A Halo dataminer has spotted something on the PlayStation Network API that appears to indicate that a new Halo game might soon be listed on the platform’s PSN store. And it might be announced at a rumored Nintendo Direct later this month.
Whether you’ve played the original Oblivion or not, chances are you’ve heard tales of the oddities awaiting you in the Shivering Isles. This expansion—the largest one for the open-world RPG—features a land of madness under the unyielding control of Sheogorath. It’s a beautiful world, yet so immensely wrong. But that’s…
The Final Fantasy Universes Beyond set for Magic: The Gathering isn’t even out yet, and it’s already become the best-selling expansion in the card game’s history. That’s great news for Wizards of the Coast owner Hasbro, but bad news for anyone who actually wants to get the cards. The limited-edition Final Fantasy X Secret Lair…
It goes without saying that Monster Hunter Wilds has a lot of equipment materials to keep track of. The Title 1 Update increased the amount with the likes of Mizutsune parts and the somewhat obscurely named Pinnacle Coins. While it’s easy to know what the monster parts can be used for, the same can’t be said for a…
As an open-ended life simulation, you could spend hours carefully and meticulously planning out your Zoi’s life down to the smallest of details in inZOI. You could take an hour to craft a Zoi in the creator, but none of it matters if you don’t have some sort of goal. Otherwise, you’re just going to wander aimlessly…
As a life simulation game with limitless potential, you could very well craft a version of yourself in inZoi without social anxiety—a version of you that excels in your dream job, a chance to live vicariously through your virtual character. At least, that’s how I usually play. But to reach such a point, you require a…
The company behind Snapchat says it will launch fully standalone consumer AR glasses, called Specs, in 2026.
At Augmented World Expo 2025 just now, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel described the coming Specs as “an ultra-powerful wearable computer integrated into a lightweight pair of glasses with see-through lenses”, and revealed that the company has spent $3 billion so far developing them.
Snap has a long history in the smart glasses space. The company publicly sold three generations of non-AR camera glasses between 2016 and 2019, years before the Ray-Ban Meta glasses, and in recent years has released two AR glasses development kits. These devices so far have been called Spectacles, and the move to Specs reflects Snap’s intention to finally ship an AR product.
The first AR Spectacles development kit, made available to select developers from 2021, had a tiny 26-degree field of view, 30 minute battery life, and weighed 134 grams. The second generation AR Spectacles dev kit released in September for any interested developers to rent for $100/month, boosting the field of view to 46 degrees and the battery life to 45 minutes, but also increasing the weight to 226 grams and introducing a bulkier design that pushes the limits of what can be described as a true glasses form factor.
Both AR Spectacles development kits feature hand tracking and run Snap OS, a lightweight custom OS built specifically for AR that runs apps called ‘Lenses’, developed using Snap’s Lens Studio software for Windows and macOS.
UploadVRDavid Heaney
Compared to the current development kit, Spiegel claims the Specs releasing as a product in 2026 will have “a much smaller form factor, at a fraction of the weight, with a ton more capability”, while running all the same Lenses developed so far.
Snap isn’t revealing any further details of Specs yet, nor is it showing a render of what it will look like.
“No bulky headset, no puck, no tether, no phone required”, Spiegel boasted, referring to the current development kit, and Snap confirmed to UploadVR that this will be the case for Specs too.
If Snap meets its timeline, it could be the first major tech company to launch true AR glasses. Multiple reports suggest Meta plans to ship its first AR glasses in 2027, and Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has reported that Apple won’t launch AR glasses until 2028 at the earliest.
Snap’s strategy of building a fully standalone device is also notable. Meta’s Orion prototype used a wireless compute puck, and the company has indicated that its 2027 product will too. Similarly, Apple is widely expected to leverage your iPhone’s compute for its eventual AR glasses, though this is far from confirmed.
Trying to pack all of the computing hardware for true AR into a “lightweight pair of glasses” so soon will be a significant engineering challenge for Snap, and we’ll be very curious to see how this turns out, as well as how long the battery lasts.
Snap, the company behind Snapchat, today announced it’s working on the next iteration of its Spectacles AR glasses (aka ‘Specs’), which are slated to release publicly sometime next year.
Snap first released its fifth generation of Specs (Spectacles ’24) exclusively to developers in late 2024, later opening up sales to students and teachers in January 2025 through an educational discount program.
Today, at the AWE 2025, Snap announced it’s launching an updated version of the AR glasses for public release next year, which Snap co-founder and CEO Evan Spiegel teases will be “a much smaller form factor, at a fraction of the weight, with a ton more capability.”
There’s no pricing or availability yet beyond the 2026 launch window. To boot, we haven’t even seen the device in question, although we’re betting they aren’t as chunky as these:
Spiegel additionally noted that its four million-strong library of Lenses, which add 3D effects, objects, characters, and transformations in AR, will be compatible with the forthcoming version of Specs.
While the company isn’t talking specs (pun intended) right now, the version introduced in 2024 packs in a 46° field of view via stereo waveguide displays, which include automatic tint, and dual liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) miniature projectors boasting 37 pixels per degree.
As a standalone unit, the device features dual Snapdragon processors, stereo speakers for spatial audio, six microphones for voice recognition, as well as two high-resolution color cameras and two infrared computer vision cameras for 6DOF spatial awareness and hand tracking.
There’s no telling how these specs will change on the next version, although we’re certainly hoping for more than the original’s 45-minute battery life.
And as the company is gearing up to release its first publicly available AR glasses, Snap also announced major updates coming to Snap OS. Key enhancements include new integrations with OpenAI and Google Cloud’s Gemini, allowing developers to create multimodal AI-powered Lenses for Specs. These include things like real-time translation, currency conversion, recipe suggestions, and interactive adventures.
Additionally, new APIs are said to expand spatial and audio capabilities, including Depth Module API, which anchors AR content in 3D space, and Automated Speech Recognition API, which supports 40+ languages. The company’s Snap3D API is also said to enable real-time 3D object generation within Lenses.
For developers building location-based experiences, Snap says it’s also introducing a Fleet Management app, Guided Mode for seamless Lens launching, and Guided Navigation for AR tours. Upcoming features include Niantic Spatial VPS integration and WebXR browser support, enabling a shared, AI-assisted map of the world and expanded access to WebXR content.
Releasing Specs to consumers could put Snap in a unique position as a first mover; companies including Apple, Meta, and Google still haven’t released their own AR glasses, although consumers should expect the race to heat up this decade. The overall consensus is these companies are looking to own a significant piece of AR, as many hope the device class will unseat smartphones as the dominant computing paradigm in the future.
The post Snap Plans to Launch New Consumer ‘Specs’ AR Glasses Next Year appeared first on Road to VR.
Sandbox VR, the location-based VR destination, is working with Netflix to create a multiplayer VR experience based on the hit TV show Stranger Things.
Coinciding with the fifth and final season of the show, the upcoming VR experience Stranger Things: Catalyst is slated to let you gear up with friends to face supernatural threats plaguing Hawkins, Indiana, promising iconic locations, unique abilities, and terrifying creatures from the Upside Down.
Like all of Sandbox VR’s multiplayer experiences, Stranger Things: Catalyst was built by its in-house studio, also marking its third collaboration with Netflix, following Squid Game Virtuals and Rebel Moon: The Descent.
Stranger Things: Catalyst is set to launch at Sandbox VR locations in late 2025. At the time of this writing, Sandbox VR operates in over 55 global locations, attracting over 117k players monthly.
This follows news in April that Sandbox VR had surpassed $200 million in lifetime revenue since its 2016 founding. This has spurred the San Francisco-based company to open 29 new locations this year alone, representing around a 50% increase.
We’ll be keeping our eyes on Sandbox VR’s website in the meantime, which includes the full slate of available VR experiences and locations.
The post ‘Stranger Things’ Multiplayer VR Experience is Coming to Sandbox VR Destinations Later This Year appeared first on Road to VR.
Master filmmaker David Lynch wasn’t done telling mind-bending stories before his untimely passing in January 2025, and we finally have details on what was meant to be his latest one. In a revelatory interview with The Film Stage, Lynch’s longtime cinematographer Peter Deming shared rare details on the inner workings…
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon AR1+ Gen 1 is a new chipset for high-end smart glasses.
The base Snapdragon AR1 Gen 1 is used in the Ray-Ban Meta glasses, launched in late 2023.
Qualcomm, says the new higher-end AR1+ Gen 1 is 26% smaller, enabling slimmer glasses arms, and uses 7% less power to enable longer battery life.
AR1+ Gen 1 also has an improved ISP, for higher quality image and video capture, and its NPU can run small language models on-device.
At Augmented World Expo 2025 today, while announcing AR1+ Gen 1, Qualcomm demonstrated prototype glasses with the chip running Meta’s Llama-3.2-1B fully on-device.
At 1 billion parameters, Llama-3.2-1B is a much smaller model than the large language models (LLMs) you may have used in ChatGPT, Gemini, or Meta AI, so won’t produce the same quality responses. But the advantage of running on-device is that it doesn’t require an internet connection or external device to function.
As with the base AR1, the new chip supports outputting imagery to heads-up displays (HUDs), both monocular and binocular.
AR1+ Gen 1 joins Qualcomm’s wide range of chipsets for VR, MR, AR, and smart glasses, slotting above AR1 Gen 1 but below the AR2 Gen 1. Its XR2 Gen 2 chipset powers Quest 3, Quest 3S, and Pico 4 Ultra, and the XR2+ Gen 2 is set to power Samsung’s Android XR headset as well as Sony’s enterprise headset.
Qualcomm didn’t announce any specific companies that will use AR1+ Gen 1, but The Verge, The Information, The Financial Times, and Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman have all previously reported that Meta intends to release high-end smart glasses with a small monocular HUD in late 2025, codenamed Hypernova, so it’s possible it will be the first device to use the chip.
UploadVRDavid Heaney
AMC and Marvel’s new Fantastic Four: First Steps popcorn bucket now has a price tag, and if you want to get your hands on this massive Galactus-shaped popped corn vessel, you’ll need to spend $80. Yikes.
Lies of P: Overture is a $30 expansion for the Pinocchio-inspired ode to Bloodborne that developer Neowiz shadow-dropped last Friday during Summer Game Fest Live. It immediately started kicking players asses. Even the veterans with tons of gear and multiple New Game Plus playthroughs. The developer says it’s taking a…
A nearly year-long battle between SAG-AFTRA game actors and the major publishers over AI protections for performances is set to end, after both sides reached a tentative agreement this week. Details of the deal haven’t yet been released, but the union says it includes “necessary AI guardrails” as companies adopt tools…
The world turns to WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference) each year to see the latest innovations from the world of Apple (yes, the name is much like the MLB, one country’s baseball league, holding a “World Series”), and boy oh boy, did they come out swinging this year! Apple is introducing a new gaming platform app,…
Splatoon was completely absent from the Switch 2 launch. Now we know why. Nintendo decided to hold the Switch 2 upgrade for Splatoon 3 until the week after the new console arrived, announcing it Tuesday morning alongside an entirely new spin-off called Splatoon Raiders.
Sandbox VR is launching another playable Netflix collaboration later this year with the hit sci-fi series Stranger Things.
For the unfamiliar, location-based VR experience company Sandbox VR currently operates 55 locations globally and offers immersive experiences for popular IPs like Star Trek. Announced today, the company is introducing a new exclusive game in Stranger Things: Catalyst. Here, players can team up and tackle monsters from the Upside Down and explore iconic locations from the show.
Stranger Things: Catalyst marks the third Netflix collaboration for Sandbox VR, with previous projects including Squid Game Virtuals and Rebel Moon: The Descent. “The success of our previous Netflix collaborations has shown us the incredible potential of bringing beloved content into virtual reality,” said Sandbox VR founder and CEO, Steve Zhao, in a prepared statement.
“Our technology will allow fans to physically step into the story they’ve watched unfold over the past seasons, creating thrilling memories with friends as they face the horrors of the Upside Down together.”
This isn’t the first VR adaptation of Stranger Things we’ve seen thanks to Tender Claws’ Stranger Things VR game, which launched last year for Quest and has since gone multiplatform. In our 3-star review, we found that while it can become repetitive, Stranger Things VR offers a fun romp through the Upside Down.
Stranger Things: Catalyst will be available to play at Sandbox VR locations in late 2025.
The second half of Lost Records: Bloom & Rage released on April 15, reaching a stunning climax that will return to haunt Swann and her friends 27 years after the events that transpired during the summer of 1995.
A lone Microsoft employee is unofficially working on a native SteamVR driver to bring Windows MR headsets back to life.
In October, Microsoft started rolling out Windows 11 24H2, the latest major version of its PC operating system which removed support for Windows MR headsets. This means you can no longer use Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, or Samsung PC VR headsets, not even on Steam, since Windows MR had its own runtime and only supported SteamVR through a shim.
UploadVRDavid Heaney
Now, Software developer Matthieu Bucchianeri says he’s working on a native SteamVR driver for Windows MR headsets, which he calls “Oasis”. The driver would add direct SteamVR support, just like a Valve Index, HTC Vive, or Bigscreen Beyond.
Bucchianeri is a very experienced developer, having worked on the PS4 and original PlayStation VR at Sony, Falcon 9 and Dragon at SpaceX, and HoloLens and Windows MR at Microsoft, where he currently works on Xbox. At Microsoft he contributed to OpenXR, and in his spare time he developed OpenXR Toolkit and VDXR, Virtual Desktop’s OpenXR runtime. He was also an outspoken critic of Meta’s previous OpenXR strategy.
Bucchianeri says that his upcoming Oasis driver is the result of “deep reverse-engineering” alongside “a combination of luck and perseverance”. He claims that while his work isn’t breaching intellectual property laws, he won’t be releasing the source code to avoid accidentally breaching NDAs “and other obligations”.
Currently the driver is only confirmed to work with Nvidia GPUs, since AMD controls its VR direct mode more strictly, but Bucchianeri is in talks with AMD about this.
UploadVRJamie Feltham
Bucchianeri plans to release his Oasis native SteamVR driver for Windows MR headsets in fall for free. If the project succeeds, it could bring a wave of ultra-affordable PC VR headsets, although deep discounts didn’t help these headsets gain widespread adoption the first time around.
Adobe is making a visionOS app “powered by Premiere” for natively editing Spatial Video on Apple Vision Pro.
Announced during WWDC25 by Apple, no further details were given, but the company shared a short clip of the upcoming app in action, showing it being used to add text in front of a horse.
0:00
Spatial Video is Apple’s term for stereoscopic 3D video using the Apple HEVC Stereo Video Profile format of MV-HEVC. Spatial videos can be captured by all iPhone 16 models, the iPhone 15 Pro models, Apple Vision Pro, and Canon’s EOS R7 camera with its upcoming spatial lens attachment.
Spatial videos can be viewed on Apple Vision Pro, Pico 4 Ultra, Meta Quest headsets via Meta’s phone app, or any VR headset if you convert the file to SBS 3D.
There are already visionOS apps on the App Store for editing spatial videos, such as SpatialCut, so we’ll be curious to see how Adobe’s compares, and whether it integrates with Adobe’s Creative Cloud.
UploadVRDavid Heaney
You can also edit spatial videos on a Mac, using Apple’s Final Cut Pro.
At WWDC25 Apple also announced visionOS 26, set to be the biggest Vision Pro software update yet, and you can read all about it in our article:
UploadVRDavid Heaney