Although there are games available on the Vision Pro, there’s always been one missing element: controllers. The reliance on only eye tracking and hand gestures limits a lot of what games can be played. That’s especially true for games that are being ported over from other headsets — or just for more complicated games in general. But now, Surreal Touch has announced that it’s working on 6DoF controllers built for the Apple Vision Pro. The controllers each come with two buttons and a joystick, coming in two color options: glossy Pearl White or frosted Stellar Grey. Surreal Touch claims the controllers have “omnidirectional sensing” and a “proprietary spatial computing algorithm” that Surreal Touch has developed internally — which it claims will result in the “ultimate precision and latency.” exciting news for Apple Vision Pro fans! @Surreal_Touch controllers with 6DoF are coming. they’ve created an SDK that’s being tested in popular games, allowing easy porting from other platforms. i can’t wait to see how they perform when they are available.
Perhaps the most exciting aspect of what Surreal Touch is doing, however, is the SDK that was created for porting over popular games. So far, there have been videos posted of some of the most popular VR games, such as Half-Life: Alyx and Beat Saber. Pairing the extreme clarity and quality of the Vision Pro’s visuals with these great games is exactly what VR enthusiasts have been wanting. Half-Life: Alyx on Apple Vision Pro is absolutely mind-blowing, with Surreal Touch
It’s neat to see developers taking the Vision Pro in a new direction, even if it might not be how Apple intended the product to be used. Surreal Touch hasn’t yet announced details on pricing or release date yet, but it’s definitely something we’ll be eagerly waiting for. Samsung’s answer to Apple’s Vision Pro headset has been teased for months now, but there’s little information about what hardware and specs it will offer. Now, though, data on the device is starting to come out, including that it will reportedly use a 4K micro-OLED display from Sony. According to Korean site The Elec, highlighted by UploadVR, the Samsung XR headset will use a Sony 1.35-inch micro-OLED display, which is the same hardware that Sony is using in its own flip-up XR headset, the Sony SRH-S1. That is an exceedingly expensive model, costing even more than Apple’s Vision Pro at $4,750 and therefore aimed more at the enterprise market than at your average consumer. But the Samsung XR offering is more of a Vision Pro competitor, presumably for a more mainstream audience. Over the past few years, researchers have tried to make virtual reality (VR) experiences even more immersive and personal. For example, back in 2022, the experts over at Stockholm University created a machine called olfactometer, which let users smell what they were seeing in a game while wearing a VR headset. But smell is only half the picture. What if you could actually deliver a real taste on the tongue? A team from the Ohio State University have created a sensing system called e-Taste that can replicate the taste of a real food items and drinks, and deliver it straight to another person’s tongue living hundreds of miles away. Rumors about a new wireless VR headset from Valve (code-named Deckard) first started circulating in 2022, with only a few details popping up since then. Today, as reported by Wccftech, Valve leaker Gabe Follower posted a hefty collection of new information, including a potential $1,200 price tag and a 2025 launch date. The full post reads:
“Several people have confirmed that Valve is aiming to release new standalone, wireless VR headset (codename Deckard) by the end of 2025. The current price for the full bundle is set to be $1200. Including some “in-house” games (or demos) that are already done. Valve want to give the user the best possible experience without cutting any costs. Even at the current price, it will be sold at a loss. A few months ago, we saw leaked models of controllers (codename Roy) in the SteamVR update. It will be using the same SteamOS from Steam Deck, but adapted for virtual reality. One of the core features is the ability to play flat-screen game that are already playable on Steam Deck, but in VR on a big screen without a PC. The first behind closed doors presentations could start soon.”
Much like the Valve Index headset released in 2019, the rumored $1,200 price tag for the Deckard is pretty hefty. The tagline for the Index was “fidelity first” and it seems like the company will be taking a similar approach this time too, aiming for a high-end product for VR enthusiasts.
