Three weeks ago, I told you a free mod for a 10-year-old game is one of the best things I’ve ever played in VR. That wasn’t an exaggeration, and now it has multiplayer. Last night, I grappling-hooked and wall-ran and summoned titans from the sky to battle human foes. At 2AM, I still wanted more. Join me?
This is so rad — and if you have a Quest 3 or 3S and a copy of Super Smash Bros. Melee (1.02), you can try it too. It’s called Xelee, and yes, the mixed reality part is AI-coded: “Claude wrote every line of code.” The game part is from the Melee decompilation, though. I hope game companies are paying attention to the possibilities in this brave new world!
Steam Frame Hub reports that the Steam Frame kernel source code includes branches referencing a “Plano” device and says the headset will have a resolution of 3552 × 3840 per eye (higher than the Frame) and a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip (same as the Frame). Valve watcher Brad Lynch speculates that it could be Valve “just trying to prototype headsets with this optical stack based on what’s already lying around.”
For what it’s worth, Valve released the Steam Deck OLED more than a year and half after the original Deck.
[Steam Frame Hub]
The extremely brutal horror film Talk to Me is being turned into an immersive series called I Let You In. It’s coming to Meta headsets and VR glasses, will shift the setting from Australia to “the ultimate party in Ibiza,” and is expected to release next spring.
I thought VR Titanfall would make me sick — instead, I’m having a blast.
The company’s got a rep for optics among VR diehards, and it’s just announced the $1400 Crystal Pro. It’s a standalone headset with eye-tracking foveated streaming like the Steam Frame — now with uncompressed video over an optional (and pricy) 60GHz link. Pimax also has gamepad wands that snap together, the headset has a tethered external battery, and it’s launching a powerful mini-PC that looks like a taller Steam Machine clone. FAQ here.
Take a look. It was “made possible” thanks in part to Valve’s ARM port of the game it made for the Steam Frame and with some help from Claude.
It took decades, but the technology is finally ready.
Next year, you’ll be able to play versions of Beat Saber, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney — Dual Destinies, and Tetris Effect in VR on the glasses just with your hands — no controller needed. When the glasses launch in the spring, Meta says more than 75 hands-enabled games will be available.
Meta is promising that “hundreds” of movies will be available “later this year” in the US, with “thousands of titles available internationally” when the new Meta VR Glasses launch in spring 2027.
Valve’s 0.3.0 update for Steam Frame claims “Substantially faster charging while unit is off / sleeping.” It’s true. I used to see 8-watt charging when plugging in a dead unit, and 27-watt charging at peak. Now I’m getting 19-21W charging right away and up to 42W in game.
That’s enough to plug in a dead Frame and start playing right away.
The Steam Frame and Meta Quest headsets can natively beam your Windows monitors into a headset — but some still prefer Virtual Desktop, the app that pioneered the idea in 2016 before getting “sherlocked” by Meta. Developer Guy Godin says Valve didn’t send him a Frame, but he’ll try to port it anyhow.
Technically, I can already stream Virtual Desktop Classic, with working 3D video, but my monitors are stitched together and the controls feel awkward.
I’m hopping in now to answer your questions, and I’ve got a Steam Frame on my desk to spot-check answers, too!
Did you think the Steam Frame was a VR headset? As I explain in my review, it does a lot more. Here, step into the lenses with me and I’ll show you. (Also on YouTube, if you’d rather!)
5
Verge Score
Valve’s new headset is another joyous piece of early access hardware.
It’s rare that a video alone can make me motion sick, but yikes. This mod from RaYRoD TV puts you in the driver’s seat and is free to download. RaYRod has already put together similar mods for Star Fox 64, Sonic Robo Blast 2, and more. But something tells me this is the one most likely to make you lose your lunch.
As Microsoft continues its Xbox “reset,” the pared-down Game Pass bundle that arrived recently as a benefit for Discord Nitro is now also included in the 7.99 monthly / $59.99 annually Quest subscription. The starter edition also includes 10 hours of cloud gaming access to try some of the 50-plus games it unlocks before downloading them.
Meta also said that soon its Meta Quest Touch controllers will be able to emulate the Xbox gamepad, although anyone who has a real Xbox pad can just pair that to their headset immediately.
Apple is suspending work on a display made in partnership with Samsung Display for an entry-level XR device, according to a machine translation of a report by The Elec (which we saw thanks to MacRumors). Seems like Apple is moving away from headsets in favor of glasses.
With the VR app, you can still chat with friends on Discord using other platforms. Check the app out on the Meta Store.
Meta and Discord announced last year that the app was in the works.
Virtuix announced a new version of its Omni One treadmill that now supports the Meta Quest 2 and Quest 3 headsets directly as part of the Made for Meta program. For $2,595 you can physically run, walk, jump, and crouch to navigate VR games using the Omni One for Quest without crashing around your living room.
Literally — the upcoming visionOS 27 update lets you add a glowing, animated Siri AI ball anywhere on your workspace, and ask questions when you look at it. It’ll even shine light on any nearby surfaces, making it truly feel like part of the environment.
So says Meta spokesperson Che’von Lewis. Senior was previously Meta’s Product Lead for its Studio and New Vertical portfolios. You can read more about Supernatural’s forthcoming era here, and catch up on the buff ladies who worked so hard to save it here.
Supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, in a post today: “The Apple XR headset and smart glasses roadmap I put together about a year ago is no longer a useful reference. For now, only two smart glasses products remain visible in the roadmap.”
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, this weekend: Apple is developing “a slimmer and lighter headset to succeed to the $3,499 Vision Pro.”
Whatever actually pans out, it seems like 2025’s M5 upgrade might be the last for the Vision Pro.
The New York Times and Reuters report that a memo was sent to Meta employees on Monday reassigning 7,000 of them, and said that “As org leaders worked on the changes, many of them incorporated AI native design principles into their new org structures.”
The memo told employees to work remotely on Wednesday, when it will lay off about 10 percent of its workforce, roughly 8,000 people, with emails sent at 4AM local time.
