August 28th, 2023

Welcome to this weeks’ edition of The Future of VR newsletter. Thanks for subscribing to our list - we’re grateful to have you here (if you’re new to the list - thank you for joining!) Let’s dive in to some of the biggest updates we’re seeing in the world of Virtual Reality this week:

Quest 3 Leaks!

VR fans everywhere are hyped for the Meta Quest 3. Earlier this week Meta stole a move from the Steve Jobs playbook and “accidentally leaked” details about their upcoming launch.

The Quest 3 is looking at an October launch date (an Amazon listing of October 10th was spotted). According to some sources, it’s going to have a comfortable and thin feel. A cloth strap will wrap around the back of your head and silicone face pads will cover the front.

Seems like comfort is a top priority for this new model.

Richmond Police Officers Train VR Practice Stops

The Richmond police department is rolling out new training programs for its officers specifically when dealing with autistic individuals.

Getting pulled over by a cop is a stressful experience for anyone, but especially for those on the autistic spectrum. Most cops have not been trained to handle this either (mainly because it’s a difficult experience to simulate).

This represents part of a greater movement in VR which shows that headsets can be used to simulate potential life or death situations. Many situations in life cannot be practiced (like firefighters pulling a senior citizen out of a burning building).

VR platforms present a great solution to these issues as we’re quickly beginning to see.

VR Used to Curb Candy Cravings?

Researchers in Singapore recently did a study which found that consuming VR videos of someone else eating candy significantly reduced the craving for it. This is known as “habituation” which researchers say can be used to diminish food cravings by seeing them over and over again.

Here at Future of VR, we have a particularly strong sweet-tooth. So we’re a bit skeptical about these findings, but it never hurts to try out.

At the end of the day, candy (and more specifically sugar) is one of the leading reasons for poor health among a lot of Americans. It can lead to heart disease, diabetes, and other major health problems.

If VR can play a role in getting people to consume less candy, that would make America a much healthier place.

Metaverse

Julian Assange, Founder of Wikileaks, has been confined to a London prison since early 2019. He faces up to 175 years in prison on espionage charges over the US actions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

What does this have to do with the Metaverse?

The Julian Assange campaign held a virtual political rally as part of a bid to gather support against his extradition. This took place on August 26th in Wistaverse (part of the Sandbox ecosystem).

In all likelihood, an in-person protest for Julian Assange would be blocked if it was organized in the US or the UK. This event represents an interesting use case for the Metaverse.

There’s been a lot of talks about censorship over this past year (especially with Elon Musk’s Twitter acquisition). Although censorship can be enforced through police departments and laws, it’s also heavily enforced on social media.

We’ve seen platforms like Rumble come up that have been created specifically for the purpose of allowing free speech. It’s definitely possible that this same trend will continue in the Metaverse.

Gaming

• Vertigo 2 is coming to PSVR2 in October

• Firewall Ultra is out for PSVR2

• Meta just launched the Horizon Worlds for Smartphones beta

VR Job Opportunities

Sandbox VR is hiring for a variety of roles including a Senior 3D artist and Director of Franchise Development.

Click here to see Sandbox VR openings.

Unity is looking to hire for several XR related roles including Software Engineers and Developers for XR Features and Foundations in both their San Francisco and Austin offices.

Click here to see Unity openings.

That’s a wrap for this week. Watch out for our next newsletter coming next Sunday!