It seems like the teased Horizon OS headsets from Asus ROG and Lenovo won't be shipping after all.

In a statement to Road to VR, Meta says it has "paused the program to focus on building the world-class first-party hardware and software needed to advance the VR market".

“We’re committed to this for the long term and will revisit opportunities for 3rd-party device partnerships as the category evolves”, the statement continues.

Meta Horizon OS Will Run On Headsets From Asus & Lenovo

Meta is rebranding its Quest software platform to Meta Horizon OS and opening it up to third-party headset makers, including Asus and Lenovo.

UploadVRDavid Heaney

The news comes just under 20 months after Meta officially announced that third-party headsets running Quest's operating system, which it branded Horizon OS, were in the works.

At the time, Meta said Asus was working on a "performance gaming headset" under its ROG brand, while Lenovo was working on "a line of headsets" for "productivity, learning, and entertainment".

We heard nothing official about the Asus ROG headset after this point, though a rumor back in January suggested that it would have face and eye tracking and use either QD-LCD panels with local dimming or micro-OLED displays.

Meanwhile, around a year ago at Lenovo Tech World 2024, the company confirmed that it was still working on its Horizon OS headset.

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The decision to "pause" the program for third-party Horizon OS headsets may have come alongside the wider cuts to the VR and Horizon Worlds teams at Meta, widely reported by outlets like Bloomberg, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Business Insider earlier this month.

Shortly after those reports, Meta issued an official statement confirming "shifting some of our investment from Metaverse toward AI glasses and Wearables".

Today's news doesn't mean the end of Horizon OS headsets, though, just that they won't be coming from third parties – at least not any time soon.

Meta's statement mentions building "world-class first-party hardware" for VR, and leaked memos from earlier this month reveal that the company is actively working on at least two Horizon OS products.

Meta Delays Ultralight Headset, Starts Work On Gaming-Focused Quest 4

Meta is delaying its ultralight headset with a tethered puck to the first half of 2027, and, separately, starting work on a gaming-focused Quest 4, leaked memos reveal.

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According to those internal memos, Meta plans to launch its rumored ultralight "mixed reality glasses" headset with a tethered compute puck in the first half of 2027, and recently started work on a gaming-focused Quest 4 set to be a "large upgrade" over Quest 3, though at a higher price.

Given this timeline, Quest 3 owners hoping for a direct upgrade within the Horizon OS ecosystem could be waiting another two or three years, meaning Quest 3 would end up being Meta's all-in-one flagship for four or five years without a direct successor. And when that successor does arrive, it's set to have a notably higher price.

Google's Android XR Takes The Stage

The news of the "pause" of the third-party Meta Horizon OS hardware program comes just over a month after Lynx revealed that Google terminated its Android XR deal.

Lynx was one of the three additional companies, after Samsung, that Google said were working on an Android XR device when the operating system was announced late last year, the other two being Xreal and Sony.

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When asked about the Lynx termination, Google told UploadVR that it's still working with Xreal and Sony, and last week it and Xreal confirmed that Project Aura is still on track to launch in 2026 as the second Android XR headset.

With Meta's Horizon OS now unavailable for third-party hardware, it seems we can expect any future entrants to the standalone headset market to use Google's Android XR instead – for the foreseeable future at least.

Quest's Hand Tracking 2.4 update significantly improves the Fast Motion Mode, better handling rapid movements like punching and swinging.

Since launching controller-free hand tracking as a software update for the original Oculus Quest experimentally in late 2019 and publicly in early 2020, Meta has continued to improve the feature, gradually bridging much of the tracking quality difference compared to controllers.

• Hand Tracking 2.0 in 2022 brought improvements to handling fast movements, occlusion, and touching your hands together.
• Hand Tracking 2.1 in early 2023 reduced tracking loss and the time to re-acquire hands after loss, as well as improving the accuracy of prediction for fast motion.
• Hand Tracking 2.2 in mid 2023 reduced the latency of hand tracking, with Meta claiming up to 40% reduction in typical usage and up to 75% during fast movement.
• Hand Tracking 2.3 last year brought enhanced stability, improved accuracy, and even lower latency.

Normally, Quest's hand tracking samples the tracking cameras at 30Hz. Optionally, the developers of apps can enable Fast Motion Mode, which makes the cameras sample at 50Hz or 60Hz, depending on your country's mains electricity frequency, to sync up with artificial lighting.

The higher sampling rate of Fast Motion Mode improves the tracking of fast motions, with the tradeoff of introducing some jitter that can make hand tracking feel slightly less accurate. Fast Motion Mode also requires brighter room lighting on headsets older than Quest 3S, because the camera exposure is lower, bringing less light, so without IR illuminators this will cause the tracking to degrade more.

Fast Motion Mode also cannot be used alongside simultaneous hands and controllers mode, and can only be combined with inside-out body tracking in VR, not passthrough mixed reality. Further, on Quest Pro, Fast Motion Mode can't be used alongside eye tracking or face tracking.

Still, these tradeoffs aside, Fast Motion Mode is ideal for fast-paced immersive games, and that's what Hand Tracking 2.4 is focused on improving.

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Meta says that Hand Tracking 2.4 arrived in Horizon OS v83, which started rolling out last month.

According to Meta, Hands 2.4 brings the following improvements to Fast Motion Mode:

• Faster Hand Acquisition: "Hands are detected faster when re-entering view. This reduces the 'hand loss' feeling during fast movements."
• Advanced Motion Upsampling: "Smooths out rapid gestures so motion appears continuous instead of choppy while minimizing motion artifacts."
• Optimized Fast Motion Filters: "Helps eliminate perceived latency between hand tracking and controller input during high-energy interactions."

Again though, keep in mind that Fast Motion Mode is a feature developers need to enable for their apps, so you'll only see this in games that chose to use it.

You should be able to test it out in Meta's free demo app from 2023 called Move Fast, which is designed to showcase how hand tracking can be used for immersive fitness games.

Maestro adds two notable songs from Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean films, joined by other epic sailing songs in the latest DLC.

At the heart of the All Aboard! update are two iconic tracks from Pirates of the Caribbean, including Hans Zimmer and Klaus Badelt's instantly recognizable theme, “He's a Pirate,” and Zimmer's “Jack Sparrow.” These rousing pieces are joined by a selection of sea-inspired music, including the shanty “Wellerman,” Rimsky-Korsakov's “The Shipwreck,” and Ralph Vaughan Williams' A Sea Symphony (Overture).

As with earlier Maestro add-ons, such as the Star Wars, Game of Thrones, and Fantasia themed updates previously covered here, the new DLC brings more than just music. All Aboard! adds a new environment to perform in (which includes a kraken and ghost ship) plus new buccaneer-themed costumes for the orchestra. Players can get into the swashbuckling spirit, too, with new accessories and cosmetic items, including a Kraken's Foot baton and The Cap'n gloves.

Our 2024 review of Maestro praised the game's bold use of hand tracking on Quest, and called the experience a “breath of fresh air” compared to other VR rhythm games. That's since arrived across almost every major VR platform, and it's one of the few games that currently supports PlayStation VR2 hand-tracking.

Maestro and the new All Aboard! add-on are available now in the Meta Horizon Store and Steam, while the Pico and PS VR2 release will follow “in the coming days.”

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Maestro ambitiously redefines VR rhythm gaming, focused on real-world orchestra management techniques using Quest’s hand tracking.

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Dawn of Jets gets multiplayer support for the VR aerial combat game, and it's now left early access on Quest.

We initially covered eV Interactive's Dawn of Jets following its early access launch. Featuring ten different aircraft with the promise of more to come, this gives you a fully interactive cockpit with the stick, throttle, weapons systems, and more as you go dogfighting across the skies. Now, it's received online multiplayer alongside its full release.

Detailed further in a recent update post, Dawn of Jets' new multiplayer mode supports up to seven other friends in free-flight, deathmatch, and team-based matches. eV Interactive states more modes and missions are coming “in the future,” though a specific release window wasn't mentioned for these.

Multiplayer joins three previously available gameplay modes in Dawn of Jets. These include a Career mode with dozens of missions, alongside different Challenges where you compete for the top of the leaderboards across combat, race, and aviation scenarios. Finally, Flight mode lets you explore this world at a more leisurely pace.

Dawn of Jets is available now on the Meta Quest platform.

visionOS 26.2 brings official support for using Apple Vision Pro in cars and buses via improved tracking in Travel Mode.

Apple Vision Pro was the first headset to deliver a Travel Mode, meaning a toggle that makes its positional tracking system work while in a moving vehicle, when it launched in early 2024.

Since then, over the years, Meta, Pico, Snap, and Google have followed with their own implementations of Travel Mode for their headsets.

At launch, Apple's Travel Mode was specifically designed for airplanes. With visionOS 2 last year, it was updated to officially support trains. And now with visionOS 26.2, released last week, Apple Vision Pro officially supports cars and buses too.

"Travel Mode lets passengers use Apple Vision Pro on cars and busses in addition to airplanes and train", Apple's release notes read.

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I say "officially" because the feature did already work in these scenarios. When picking up Apple Vision Pro in New York at launch, I used its Travel Mode in the back of an Uber. It worked, with some minor jitter.

I'll be sure to try Apple Vision Pro's Travel Mode again next time I'm in a long distance Uber, Waymo, or bus, as I'm curious to see how much improvement the official support brings.

The update arrived on the same week that Google announced and started rolling out a Travel Mode for Android XR on Galaxy XR, which officially only supports planes.

Samsung Galaxy XR Gets Realistic Face-Tracked ‘Likeness’ Avatars

Samsung Galaxy XR’s Android XR now has a Persona-like realistic avatar system for video calls, called Likeness, as well as a Travel Mode and a built-in remote desktop app.

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GORN 2 received a new “dungeon brawler” mode in its winter-themed update on Quest, PC VR, and PlayStation VR2.

Now live on all platforms, GORN 2 is the comically over-the-top arena brawler where you battle the five sons of the God of the Afterlife after reaching your untimely demise. While the main campaign puts you into a series of arena fights as you defeat muscular gladiators, publisher Devolver Digital announced it's now received a dungeon crawler mode.

Appropriately known as the 'Dungeon Brawler' update, this also comes with various winter-themed additions like icy floors, new dungeon hazards, and the ability to freeze enemies. New weapons include hockey sticks, icicle swords, ice arrows, pitchforks and more, while developer Cortopia also introduced a jump button to leap over enemies.

New story content is also promised and this dungeon crawler mode features 25 unique rooms, with the studio confirming player and weapon modifiers can be found as you progress. Additional missions are also available for unlocking the dungeon crawler weapons.

This joins a growing list of seasonally themed updates that GORN 2 has received. October's 'Fight of the Living Dead' update celebrated Halloween by letting you fight the undead, also adding a crossbow, scythe, and a Resurrection Spire. That was followed last month by 'Shanksgiving' with its timed-exclusive 'Turkey Hunt' game mode.

GORN 2 is available now on Quest, Steam, and PlayStation VR2.

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GORN 2 offers a familiar but welcome sequel to the brutal VR arena fighter, and it’s out today on Quest and PC VR.

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DrakkenRidge gets a free expansion on Quest 3 and 3S, adding a new island, new enemies, and more.

Launched in September, DrakkenRidge is a retro-themed VR fantasy adventure that we favorably compared to old-school RuneScape in our impressions. As a Novice of the Mage Order, you're tasked with policing magic use across this land while exploring dungeons and solving puzzles. Now, it's received the Maruk's Hammer expansion as a free update.

While the main game sees you exploring five unique islands across the DrakkenRidge archipelago, Maruk's Hammer introduces a distant Dwarven Island that's home to a mythical Forge. With the island under siege from mysterious invaders and an ancient threat, you must fend off this threat to help the Dwarves defend their home and save the Forge.

This occurs over a multistep main quest, with four new side quests also available. You can find two new weapons, such as the talking 'Void Whisper' sword that's possessed by an ancient evil. New elemental arrows can also be crafted, while new enemies in this expansion include a new Dragon, a Frost Howl, Battlemages, and Corrupted Paladins.

It's the biggest update DrakkenRidge has received since its September launch, and Garage Collective previously released four separate updates. Patch 1.3 added a new distance grab ability and the option to summon weapons by grabbing from over your shoulder, while last month's Inventory Update delivered a new inventory layout and auto-sorting ability.

DrakkenRidge and the Maruk's Hammer update are out now on Quest 3/3S.

Pocket Lands delivers a promising new sandbox for building digital worlds, and it's out now in Early Access on Quest. Read on for our full impressions.

Creative minds always find a way to express their individuality, no matter the means at their disposal. Pen, paintbrush, digital tools. Video games such as Minecraft exploded in popularity through the freedom of shaping its voxel art world, to the point where people created futuristic spaceships, sprawling cities, and medieval towns by hand. If you build it, they will come, so the old quote goes. Pocket Lands aims to deliver a world-building sandbox to allow those with inspiration a new avenue to convey their imagination. It shows signs of a promising future, even if what's here in early access leaves me wanting.

A full-scale playground to design complex architectural ideas is not a new concept, as previously seen in cyubeVR and RealmCraft among others, yet Pocket Lands stands out for several small but defining features. The first is its flexible way to engage with your blank canvas, as the diorama is viewable from three different perspectives: a resizable island in mixed reality, as that same snippet of the world but with your surroundings covered, or a sprawling fully immersive mode where everything is rendered in the voxel world, even the day-night cycle. Snappy hand tracking or a controller quickly lets you see how expansive your imaginative kingdom is becoming.

Second is the fact that you can drop into your own world at any moment, going from a God-mode perspective to walking around next to your creations. This feeling, especially once laser-focused on more elaborate constructions, is a brilliant addition that inspires awe. That's helped by the ability to jump and, most importantly, fly around the map to look at the environment from another area. This entices you to perhaps add a new tower to your castle, mast to your airship, or neighboring skyscraper to your skyline.

Finally, no creative sandbox is complete without accessible building tools. From a quick 17-slide tutorial where Pocket Lands succinctly explains how it all works, the onboarding to pick up and play is as easy as it gets. Making the motion of grabbing a rectangle from two opposite sides lets you spawn a figure as long, wide, or short as you wish. A handy menu with over 25 full and half block types awaits to accommodate every type of building. Concrete, sand, wood, and lampshades are but a few foundations to build unique creations on. The calming music, ranging from medieval Oblivion-esque melodies to soothing piano sounds, instills a relaxing vibe in the creation process.

However, hand tracking feels a little hit or miss right now. There is a nifty feature that by tapping your thumb to your hand, you can “scroll” through the map as you would a smartphone, turning it yellow to signify selection. You can close your fist to move around the map, pinch to move the edges of the mixed reality diorama, or grab blocks and add new ones. But Pocket Lands doesn't always register when I stop making a fist gesture, only to end up on an entirely different side of the map. Or worse, the diorama itself ends up in another area of the room.

While Mountainborn Studios is aware of these false positives, the only current solution is to be gentle with the movements so that they can be properly registered to avoid such nuisances. A bit of comic relief against these issues is the addition of arm-swinging locomotion, which doesn't add much, but it's undoubtedly fun to make that primal motion while exploring. For the avoidance of doubt, artificial stick-based locomotion is also available.

I wish that I could do more in Pocket Lands right now. Yes, it's a wonderful Early Access release with all the aforementioned details. But I'd love to see more items, block types, and creatures added. Thankfully, the latter is in development, along with new biomes and multiplayer. It's a great playground for creative minds, one that hopes to fill a void after Microsoft abandoned VR support for Minecraft. Here’s hoping that this sturdy foundation builds a lasting legacy.

Pocket Lands is out now in Early Access for the Meta Quest platform.