What Makes the Steam Frame Different

The headline feature is flexibility. The Steam Frame runs a VR build of SteamOS — the same Linux-based platform powering the Steam Deck — on a Snapdragon ARM processor, with dual 2160×2160 LCD panels, pancake lenses, 16GB of RAM, and refresh rates up to 120Hz. Crucially, it ships with a wireless dongle designed to stream games from your gaming PC, so it can work as a lightweight standalone device or as a window into your full Steam library. That “streaming-first” positioning is Valve’s answer to the central tension in VR: standalone headsets are convenient but underpowered, while PCVR is powerful but tethered and fiddly. The Steam Frame wants to be both, and that ambition is what sets it apart from the pack.

A Calculated Bet on a Slow Market

Launching a $1,000-plus headset into a soft market looks risky on paper, but Valve is playing a longer game. The company openly says it wants to “rekindle the excitement” for PCVR and grow a healthy ecosystem for gamers and developers alike — and Valve has the one asset no other VR company can match: Steam itself. A “Great on Frame” certification program, mirroring the Steam Deck’s “Great on Deck” badge, gives developers a clear target and gives buyers confidence about what will actually run well. That storefront leverage is why Valve can afford patience where rivals have had to subsidize hardware aggressively. Valve doesn’t need to win the headset war this year; it needs to keep PC gamers inside its ecosystem as the hardware matures.

What It Means for the VR Hardware Race

For the broader hardware landscape, the Steam Frame is a signal that the premium tier of VR isn’t dead — it’s consolidating. Ambitious independents like the Lynx R1 AR/VR headset have shown there’s appetite for alternatives to the walled gardens, and physics-driven hits such as Blade & Sorcery: Nomad prove the software demand is real when the hardware gets out of the way. The Steam Frame’s success will hinge on the same fundamentals that decide any PC-adjacent purchase: performance per dollar, comfort, and a library worth strapping a computer to your face for. If Valve nails those, it could do for VR what the Steam Deck did for handheld PC gaming — legitimize a category the giants had written off.

The Steam Frame won’t single-handedly resurrect virtual reality, and $1,059 is a serious ask for a market still finding its footing. But Valve has a habit of entering hardware categories quietly and reshaping them anyway. For PC gamers who’ve been waiting for a reason to take VR seriously again, the Steam Frame is the most compelling argument in years — and a reminder that the smart money in gaming still bets on ecosystems, not just devices.

Related on BizzNerd

• Lynx R1 AR/VR Headset
• Blade and Sorcery: Nomad VR Game
• Razer Reclusa X Mini Hands-On: A $50 65% Keyboard That Overdelivers

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There’s no release date yet, but wishlists are already open across Steam, the PlayStation Store, and the Quest storefront. For a business watching how legacy IP gets squeezed for every last drop of value, this is a textbook move — and a smart one.

A Cyberpunk Classic Gets Strapped to Your Face

System Shock is the granddaddy of the immersive sim, the design lineage that gave us Deus Ex, BioShock, and Prey. It pioneered the idea that a game world should be a systemic playground, not a scripted corridor. Moving that philosophy into virtual reality is a genuinely exciting proposition, because immersive sims live or die on the feeling of being there — and nothing sells “being there” like a headset.

Picture leaning around a corner with your own head, physically reaching for a weapon on your hip, and hearing SHODAN’s warped voice in full spatial audio. Horror and VR are a proven match, and Citadel Station is one of gaming’s original haunted houses. Done right, this could be a showcase for what the medium does best.

Flat2VR and Nightdive Are a Smart Pairing

The project pairs conversion specialists with Nightdive Studios, the team behind the acclaimed remake and a studio that has built its entire reputation on treating classic games with respect. That partnership matters. VR ports of flatscreen games can feel like tech demos when they’re rushed, but Nightdive doesn’t do lazy. The studio has spent years proving it understands why these old games mattered in the first place — the same instinct that keeps classic id shooters like Quake alive with fresh content decades later.

For entrepreneurs and creators watching the games space, the model here is worth studying: take a proven remake, extend it to a new platform with a specialist partner, and open wishlists early to gauge demand before committing a hard date. It’s low-risk, high-upside catalog management.

Why This Matters for VR’s Next Chapter

VR still needs killer apps that aren’t just wave-shooters and rhythm games. A full immersive sim with real depth — inventory management, hacking, exploration, genuine dread — is exactly the kind of substantial experience that convinces skeptics a headset is worth the money. It’s the same argument that made people take the strongest VR games seriously in the first place.

There’s also a nostalgia economy at play. Remasters, prototypes, and re-releases are booming because they carry built-in audiences — the same reason a newly unearthed Demon’s Souls prototype can dominate headlines. System Shock VR taps that same well while pushing the franchise somewhere genuinely new.

Related on BizzNerd

• The Best VR Games to Show Off Your Headset
• Quake’s Dawn of the Machine Update Adds 19 Maps for Free
• Demon’s Souls Prototype Footage Reveals a First-Person Mode

The Bottom Line

System Shock VR doesn’t have a date, but it has something better: the right studio, the right platforms, and a source game that was practically built for this. If the conversion honors the remake’s atmosphere, strapping into Citadel Station could be one of VR’s standout experiences — and another reminder that the smartest move in gaming is often reintroducing a classic to a brand-new audience.

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A word from the developers

The developers have promised us an “intense single-player, action horror game” set 57 years after the originals Aliens videogame. The studio behind it is called Survios. They have an impressive portfolio of successful games such as Creed: Rise to Glory

“The vast universe of Alien is full of untold stories, and opportunities to create gripping original games,” said 20th Century Games’ Luigi Priore. “We’re thrilled to work with a team like Survios who shares our passion for Alien, and for immersing fans into new worlds and experiences.”

All the details we know so far about the new Aliens game

Information on such newly announced games is always small, but it does give good insight. The new Aliens game features a veteran soldier looking for revenge against the Xenomorphs. The Xenomorphs are an extraterrestrial hive-based alien species that most likely originated from the planet Xenomorph Prime. They are one of the deadliest species of aliens. The tricky thing about them is that they require a host and because of that their appearance may vary severely.

Xenomorphs and their powers

As we previously mentioned, it is believed that they operate under a hive mind. The species has a queen which communicates with other units both telepathically and verbally through shrieks. An interesting thing about this hive mind though is that they create religious cults. One such example was the case of Walter Golic, who received telepathical messages from a Xenomorph that made him see the alien as a god. This feature may lead to interesting plot twists in the new upcoming game if the studio decides to use it.

Closing thoughts

That’s basically all information there is about the new game. We are expecting it to be similar to the 2014 Aliens adaptation Isolation. It was a single-player survival horror game that vastly differed from a more recent title Aliens: Fireteam elite. Fireteam took more of an action-packed approach to the film series. Along with this Aliens game, a new title in the franchise is also in the development process. They announced Aliens: Dark Descent – a new single-player squad-based action game. Hopefully, with their hands full, the studios won’t prioritize one game over the other.

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2021 is probably the year in which the newest VR headsets found their way onto the market. Everyone from tech heavyweights like Hewlett Packard (HP,) to newcomers like Lynx are all hard at work, trying to stake a claim to a unique corner of the market.

Here, Bizznerd takes a look at the best that 2021 had to offer, in terms of VR headsets. We did not just go for the highest sales, which would speak – mostly – to popularity, but we looked at functionality as well. Without any further chit-chat, here are the best VR headsets of 2021.

5 Valve Index

The Valve Index is a class-leading piece of VR equipment, with its 2880 x 1600 at 120 Hz AMOLED display and individual finger tracking. Its sole letdown is its price, too restrictive for most consumers. Valve’s display system gives the Quest 2 and Vive Pro a decent run for their money, with a superior refresh rate of 120Hz as a standard feature. The 144Hz upgrade is still an experimental feature though. In addition to that, it offers an impressive 130° field of vision, which completely trumps competitors. The Valve Index would be higher up the list – at the top position – except, it’s the price (one could buy three Quest 2’s for its price) which makes it out of reach for the average consumer. More of an aspirational device for many.

4 HTC Vive Cosmos

The HTC Vive Cosmos has quite a lot going for it as a VR headset. With crisply accurate hand tracking, it fits comfortably and has the bonus of a conveniently modular design. The gripes that one might have with the device is that it is a tethered Head Mounted Display system, requiring connection to a PC. It also has a lower screen resolution than it should, for the price it fetches. The modular design seems to be the best selling point if you ask us. It offers the convenience of customizing one’s device with upgrades that they believe would be most beneficial to their immersive experience.

3 HP Reverb G2

On paper, this is a phenomenal headset. A 4K display system, at a lower price point than most competitors. The device also boasts a 114° Field of View in its 4320 x 2160 pixel, per eye, lenses. The only way this bad boy doesn’t trump the Quest 2 is its refresh rate, which equal’s Meta’s top-selling Quest 2 HMD system, at 90Hz. What lets this device down is the most sites tracking system, rather limited without – additional cost causing – base stations.

2 HTC Vive Pro 2

Then we have our runner-up, the HTC Vive Pro 2. This beast boasts a 4896 x 2448 display system, delivering a refresh rate of 120Hz. The LCD-based visual delivery system offers a 120° FoV, which is just awesome. The downside, however, is that this device – though it offers incredibly accurate hand tracking – requires a headset and tracking devices, which include a pair of controllers, and a pair of satellites. Which will set one back a cool 1,300 dollars. The headset alone will cost $799.

1 Meta Quest 2

Taking number one is the Meta – formerly Oculus – Quest 2, which stole the show in 2021. The 1832 x 1920 (per eye) display offers a 90 Hz (upgraded to 120HZ display, and a 100° FoV). Technically, it has drives that knock its abilities into the ground, but Quest 2 delivered the most consumer-friendly devices of the lot. Offering a competitive piece of VR technology, at a very consumer-centric price, the device became the go-to headset for consumers, new and old, to VR.

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Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead, in the VR title, The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners, puts the player – through immersion – in a zombie tale similar to the ones the franchise usually present. The player even has the opportunity to make moral choices, which have an effect on gameplay.

Arizona Sunshine, developed by Jaywalkers Interactive, and Published by Vertigo Games, sees the player dealing with a lot of loneliness, while fending off waves of zombies. It relies on a single, nameless character – who may be the only surviving human – as opposed to it’s genre-mate, which has players deal with a good number of in-game characters.

We gave a look at both Zombie titles to see which was best. Here’s what we found:

Saints & Sinners

Developed and published by Skydance Interactive, in close association which The Walking Dead franchise creators, Skybound Entertainment, The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners is a VR-based First-Person-Shooter, Survival Horror title based on Robert Kirkman’s zombie franchise.

The game follows a lone traveller known as the Tourist. As the Trourist, who can be male or female – as the player chooses – one happens upon a post-zombie outbreak New Orleans. There are two factions vying for control of, zombie infested, New Orleans, the Reclaimed, and the Tower.

The game doesn’t get off to a friendly start, and informs the player of the realities of a zombie apocalypse right from the get-go. The first acquaintance one makes in the game – who is good for orientation purposes – soon meets his end, after the player is swarmed by zombies in the water. The player can either mercy-kill character known as Henri or let him die.

This is the first of several moral choices that the game will put in a player’s hands. Killing May Benoit, or not? Flooding an old military facility, or not? which of the factions to side with? The player faces a few choices that affect the overall storyline.

The game, released in 2020, saw a lot of critical praise after release. In addition to being nominated for awards, Saints and Sinners was lauded on if the best things to happen to the VR title. Though much of the praise could be attributed to the franchise it’s attached to.

Arizona Sunshine

This title puts the player on a lonelier path. As – what is seemingly – the sole human survivor of a zombie apocalypse, the nameless protagonist of this title has no allies to rely on, and must rough it alone. Waking in the middle of the Arizona River Valley, the player must hack and slash through zombie hordes until they come across a radio, wich offers one’s first glimmer of hope.

After finding a stronger radio, and determining the source of the signal (a refinery that enjoys military protection.) disappointed to find the place overrun by zombies, he goes into a fit of rage, and kills everything walking. His next stop is Sunshine, an Arizona town, which reveals an interesting twist in the plot.

Dates of Release: Arizona Sunshine was released in December of 2016, while Saints & Sinners saw 3 separate platform releases – January, May, and October – during 2020. Saints and Sinners has the advantage of being a newer game, allowing for updated graphics, and VR gameplay improvements, though Arizona Sunshine is no slacker on updates.

Platforms: Saints & Sinners can be enjoyed on Oculus Rift PC, PlayStation VR, and Meta Quest. Arizona Sunshine – on the other hand – is available on a number of VR platforms, Windows, PlayStation 4, Oculus Rift, Oculus Quest, Windows Mixed Reality, HTC Vive, Valve Index, on account of being an older game.

Which Is Best?

Well that’s a matter of preference. Both titles have something to offer. While The Walking Dead’s storyline offers a lot of characters to interact with, one cannot enjoy multiplayer action while running through this title, Arizona Sunshine, on the other hand, allows for multiplayer, and single player action.

As we said, it depends on your style of gaming, Arizona Sunshine, though allowing multiple players to connect, only has zombies as in-game characters, while Saints & Sinners tries to be a complete story, having one make decisions around what a certain in-game character may have said, or done.

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There are more VR gaming titles out there than ever before. They span a wide variety of products, with many easily accessed on third-party ecosystems like steam VR.

Of the many VR games that are out there, there are a few that stand out. Here we have listed several VR games that bring a little more to the immersive experience than mere entertainment. They are some of the most engaging, and conceptually crisp titles we can find.

Lone Echo 2

Returning for a second run is photo-realistic, well-designed sci-fi thriller Lone Echo 2. The immersive experience sees the player take on the role of an android, Jack, who must help their human compatriot decipher a dangerous mystery.

Learning to navigate through Zero Gravity environments by pushing off objects will be tricky at first, but worth it. This title is incredible to play, and with the mystery only getting deeper in the sequel, it’s bound to keep one engaged for hours.

No Man’s Sky

This action-adventure survival game was one of the most anticipated games of 2019. It didn’t disappoint, as it delivered dozens of progressively generated planets to explore.

Blade & Sorcery

This medieval combat simulator is something epic. Immersed into a world where one has a blade, and sorcery as weapons – or both simultaneously – against computer-generated foes.

Firing bolts of lightning or infusing said lightning into one’s weapon, to brutally dispatch with foes is sure to deliver hours of fun – as well as stress relief. This offers one of the most unique VR experiences when lightsabers just won’t cut it.

Batman Arkham VR

Batman Arkham VR was a surprise title, as the last Batman game, Batman Arkham Knight was meant to be the final game in the Arkham series. The studio behind it decided to put VR enthusiasts in the Batman hood, with an investigative Batman title.

One does not get to be a violent, thug-beating Batman, but are forced to take on the role of Batman the world’s greatest detective. This title has the Bat solving a mystery while exploring the darker, grittier parts of Gotham, with a few appearances from a few of the hero’s most famous foes.

Astro Bot: Rescue Mission

This is a platformer that is just great, the fact that it’s VR based is more of a bonus. This game – you’ll have to play it to believe it – is just incredible.

Armed with an assortment of guns, the player must travel across space to rescue crew members. The worlds are 3D, which offers a unique dynamic to the platformer genre.

Danger Goat

Danger Goat is a puzzle/platform game from nDreams, a British VR gaming studio. Now available on PSVR, and Windows VR, the title was designed to showcase the now discontinued Google Daydream MR (Mixed Reality headset.)

Using one’s controllers, one must manipulate the world which Danger Goat must traverse to reach safety. There are 28 inventive levels laden with boobytraps and enemies who fully intend to destroy your goat friend.

Beat Saber

This is Dance Dance Revolution mixed with Star Wars. To a tune, one is expected to hack and slash at floating blocks, while ducking under, over and sliding away from obstacles.

Not a game one can enjoy in a seated position, Beat Saber is one design to have you breaking a sweat. Very simple concept, also incredibly engaging. This title is fantastic for a solid cardio workout.

Half-Life: Alyx

The first Half-Life game in quite some time. Half-Life: Alyx has players take on the role of Alyx Vance, a fan-favourite character, attached to the Half-Life series of games.

The title is set between the events of Half-Life and Half-Life 2. This is 11 hours of solving mysteries and combating Combine alien enemies. Experiencing the Half-Life universe through the immersive power of VR is quite the trip.

Star Wars: Squadrons

Star Wars is one of those franchises that are just may for immersive experiences. The sci-fi genre seems to fit quite well with Vy.

In Squadrons, players have the choice of being either Rebel or Imperial pilots. Whichever side you pick doesn’t matter. The most important thing is that one gets to pilot a spacecraft and take part in the most epic space-based dog fights. It’s a combat flight simulator that puts one in the cockpit of one of those Star Wars jets, and blasts enemies to smithereens.

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Since 2015, HTC shifted its focus from the smartphones that had helped the Taiwanese corporations gain the International acclaim it enjoys – a direct result of increased competition from Apple and Samsung, to fighting for a leading position in the fledgling Virtual Reality market.

To that end, HTC spent a good part of the past half a decade or so concentrating mostly on commerce-oriented Virtual Reality solutions – even though the company’s Vive range offered headsets that were up to task for the purpose of VR gaming.

This time, the HTC Vive Flow brings the company’s focus right back to the entertainment focused VR consumers – everyday people like you and I trying to get a taste of the latest in immersive entertainment technology. However, one should not look at the ultra lightweight Vive Flow as a direct competitor to the Oculus Quest 2 – even though the MSRP of $499 might have you thinking that it is.

Key features and specs

One of the HTC Vive Flow’s most noticeable characteristics is how it looks – visually, this headset definitely doesn’t follow the same design ethos of the typical VR goggles that we see on the market. It’s front end features a pair of sizable mirrored lenses that give it a Magic Leap AR Glasses x WW2 pilot goggles look.

That said, the Vive Flow’s price tag should not get the gaming focused VR enthusiast too excited as this headset was not developed with Half Life Alyx in mind – you won’t find any handheld controllers for this pair of VR goggles. Instead, HTC made portability and convenience their main areas of focus of the Vive Flow.

“We wanted to get to something lighter, more wearable, easier to travel with,” noted Dan O’Brien, the head of HTC’s VR division.

A goal that O’Brien and his team definitely fulfilled, the Vive Flow weighs in at an ultra light 189g – especially impressive when considering the Oculus Quest 2’s comparatively hefty weight reading of 500g – and works by connecting to your Android device.

However, to achieve this goal, some concessions had to be made. Beyond almost completely ignoring the rapidly growing VR gaming market with the Vive Flow, this VR headset relies mostly on external sources to power it. According to HTC, using a fully charged 10,000 mAh power bank should get you roughly 4-5 hours of immersion – or simply plugin to the nearest USB-C port.

That aforementioned immersion is experienced through two 1600 × 1600 resolution displays – giving you a total resolution of 3,2k – with a 75Hz refresh rate. The field of view seems a little restricted at 100 degrees, especially when compared to the Quest 2’s 120 degrees.

On the inside, the Vive Flow is powered by the Qualcomm’s XR1 processor and 4GB of RAM. The Vive Flow gives the user 64GB of memory – which cannot be expanded – and has two cameras on the front end that are responsible for motion tracking.

Final thoughts

From it’s rather unique design, to it working via an Android device, the HTC Vive Flow is substantially different from any other VR headset on the market – in fact, it could easily be mistaken for a pair of Augmented Reality glasses.

That said, the fact that it isn’t meant for gaming puts a lot of restrictions on the headset’s use cases – especially at that price point. For many everyday consumers, $499 might be a little too steep for the simple pleasures of VR during a flight or a long haul bus ride – even with the 100-150 apps it supports.

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Developed and published by WarpFrog, Blade and Sorcery: Nomad is a Meta Quest 2 exclusive of the immensely popular “built-for-VR medieval fantasy sandbox” game that’s been making waves on PCVR since its release in December 2018.

Being a version that is optimized to suit a stand-alone VR headset, Blade and Sorcery: Nomad has had a little bit of it shaved off so one should not expect it to be as visually gratifying as its PCVR counterpart. However, the physics – which is a major factor of why this is such a great title – remains largely unchanged.

What’s it like to play?

Blade and Sorcery: Nomad is all about the player, by that I mean, there is no storyline that dictates when you get to do what. With this game “the combat is limited only by your own creativity.”  Though it is a game, Blade and Sorcery simply aims to be the best simulation of medieval combat – with a bit of magic thrown in for good measure.

“A big component of Blade & Sorcery, and something that might be tricky for people to wrap their head around at first, is that primarily it is a simulation and secondary a game,” as per The Barro, who is a  developer at WarpFrog and the community manager of Blades and Sorcery.

That said, Quest 2 owners who want to give  Blade and Sorcery: Nomad a run will be in for a little less in the way of enemies and maps. For example, players who’ve had a taste of the PCVR version might notice that Nomad is missing the Citadel map – which thes been giving the developers a hard time as they’ve been battling to get it to work on Quest 2.

Besides using the games renowned physics and a wide variety of medieval weapons to slay hilariously doll-like “AI” enemies, Nomad also features a “Dungeons” game mode that is a little more structured than the regular sandbox delivery of play – it’s the same thing, just procedurally-generated.

Magic is also a key part of playing Blades and Sorcery: Nomad and it can be used as a direct attack – like throwing a ball of fire at a foe, or used to enchant an equipped weapon, or even slow down time for those YouTube worthy cinematics. All in all, this game amounts to a satisfactory experience for those who would be interested in simulating the gore of medieval combat – even with the enemy’s clownish behaviour.

Other key points

Nomad is set to receive all the exact updates as it’s PCVR sibling, meaning Quest 2 players are also in line to get the “Progression mode” update that is set to release next year – basically an upgraded form of the Dungeons mode. What this entails is the ability to unlock new weapons, create a separate character from your sandbox character and a range of new abilities and being able to collect loot.

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Cambria and its Predecessor 

Said to be the device that brought VR to display technology into the mainstream, Meta’s (formerly Facebook) second-generation Quest VR headset, the Oculus Quest 2 (Now the Meta Quest 2) enabled users to enjoy a host of immersive experiences without the need to connect to a headset. Quest 2 has been so successful, that it was reported to have reached the milestone of 10 million units sold, this November. 

It was a combination of breakthrough features and timing that propelled the top VR headset of 2021 into the position of glory it currently enjoys. First, its attractive price point, considering what it offers, helped make it into a virtual (pun unintentional) household name. 

At $299 for the 64GB, and $399 for the 256GB variants of the device, the 1.1 lbs (0.499 kg) device houses 6GB of RAM along with 1832 x 1920 display resolution – per eye – all powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 processor came to market quotes well ahead of other devices in its class. It kind of set the standard. The fact that it didn’t need to be tethered to a PC, and that it offered a brilliant escape for many individuals confined to their homes by global Covid-19 lockdown regulations saw the device sales records.

Project Cambria

Quest 2 provided quite the platform for its upcoming stablemate to leap off of, and critics have gone as far as referring to it as the Quest 3; just under different branding. One could not be faulted for thinking so, as much of Project Cambria’s base functionality is borrowed, directly, from the Quest 2 – give, more than take, a few added extras. 

Although there isn’t much information to go on, as to the codenamed Cambria device, we do have an idea of what the finished product might look like. This is, in part, thanks to a Twitter user who leaked 3D renderings of the device through a post in late October. 

Meta itself, followed up in early November, with a teaser video, revealing that it would likely be available for public consumption sometime in 2022. Meta also revealed that it would also be a more high-end device than its stablemate, the Quest 2 – this would fetch a slightly higher price point than what consumers have become accustomed to. 

“We’re pushing the limits of what’s possible with display technology and form factor with something called ‘pancake optics’,” said Angela Chang, head of VR devices, Meta, at the Facebook Connect event, where the project was revealed. “They essentially work by folding light several times over to achieve a slimmer profile than current lenses.”

Known Features

As previously mentioned, Meta’s new headset is set to be a higher-end device than the Quest series. What has been made clear – so far – is that it will host a lot more sensors than the Quest. 

As a result, we don’t expect that the Cambria device will be any lighter than the Quest 2. The increased number of sensors, however, will enable the device to pick up and reflect one’s facial expressions – in real-time – onto an Avatar.

“There’s a ton of new tech going into Cambria,” explained Chang. “For example, your avatar will be able to make natural eye contact and reflect your facial expressions in real-time. This way people you’re interacting with will have a real sense of how you’re feeling.”

Project Cambria, as confirmed by Mark Zuckerberg himself, is not a rebranded version of the Quest 3, which does not yet have a release date – no prototype to speak of either, as of yet  – will be a standalone line, separate to the Quest brand. With technology that makes it fitting for both leisure and industrial purposes. 

The device will utilize new sensor technology called Pancake Optics, which folds light many times over to “achieve a slimmer profile than current lenses.”  The aforementioned sensor technology will enable devices with the capability of accommodating a variety of facial types, including facial hair and glasses. The Project Cambria headset will also feature Augmented reality features, allowing users to interact with digital, and analog environments, simultaneously.

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Augmented Reality in the past

For many years, the idea of Augmented Reality impacting our day-to-day lives was something that would remain bound to our imaginations and the sci-fi-themed media we consume – an artificial luxury from our distant future.

However, looking at where we are today, that future might be upon us. In the past few years, we’ve seen numerous startups and products as the fields of VR (Virtual Reality) and AR have expanded. Many of these companies promise to change many aspects of our lives like gaming, education, how we interact over long distances, and even the medical profession.

Surgery and Augmented reality

In many cases, those promises are being kept. In one of the most groundbreaking surgeries in recent history, AR went beyond helping to train surgeons – as per the usual notion of AR in medicine. Instead, they use of Augmented Reality played a pivotal role in the success of the medical procedure.

“We’re going to a place in medicine that has just never existed before,” Dr. Steven Murphy – an orthopaedic surgeon at the New England Baptist Hospital – said of the results of the breakthrough hip replacement procedure.

Dr. Murphy is also the founder of Surgical Planning Associates and developer of Hipinsight, the intra-operative Augmented Reality guidance system that was used throughout the procedure.

How does it work?

The platform dubbed ‘Hipinsights’ works by loading a set of 3-dimensional images of the patient’s exact anatomy onto a pair/s of suitable headsets – specifically Microsoft’s HoloLense 2 Mixed Reality headset.

A specialized tracking system is then attached to the patient. Once ready, the lenses are synchronized with the tracking system, giving Dr. Murphy and his team a 3D view of the patient’s anatomical details as they operated.

“What this does is it takes all the critical three-dimensional information of that patient and puts it right where you want it, when you want it, in real-time,” Dr. Murphy said.

One could think of it as giving doctors a real-time X-ray view of the patient which gives them a whole new level of exactitude.

“Little differences turn out to be big differences for the patient. Being able to lock in and be sure that everything you’re doing is exactly what you planned and you’re accomplishing exactly what you’re setting out to do, is a difference-maker for surgery,” Murphy added.

Dr Murphy’s system was approved by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) as early as January 28 and it did not take them long to get to work. North Atlantic Surgery Suites in Salem, New Hampshire, used the system to assist with a hip replacement procedure only a month later. Dr. Murphy hopes that the system can be adapted for other procedures like knee replacements in the near future.

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The mod features no Portal Gun but enables the use of Half-Life: Alyx-native Gravity Gloves, which will aid one in pulling objects (cubes in this case) closer. The mod does a phenomenal job of recreating Valve’s Portal 2 – despite the Portal Gun being absent from this playable mod.

What the mod is like?

In 2020, the game’s developers teased fans with a mod that allowed one to walk through a Portal 2 map. This time around, players were able to interact with the environment, thanks to the added gameplay that this mod comes with. Instead of merely exploring the map, and picking items, one encounters some challenges.

It took a team of four developers and less than a month to put the demo together. The Aperture VR mod features over 200 models, either ported or freshly created. The creators even went as far as offering a Source Pack which includes all scripts, maps, models, prefabs, etc. This is intended to enable developers to create custom test chambers in VR.

The portals seem to be a good basis for something more, and it seems the development team has similar hopes. By making the mod’s Source Pack widely available, they hoped to attract a wider team of developers to create more test chambers for the VR title. The mod can be found here.

Test Chambers

Half-Life Test Chambers have a dark history. They were set up in, according to game history, in the ’70s by Aperture Science to test products. The Chambers required live humans. They created GlaDOS – a half-human.

The plan goes awry when GlaDOS is first activated. The artificial life form attempts to gain control of the facility housing the chambers. Her creators seize control despite the havoc she creates, but she soon breaks free of their control and accomplishes her goal. This leaves a lot of scientists trapped, and a good number of test subjects dead as a result of her unforgiving testing.

The test chambers have a sterile feel to them, looking, very much, like clinics, or laboratories. The dull, grey walls are flanked by observation room windows, likely designed to give the subject the impression that they are constantly being evaluated by an unseen person, or group. They also operate as light sources for many of the chambers.

Having gone from era to era, and the facility dilapidated, or partially demolished, and being rebuilt repeatedly, the number of chambers has increased from the first Portal era to the Portal2 era.

In Closing

The Aperture VR: Thinking Without Portals mod has brought the Half-Life Refreshment Center Test Chambers experience to life. Being immersed in the Test Chambers brings that eerily serious feel of a hospital home, the use of Gravity Gloves as opposed to Chell’s Portal Gun is also something that gives the mod an updated, VR feel.

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China-based VR hardware firm, Pico Interactive, following protected pre-launch marketing, brought the third edition of their Pico Neo 3 VR headset model to market earlier this year. Launching a consumer version of the Pico Neo 3 for the Chinese market towards the back-end of the third quarter, the VR company sought to corner a consumer market, starved of Facebook’s Oculus line of VR goggles.

Owing to the fact that the Oculus 2 device is not available to Chinese consumers, on the back of a government ban on Facebook, Pico Interactive have moved to provide a staple VR device for the Chinese consumer. A Pro version of the Neo 3 has also been made available. Targeted at Western markets, Pico Interactive’s Pico Neo 3 Pro, is designed to serve professional and enterprise needs.

Pico Neo 3 specifications

Launched on the 10th of May, the Pico Neo 3, as well as the Pico Neo Pro 3 came in at a consumer-friendly price point; $420 and $467 for the 128GB, and 256GB versions of the consumer headset, while the Pro (to launch In 3rd quarter of 2021) is currently going for the pre-order price of $699.

Aside from the differences in hard drive space, the consumer versions of the Neo 3 are technically similar. It does a lot to measure up to the Oculus Quest 2, offering a Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 chipset, along with a 4k low-persistence 90Hz curved display with 3664 x 1920 resolution, allowing a 98° field of view.

Both headsets offer 6GB RAM (running at 2133 Mhz,) Wi-Fi 6 and USB-C 3 connectivity, 3 Physical IPD adjustments, Optical Positional tracking aided by four tracking cameras (which boast 400×400 resolution and run at 120Hz Maximum, and 10m x 10m area to tracking, along with and millimeter-precision accuracy,) Optically Tracked Controllers, with 32 tracking points.

5300 mAh battery, for around 2.5, to 3 hours of non-stop use. Integrated audio, with 3.5mm jack to allow for the connection of external headphones, Wi-fi streaming or tethered streaming to SteamVR integrated in the runtime. The Pico VR headset runs on an Android 10 operating system, equipped with Pico SDK for development.

Compared To The Oculus 2

The Pico Neo 2 is quite an impressive device. In comparison to the Oculus Quest with regard to key technical specifications. Like the Neo 2, the Oculus packs a Snapdragon XR2 chip platform, along with 6 GB of RAM.

The Oculus, appears to be targeted at more consumer segments, as it comes in 64 GB, 128 GB, as well as in a 256 GB variant. The Oculus’s display delivers 1832×1920 of resolution, at a refresh rate of 72Hz, while a 90Hz upgrade is still in the works.

The Oculus requires a minimum of 6.5 x 6.5 feet (about 1.98 meters) of room for it’s sensors to work their magic, which is trumped by Neo3. The Oculus 2 also sports adjustable IPD with three settings for 58, 63 and 68mm, similar to the Chinese competitor.

The Neo 3 Pro

Aimed at professional, and commercial users, the Pro version is aimed at the European, and US markets, where the firm already has a well established market. With the Neo 3 regular, the firm has pretty-much locked the Asian consumer market, but the Neo 3 Pro is Pico Interactive’s foothold into Western markets.

Priced at nearly $700, the Neo 3 Pro, only comes with a 256 GB hard drive, but comes with upgraded RAM of 8 GB. The Pico Neo 3 Pro Eye – set to price at $899 – also comes with Pico Interactive’s patent Tobii eye-tracking system. With two Pro devices are sold by a, globally dispersed, sales team, which affords the product an air of exclusivity.

In Closing

All-in-all, the Pico Neo 3 line offers a decent alternative to the better-known Oculus, Vive, and HP VR hardware offerings. Whether for professional, or entertainment purposes, the Asian brand more than holds its own against the more established products.

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Having been released at a very consumer-friendly price point  (starting at $299,) the Virtual Reality (VR) headset has become the go-to VR device for many consumers. With talk of a third and fourth generation of the wildly successful VR offering being already in development Facebook executives, earlier this year, confirmed that we would sooner see a Pro version of the Oculus Quest 2 before an Oculus Quest 3.

The Oculus Quest 3 is still a possibility for the breakthrough VR headset brand, however, the Quest 2 has been so successful on the market, that the firm seems to have taken an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach. Instead, Oculus plans to extend the Quest 2’s shelf life, and (not in 2021) release a Pro version, featuring improvements to its namesake’s functionality.

What can Quest 2 users expect?

“For those who are curious, Quest 2 is going to be in the market for a while—for a long while, and it’s gonna be, you know, I think the best bet for the most accessible way to get into VR and have a great experience,” – Andrew Bosworth, Facebook Reality Labs Vice President, In Upload VR hosted, Twitter Q&A session this April.

Good news for Quest 2 users, as the announcement means that services and software upgrades dedicated to the Quest 2 VR headset will continue to be dished out for quite some time. With the Quest 2 a long way away from obsolescence, the device stands to be the go-to VR device for the next several months.

The Oculus 2, which features standalone capabilities, means – unlike previous VR headsets – does not need to be tethered to a powerful PC or laptop to run. With a Qualcomm Snapdragon, XR 2 processor and 6GB of RAM in both the 64GB ($299,) and 256GB ($399) options, this device requires little improvement hardware-wise at this stage.

In terms of updates, Facebook’s breakthrough VR brand has, through software updates, increased the device’s refresh rate from 72Hz to 90Hz. There were plans of an additional increase to 120 Hz when we last checked.

“I did hint at an AMA earlier this year about Quest Pro because we do have a lot of things in development where we want to introduce new functionality to the headset along with the kinds that people theorize that we would want to introduce, and that’s a little ways off still” commented Bosworth, during the Q&A session, suggesting that the Oculus Quest 2 would not see a successor in the market in the foreseeable future.

Closing thoughts on Oculus 3 and 2

The Oculus 3 is a long way away from being a reality, though it is rumored already to be in Research & Development. The Quest 2 made such a splash that Facebook seems to be placing big bets on its continued relevance, opting to better the VR experience it delivers through continuous upgrades. It is such a decent device that we look forward to a Pro version, I a new edition won’t be available shortly

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