance. The company is all set to help users meet their fitness goals this year as well with new immersive workout classes.

The VR fitness app has recently launched two new studios, Sculpt and Combat, providing their users with low-impact strength and conditioning workouts for the first time, as well as more options for high-impact exercises. With each of the studios offering distinct training styles, FitXR users gain access to more rounded fitness experiences.

“The introduction of these studios reflects a first-ever moment for VR fitness, expanding what’s possible to bring to a workout,” said FitXR’s Director of Fitness, Kelly Cosentino, in a press release. “We at FitXR pride ourselves on demystifying VR fitness and expanding its reach to the masses, showcasing the true impact it can have to help improve overall health and wellness. We hope that these new studios encourage more people to get moving.”

Low-Impact Burn and Tone in Sculpt Studio

Sculpt studio brings us the first-ever low-impact strength and conditioning immersive workout classes that can be done anywhere at any time. It offers a new and exciting way to do strength training without using weights or straining the joints.

FitXR new studio Sculpt- immersive workout

For high-burn results at low impact, the movements created for this studio mimic those from pilates, barre, and isometric strength training. The exercises are designed to burn, tone, and sculpt while improving balance, strength, and endurance.

Each part of the routine targets a particular area to tone specific muscle groups for a more sculpted form. Done regularly, immersive workout exercises in Sculpt Studio help build strength in arms and legs, tone muscles, and boost mental endurance. Upbeat music makes the workouts more exciting as users pulse and hold along with the fast tempo.

Upon launch, Sculpt Studio started offering eight classes led by FitXR trainers Dillon, Elise, Garret, and Sarah. More supercharged classes will be added regularly to keep users motivated to stay fit.

Powerful Results From High-Impact VR Workouts in Combat Studio

Inspired by martial arts, the new Combat studio gets users in good fighting form. The fierce immersive workouts show us that virtually everything is possible in VR fitness.

FitXR new studio Combat - immersive workout

While it also includes boxing moves, exercises in this new studio are more dynamic than Box workouts. They combine signature moves from different forms of martial arts including karate, taekwondo, Muay Thai, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Users learn to do elbow strikes, hammer fists, double punches, high blocks, and other techniques. Because the exercise drills include different combos that simulate the unpredictability of real fights, users also develop faster reflexes, better coordination, and improved concentration.

FitXR trainers Dillon and Billy lead the immersive workout exercises in the four new classes. More classes will be launched regularly to keep users on their toes and in perfect fighting form. To make the workouts more exhilarating and stimulating, users are immersed in a modern urban virtual environment resonating with bold pop, hip-hop, and rock playlists.

Immersive Workouts Are Part of the Future of Fitness

With the two new launches, FitXR now has five innovative studios with distinct features—Box, Dance, HIIT, Sculpt, and Combat. Offering different workout styles for different fitness levels, they give users a vast array of exercises to choose from and find the ones that fit their lifestyle, interests, and needs.

Augmented and virtual reality will undoubtedly play a part in the future of fitness. The global success of FitXR shows that people are more than ready to adopt new technologies in their health and fitness regimens. Immersive workouts with personalized routines will make it easier for everyone to stay fit and healthy whatever their lifestyle is.

New Year, New Goals: Hit Your Fitness Goals This Year With Immersive Workouts From FitXR’s New Studios Read More »

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Tech bosses face jail for ‘harmful content’ under new UK laws

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Threats of jail tech bosses over “harmful content” will endanger the UK’s tech sector and civil rights, campaigners have warned.

The penalty has been added to the British government’s Online Safety Bill. Under new amendments to the legislation, senior managers at internet platforms could be jailed for failing to protect children from online harm. The revisions also mandate the removal of videos depicting illegal immigration “in a positive light.”  

The changes follow pressure from politicians in the ruling Conservative party. The legislators had proposed introducing criminal liability for any breach of child safety duties, but the government has restricted this to intentional violations.

In a statement, Michelle Donelan, the UK’s culture and digital minister, said only senior managers who “consented or connived” to ignore enforcement notices risked imprisonment.

“While this amendment will not affect those who have acted in good faith to comply in a proportionate way, it gives the Act additional teeth to deliver change and ensure that people are held to account if they fail to properly protect children,” she said.

Child safety groups welcomed the move to make executives criminally liable, but critics have raised an array of concerns.

A patchwork of complaints

The diversity of the dissent is striking.

Wikimedia warned the penalties will affect not only big tech corporations, but also volunteer-led content moderation and public interest websites. The non-profit also notes that mandatory age verification can institute extra data collection, which puts user privacy at risk.

Libertarians have added concerns about the economic ramifications. They contend that threats of jail and heavy fines will stifle innovation and discourage startups from operating in the UK.

“The natural reponse will be to block users.

Matthew Lesh, head of public policy at the IEA, a free-market think-tank, said the proposals would ultimately be a boon for big tech. He argues that the rules will raise greater barriers to entry for their smaller competitors.

“There is also a significant threat that UK users simply lose access to many parts of the web,” Lesh told TNW. “The natural response of many platform operators, particularly those outside of the UK with a limited British audience, will be to block UK users. This was the response of thousands of US sites in response to GDPR.”

Free speech campaigners, meanwhile, fear platforms will be pushed to aggressively block content and deploy automated monitoring systems. This could lead to censorship of lawful posts, reduced access to online services, and restricted freedom of expression.

“That could be quite subjective.

Further qualms have arisen over the Bill’s ambiguities. Legal experts are wary that the rules will be open to different interpretations.

“Some of the Bill’s provisions are based on risk of ‘harm’, as defined in the Bill: physical or psychological harm,” Graham Smith, an IT lawyer at Bird & Bird, told TNW. “The government has said that psychological harm should not be limited to a medically recognised condition, so potentially that could be quite subjective.”

The capacity to exploit the rules has raised considerable alarm. Law professors have accused the government of using child safety as a smokescreen for “censorship and control.”

Tech ethicists warn the Bill could politicize “online harm” — a theory that’s intensified over the migration proposal.

The politics of “harm”

The new proposals would legally mandate the removal of posts showing people crossing the English channel in “a positive light.”

The government said this will help tackle illegal immigration encouraged by gangs. Refugee charities, however, warn it will endanger the rights of vulnerable migrants — and set a perilous precedent for campaigners.

The ORG, a digital rights group, notes that censorship of small boat crossings would extend to search engines.

“Websites could be demoted in listings if they have content deemed illegal,” the organization said in a tweet. “This could severely impact groups acting on refugee and migrant rights.”

Alisha Lewis, a local councillor for the Liberal Democrats party, described the proposal as a “fascinating combo of poor policy literacy and absurdly directed nasty anti-refugee sentiment.”

Censorship of images of small boat crossings extends to search engines. Websites could be demoted in listings if they have content deemed illegal. This could severely impact groups acting on refugee and migrant rights. #OnlineSafetyBill https://t.co/NGNjPZQygL

— Open Rights Group (@OpenRightsGroup) January 20, 2023

Undoubtedly, online safety for children is a pressing issue. But the broad reach, punitive measures, and subjectivity of the proposals risk creating more problems than they solves. It’s nearly four years since the government’s initial white paper was published, but the Online Safety Bill is still in disarray.

Tech bosses face jail for ‘harmful content’ under new UK laws Read More »

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PSVR 2 Unlikely to Ever Work on PC, Says Creator Behind PSVR 1 Compatibility Driver

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No more ungainly break-out boxes to contend with; thankfully PSVR 2 connects to PlayStation 5 via a single USB-C cable. But if you think you’ll be able to plug in that seemingly standard cable to a VR-ready PC to play Half-Life: Alyx like you might with standalones such as Quest 2, Vive XR Elite or Pico 4, you’ll be sorely disappointed. PSVR 2 won’t work as a PC VR headset, and according to the developer behind unofficial conversion software iVRy Driver, you shouldn’t buy one with the anticipation that it ever will.

Plug in an original PSVR into a computer, and the PC thinks it’s an additional monitor. That was the starting point back in late 2016 for many to begin cobbling together unofficial support for PC VR games. One such go-to staple for PSVR-to-PC conversion is iVRy Driver for SteamVR, an ongoing project created by indie studio Mediator Software.

But what about PSVR 2? In a Reddit thread discussing the topic, Mediator Software says you should save your cash if you want to buy a PSVR 2 specifically for PC VR gaming:

PSVR 2 Unlikely to Ever Work on PC, Says Creator Behind PSVR 1 Compatibility Driver Read More »

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Quantum computing startup eyes mainstream adoption after £30m investment

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Quantum computing has immense potential but incredible complexities. While zealots claim it will cure cancer and save the planet, critics warn their promises are far from being fulfilled.

One of their key challenges lies at the very heart of the field: ​​quantum bits, or “qubits.” These information units are the quantum analog of binary bits in classical computers. To make quantum computers useful, the qubits have to be reliably controlled and manufactured at scale.

It’s a requirement that still confounds the world’s leading computer scientists. The likes of IBM and Google made impressive strides by building qubits into their quantum chips, which have to obey the laws of quantum physics at temperatures near absolute zero.

One issue with this approach is t it requires million-dollar refrigerators. Another is that just a single atom in the wrong place on the chip can cause computing mistakes.

Oxford Ionics, a startup based in the UK, applies a different technique. The company uses a proprietary technology called Electronic Qubit Control (EQC) to control the qubits. This system applies different voltages and currents on a traditional microchip, which create magnetic fields in the surrounding space. 

The quantum bits in this system are comprised of individual atoms. In their natural state, these atoms don’t tend to stay still long enough to perform a computation. To stabilize them, one of their electrons is removed to make an ion. These ions have an electrical charge, which enables the electromagnetic field to “trap” them less than a hair’s width above a chip.

“We have perfect qubits.

Dr Chris Balance, who co-founded Oxford Ionics in 2019, compares the effect to toys that use magnets to suspend objects in the air.

“This gives us the best of both worlds: we have a chip that can be made just like a normal computer processor and which can run at room temperature, and we have perfect qubits made from single ions hovering above the chip,” Balance tells TNW. “Not building the qubits means we can’t build them wrong. Nature guarantees each individual atom is perfectly identical to any other.”

Dr Tom Harty and Dr Chris Ballance founded Oxford Ionics
Ballance (right) and Tom Hardy founded Oxford Ionics aftedr earning PhDs in Quantum Computing from Oxford University: Oxford Ionics

Unlike other “trapped-ion” exponents, Oxford Ionics doesn’t rely on lasers to control qubits. According to Balance, laser-controlled devices are effective for small systems, but extremely difficult to fabricate and integrate at chip scale. They also become error-prone as the size of the processor and the number of qubits grows.

In tests, the Oxford Ionics system has shown seemingly superior results. The ​​technology currently holds a range of records for quantum computing performance, speed, and error rates, Ballance’s research was also cited in the scientific release that accompanied this year’s Nobel Prize in Physics. 

These achievements have caught the eyes of investors. Last week, Oxford Ionics announced that it had raised £30 million in Series A funding, which will be used to grow the team and bring the tech to market.

“We are entering the discovery phase.

Balance is now looking forward to solving real-world problems.

“Over the next few years, we are entering the discovery phase of quantum computing: up to now we have not had quantum computers that solve problems we can’t solve any other way — now we do!”

Balance doesn’t expect to integrate Quantum Ionics’ tech into general-purpose chips. Instead, he envisions the company’s quantum chips running in parallel with classical semiconductors.

“Think GPUs alongside CPUs,” he says.

It may likely still take years for killer apps to emerge, but Oxford Ionics could push quantum computing closer to the mainstream.

Quantum computing startup eyes mainstream adoption after £30m investment Read More »

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US Congress Halts Orders of Microsoft AR Combat Goggles Amid Reports of Headaches & Eyestrain

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In 2021, Microsoft won a United States Army defense contract worth up to $22 billion which would support the development of an Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS), a tactical AR headset for soldiers based on HoloLens 2. Now Congress has rejected the Army’s request for $400 million to buy as many as 6,900 more of the AR combat goggles this year, a Bloomberg report maintains.

The rejection cites rocky tests conducted last year. Testing was done over a three-week period ending June 18th, where the Army assessed Microsoft’s IVAS with a cadre of 70 Army infantry soldiers, who were tasked with using the device during three 72-hour combat scenarios.

Complaints included “mission-affecting physical impairments,” with more than 80 percent of soldiers experiencing headaches, eyestrain and nausea after less than three hours using the goggles.

None of this comes as a giant surprise though, as Microsoft was reportedly bracing for negative field tests back in early 2022 due to alleged quality problems.

Softening the blow somewhat, lawmakers have earmarked $40 million to develop a new IVAS model, Army spokesman David Patterson said in an email obtained by Bloomberg.

This comes only a few weeks after the Army awarded a $125 million “task order” for the development of a new model, dubbed version 1.2, which is said to include software improvements for better reliability and reduced power demand.

The 1.2 version task order is said to provide “improvements based on completed test events” which aim at a developing a “lower profile Heads-Up Display with distributed counterweight for improved user interface and comfort.”

In the meantime, the Army will be using its first batch of 5,000 goggles for training—only a small fraction of the max 121,000 devices, spares and support services stipulated in the $22 billion deal.

US Congress Halts Orders of Microsoft AR Combat Goggles Amid Reports of Headaches & Eyestrain Read More »

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Finland’s wind power capacity shot up 75% in 2022, attracting billions in capital

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Finland’s wind power capacity shot up 75% in 2022, attracting billions in capital

Ioanna Lykiardopoulou

Story by

Ioanna Lykiardopoulou

Ioanna is a writer at SHIFT. She likes the transition from old to modern, and she’s all about shifting perspectives. Ioanna is a writer at SHIFT. She likes the transition from old to modern, and she’s all about shifting perspectives.

Finland clocked a 75% increase in wind power capacity last year, boosting the country’s renewable energy cred.

According to the latest statistics from the Finnish Wind Power Association (FWPA), 2022 was a record time for green power. Specifically, 437 new wind turbines were put into operation, delivering a 2,430MW power capacity. What’s more, wind power covered 14.1% of the country’s electricity consumption, rising from 9.3% in 2021, a period in which 141 turbines were installed.

As a result, Finland now has a total of 1,393 wind turbines with a combined power of 5,677MW — raised by nearly 43% in 2022 alone. Some 47% of the total wind power is domestically owned, and the majority of turbines have between 3 and 4.99MW power capacity.

Notably, the projects completed last year brought over €2.9 billion worth of investments into the country. This makes wind power one of the most funded sectors in the Nordic nation.

Finland wind power 2022

“No other industry currently brings as many annual investment euros to Finland as wind power. Wind power also brings vitality to many small municipalities, where investment targets may otherwise be few,” Anni Mikkonen, FWPA’s CEO, noted.

“In addition to investments, wind power is now increasing our country’s energy self-sufficiency at a really good pace — just when new and affordable electricity production is most needed. No other electricity generation can be built in Finland as quickly and as cost-effectively right now,” she added.

According to FWPA, the future of Finnish wind energy is looking brighter and brighter. Approximately 1,000MW of power capacity will be completed this year, over 1,200MW in 2024, and around 1,000MW in 2025 — when wind power is projected to cover at least 28% of Finland’s electricity consumption.

If this pace is kept, the country will not only strengthen its energy efficiency, but also increase its competitive advantage in the industry — in effect, attracting more capital in its wind projects and promoting local companies active in the field.

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MeetKai Launches New Building Tools

AI, augmented reality, CES, developers, featured, metaverse, News, Software, virtual reality / /

MeetKai has been around since 2018 but some of its first publicly enjoyable content hit the streets a few months ago. Now, the company is releasing a suite of software solutions and developer tools to help the rest of us build the metaverse.

From Innovation to Product

ARPost met MeetKai in July 2022, when the company was launching a limited engagement in Time Square. Since then, the company has been working with the Los Angeles Chargers.

“The purpose of the Time Square activation and campaign was really to test things out in the browser,” CEO and co-founder, James Kaplan, said in a video call. “With 3D spaces, there’s a question of whether the user views it as a game, or as something else.”

MeetKai Metaverse Editor - Los Angeles Chargers
MeetKai Metaverse Editor – Los Angeles Chargers

Those insights have informed their subsequent outward-facing work with the Chargers, but the company has also been working on some more behind-the-scenes products that were just released at CES.

“We’re moving from an innovation technology company to a product company,” co-founder and Executive Chairwoman, Weili Dai, said in the call. “Technology innovation is great, but show me the value for the end user. That’s where MeetKai is.”

Build the Metaverse With MeetKai

At CES, MeetKai announced three new product offerings: MeetKai Cloud AI, MeetKai Reality, and MeetKai Metaverse Editor. The first of those offerings is more in line with the company’s history as a conversational AI service provider. The second two offerings are tools for creating digital twins and for building and editing virtual spaces respectively.

“The biggest request that we get from people is that they want to build their own stuff, they don’t just want to see the stuff that we made,” said Kaplan. “So, we’ve been trying to say ‘how do we let people build things?’ even when they’re not engineers or artists.”

Users of the new tools can use them individually to create projects for internal or outward-facing projects. For example, a user could choose to create an exact digital twin of a physical environment with MeetKai Reality or create an entirely new virtual space with MeetKai Editor.

However, some of the most interesting projects come when the tools are used together. One example of this is an agricultural organization with early access to the products that used these two tools together to create a digital twin of real areas on their premises and then used the Editor for simulation and training use cases.

“AI as an Enabling Tool”

The formula for creating usable but robust tools was to combine conventional building tools like scanning and game engines with some help from artificial intelligence. In that way, these products look a lot less like a deviation from the company’s history and look a lot more like what the company has been doing all along.

MeetKai Cloud AI - Avatar sample
MeetKai Cloud AI – Avatar sample

“We see AI as an enabling tool. That was our premise from the beginning,” said Kaplan. “If you start a project and then add AI, it’s always going to be worse than if you say, ‘What kinds of AI do we have or what kinds of AI can we build?’ and see what kind of products can follow that.”

So the first hurdle is building the tools and the second hurdle is making the tools usable. Most companies in the space either build tools which remain forever overly complex, or they make tools that work but have limited potential because they were only designed for one specific use or for use within one specific environment.

“The core technology is AI and the capability needs to be presented in the most friendly way, and that’s what we do,” said Weili. “The AI capability, the technology, the innovation has to be leading.”

The company’s approach to software isn’t the only way they stand out. They also have a somewhat conservative approach when it comes to the hardware that they build for.

“I think 2025 is going to be the year that a lot of this hardware is going to start to level up. … Once the hardware is available, you have to let people build from day one,” said Kaplan. “Right now a lot of what’s coming out, even from these big companies, looks really silly because they’re assuming that the hardware isn’t going to improve.”

A More Mature Vision of the Metaverse

This duo has a lot to say about the competition. But, fortunately for the rest of us, it isn’t all bad. As they’ve made their way around CES, they’ve made one more observation that might be a nice closing note for this article. It has to do with how companies are approaching “the M-word.”

“Last CES, we saw a lot of things about the metaverse and I think that this year we’re really excited because a lot of the really bad ideas about the metaverse have collapsed,” said Kaplan. “Now, the focus is what brings value to the user as opposed to what brings value to some opaque idea of a conceptual user.”

Kaplan sees our augmented reality future as like a mountain, but the mountain doesn’t just go straight up. We reach apparent summits only to encounter steep valleys between us and the next summit. Where most companies climb one peak at a time, Kaplan and Weili are trying to plan a road across the whole mountain chain which means designing “in parallel.”

“The moment hardware is ready, we’re going to leapfrog … we prepare MeetKai for the long run,” said Weili. “We have partners working with us. This isn’t just a technology demonstration.”

How MeetKai Climbs the Mountain

This team’s journey along that mountain road might be more apparent than we realize. After all, when we last talked to them and “metaverse” was the word on everyone’s lips, they appeared with a ready-made solution. Now as AI developer tools are the hot thing, here they come with a ready-made solution. Wherever we go next, it’s likely MeetKai will have been there first.

MeetKai Launches New Building Tools Read More »

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Concrete is one of the world’s most harmful materials. Graphene could change that

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Concrete has been described as the most destructive material on Earth. After water, it’s the most used substance in the world, with twice the usage of steel, wood, plastics, and aluminium combined.

To manufacture all this concrete, more than 4 billion tonnes of cement are produced every year. According to the Chatham House think tank, that creates around 8% of all CO2 emissions — more than what’s caused by all the trucks across the globe.

Cement makers urgently need to reduce this footprint. To meet the requirements of the Paris Agreement on climate change, the industry needs to cut emissions by at least 16% by 2030. At the same time, the sector faces growing demand from rapid urbanization and population growth.

It’s foreboding problem. But engineers believe that graphene offers a solution.

“Just 0.01% of the material is required.

First isolated at the University of Manchester in 2004, Graphene’s 2D nature provides a unique combination of strength, flexibility, lightness, and conductivity. These properties caught the eye of Nationwide Engineering, a British construction business. 

The firm’s memorably-acronymed R&D subsidiary, NERD (Nationwide Engineering Research and Development), was tasked with turning the “wonder material” into a new additive: Concretene. 

Amesbury pour - hi-res
The substance has already formed floor slabs in the UK. Credit: Concretene

Concretene consists of graphene that’s produced at Manchester University. Small quantities of the liquid formulation are added during the concrete mixing process. 

The graphene provides both mechanical support and an active surface for the chemical reactions that occur during the cement hydration and hardening.

“Very low dosages of the material, in some cases less than 0.01%, are required to deliver substantial performance gains,” Alex McDermott, the co-founder of Concretene, tells TNW.

“This means that Concretene is commercially viable with wholesale costs to be in-line with existing additives already used in the concrete industry.”

Codemasters’ First Quest-native Racing Sim to Release on Quest 2 Next Week Read More »

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‘Song in the Smoke’ is Getting a PSVR 2 Remaster That’s Slated to Rival PC VR Version

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Critically acclaimed VR survival game Song in the Smoke (2021) is getting a full overhaul when it launches on PSVR 2, something developer 17-BIT says will rival the visual quality of the game’s PC VR version.

Song in the Smoke launched on Quest, PC VR and PSVR last October—just in time to win our PSVR Game of the Year in 2021. We were impressed by its well-studied crafting depth, expressive art style, and harrowing encounters with the primeval world’s mosh of beastly creatures.

And although not a given, since PSVR 2 titles won’t share backwards compatibility with PSVR, developer 17-BIT says Song in the Smoke is definitely headed to the upcoming PSVR 2, and with more visual panache.

“It wasn’t a light upgrade – it was a ton of work and up-rezzing of so many visual systems,” creative director Jake Kazdal tells Edge in its 380th edition. “It stands alone, even compared to the highest-end version possible on PC VR – it’s honestly not even close.”

The studio says it wants to bring the PSVR 2 version of the game to players as a free upgrade to the original game on PSVR, although Kazdal admits they “still need to figure out the logistics of that.”

Dubbed Song in the Smoke: Rekindled, the game is said to be “more than a remaster,” as it’s set to feature what the studio says in a recent tweet “tons of polish and additional features driven by user requests and feedback,” calling it an “ultimate edition.”

The studio says we’re due to learn more soon. It’s not clear whether Song in the Smoke: Rekindled is destined for launch-day status for the PSVR 2 when it hits shelves February 22nd, 2023. We’ll be keeping our eye on 17-BIT in the meantime, and also adding it to our growing list of all PSVR 2 games announced to date.

‘Song in the Smoke’ is Getting a PSVR 2 Remaster That’s Slated to Rival PC VR Version Read More »

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Among Us VR Review on Quest 2

featured, Review, Reviews, VR games / /

Among Us has been a hit game for a while now. Among Us VR is a more recent phenomenon. Get your tasklist ready, memorize the map, warm up your button-smacking hand, and trust no one as we pilot the Skeld II through a trial run.

A Brief History of Among US VR

Game studio Innersloth released the original Among Us in 2018 as a free app game with some optional paid customization features. The immensely social game sees a team of travelers piloting a ship (the Skeld II) through space only to find that some among them are “Impostors” who sabotage the ship and kill crewmates.

impostor - Among US VR game

Playing as an Impostor, players try to blend in with the crewmates while destroying the ship’s functions and/or murdering enough of the real team to take over. Playing as a crewmate, players need to keep the ship flying and stay alive long enough to determine which of them are Impostors.

Among Us VR is no simple port (though unofficial attempts in the form of amateur mods on social VR platforms have existed for some time). To make the game immersive, Innersloth partnered with XR game studio Schell Games, known for titles like Until You Fall, and the I Expect You to Die series.

Announced at Meta Connect and launching the following month, Among Us VR is currently available for $10 on SteamVR and the Quest Store. Doing this review, I played on my Quest 2 (review).

Among Us VR is meant for players 13 and up. Violence is cartoony but graphic and inescapable. The title is also necessarily social so the effort at protecting young players is nice, even though it doesn’t work at all ever. The gameplay is complex when executed correctly by mature players – and equally complex when operated in ways a mature player doesn’t expect.

Navigating Menus, the Tutorial, and Online Gameplay

When first booting up Among Us VR, players are prompted to enter a birth date. You can lock this in on your headset, or you can choose to require a birth-date entry on each boot. That means that to play the game you have to be at least old enough to know how to lie about your birthday. The title is intended for players 13 and up. It is played by children 6 and up.

The main menu is simple. Your standard settings options are there, as are your customization options. Change the color of your crewmate and trick it out with little hats. Some hats are free, and some hat packs are available for purchase. (Yes, I do have the tiny crewmate hat only available to people who pre-ordered the game.)

VR game - Among US VR

The two largest buttons that dominate the main menu are to play online and learn how to play. The learn-how-to-play option is an offline tutorial that takes you through several aspects of gameplay without other users running around murdering you.

Learning the Ropes

Because the tutorial is representative of so many aspects of gameplay and to respect the privacy of online players, all of the screenshots in this review were taken in the offline tutorial or provided by Schell Games.

The tutorial takes you through life as a crewmate, solving tasks, pushing buttons, reporting bodies, and getting murdered. Then, you experience the afterlife (dead crewmates can’t vote, communicate with the living, or report bodies, but they can still complete tasks). You also get to play as the Impostor, climbing through vents, sabotaging the ship, and killing crewmates.

among us VR review

Unfortunately, the tutorial is limited to two rooms on a fairly large map. It also doesn’t include all of the tasks that you’ll need to complete when playing a full game. However, it’s still a nice introduction.

The controls are smooth. All of the tasks could theoretically be hand-tracked, but movement is controlled with the controllers, so they’re a must-have. There’s also a button to bring up the ship map and do some other basic commands. The controller layout isn’t overly complex or challenging, and all major controls are spelled out in the tutorial and are changeable in settings.

crewmates Among US VR

Movement is smooth, and your view goes into a sort of tunnel vision while you’re moving to prevent motion sickness. If you’ve read my reviews before, you know I can get motion sickness pretty bad pretty quick, but I find Among Us VR to be pretty comfortable. Also, because everything is controller-based, you can play sitting down.

Taking It Online

There are two main options for playing Among Us VR online, one for smaller and shorter games, and one for longer and more populated matches. A shorter game might only have five players including one Impostor, while the longer games have more crewmates and more Impostors. Other than that, the gameplay is the same.

There’s no formal breakdown of how a game plays out in terms of round length or anything like that. But, there is a sort of structure. Here’s how it plays out, as I understand it:

The Impostors can murder one crewmate and sabotage one ship component per round. A round culminates in an “emergency meeting” called when a body is discovered. All of the players converge on the cafeteria to try to decide who the Impostors are, followed by a round of voting, during which the players vote out one player – who may or may not be the Impostor.

Emergency meeting - Among US VR game

There are a few gameplay elements that make things a little trickier. For example, Impostors can still fix sabotages and report bodies. This helps them make it look like they’re really part of the team. Further, fixing sabotages usually requires standing still and facing a wall for a few seconds – a prime opportunity to get murdered by an Impostor.

Now, About My Crewmates…

The first time that I played Among Us VR, I was definitely the oldest person on deck by probably twenty years. I’m no autumn rooster, but I was definitely surrounded by spring chicks.

When this eventually became apparent, I became an immediate subject of suspicion. I felt a bit like Robin Williams in Hook when the Lost Boys rally against the only adult on their island in Neverland. I managed to survive the game, but only to see the Impostor take the ship. I wonder if this dynamic didn’t make things more interesting.

One crewmate shouted so loudly and so consistently that he knew who the Impostor was during the first round of voting that the rest of us all thought he was casting suspicion off of himself. We voted him off immediately only to find at the end of the game that he had been telling the truth.

who is the impostor - Among Us VR game

I’ve been writing about VR since this particular Impostor was eating dirt in daycare. But Among Us doesn’t care. That’s part of the beauty of the game. I chose not to trust my crewmate. Sure he was young, and sure he got a crewmate to change color in the lobby because “nobody likes purple” but – when push came to shove – I underestimated him and it cost us the ship.

If you would rather play Among Us VR with adults, I have a sneaking suspicion that younger players favor shorter matches. I’m sure that the time of day that you play makes a big difference too. But, we’ve already seen how well I understand children.

Fun for (Almost) Any Age

All things considered, Among Us VR is great fun at a great price. So what, there are grade schoolers online? The game is VR, but it’s also a game with simple mechanics built on a social framework. Maybe in an update developers should acknowledge the “age problem” and have separate lobbies for different ages. In the meantime, grow up and play your little video game.

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