5 – Breaking News & Latest Updates 2026
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Virtual Reality

Tom Warren
Tom Warren
Windows in mixed reality arrives for Meta Quest 3 headsets in December.

Meta has been working on improving the Windows VR experience with its Quest headsets in recent months, and now Microsoft says the full capabilities of Windows 11 are coming to the Meta Quest 3 and Quest 3S in December. You’ll be able to have a large multiple-monitor workstation through Quest 3 headsets in public preview next month.

We’re still waiting to hear when Windows Volumetric Apps will be available, though.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Ladies and gentlemen, The Weeknd.

...on Apple’s Vision Pro headset. “Open Hearts,” which Apple describes as a “new immersive music experience,” debuts on Thursday. The company is steadily introducing new immersive content for the headset.

Wes Davis
Wes Davis
Apple’s latest visionOS beta update wraps you in macOS.

The company just released the developer beta for visionOS 2.2, which brings with it wide and ultrawide curved virtual display options for the Vision Pro, 9to5Mac reports.

Beta users will also finally be able to output their Mac’s audio on the headset while using the virtual display with this update. (Before, the audio would only come from the Mac’s speakers.)

Wes Davis
Wes Davis
Apple is preparing to sell a Belkin-made Vision Pro head strap.

The strap, which is listed on Apple’s store for $49.95 but not yet available, combines with the Solo Knit Band, giving wearers over-the-head support that looks nicer than fiddling with the Vision Pro’s included Dual Loop Band.

As 9to5Mac notes, it’s similar to an accessory that appeared in materials when Apple announced the headset, but was never something you could buy.

A picture of the Belkin Head Strap attached to a Vision Pro along with the Solo Knit Band.
How it should have been all along.
Image: Apple
Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Triangle Strategy in VR.

Square Enix’s strategy game is out now for Meta’s Quest headsets. Based on a trailer, VR seems like an interesting way to take in the battlefield.

And if you were wondering, the game’s developers know it has a weird name.

The VR game I’ve been waiting forThe VR game I’ve been waiting for
David Pierce
Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Trombone Champ’s VR version comes out in November.

Trombone Champ: Unflattened launches on Meta Quest headsets on November 26th. If you pre-order, you’ll get a ridiculous fish-themed trombone you can use in the game.

A screenshot of the Trombone Champ: Unflattened’s fish trombone pre-order bonus.
I appreciate this joke.
Image: Flat2VR Studios and Holy Wow Studios
Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Apple will have more immersive videos to check out soon.

If you’ve already watched Submerged on your Vision Pro, there will be additional Immersive Video content over the course of this year, and you can see the list of what’s coming on 9to5Mac.

Sean Hollister
Sean Hollister
Google’s wacky VR game studio just dropped a free game for Meta’s headset.

Dimensional Double Shift is a four-player co-op game from Owlchemy Labs, the creators of Job Simulator, Vacation Simulator and Cosmonious High.

Like those games, you’ll be doing hilarious oddball tasks in VR — but now you’re working for an “interdimensional” gas station, diner, and garage, and using your actual tracked hands to manipulate objects.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Meta is launching new avatars on October 1st.

And later in 2025, users will be able to generate a new avatar with an AI prompt.

A photo from Connect of Meta’s new avatars.
Photo by Jay Peters / The Verge
Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Meta is touting increased Horizon Worlds usage.

5X usage growth in 2024, and the app is a top five Quest 3 app in terms of weekly users, the company says.

Correction: Horizon Worlds is not a Quest 5 app.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Meta is releasing a camera passthrough API for Quest developers early next year.

Could be a really big deal for developers — the announcement got huge cheers in the Connect keynote room.

Alex Heath
Alex Heath
Meta’s CTO gives developers an apology.

We’re in the developer-focused section of Meta’s Connect keynote. CTO Andrew Bosworth is onstage and starts with an apology: “We have not made it easy to develop for our platforms. I want you to know that we know that, and we’re sorry.”

He goes on to say that the “ground has constantly been shifting under your feet for years now.” Meta just recently killed Spark, its AR effects platform, without warning and has made more changes than I can count to the Quest’s software.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Mark’s done.

Zuckerberg has wrapped up announcements. We just watched a video made by director Matthew Vaughn filmed on Ray-Ban Meta glasses.

Now Andrew Bosworth is here for the developer keynote.

Wes Davis
Wes Davis
Meta says it’s making it easier to beam your Windows desktop to your Quest headset.

At Meta Connect, CEO Mark Zuckerberg says Quest VR headset users will be able to connect to Windows 11 PCs just by looking at their keyboard — much the same way Apple’s Vision Pro can do that when you look at a MacBook.

Here’s a gallery of pics from the presentation.

1/4Screenshot: Meta Connect
Jay Peters
Jay Peters
YouTube co-watching in Horizon Worlds is rolling out in beta next week.

That could be kind of useful, actually.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Huge cheers for Horizon Worlds.

I still think it’s pretty bad, but people in the crowd seem to love it.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
A live Quest 3S demo just crashed.

A person in the audience was wearing the Quest 3S to show off the passthrough, but the demo failed pretty quickly.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Adam Mosseri is here.

He’s on crutches but seems happy!

A photo of Adam Mosseri.
Sorry for my iPhone 12 Mini photo.
Photo by Jay Peters / The Verge