What you need to know
- The VR Games Showcase showed off 17 upcoming games, and games like Alien Rogue Incursion, Metal: Hellsinger VR, and Behemoth now have a release date.
- Meta Quest update v69 came out this week, debuting three big features including Meta AI and a new HDMI Link app.
- Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas VR has officially been put on hold indefinitely.
No other gaming system is quite like the Meta Quest, and part of that is the sheer number of feature additions and new updates on the platform every month. This week saw the release of Meta Quest update v69, which brings a big new multitasking feature to the system.
Meta calls it Seamless Multitasking and it means users can now open any 2D app while they're playing a VR game. For example, lets say you get stuck in Asgard's Wrath 2 and can't figure out a puzzle. Now, you can open the YouTube app while you're still playing the game and watch how-to videos in a floating window.
To do it yourself, press the Oculus/Meta button on the right controller, grab that little white line underneath an app's floating window, and drag it anywhere you want. This opens a multitude of possibilities that even the Apple Vision Pro doesn't allow, making the Quest a powerful multitasking beast. Here's the feature in action:
I feel I didn't do a great job showing it off so here is a more practical example of the "Seamless Multitasking" Experimental Feature in Meta Quest/Horizon OS v69. https://t.co/MLAI7WdE41 pic.twitter.com/iL2CQa6LQsAugust 9, 2024
Next, Meta upgraded its voice commands and replaced them with Meta AI, the same technology that allows your Ray-Ban Meta Smart glasses to see the real world and understand what's in front of you. Meta AI for Quest lets you do system level commands like the previous voice command system — launching apps, sending messages, taking screenshots or video — as well as a bunch of new vision-related things.
Meta AI with vision allows Meta AI to use the Quest's cameras to ask it questions, or you can just ask the assistant anything you'd like, similar to other LLM's like Google Gemini or ChatGPT. Meta has a getting started post that'll help you get Meta AI set up.
And lastly, Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth showed off a new HDMI Link app which lets you plug in any device to your headset so you can see that device on larger virtual windows. The obvious reason to use this would be to work on a plane, as you can get a giant monitor in front of your face instead of cramping your neck by looking down at your laptop.
The caveat right now is that it only works with USB Capture cards, so it's not quite as plug-and-play as we'd hoped. Meta says it's working on wider compatibility, so the HDMI Link app is only available in App Lab for now.
Game announcements
The first VR Games Showcase aired on August 15 and it brought 17 game announcements along for the ride. The entire 30-minute show can be watched in the video above, including hits like Hitman 3 VR: Reloaded first gameplay, Arizona Sunshine Remake, Grim and Silent North by the Ghosts of Tabor studio, PSVR favorite Fracked coming to Meta Quest, and more. There's even brand new VR versions of popular non-VR games like Flatout and Trombone Champ.
I also got the chance to play Vendetta Forever ahead of the show and found it to be the SUPERHOT VR spiritual successor I've been waiting 8 years for.
Beyond the showcase, we also got release dates for several big upcoming Meta Quest games.
Metal: Hellsinger VR is making its debut on Quest on September 26, Skydance's Behemoth is coming to Quest on November 14, and rounding out the end of the year is Alien Rogue Incursion on December 19.
A single-player mode for upcoming mixed reality shooter Spatial Ops was also announced, with a new trailer giving us a first look at the campaign gameplay. Spatial Ops was thought to be a local multiplayer-only title initially, so it's exciting to see a mixed reality game like this getting a mode that's playable without a bunch of other Quest users in the same room.
You can preorder Spatial Ops now and, while you're waiting for the final release, give the beta a shot on Sidequest.
Finally, we come to the big disappointment of the week. Grand Theft Auto San Andreas VR has been "put on hold indefinitely," according to IGN. GTA San Andreas VR was infamously announced three years ago as coming to the Oculus Quest 2 but we never heard any updates from Meta since then.
Meta just closed a beloved first-party Oculus Studios developer last week so it's not much of a surprise to see them put other projects on hold, especially one that was rumored to have faced a lot of turmoil during its years of development. This, of course, doesn't mean canceled but it's not likely we'll see any sort of VR GTA game any time soon.
