Apple announced visionOS 26 today, its new naming scheme for the next big update coming to Vision Pro later this year. Among Vision Pro’s list of new features comes something we’ve been waiting for: actual support for VR input devices, including motion controllers and a spatially-tracked stylus.
Previous rumors alleged Apple was getting ready to support PSVR 2’s motion controllers, but now it’s official: visionOS 26 will bring PSVR 2 Sense Controller so developers can start building (or more likely porting) VR games to the platform.
This should open up more avenues to bringing a lot of the games that didn’t—or rather, couldn’t reasonably—support hand-tracking-only interactions.
While that’s mostly for gamers, Apple also announced it will support Logitech Muse, a new spatial input device built for Vision Pro that enables “precise input and new ways to interact with collaboration apps like Spatial Analogue.”
This story is breaking. We’re learning more about Logitech Muse and the specifics around PSVR 2 Sense Controller support. We’re currently at WWDC 2025 today, so stay tuned for all things Vision Pro.
While certainly not as powerful as one of the many handguns or explosive special weaponry available for the secondary slot, Black Ops 6’s Nail Gun is certainly one of the most interesting. I mean, can you imagine how hard your opponent will rage when they’re cut down in their prime by a torrent of construction nails?!…
A lot of people hate grinding in video games, and that’s okay. If you’re one of them, then an ARPG like Last Epoch probably isn’t up your alley. But if you’re still here, still checking out the latest season of Eleventh Hour Games’ hack-and-slash adventure, the grind is likely ingrained in you like it is for me. It’s…
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Mario Kart World is full of cool stunts and lots of things to unlock, like new characters, costumes, and vehicles. The last of those requires accumulating a certain number of coins during your time with the Switch 2 exclusive, and while you could do that the normal way by just playing tons of races, you can also use…
“What The Car?” is available now from development studio Triband in Apple Vision Pro headsets following joyous releases from the studio in VR, iOS and other platforms.
We awarded “What The Bat?” our 2022 VR game of the year because of just how quickly it put a smile on your face and kept it there. The studio also explored simplifying interactions for silly comedic effect in “What The Golf?” and “What The Car?”, as well as multiplayer game “What The Clash?”.
Now with the Apple Vision Pro version of “What The Car?” Triband’s developers head into mixed reality from mobile. What they’ve done here is absolute magic. Before this, I’d never seen a title that handles equally well in both hand tracking mixed reality and on mobile phones. Now I have, it’s called “What The Car?”
“Our games are always made with many different hardware targets in mind (like iPhone, PC, and Apple TV). This makes it easier to design and optimize for different input schemes. But… it’s always hard work getting it just right. With the spatial version of WHAT THE CAR? we wanted to create an experience that was even more silly and I think we succeeded,”, said Peter Bruun, game director on the spatial version of the game.
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“What The Car?” spawns a large virtual view screen into the middle of your living room with a wheel hanging off the front of it. If you make a gripping gesture with your hands the wheel automatically moves into your grip. Triband’s solution to open-air hand tracking not giving you anything to actually feel against your fingertips is something others have toyed with as well. Here, if you change the distance between your hands (as is easy to do without haptic feedback) the wheel in your grip simply changes size to match the distance. As a game player, this tool means you have a way to point the car’s direction. Then with the thumb–index finger pinch gesture you have your gas pedal.
What Triband is doing here is a bit mind-melting because the core concept of each of their games is that you basically play a bunch of mini games in which you do everything except what you expect based on the title. Put another way, you shouldn’t expect to drive a car normally in “What The Car?” And yet? You kind of do.
They’ve abstracted the game’s controls down onto phones and then back onto headsets such that they have zero simulated locomotion for the player’s head to make them uncomfortable. The movement that’s typically uncomfortable in full 3D VR is abstracted into comfortable 2D on the large virtual screen in the middle of the room. Meanwhile, control is moved into a comfortable 3D wheel in your hands. The result is that navigating this game’s overworld ends up being remarkably similar to actually driving a real car. Ultimately, that’s just one more layer of silly.
Other titles on Apple Vision Pro have done some impressive things with hand tracking and gaze-pinching, like Resolution Games’ Gear & Goo making tower defense work well and the delightful little Minesweeper-like Puzzle Sculpt from Schell Games.
On Horizon OS-based Quest headsets, we’ve seen incredibly interesting room-scale mixed reality concepts like Laser Dance coming to early access later this year as well as Hello, Dot. These efforts, though, have found developers pressing the absolute limits of environmental recognition systems, with occasional hitches or regressions in those systems causing dramatic effects for players. Meanwhile, these games are also geared toward active get-up-off-the-couch gameplay.
Like “What The Bat?” did in 2022 to earn our pick as best VR game of the year, Triband in 2025 is meeting players where they are in Apple Vision Pro. The studio essentially made Job Simulator for your commute, turning the entire premise of driving a car on its head for absolute playfulness available wherever you sit.
It was a wild moment to realize “What The Car?” was available on my iPhone after I played it in mixed reality with Apple Vision Pro. It was wilder still to open the title and see it pick up exactly where I’d left off. I played half a level on my phone to verify controls work as well as they do in headset. They do, and then I closed the app. I refuse to finish my playthrough of “What The Car?” on my phone because it was a bit more fun in mixed reality.
Mixed reality games will improve as Horizon OS and visionOS mature. Right now, though, “What The Car?” is already one of the best in mixed reality for the exact same reason its predecessor is one of VR’s best – meeting the player where they are and engaging them with emotion incredibly fast.
Please note that this list is based on information provided by Valve last month, so some games may have dropped out of officially participating since then. Other studios might also release demos during this time that aren’t technically part of Steam Next Fest, too, and therefore weren’t listed. We’ll update this accordingly if anything changes.
For now, here’s the full list of games we’re currently aware of.
VRider SBK, an official game of the Superbike World Championship, is making its PS VR2 and Steam debut later this month.
Developed by Funny Tales, VRider SBK is a motorbike racing simulator that allows players to compete in various racing game modes for vehicular glory. Initially released on Quest last year, VRider SBK is now launching on PS VR2 and Steam at the end of June, bringing performance improvements and an upgraded grid with it.
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Alongside the new platforms, VRider SBK is also expanding its grid, letting you race against up to 22 AI competitors per race across 14 different circuits. As part of the announcement, developer Funny Tales confirmed that players will additionally be able to enjoy ‘sharper visuals’ when testing your motoring mettle.
In our 4/5 star review on Quest, we applauded VRider SBK’s combination of accessibility and intensity, saying:
Even if you aren’t the most avid sports fan, this title is satisfying simply for being a great racing sim. VRIDER is a great balm in the absence of professional racing games in the Quest Store. It balances optimization against an immersive experience that’s a lot more enjoyable than first expected.
VRider SBK is currently available on Quest, and it’s coming to PS VR2 and Steam later this month.
The Nintendo Switch 2’s Game Chat is a much-appreciated feature that fans have waited ages to see on a Nintendo console. Being able to play games together while voice chatting is really neat, but the inclusion of video chat was an unexpected yet pleasant addition to the console’s new suite of features..
Who thought that a top-down police simulator following the story of a corrupt, crime-ridden city would prove so rewarding? The Precinct is an indie adventure from developer Fallen Tree Games, set in Averno City, 1983. Players must embark on a perilous, paperwork-filled mission to clean up the city, respond to…
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Nintendo’s live-action Zelda movie won’t be out in March 2027 after all. Instead, the hero of time’s journey to the big screen will be delayed until May 2027. The company said it just needs a little “extra time” to make it good. Less than two months, to be precise.
Datamining could reveal key features of Meta’s next headset, and a potential leak suggests it will feature micro-OLED panels.
If you missed the news last week, UploadVR reported that Meta is prioritizing shipping an ultralight open-periphery Horizon OS headset with a tethered compute puck in 2026, and might not ship a new traditional form factor Quest until 2027. A few days later, The Wall Street Journal reported that this headset could be priced “less than $1000” and that Meta is talking to Hollywood firms like Disney and A24 to get immersive video content for it.
Now, more details of this headset may have emerged.
VR enthusiast Luna, who regularly inspects the code of the Horizon OS running on Quest headsets, has found references to automatic IPD adjustment and face unlock.
Horizon OS v78 PTC seems to have added references to a headset with some sort of automatic IPD/Lens adjustment. pic.twitter.com/m3mOXP39Nq
Automatic IPD adjustment is available in headsets with eye tracking and motorized lenses such as Apple Vision Pro, Pico 4 Enterprise, and Vive Focus Vision. It means the lenses move horizontally to try to match the separation of your eyes.
Meanwhile, iris scanning is the primary authentication method of Apple Vision Pro, avoiding the need to always use a PIN code for unlock, payments, and more.
While it’s possible that this will be for third-party Horizon OS headsets, like the ones Asus and Lenovo are working on, Luna says they’re “told” it will likely be a launch feature for Meta’s own 2026 headset.
Separately, VR enthusiast Brad Lynch claims that one of the candidates for Meta’s 2026 headset uses 0.9-inch micro-OLED displays, slightly smaller than those used in Bigscreen Beyond headsets. Without knowing the pixel density, this doesn’t tell us the resolution. But it does let us know that this candidate could offer OLED’s signature infinite contrast, true black, and punchy colors.
One of the display configurations being tested for Meta’s 2026 small goggle+compute puck headset uses dual 0.9” micro-OLED displays
Slightly smaller than the displays in Bigscreen Beyond and the upcoming Pimax Dream Air SE
But that’s by design to keep costs of the hardware down
As UploadVR reported last week, Meta is exploring multiple display system approaches for Puffin, at differing price points, and hasn’t yet settled on which it will ship. Thus, while these potential leaks let us know what Meta is testing, we won’t know what the company decides to ship until much closer to the headset’s launch.
1047 studio head Ian Proulx courted controversy at Summer Game Fest last week by taking shots at Call of Duty and wearing a hat with the MAGA-infused slogan “Make FPS Great Again.” But it was his new multiplayer shooter’s eye-popping microtransactions that subsequently turned Splitgate 2 into an online punching bag,…
If there’s one thing we’re all guilty of, including you, it’s forgetting to mention Neverwinter Nights 2 in the same breath as Baldur’s Gate II, Knights of the Old Republic, and Pillars of Eternity. The Obsidian RPG is one of my favorite games ever, and yet, I’ll still forget to bring it up when totting the best RPGs.…
Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakable is now available on Pico 4 with motion tracker support.
Released on Quest last year, developer UNIVRS confirmed its action-adventure adaptation of the hit manga series is now available on ByteDance’s headset. While the Quest version released in twoparts due to its initial early access launch, Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakable on Pico 4 arrives as the complete edition with full feature parity.
As confirmed in a press release, UNIVRS states the Pico 4 edition also adds new subtitle options in seven additional languages and support for the Pico motion trackers. Speaking to UploadVR, the studio confirmed stepping in place now allows you to move forward on the ground, and on-foot movement was limited to artificial stick-based locomotion. Aerial movement remains unchanged.
Playable solo and in online co-op, Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakable sees you fighting Titans as a new Scout Regiment recruit, using the Omni-Directional Mobility (ODM) Gear to target their necks with your dual blades. While we believed it offers “decent combat,” our review considered it a disappointing adaptation that “ultimately falls flat.”
Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakable is now available on Pico and the Meta Quest platform.
Shortly after publication, UNIVRS informed UploadVR about how Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakable uses the Pico motion trackers for on-foot movement in the game. We’ve updated the article accordingly.
Microsoft pulled the plug on support for its entire WMR platform on Windows 11 last year, putting an official end to the company’s foray into PC VR headsets. Now, an unofficial SteamVR driver hopes to bring it back.
Microsoft deprecated the Mixed Reality Portal app, Windows Mixed Reality for SteamVR, and Steam VR Beta when Windows 11 24H2 update rolled out last October, making a fleet of PC VR headsets from Acer, Asus, Dell, Lenovo, HP, and Samsung essentially expensive paperweights.
Granted, if you haven’t updated to Windows 11 24H2, or are still on Windows 10, Microsoft says you’ll be able to play SteamVR content through November 2026 before the plug is pulled for good. Still, that’s a bitter pill to swallow for users of WMR’s most modern headset, HP Reverb G2, which released less than five years ago.
Now, Reddit user ‘mbucchia’ claims an unofficial SteamVR driver is in the works, which aims to bring all WMR headsets back into the fold sometime this Fall. Below you can see the first HP Reverb (2019) in action:
Dubbed the ‘Oasis’ driver, mbucchia says the SteamVR driver “does not need the Mixed Reality Portal,” which was deprecated in Windows 11 24H2 last year alongside SteamVR beta support.
“This means it can work on Windows 11 24H2 and newer. It supports full 6DoF tracking along with motion controllers,” mbucchia says.
“As mentioned on another post, I don’t have all WMR headsets to test with. Though I can tell you that it [also] works on the original Acer AH100. It should in theory work on any brand/model,” mbucchia says.
The first wave of WMR headsets launched in 2017 | Image courtesy Microsoft
Work on the driver is remaining behind closed doors, mbucchia says, noting that Oasis will be restricted to Nvidia GPUs due to the way SteamVR interfaces with the GPU drivers.
Most interesting of all, though, is Oasis isn’t being undertaken by just anyone. Mbucchia claims they are currently an employee at Microsoft who has previously worked in the company’s Mixed Reality division.
“I am bound by NDAs and other obligations. I want to be clear that I have taken much care to NOT BREACH any of these agreements while working on this project. In particular, I am leveraging SteamVR for a lot of heavy lifting and I am not borrowing any Microsoft intellectual property,” mbucchia says.
For these reasons, Oasis won’t feature a beta, or similar early access, before its release in Fall 2025. It also won’t be open source.
“Much of the code is the result of deep reverse-engineer. Reverse-engineering that if shared, could be construed as exposing internals of programs like SteamVR or the Nvidia GPU drivers,” mbucchia explains. “Not[e] that here again, I am NOT BREACHING any proprietary/intellectual property. Having respect for both Valve and Nvidia, I will not divulge any of the code that they do not consider public.”
Mbucchia says they’ll reveal more about the project in the Windows Mixed Reality subreddit leading up to its Fall 2025 release.
The Gardens Between is one of those indie darlings that absolutely enraptured just about everyone who played it, and was apparently released nearly seven years ago in 2018. Ignoring the panic attack that timeline has caused for anyone who played the flat version, I never expected to see this gem pop up in virtual reality. There’s a bit of a trend there, really, but that’s a conversation for another day. Today is for Hidden Memories of The Gardens Between, a VR reimagining of it.
The Steam Next Fest demo is almost upsettingly short, but it offers a solid feel for what to expect. This is a game about Arina and Frendt, but not one in which you control them, not really. Instead, you mostly control time. You can make time go forward, and you can make it go backwards. Generally speaking, you’ll always kick off with forwards, and you then have to watch as the two childhood friends make their way around the cute dioramas they find themselves on.
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Announcement trailer
Your actual job is then to figure out what boils down to being one puzzle, but one that becomes increasingly complex as you go on. Your aim is to get a pink orb inside a lantern, and then have the pair carry it to a portal at the top of each island. This starts off incredibly simple, of course, but every level adds a new layer or wrinkle. One of the first of these is that while some flowers will have the orb you need, others will take it from you as the characters go past.
Thankfully, there are special chimes you can get the characters to interact with that can close or open these flowers, so strategic timing and planning can make sure you don’t lose the orb you require. That is, as long as you don’t mind scrubbing backwards and forwards through time, and that’s initially simple. By the end of the demo, you’re manipulating time to send a box that can carry the lantern into a video game, then rewinding time for just the video game to open a box within that video game. You then rewind again for everyone to get the box back out, pick up the lantern, and go on your merry way.
Items are also strewn throughout the levels that you can add to Arina’s diary, which lets you not only watch as her creative talents bloom, but also find big moments in her life that help you better understand her. There are also some for you to just play about with because you’re in VR, and if you don’t decide to pick those up and muck around a bit, you’ll actually feel like you’re not doing much.
While the trailer shows additional motion control gestures like sawing wood, the demo’s VR interactivity feels very stripped down and basic. To move time forwards or backwards, you just hold the analog stick right or left accordingly, and then to move the viewpoint. To get a character to interact with something, you just push the A button. If you’re someone who sometimes struggles with VR controls, this won’t be one of those moments.
Hidden Memories of The Gardens Between is an immensely charming game, one that has me quite excited to see it through fully when the time comes. While it’s a lot more hands-off than many VR games, it could be a fantastic one to play with kids watching you cast it, a way to chill out before bed, or get your brain going in the morning. The vibes are truly immaculate, and as long as the puzzles can keep things fresh throughout the story itself, then this could be one of the next big VR puzzle games.
Call Of Duty: Black Ops 7 is the next entry in Activision’s long-running military shooter franchise and it’s once again coming to last-gen consoles. But what about the Switch 2? More than two-years after Microsoft and Nintendo entered into an agreement to bring Call of Duty to Switch, nothing has materialized.…
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