The Immersive Wire - 27 October 2021 (News edition)

By Tom FfiskeCurated VR/AR analysis every Wednesday and Sunday

// 27 October 2021

Absolutely ecstatic that Dune is getting a Part 2. Would have been tragic to get only Part 1, and leave it unfinished. Also, heading to the VR Awards if you want to come along too.

Out now on the Oculus Quest and Quest 2.

TOP STORIESPimax and Varjo fight it out with high-fidelity headsets

Pimax and Varjo both released new details on their headsets, both defining their visions for the future.

• Let's begin with the Pimax Reality 12K OLED (more details), a catchy name that everyone will remember. With 6K per eye and 200 FOV, it is a technically impressive (and expensive) juggernaut of a machine.

• What perplexes me is the timing; it will ship in Q4 2022, with preorders opening in the summer. Why announce it now? Such a large expanse of time between announcement and preorders will drain the sails and draw the hype to a step.

• Then let's touch on the Varjo Aero (more details). My briefing with them before the announcement emphasised that the headset was very much for prosumers; the PC players who want to crank up Microsoft Flight Simulator to the highest levels, and weave forward from there. The headset is also future-proofed, with eye-tracking as well.

• It is not for everyone; it is for a small slice of affluent gamers who want to up their sessions. But for that cut of the pie, the Varjo Aero is a laudable leader in high-end VR.

• Comparing Pimax and Varjo, both are tapping into their extensive engineering experience to offer cutting-edge hardware. When they can't meet other companies in costs, they instead go the other way and offer the highest fidelity possible, for a price. Such a strategy can tap into a profitable group of people who are willing to spend the money; but the real question is how big it will be in the long run.

 Facebook (for now) is funneling $10bn this year into its metaverse efforts, and will be renaming itself after

Facebook Connect this week.

• I mention it again this week because it offers an opportunity to outline why the company is doing it; as the company transitions towards being a metaverse company, a name change is one way to call out the next steps.

• The name will be metaverse-related, so I am intrigued to see what it will be.

• The move makes sense; much like Google has a parent company (Alphabet) to differentiate across all of their services. The same goes for Facebook, which will be outlining how it handles multiple services across FRL, WhatsApp, Instagram et al.

• But much like Google being called Google anyway, Facebook might well be called Facebook regardless.

The hit PC VR and LBE party game Loco Dojo is Unleashed on Oculus Quest!

“Just what Quest needed!” says ThumbCulture, giving the game their Platinum Award.

“I didn’t realise I wanted to be bellowed at by Brian Blessed in VR until now!” says another happy customer. Average review score: 85% VRGameCritic, Average Oculus Store Score: 4.5/5

Whack bats, ride pigs, sling snakes, and more only on Oculus Quest & Quest 2.

Want to have your story appear here? If you have any new news, email me at tom (at) immersivewire (dot) com.

• DPVR announced that it has reached an agreement with Beenoculus.

• Inspace raised $4m to support its international expansion across the US and UK.

• Moon Mode and Beyond Frames announced that VR city builder Spacefolk City will launch on Steam VR release to follow on 4 November.

• Niantic's Pikmin game is rolling out over the coming days.

• Oculus Quest Pro leaks have appeared online.

  • Pretty much what we expected; a souped-up Quest unit for users who want to up their game.

• Raindance Immersive unveiled their full programme.

• Somnium Space announced a strategic investment into TESLASUIT.

• Taqtile partnered with Nokia to deliver AR work for their enterprise customers.

• Zanni, an XR entertainment agency, officially launched.

Jobs boardINTERNSHIP, US. The intern will be primarily focused on developing proficiency in the use and application of tools designed for experiences in VR/AR headsets. GRIP-IE interns will assist the Get Real management team and clients in the design, development, and implementation of features within both internal and partner platforms. Interns will follow industry best practices including continuous improvement through code reviews of existing and new code. GRIP-IE interns will also be responsible for managing communication with software vendors on a variety of topics including bug identification, feature requests, troubleshooting, and documentation materials. Click here for more. BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER, UK. Here at CIRCUS (an award-winning creative agency, specialists of Virtual Brand Experiences) we're on the lookout for an enthusiastic B2B Business Development Manager on a part-time, remote basis. If this sounds of interest and you love all things virtual, we'd love to tell you more. Click here for more. SENIOR WEBXR ENGINEER, US. Build a human-centric metaverse with a stellar team at www.urnowhere.com. Full-Time Position, Fully Remote Team, Core hours (10AM-5PM EST). NOWHERE aims to revolutionize gathering with patent-pending video presence technology that allows serendipitous social mingling between conversations with friends or colleagues at conferences, meetings, or parties all within dynamic web environments. Nowhere combines expertise from veteran founders, experience experts, engineers, game designers, theatre-makers, VFX artists from Windmill Factory to build a healthier digital future. Please share with anyone you think might be interested. JOIN NOWHERE.VR SOFTWARE DEVELOPER (Unity3D, C#), London. Valkyrie Industries, an early stage haptics start-up, is looking for a talented and experienced Unity3D developer with a passion for VR to join the R&D team. You'll be involved throughout the development cycle and must be able to evaluate new technologies, develop new experiences from scratch and optimise existing projects. Click here for more. FULL STACK DEVELOPER, remote position. Looking for a competent Software Engineer with 4+ years of industry experience to join our dedicated Web development team. This talented individual must have a vision and drive and must not be afraid to back big ideas. Click here for more. SENIOR SOFTWARE ENGINEER (Node.js), remote position. Looking for a competent Senior Software Engineer with 5+ years of industry experience to join our dedicated Web development team. This talented individual must have a vision and drive and must not be afraid to back big ideas. Click here for more. SENIOR DEVELOPER (VUE.JS), remote Position. Looking for an experienced JavaScript developer who is highly skilled with Vue.js. You will be joining our Web development team to develop and enhance customer facing Web Applications, where you will be responsible for following best practices to produce modular and maintainable code. Click here for more. QA LEAD, remote positions available. Looking for a competent QA Lead with 2+ years of industry experience to join our dedicated QA Team in Waterford. This talented individual must have a vision and drive and must not be afraid to back big ideas. Click here for more. SENIOR UNITY GAME DEVELOPER, remote position. Looking for a competent Senior Unity Developer to join our team with 5+ years industry experience. The talented individual must have vision and drive and must not be afraid to back big ideas. Click here for more.  SENIOR PRODUCT OWNER, remote position. Looking for a competent Product Owner. This talented individual must have a vision and drive and must not be afraid to back big ideas. Click here for more. UI DESIGNER, remote position. Looking for a competent UI Designer. This talented individual must have a vision and drive and must not be afraid to back big ideas. Click here for more. UX DESIGNER, remote position. Are you looking for a unique challenge working in virtual & augmented reality with a bleeding-edge technology company? Then read on. Click here for more.ASSISTANT PROFESSOR IN DIGITAL MEDIA, UK. We are looking to appoint a dynamic and adaptable course director for our BA (Hons) in Digital Media to lead and deliver teaching, learning and assessment on the BA Digital Media and steer its next phase of growth. As well as a track record of academic leadership you will have extensive practical experience in digital media such as immersive storytelling (AR/VR/XR), modelling and animation, creative media design / production, or web / mobile app design and development. Click here for more.SENIOR IMMERSIVE LEARNING DESIGNER, UK. Make Real is looking to expand our digital learning team with a Senior Immersive Learning Designer. Your role will be to consult with clients in order to create exciting and imaginative design solutions. Your designs will affect behaviour change in order to deliver on specific learning outcomes, while being achievable within a set budget and timeline. Click here for more. SENIOR UNITY DEVELOPER, UK. As a growing and exciting business, we are looking for full-time talented multi-disciplinary Unity developers to join our expert team in central Brighton. Our ideal candidates will have a broad range of technical experience with a proven track record of delivering interactive Virtual & Augmented Reality projects across a range of HMD & mobile hardware. Working as part of our existing team of designers and artists, the roles will primarily involve the delivery of VR/AR projects for our global clients. Click here for more. Display your vacancy in front of thousands of talented VR/AR professionals in just a few clicks. Click here for more info.

Refer a friend today

Enjoy the newsletter? Consider sharing it around! Just one referral gives you and the referred a free PDF copy of The Immersive Reality Revolution. Just share the link below, and you get the book.

How to redeem: Copy and paste your personal referral link to others, then receive the PDF when they sign up:

That's all for this week! Want to have a chat, let me know about a news story, or talk business? Either reply to this email, or contact tom (at) immersivewire (dot) com. Have an excellent day!