STEREOSCOPE
Welcome to the STEREOSCOPE Podcast, the place where we dive deep into everything immersive video. From VR180, 3D360, Spatial Video, Volumetric to Photogrammetry, we cover it all. Our show is dedicated to covering the latest news, best practices, and workflows that are essential to the immersive video community. The VR industry has been a major force behind the rapid growth of this medium and we are excited to showcase how it impacts immersive video. Every episode, we feature two videos created by our talented community members to inspire and showcase the amazing work being done in this space. Join us on the next phase of cinema as we gaze through the STEREOSCOPE.
STEREOSCOPE
STEREOSCOPE SPOOKYcast Special Halloween Episode! Horror and GalaxyXR!
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Three horror fans suit up for a spooky VR tour through Resident Evil 4 VR, Exorcist Legion VR, Phasmophobia, and Blair Witch VR, then shift to a hands‑on breakdown of Samsung’s Galaxy XR specs, price, and promise. We weigh design choices, comfort, and whether premium headsets finally justify their cost.
• why VR amplifies horror with agency and presence
• Resident Evil 4 VR’s smart port and melee feel
• Exorcist Legion’s chapter format and ritual tools
• co‑op tension loops in Phasmophobia
• Blair Witch VR’s flashlight, camcorder, and Bullet
• PC VR vs standalone quality gaps narrowing
• Galaxy XR price, controllers, refresh rates
• panels, FOV, pass‑through, and comfort trade‑offs
• day‑one games, Netflix 4K, media codecs
• where Quest, AVP, and Galaxy XR diverge on value
All right, looks like this thing's running. I think this red lights, that's that's about all I know. Okay.
Spooky Setup And Episode Plan
SPEAKER_01Hello, and welcome to a very spooky edition of the stereoscope podcast. I'm the Wolfman. I'm Ghostface. I'm Jason. And uh well, we're we've got a a little bit something different here today.
SPEAKER_02We're we're shooting in our spooky dimension with our spooks and ghouls surrounding us, and we're gonna be talking about horror and horror in VR and how it sort of horror is amplified in every way in VR and sort of makes it a better experience, makes it more terrifying, and there's a lot of horror experiences out there. It's one of the reasons why I've been as interested in VR as I have been, is because it always had so many incredible horror experiences. We're also going to be doing the end of the show to talk about the Samsung Galaxy XR, which premiered yesterday, and pretty much it's the the the biggest meteor to come out of the VR industry in a while. Alright, so we're gonna start with the horror stuff first, and then we'll get into Samsung Galaxy XR later on. It's not spooky enough.
SPEAKER_00Yes, I'm I for one am terrified.
SPEAKER_02So, okay, first off, we've got a selection of VR games. This is not gonna be comprehensive in any measure, just things that I've played, that Sean have played, that Anthony have played, that we thought in some way sort of just stuck out or or had good experiences, that type of thing. There are literally, you know, probably dozens and dozens of horror experiences on the quest at this point. But over at one point there weren't that many. There were, you know, maybe a handful. Now there's probably like 30 to 40.
Why Horror Works So Well In VR
SPEAKER_02And the first one we're gonna talk about is a game that came out a couple years ago for exclusively for MetaQuest, and that's Resident Evil VR, the the remake of the original GameCube game, not the PlayStation 5 remake VR experience. This one is exclusive to MetaQuest, and it's a port, a VR port that was made by um in tandem with Meta of the original Resident Evil 4. So, Sean, you played a little bit of it. What did what did you think? Uh I was terrified. Pretty scary. I mean, Resident Evil 4 is already like a pretty It's iconic. Like it's very iconic. I mean, some people consider it the best survival
Resident Evil 4 VR On Quest
SPEAKER_02horror game of all time. I think it's more of a surviv survival action game, personally, but yeah, I've played the uh you know, I've been playing Resident Evil in different iterations, right?
SPEAKER_00There's there's the VR experience where you're like you're not kind of camera locked, you know, which I thought was interesting. But I have to say that the best part about Resident Evil is dying and like and seeing your body horribly mutilated.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and then kind of stepping outside of your phone. Well, I mean, and the crazy thing is that like when this first came out, this was not the first official VR Resident Evil game. So like Resident Evil and VR sort of goes along together, but this was the big one, and this was a really special game because it it's a really well-made port. Like, I've been playing Resident Evil, like I think my relationship with horror might actually go back to the first Resident Evil game. I played the first Resident Evil game on PlayStation. My buddy and I rented it from a Hollywood video in like 1997, and we played through the first disc with and that moment where the dog busts through the window in that hole in that first hallway. That is probably one of my most memorable gaming experiences. I know I can remember exactly where and when I was when that dog burst through the fucking window. Where were you? I was at my buddy's house in San Diego. Uh well, Chula Vista's circa. Chula Vista. Yeah, 97. And and it it's interesting because Resident Evil stretches so far back at this point. I mean, how many movies didn't they make? They made like six of them. That's right. A lot of uh real paycheck for uh Milo Jobovish. You guys ever see that first Resident Evil movie?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah, I think so.
SPEAKER_02Paul Paul Anderson. I think so. W.S. Anderson, not Paul Thomas Anderson. The the guy the the part where the guy gets like laser cut by the into meat, like little meat cubes.
SPEAKER_03Meat cubes.
SPEAKER_02It was inventive for it uh it's time, you know. Yeah, I mean pre-saw, it's just meat cubes. That first Resident Evil movie isn't too bad, but everything after that, oof. But yeah, well we don't we don't talk about that. We only live it. I mean we can talk about it, but do we want it?
SPEAKER_04No.
SPEAKER_02No, no, we don't have to. But what I'm saying is that like Resident Evil as a as a franchise is sort of uh goes hand in hand with video game horse. This is Resident Evil.
SPEAKER_04It's quintessential.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's quintessential. It's a it's it should be on VR, but this is Resident Evil the game we're playing is Resident Evil 4. Yeah. And I I missed the first three VRs. Well, I mean is it it's a part of the fourth, right, entry.
SPEAKER_02Well, technically in game three- you can play Resident Evil 2, 3 in VR on PC with uh mods.
SPEAKER_00In oh uh uh through like a three like three
Mods, Ports, And Janky Cutscenes
SPEAKER_00little point of view of the actual of like either.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so it's like some PC VR mods. But here's the thing, they're they're janky as hell. Like uh like your your movement is still like tied to the camera sometimes, so like it'll take control away from the camera, and all of a sudden you're gonna be like, oh my god, cutscenes are terrible. Yeah, and that's the thing is that like so like Resident Evil 4, the first Resident Evil VR game was uh Resident Evil 7 for the original PlayStation VR. It was never ported away. So like that experience, the Resident Evil 7 VR port for PSVR is still the only place where you can play that, which is really frustrating. Yeah, and that's that's sort of the the the really important thing about a lot of VR ports is no one's ever gonna pay them to be ported again, you know? So it's up to us. It's up to you. Well, in some ways, yeah, like the fans to sort of like hack it together through mods and stuff, which sometimes work, but sometimes the mods are you know they're not as slick as real games. And I mean you tried that uh Robocopy VR mod, which works pretty well until it doesn't, but it doesn't, yeah. And it's the same that thing it it's the same type of things with the the Resonable 7 VR mods where it's like part of it works, yeah, but then the part that wasn't designed for it goes real bad. Goes real bad real quick, exactly.
SPEAKER_03I was so impressed with what's the one that not Doom uh not Doom. What's the other one part that they've modded and you can play it? Uh oh, like Quake, but they also did Doom. Yeah, I think I think it's Quake G is the other one that I've mod that have gotten modded. Oh, yeah, yeah. And works really, really well.
SPEAKER_02Doom Doom Street. Yeah, yeah. Those are the uh the uh Mr. Dr. Beef ports.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, whoever did have was.
SPEAKER_02Well, so they've worked on Dr. Beef has worked on I think so. The there's a Doom mod, there's a Doom 3 mod that's really good, there's a quest standalone version, and there's a PC VR standalone version. There's Half-Life, there's Jedi Knight, Jedi Outfast. That that VR port is really good. We should cover that stuff. In fact, we should just do an entire episode about Team B ports. Uh they even have a return of capital Wolpenstein that that's also standalone. Quake one, quake two, quake three, though playing quake three in VR is that was an arena shooter. Yeah,
Classic FPS VR Ports And Comfort
SPEAKER_02yeah. So like if the movement speed is jacked up and you're doing all these crazy jumps and stuff, and yeah, you're flying like yeah, it's it's unsettling. It's like being in an earthquake. Vomit comet, yeah, you know, and me being a wolf man, you know.
SPEAKER_03Don't like to be in the sky.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I like I I like to state on the ground. You're not an indoor wallport.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you're on the ground. You're you're not you don't want to get stuck in the castle all night long.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And so like with Resident Evil 4, when it's when it finally launched, like that is a beloved game. So people are very critical about like, would the gameplay hold up? Is it too action-y, you know? And I think it actually translated to VR super well. Because like, if you want, because like there's a lot of melee combat in that game, and if somebody comes at you, just swipe them with your knife.
SPEAKER_00Yeah you know.
SPEAKER_02That's the other thing.
SPEAKER_00I thought it was a lot more fun to get to sit punt with your pants down, so to speak. You know? It's it's not the same thing as the uh don't go in that door because we're camera locked. It's yeah, oh, I knew this was gonna happen. And if you weren't ready for it, it's almost kind of a relief.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I mean some of those, like especially when you get cha chainsawed in half, that's pretty visceral.
SPEAKER_00Why is it still four? Like they they only ported four.
SPEAKER_02Well, because Resident Evil Resident Evil 4 is the only one that they could port and actually have it run well on the on the quest three. Yeah, I think it's a good one. Yeah. Yeah, so that's why. Because it was based on a GameCube game. It's a mystery. They could make it look good, but also run well enough on the hardware. They couldn't they couldn't port Resident Evil 2 or 3 or Village to the Quest 3 and have it actually run on mobile chipset. I mean they could, but it would have been really, really difficult.
SPEAKER_00I wonder if it's just the generation the that you're at. Like is it is it PS4 3 2? Which like which one was was Resident Evil 4 on?
SPEAKER_02It was on Resident Evil 2 PlayStation 2, GameCube, yeah. And then it got ported to like Xbox 360 and PS3. I'm just asking the big question. All right, yes, a very important question. Off track of this one. Okay, so generally the Resident Evil 4 gameplay, i it it's they did an incredible job of sort of translating the gameplay to VR. It's an excellent port. You should definitely check it out. It was probably playing somewhere around here, the footage of it. More likely maybe right here. And but it's an excellent game, highly recommended. Especially if you play it now with like Quest
Exorcist Legion VR’s Chaptered Terrors
SPEAKER_02Game Optimizer, it looks incredible. Because they they didn't really take do a Quest 3 port. It was just the regular Quest 2 version. They did some tweaks, but it can look a lot better with Quest Game Optimizer. So yeah, moving on. The Exorcist Legion VR. So this is another like old, old VR experience, but it's one of my favorites. It's based on so it's sort of like these chapters of exorcism experiences. There's five of them. I think they added a sixth one recently.
SPEAKER_00Exorcism experiences, as in you don't just get one exorcism, you get several exorcisms as part of the choose your own exorcism. Very much, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02You know, that bitch sucks cocks in hell.
SPEAKER_04Um yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, just more than one, right? So yeah. But it's it's actually based on not the first exorcist movie. They had the one what uh something weird that I noticed a few years ago is there's a lot of VR games based on horror movies. Like you've got like Paranortivity, The Lost Rights, or The Last Rights. Uh, you've got Blair Witch, which we'll talk about in a little bit. Different point of view. The Exorcist Legion. And the Exorcist Legion is actually in reference to Exorcist 3, which is one of my favorite horror movies, and I actually think it's better than the original Exorcist. Did you see Exorcist III? I did not. So it starts with Uno. So it it's about who has always seen the letter. You only needed one Exorcism. You've seen them all. Exorcist three is really good. It was uh directed by the guy who wrote the the novel, William J. Blady. And so this game has the license to that, so they can only really reference things in that movie.
SPEAKER_00Do you think the writer for this for the uh game? Is it several writers or just I don't know actually. We should really look that up. I mean at least I don't know. I'm gonna do my home work after we finish our exercise.
SPEAKER_02Well, anyways, the the game is you you play priest, and in the first chapter, you're sort of investigating your predecessors' experiences going around the globe looking for demons and like puzzu and all that. And you have these like weapons like a like a crucifix that shoots holy light and like like these like little capsules that have holy water and stuff, and then you're fighting this like pig demon, and everything goes wrong, and it's really, really intense and visceral. Yeah, and it all sort of like each one of these experiences, which is they're all about 15 minutes long, like you explore a place and you get like context clues, and then they ramp up into some like really intense bouts of like horror. Like there's one that later takes place in a sanitarium, and that that one's really cool where like the floor drops out and becomes fire, yeah. And this the the woman who's in the sanitarium who's possessed is like throwing you against the wall and stuff. It's very, very crazy. But this is another one of those things where like this was on the PSVR, the original PSVR, and it looked better on that. There was also PC release, but this version that we played on Quest 3 just now, that version is actually almost
Standalone Headsets Catch Up
SPEAKER_02the developers said is almost feature complete with the PC version now. So it looks as good as it ever did on PC VR on Quest 3 now. I think you can probably push some higher resolutions on PC VR, but in terms of like textures and stuff, yeah, it's still great though. It's still pretty much and that's that's a really interesting point in VR and generally like standalone headsets, is that we're getting to a point now where Yeah, we're getting to this point where you can take what what's old, make it new, but it's not just a it's not a gimmick. There's like Yeah, like there's this there's this legendary, like one of the first horror games that was ever released in VR, they just they did the same thing. They ported the original PC VR version to the headset, and it's almost exactly one-to-one complete. And so, like, as we're gonna talk about later, the Galaxy XR and stuff, oh yeah, standalone headsets are getting very, very impressive and almost like they're almost ex the device itself then. Like and quest three has already been like that for a while.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I mean if you write towards the actual hard one on the quest three, it looks great.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And if and if you're if you're tailoring experiences for that and knowing the limitations going in, it really helps you like I mean there's a couple games on like on Quest 3 that look absolutely stunning. It's only the ones that sort of like try to port and have a like a small team and that type of thing. Like I think most quest games at this point that are made with the hardware in mind look good. Yeah. It's most most mostly about like tailing your art style
PC VR vs Standalone: Blair Witch
SPEAKER_02and that type of thing. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, like we played um Blair Witch, Phasmophobia uh Exorcist, Legion. And those aren't ports, right?
SPEAKER_02Those are original like Yeah, all of those games you can play on the Quest 3. We we played just now both the PC VR versions of Phasmophobia and Blair Witch, but then at the end there we were playing the the mobile version, uh the standalone version of Blair Witch.
SPEAKER_03Oh, really? Wait, which is interesting to see the difference. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Uh I I'm sure you saw the details in the PC VR version were dramatically more textured. That is an example of because that that Blair Witch port came out in 2023. So like two two and a half years old at this point.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And even for the time, I think because Blueber Blueber team also did Layers of Fear Layers of Fear VR port, which is a pretty faithful, but also doesn't look as good. And they're also doing the that upcoming Star Trek infection game where you play like a Vulcan who gets infected and you have to go around the ship like mind melding with people. Lubber team is also doing this new Star Trek horror game that's coming out uh later this year.
SPEAKER_00Interesting.
SPEAKER_02Which seems pretty up my alley for sure.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's a really interesting way to structure a story like device.
SPEAKER_02It's yeah, yeah. A Star Trek horror game isn't really something that you're like really jumps out at you at first. But like, you know, there have been I mean, first contact is like half of a it's like a it's sort of a popular like a boring zombie film halfway.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and then there's like there's a third season of Strange New Worlds.
SPEAKER_02Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, for sure. Which is, you know, a little bit half baked with a writer's strike, but very heavy on on the cosmic horror.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, there's a lot of that. Seems like science fiction, fantasy, and horror are kind of close cousins. For sure. I mean alien, of course. Which I think is, yeah, like why maybe VR and horror connected like Event Horizon.
Star Trek Horror And Sci‑Fi Frights
SPEAKER_02Oh man, Event Horizon. A really good VR game or like something in that like realm.
SPEAKER_00Do you remember the Star Trek movie in the Culvin timeline where they went back and found Idris Elba?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, Star Trek Beyond.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, do you remember how like basically they had the same problem with Event Horizon? They kind of reached the edge of like known space, but everything was preserved and you would see like old screen panel like panels in the I forget which NX it was, but they looked like the same panels you would see in like a like today on like a Toyota Prius, like an old Prius. Sure. You know, it was horrifying.
SPEAKER_02I remember the first time I saw a Prius in the like a movie that took place in the future with like an old Prius, like was Children of Men. Yeah, yeah. And and it's got that old hippie guy who's put who's like driving around the like Prius from like 2004. Yeah, Michael Kane. Yeah, Michael Kane.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, yeah. And children of men. Historically accurate, those are like some of the most bulletproof cars. Really? Yeah. I mean, yeah, that gen that's gen 2 Prius, right? Yeah, yeah, there's still so many of them on the road.
SPEAKER_02I do see them occasionally around. I wonder what they're in. You said that they're it only costs like 500 bucks to replace their battery at this point.
SPEAKER_00Like that. You can find refurbished batteries online for free. Or hype, yeah, hybrid batteries and like full EV batteries.
SPEAKER_02But specifically the the Prius battery, you said it was like down to like 500 bucks. I saw some deals. That's crazy.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Wow. Not that you know, a cursory Google search for refurbished EV battery could save you a lot of money if you're if your battery just completely like walks out.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, but you're what's really scary, having your battery down to like 5%, and you need a charge.
SPEAKER_00I was just gonna say range anxiety.
SPEAKER_02Range anxiety, that's real scary.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but hey, you know, we do live in a civilization that's kind of default anxiety right now.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Ratchet it up.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02Causing,
Death Horizon Reloaded Co‑Op Chaos
SPEAKER_02you know, yeah, Halloween panic attacks, and that's it's good. It's great. Oh, the horror. Okay, moving on. Uh, we've also we played uh Death Horizon Reloaded. This is actually a game that Sean and I we used to play this all the time. So it's a multiplayer, it was like a quest game from like the I think even possibly the quest one era that got a quest two, and then they up they updated this game quite a bit. They would always do like new textures and stuff like that. It was pretty low stability, yeah, but the gameplay was decent. It was one of the first co-op you know VR shooters on the actual quest devices.
SPEAKER_00A lot of options of how to how to get maimed, get maimed, kill meme, you know, like you could dual wheels, dual wheel, yeah.
SPEAKER_02You could you could it was one of the people over the head with with crowbars and stuff. It was great.
SPEAKER_00Right, right, right. It was like a uh a hack or slash version of Half-Life, very minimal story.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, very, very minimal story. You would you would effectively go down these like hallways and there would just be like waves of zombies, and there'd be like every level there'd be like slightly better weapons, but you had a buddy with you, and so you could sort of take them on co-op mode.
SPEAKER_00I think it was one of the first co-op games where you they employed like the use of multiple points where you could have stuff. Yeah. Because in a you know, a horror apocalypse, you want to you want to pack the water rat pack and uh water boil your way to the stuff. Yeah, like zombie lab. We moved two. I was like, I I don't think it would be I think that's what got me through uh sleepless night in the middle of 2020. You know?
SPEAKER_02Fighting zombies. Yeah, fighting zombies is new buddy. Yeah. We also played uh we played Half-Life Alex during COVID for the first time. And do you remember the how we played it at first? The track this kind of gold frame.
SPEAKER_03So it's kind of people sent that.
SPEAKER_02Well, I did uh uh have uh a PC that was um I didn't get a uh PC that was uh Half-Life Alex capable until the end of 2020. The way we first played it when Alex first came out was over that uh a screening service, it was we played it on Shadow PC, which had a VR uh mode. You could get you could affect it to play VR games. And so we played this like compressed, uh highly latent found like version of Alex version of Alex. Yeah, where like you move your hand and like two almost two seconds later the game the game follows your hand. But we got pretty far. We got like almost halfway through the entire game. It was reliable. Um a little bit reliable uh build shadow. Uh I wonder if they've improved their uh VR implementation.
SPEAKER_00I think a lot
Phasmophobia’s Multiplayer Ghost Hunts
SPEAKER_00of the the tools that worked on Shadow moved into NVIDIA Geo Force now. Uh PlayStation.
SPEAKER_02The old meta has actually been working on like uh cloud rendered uh like screening service for a while, but they have and people they've implemented it in certain for certain users. Like what if one dude like showed up and he was like, Yeah, I was able to like launch into uh uh uh 15 uh uh Asgard Graft. He was able to log into the TC version of Asgard Graph over to Network. Was pretty sure that it was an active authorized incorrectly to do like I didn't do it, but I just filled up the meta iDo has been really trying to do um sort of testing the ground for like I use D4s now. I've I'm gonna do I've got D4 now subscribers and found it to like 1050 and um and I'm just gonna always keep it because it's only five bucks a month and it is an incredible service. Wow, you're granddaddied. Yeah, it's it's a lot more now. I think it's like 1099 now. You don't get my level. Oh my goodness. But like it's so like everything runs so buttery smooth, and it's you uh you can go up to like 1440p. They even have HDR enabled now. So like it's a pretty good, like pretty good value. Everything runs really well.
SPEAKER_00Have you been able to play have you been able to like we remember when we were we were playing Star Wars Squadrons? Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_02In 3D through the through that were slotted in VR is like one of my all-time favorite VR experiences. I think that was through the shadow. And I got really good. No, I I was playing locally. You were playing on Shadow. Yeah. Yeah. Because I didn't have a I didn't play. Because I had a PC at that point. And I actually got really, really good at that game to the point where it's like I was a top-ranked player for a while. Well, you know, uh you had good batting practice. Yeah. It was also like I used to play shout out to to Richard, one of the guys who worked on the X-Wing games, X Wing Alliance. I met him a couple years ago, and he's given me a lot of Lucasfilm merch or uh LucasArts merch that is totally games merch. I grew up with X-Wing Alliance, and it was one of my absolute favorite like games. You can play that in VR now. We should do an episode about that.
SPEAKER_04That's really cool. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. When uh when we get that Pedro Pascal comes back. But that Death Horizon game, it was impressive that it was able to get like that co-op experience running on a standalone headset in like you know, like 2022 or 2023 or whatever. Now there's countless co-op games. There's like there's even more like there's like Hunt Together, another Phasmophobia itself, which we're gonna talk about.
SPEAKER_00That's the thing, is Death Rising is limited to two-player co-op. But like if there was like a four-player like Phasmophobia, I think it actually goes up to four player. It does?
SPEAKER_02Oh, they've so they have they have added oh, I think it was always capable. We just didn't have four friends. What are we doing here?
unknownYes.
SPEAKER_02I mean, we can't have you have a headset. We could technically get four people in, but you know, we're adults. Yeah, still friends. Yeah. That's that it's like that that old meme, like your uh your Xbox friend profile, like the last time everyone logged on. It's like 10 years ago. Oh my gosh. Anyways, and so now next, we're gonna move on. Death Horizon Horizon, it's still a great game. They have another uh game that came out, it's like a cyberpunk themed one. I haven't picked it up, but it looks good.
Blair Witch VR: Flashlight, Dog, And Dread
SPEAKER_02Lots of value out of these games. They're usually pretty cheap, like less than 10 bucks. Phasmophobia. So this one is actually pretty legendary at this point. Phasmophobia launched during code, like in 2020 or 2021, I remember. And it is a wild one because Phasmophobia sort of like rocketed and became absurdly popular really quickly. It did, huh? It wasn't just uh Well, it was it had the streamer effect. Yeah, it had the like influencer effect where like streamers were playing it and like ah going crazy and stuff, and really just like so. Phasmophobia, if you know anything about it, it's playing right here. It is a ghost hunting game where like you have all the various ghost hunting devices from like real-world ghost hunting, like all those stupid shows.
SPEAKER_03Kind of like one of these, right?
SPEAKER_02I mean, less like that, but yes, in that vein. Less IP-centric. Yeah. Especially animated series-centric.
SPEAKER_00But really, like, yeah, all this equipment looks like ghost hunting. You know, you've got microphones, you've got uh flashlights, tapes. This is just as real as what they use.
SPEAKER_02That is just as real as what they use.
SPEAKER_00This is actually a 3D printed uh PKE meter from the real Ghostbusters. If you'd like more information, just drop the comment and uh I can send you the link to the uh yeah, they're an amazing artist, and they have uh thousands of these. Some of them are B-grid and on heavy discount. Ooh.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean like all the various devices that they use for ghost hunting, right? It's just it's like EM readers and like microphones and flashlights. In Phasmophobia, what you do is like you're trying to find different types of ghosts, and uh generally each type of ghost can be sensed by different types of creatures. Or uh sorry, uh different different type of tools. Tools, yeah. So like like a like a certain ghost will only be able to be detected by the em raider, but another one you can only see through the camcorder. And so like you go into the house and you like you like talk to the the ghosts and like try to eat them out, but if they don't like you, they'll kill you. And sometimes they they grab you and snap your neck, sometimes they eat your soul. But any slashing? I don't think there's any like Jason, yeah, sorry, it's more of an existential slashing. Yeah, but it's they slash your soul.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, all with with insane sound effects. Like there's this whole thing where I I'm not sure if it was the first game to employ spatial sound in a VR card.
SPEAKER_02It was definitely one of the first ones.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. But some of those I I this is what I read. I don't know if this is real or true or not, but that some of the sound some of the ways that it would like amp up the anxiety were you know, like subliminal sound like frequencies that are um that maybe the uh your dog could hear, but you know, we would we would just make us feel weird or something. I I I played that game. I mean like I I just having that as a thing in my head going in as as like suspension of disbelief.
SPEAKER_02Truly unsettling, you know? I mean it's designed to be a multiplayer game. So it's designed like for like each person to have different tech and then be like, oh, we need to use this one, blah blah blah. But you can play it single player and it's been ported to like everything now. I think there's even a flat version you can play. Like you can play it just with like a controller, and if if one of your friends doesn't have the R or whatever, it is pretty difficult to control that way. And I will say that the game, despite the fact that it has like single player mode, it's still like fairly clunky, and there's not really like a storyline at all. But uh it's still really fun and it's terrifying. It's like one of those games that every time I jump in, I'm gonna be like, I'm gonna play it for like two hours tonight, and then I play it for 45 minutes because I'm too scared. That's a big gas. It was a very significant, like all of these games are sort of like that except for maybe Death Horizon, where it's like a really good, good, good. Yeah. Death Horizon, lots of slashing. Yeah. In fact, I think you even get like a machete game. Nice. Yeah. Phasmophobia is great though, and strongly recommended. I think most of you probably have heard of it by now, but for those who haven't, check it out. And now this last one, this is actually one of my all-time favorite VR horror games. It's it's a game that I've bought different. I originally played the flat version on Xbox Game Pass when it was released exclusively to Game or uh Day and Date on Game Pass back in 2019, I think.
SPEAKER_04What is it?
SPEAKER_02It's Blair Witch VR. Yeah. So we've all played it. So this is an interesting one because it's based on the the Blair Witch like franchise IP, though it's only sort of like loosely connected to it. You do technically see like the Blair Witch and the the the titular cabin from the end of the first movie. It does make a terrifying return at the end of the game. But other than that, it's you're just lost in the woods.
SPEAKER_00It feels like thrice removed from the early version of the franchise.
SPEAKER_02Uh but I I there's also a dog. Oh yeah, bullet. So you have this dog companion that follows you around, you can like give him commands and stuff, and he follows you around the whole time. And it it would be the game would be a lot harder trudging around in that darkness without it, you know?
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02Anthony, you just experienced this. What what what'd you think?
SPEAKER_03I mean, I loved it. I loved it like talking about
Why VR Amplifies Fear
SPEAKER_03the flashlight.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, just in general, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I mean, the thing that makes the game work really, really well is the flashlight, in my opinion. I mean, partly because it is spooky all on its own, but I love the way it sort of narrows your surroundings and like you're only able to look at a couple of things at a time. It's a really good, like I like the cutscenes were great, actually, as well, like where they're like blurring. So there's a lot of like cinematic choices that were made in the game that I think play really, really well in VR. I love that the faces were blurred out and they're oh and the camera and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_02Like we pull up the camera function of that, like so it's it it's so this is an this is another blueberr team game, and and Blueberr. So when this came out, Bloob had been sort of in a rut. They'd been doing a lot of horror games. They came out with this game, the medium that was supposed to be like Silent Hill, but it wasn't scary enough. And so they're they're they're spelled B-L-O-O-B-E-R.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02So around this time, they're they got sort of caught up making all these like psychological horror games that may not be dealing with the psychological element particularly well or problematically. Uh I always thought those concerns were a little overwrought. Um example. Well, they all a couple of their games in a row dealt with mental illness in ways that were maybe like 2010s era of like kind of thoughts behind them, you know. I don't think it really affected the game that much. Anyways, so with this one, there it is a game largely about mental illness and uh the and PTSD. So like there's some very, very intense traumatic imagery and themes in this game, but there's also like a really, really great dog, dog and like foreboding atmosphere and also like use of the Blair Witch property. I think it's really well utilized here. And not over-utilized, and not overutilized because the gameplay largely stands on its own, but then incorporates the Blair Witch to sort of like because it's implied that the the witch is like is like manipulating you into doing stuff that you wouldn't normally do, which is the plot of the first two movies at least. Right, right. I guess the third movie as well. But really easy that the that the plot of every Salem is in lot. Yeah, and it's one of the it's another game where like you've got all these devices, like you've got like a cell phone and a wash talkie and a flashlight, and then the one of the really cool things about the game is you get a camcorder, and then there will be moments where you get these tapes, and you can rewind and fast forward time.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, the camcorder is another tool to detect like parts of the story and affect the story, but it's also like really interesting how they it's kind of an in-class.
SPEAKER_02And it's like a it's like a meta thing. It's sort of like uh you know, we've I've always said that screen screens inside of screens in VR, when utilized really well, can be a very, very compelling sort of uh meta deconstruction of our relationships to media. I thought you said screams inside of screams. Oh, well, maybe I did. I didn't. My eyebrows are and Blair Witch, it's it's not very long, it's only about maybe five hours long. Um it's not a lot of replayability uh factor, but I hadn't played it in a couple years, and so playing it again this year was really nice. And damn, it can be dark and very, very oppressive at times. It is one of the only games some people would call it like a walking simulator, uh, and that use that as like an epithet, but I don't know. I think I think it's got an incredible amount of atmosphere and dread. It's one of the only games that truly scares me still to this day, and I've played it all the way through twice. So yeah. Anyway, so like horror in general is really maximalized in VR, and I think it fits perfectly with the medium. There's you know, I think VR video, immersive video, really has hasn't explored horror too much. Faceless Lady was really good.
SPEAKER_03Faceless lady. I mean, anything that Eli Roth has been working on.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, any of the this the scare they're not all great, but they're they're not all great, but they're all at least well thought out and interesting. Like, I mean, they've all been like pushing boundaries, every every version is like yeah, they they're they're trying something out, even if it's sometimes it doesn't always work. At least they're doing something fresh with the medium. And Faceless Lady was absolutely that. It was like a breath of fresh air, and it seems like there's a lot more to explore in that medium, yeah. And I I just really hope that studios will keep funding that, and especially like if it's not locked behind an Apple Vision Pro walled garden, you know, where I think it it is important for them to deliver that type of content to the people. Apple? Apple specifically, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, well, you know, Apple was the first true horror. Remember that Apple that fell down, and then somebody had to pick it up, and oh my god, it just got or I'm sorry, oh my goodness. Anyway, you can you can you can Google it, just Google it.
SPEAKER_02You can Google something you can read in the Bible, yes.
Pivot To Samsung Galaxy XR
SPEAKER_02Anyways, so that's our section on horror NDR, and we're gonna make a pretty huge shift here because we did still want to talk about the the biggest news topic.
SPEAKER_03Sort of dropped while we were planning the last second, the last one.
SPEAKER_02I knew that they were gonna be announcing it. I didn't realize they were gonna literally release it, and like and also they originally said the the the rumors were that it was only going to be released in South Korea.
SPEAKER_03Right, because it's true. We talked about this, yeah.
SPEAKER_02But it looks like they scrapped that at the last second, which I think is probably for the best.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. They're talking about Samsung's Samsung XR. Yeah, so a company also based on three.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. Oh, excuse me. Galaxy, yeah, yeah, yeah. Not the phone. Not the phone. Where's Samsung? So this is uh Samsung and Google first standalone and start alone.
SPEAKER_01Standalone.
SPEAKER_02Uh the last time that Google and uh and Samsung were in the like VR space other than uh Samsung's um like PC VR headsets was like back in 2016 and 2017. And they were actually doing they were competitors at the time. They were doing the Samsung Gear VR and the Google Day Dream.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um like I might and now they're working on device together. Um I think it's really interesting because uh I had a Samsung Gear VR head of which if you remember was uh a little VR device that you would put your phone into. There are many um because they thought, you know, everybody's got just one of these like flat panel screens already on them. What if we just mass produced the little VR part? And it starts on the Mega Side. It wasn't great. It was a gateway drug. It was a gateway drug, it absolutely got me, you know. Yeah, you see a lot of the Goodwills these days. If that was my first VR one anyway. And then um uh Google, you know, also they they talked um Google followed them into the fray with their own version of it for uh Daydream, and less than a year later, Daydream was dead. Uh VR VR was dead. And um really it's unfolding. Even despite the fact that they uh what? It's it's uh it's it's it's or it's Halloween, it's dead. I thought you were doing a punch. But it is dead.
SPEAKER_00Um at this uh and kind of brought Samsung, Google, and pop-com their back together.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, they're they're reunion. They kissed, they made up, and they decided, hey, let's just let's launch a let's make a baby. Let's make a baby together.
Price, Controllers, And Trade‑Offs
SPEAKER_02And uh that baby is a Samsung Galaxy XR, which was released yesterday for eighteen hundred dollars USD. Which not including controllers, not including controllers, yeah, which are $250 extra. Um, too quick, Gemini. I will say there were some leaks the last year that's or earlier this year that said that the device was going to cost upwards of $2,000. I actually about six months ago, I said that I thought the price would be $1,800. You were on the money. I was right on the money, yeah. But that was I was I was never sure if they were even gonna make controllers though.
SPEAKER_05So yeah, why do we need the controllers?
SPEAKER_02$2,050, including controllers, that's still discovery.
SPEAKER_00It's a pretty pricey uh controllers Avenger.
SPEAKER_02Well, and that's the other thing. The controllers for Apple Vision Pro, the the dummy um big games uh PSR touch controllers, those are also $200.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, sure.
SPEAKER_02So Yeah, you know, in the the you gotta think about the price point.
SPEAKER_03Well, I mean, first of all, the controllers, you know, like that's gotta be where one of the places they're gonna make up some of the profit margin. Yeah. Those controllers don't need to be $250. Yeah, they're maybe $50.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, like I wonder if they're gonna be some third-party versions of the same old, you know, like if if there's because they're already available from Samsung, I don't think I don't think it's gonna happen.
SPEAKER_02Because like like Anthony's saying, that's that's probably how they're making a lot of their money back by pricing the prices.
SPEAKER_03Accessories, so it's always accessories, yeah. That's a damn sound.
SPEAKER_02It seems very clear to me at the $1,800 price point, because I was expecting it to be recently within the last three months, I expected it to be $2,200. It's very clear that they're hitting a very aggressive price point, especially knowing what tech is in the device compared to the Apple Vision Pro.
SPEAKER_03Which still brings up my biggest issue with it. And it's like it's probably a non-issue, but it bothers me on a visceral level that it's basic it's got basically the same processor as the quest three. It's like a slightly enhanced version of the quest three's processor. Yeah. And it's been years. Here's the thing, though.
SPEAKER_02And there isn't anything else.
SPEAKER_03I I there literally isn't another But it's hard to spend it's like, okay, the quest three is 500 bucks, and this is four times that price, effectively. So it's still half of an AVP without the with foveated.
SPEAKER_02Here's the thing is that it's it's got about 15%, 15 to 20% extra processing power over the quest three, but it also has dynamic foveated rendering. Foveated to be able to eat out another 15 to 20 percent out of that.
SPEAKER_00And so what's a trade-off between an AVP and and like it's the reverse, right? Like you're getting more pixels, but you're not getting as much power. What you're paying for in the device, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Is that ultra high resolution panel in the Galaxy XR? Because it is.
SPEAKER_03If all the you know, so many things have to come together. Like, this is definitely not a spec sheet product. Like we were kind of talking about how it's not a spec sheet market, it is a spec sheet product, it feels like. So I'm curious to see what it actually is. Because there was this thing that we're talking about earlier that like if you want to get 90 frames per second, or yeah, there were there was something I put a support ticket into.
SPEAKER_02When I when I first was looking at the 90 hertz, 90 hertz yesterday, there was something really that that stuck out to me that was really sort of very strange, and it's right
Specs, Refresh Rates, And Eye Tracking
SPEAKER_02here. The refresh rate on the device supports 60 hertz, 72 hertz, which is the default, and then 90 hertz up to upon service request. Yeah. And that last line is very troubling. Yeah. Because I will say, and everyone who knows VR technology, 90 really is where you want to be. 72 is a legacy thing. It's like that's like the least possible that is good. And the current yes, the current define understand real quick. Yeah, the the current understanding about the technology is that 120 hertz is when it you stop getting motion sick. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Peace soup.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you end up looking like the extra.
SPEAKER_00So staying below 120 uh for an extended period of time, at least for me, has been just whack wow. What a what a what a wonderful night that was. Drinking and and and thinking about, you know, try, you know, it but getting what are you talking about? I I get sick at uh at below 90.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I'm so like this is something like we've talked about it before. I still I've been using a VR for you know 10 plus years now. I still get sim sickness and VR sickness from games and some videos and stuff. Anthony, seems like you get less for some reason. Seems like you get effectively the same as me. It's because I don't get behind the wheel that way.
SPEAKER_00You know, like also sim sickness, we should we should clarify. It's not like sim sickness, electronic arts, sim sickness.
SPEAKER_01This is like sim sickness four. Yeah. Moving forward and backward. Well, you can pick three.
SPEAKER_02It feels like you're speaking simlish. Yeah, yeah, yeah. A different language. I think they understand that you can get sick at uh with these. Well, we're saying that like only having 90 hertz of uh available upon a like service ticket request, what does that even mean? Is that is it mean that running the panel above that isn't sub isn't like supported via the warranty or something?
SPEAKER_03Or like my guess is it's gonna greatly impact battery life, and they wanted to keep a certain number for battery life.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and running that and and this is another thing, is that like if they can barely push this many pixels, why did they run with a higher with a better space? With so many more pixels and than even the Apple Vision Pro.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Because right here, it's that the it's got 3552 by 3840, 27 million pixels. Yeah. That's I think like 30% more than even the Apple Vision Pro. My eyebrows are raised. That's totally unnecessary if your if your chipset is that much do it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03That that much power differential between the Apple Vision Pro. So this is my like fear with this headset. That's why I'm waiting on reviews. I want to see like more and more about it because it seems like they went for numbers and not necessarily explaining.
SPEAKER_02I will say, I am still very, very interested in it. And that's I mean, I am too, but I am doing it. There's two there's two reasons why. Is that the quest is a great device, but it is held back by the panels in it and by its lack of eye tracking. Those two things together, if they if if Quest 3 had just maybe been $100 more and shipped with eye tracking and slightly better panels, I think none of this would have mattered.
SPEAKER_03They would have won the generation by the problem is they already done they had already done the Quest Pro, which flopped for the same reason I'm worried about this one because they used last year's processor, yesterday's processor in the Pro. And most likely whatever the next Quest device is, there probably won't be another Quest Pro. But I think there's even rumors that they might not even do Quest anymore. It'll just be like they'll have one headset and the next version will be that, and the next version will be, you know, a quest three or four, whatever. Maybe the same processor, but with eye tracking and they might.
SPEAKER_02And that the quest four, if it ever comes, which I actually think that they will always have a quest device. I mean, I think it's their I think it's their flagship.
SPEAKER_03It's got name recognition. That's the thing.
SPEAKER_02Like that's but what they will do is they'll let other manufacturers iterate with Horizon OS running the same software.
SPEAKER_03But I'm just curious to see, are we gonna see something nine-tenths as good as the Galaxy XR next year or whatever coming from Meta for $800 or something like that?
SPEAKER_02I don't think they're ever gonna, at least with this device, I think Meta has seen that they can charge more, and so they're going to.
SPEAKER_03Yep. But have they though? Because like they've sold way fewer quest threes than they have quest twos because of the price difference. But what did they but like to your point?
SPEAKER_02Well, probably with one new headset next year. However, they've sold they've sold a shitload of three S's.
SPEAKER_03Right. They're still not in any twos, yeah, right? Because like it pr it that is the price point, the price sensitivity. It's not so much because the Quest III S is now basically what the Quest II won, right?
SPEAKER_02I mean, we'll we'll we'll really see how much the VR market over time because here's the thing, is like just in general, nobody's making $200 anything anymore.
SPEAKER_03Fair enough. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And like even the switch is $449 now. You know, switch two is $449. Yeah. And so like even even low-end consumer electronics devices can't even get into the $300 market anymore. Right. And I think what's what's really clear is that Meta is able to make so much back on attach attachment rates, because supposedly Quest devices have one of the highest software attachment rates of any consumer electronic devices, which I think is really fascinating, that they're really willing to undercut that price. However, I don't think they're going to be able to deliver at those prices for much longer, just in in terms of just like where the entire market is going. Like, I don't think we'll ever see another Quest device for less than 300 bucks after the Quest 3S.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Could be. I don't know. Yeah. Since their their game seems to be like selling games and subsetting the headset, the
FOV, Comfort, And Use Cases
SPEAKER_03headset from that stuff.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And that's where they're selling the most headsets.
SPEAKER_02There are a lot of other interesting things here. Like it's it ships with 16 gigabytes of memory and uh 256 gigabytes of storage. The storage is really sort of questionable there because if you're taking all these like 3D photos and videos even on the device, that stuff is huge. I mean, 3D video is much bigger than regular video.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So I guess I I actually didn't see if there was any confirmation that you can even take 3D photos on the device. I would assume you can.
SPEAKER_00I just haven't heard anything explicitly mentioned about it. Do you even do we even know if like that has a HDMI pass-through?
SPEAKER_02Oh and like like so I so there is a USB port on the top of the device. It does not allow charging. The only way you can charge the device is through the mandatory attached dongle. The headset itself does not have any internal battery. So if you remove that battery, the device stops working.
SPEAKER_03Oh, that's interesting because I thought not hot swappable. That was the whole rumor. That was like, okay, cool, it's gonna be hot swappable.
SPEAKER_02That's a great differentiator from the MVP. It can be charged while playing, though, yeah, by any 45 watt charger. So it is not hot swappable, which sucks. That stinks, yeah. I think the I think the hot swappable rumor was for steam frame.
SPEAKER_03I mean, we talked because I was actually going over the last podcast we just showed when we talked about it for this today.
SPEAKER_02Okay, well, I guess we were wrong. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Well, everybody was clear. It wasn't our rumor.
SPEAKER_02And it's it's sort of silly. Why not just put a small battery in there, you know, like uh I sometimes the design discussions are really bad.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. Put a hundred milliamp hour battery, just enough to go click click, you know, like just to do this.
SPEAKER_02Uh there is a USB port on the top of top right of the device on the sport thing, and it is not does not allow for charging. It is a data port. We don't know anything else about the data port. I highly doubt that it's got display port at.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I mean, mostly just because I don't think that they can run the device at in a way. If they put display port in there, people would expect something out of that device to do something in a specific way. And until we get confirmation, which I strongly doubt is going to be confirmed because yeah, it might be one of those things that works, but like only somebody's gonna be like, Oh, I found out that it works, you can do this. Well, it's like the the HDM, the HDMI HDMI link on quest three, that's a hack. Yeah, like they they enabled that after the fact. Yeah. So they might be able to do something like that with this port. I don't know. That'll have to do with like so many unknowns at this point.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_02So here was something that was interesting is that the field of view is 109 degrees horizontal and 100 degrees vertical. Compare that to S3 field of view. It has 110 for horizontal field of view, so it's only one degree less horizontal. What is the vertical? Not a square? Not a square, what do you mean?
SPEAKER_03Like not it's not the same, you know, horizontal and vertical.
SPEAKER_02Oh, so that's interesting. Yeah, it's actually more than the quest three vertical. Because it says the quest three has a vertical field of view view of 96 degrees. So it's got slightly less to the side, only one degree less, and more vertical.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02It's always which means it's got much better field of view than the Apple Vision Pro.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Apple Vision Pro has wide field of view horizontal, but I think it's like a hundred degree or uh it's like 90 degrees field of view. Something like that. Vertical. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Those five to ten degrees are the difference between like being in a in a field and seeing like the sun kind of getting in your eyes in the real world, and then that happening in you know, is is that is that Little is that the difference?
SPEAKER_03I don't I you know the I haven't done enough headsets and gone back and forth. I feel like either way, those few degrees are probably not that noticeable.
SPEAKER_02Like probably not.
SPEAKER_03I've never been like, whoa, the Apple Vision Pro's got way less field of view than the quest, you know.
SPEAKER_02Like it's always been well I've noticed I definitely have noticed the vertical build-up.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. But I can't say that I have. But I have to go back and forth with the intention of looking for that, you know.
SPEAKER_00I only bring that up because I I think this is like a productivity product. I don't think it's a cinema product.
SPEAKER_03It's if they did that they're trying to do both. I think they're actually trying to do both. Like, I mean, that AVP is definitely like geared towards productivity. And then, you know, we listened to a comment earlier that they say like nobody's buying headsets for productivity, right? So this seems like they're going for a little bit of that and then plenty of entertainment. Like, hence the controllers, hence all the game support, hence YouTube support. Yeah, I mean, Netflix is gonna be 4K. Day one. That's true. So they have a lot more like third-party support than anything else, really,
Apps, Games, And Media Support
SPEAKER_03at this point. Like, this will be the only headset you can just buy that you can watch like Netflix through their app in 4K on, which is bonkers.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean, out of the box, day one, there are almost 20 VR games that are available for Android XR. Like, just read them off here. NFL Pro era, inside job. Okay, it's inside job. Only a couple simulator. It's from the same people who made job simulator, yeah.
SPEAKER_00These are all Android XR games. Are these Android XR?
SPEAKER_02Okay, so here's every Galaxy XR game. Arizona Sunshine remake and Arizona Sunshine 2. Asteroid. Oh, this is interesting. This is this actually comes with the device if you buy it. It's a immersive film experience with Ron Perlman, Haley Stanfield, and DK Metcalf. It's a group of strangers risk everything by flying an old rocket to mine a near-earth asteroid. Hmm. Yeah, so it's like a immersive VR game experience thing. That's pretty cool. Brink Traveler, Broken Spectre Director's Cut. That game got really good reviews. I haven't checked it out yet. Uh new RTS called Crystal Commanders. I actually saw this. I saw it on the meta store before I saw it announced on so it looks like they announced it on both platforms at the same time. And then Cubism, classic, Demio. I love Demio, such a fun game. I never played enough. Right. Yeah. Drunken Bar Fight, another classic. Enigmo, which looks like a 2D puzzle game. Exercise Your Demons. Fit XR. Fit XR is also a classic. I use that. I well, I need to be using it for it, but I told you. Flappy XR, God of Riffs, uh looks like some like a music-based action game. Green Hell VR, I played that. It's fun. Inside Job. Looks like a new game from oh, it's a mixed reality game from creators of Job Simulator, which that should be fun.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so I'm convinced this is actually not a gaming device.
SPEAKER_02Job Simulator, Blazer Matrix. Actually, wait a minute. Like it is Mirrorscape, looks like a horror game, NFL Pro era, which actually comes with the purchase of the device. No more rainbows, pencil, real VR fishing, SoulSpire, Synth Riders. Love Synth Riders. Synth Riders is an absolute amazing day one purchase game. Love it. I lost 20 pounds during COVID playing synthwriters. Curious Tail, Thrasher, Titan Isles, and you're getting on this walkabout mini golf. Yeah. Okay. Yep. And so this is absolutely a gaming device if you have the controllers. Yeah. Though I think actually a lot of those games uh probably do some decent hand tracking on certain things. Well, I mean, if you're gonna have a bunch of your experiences launched day one, you want them to be usable on your device without especially because they sold out of the controllers immediately.
SPEAKER_03Exactly.
SPEAKER_02Why wouldn't anyone just want to? It seems to me like this device is really trying to be multiple things. It's trying to be a video watching device, thus the the panels. And also I saw that it supports HGR 10 and HLG.
SPEAKER_03Hmm. Interesting. All right. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Hybrid.
SPEAKER_03Log hyperlog M, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03What is that? It's like an expanded, it's like it's hard to explain very quickly, but it's like it's a way of doing it's like Rec 709, but expanded, so it's like kind of a the crop across between Rec 709 and like log video. You get higher highlights basically. Yeah. Brighter highlights. But it's so it's it's kind of it's in the same realm as HDR. Like it's just hyperlog. So you can just get more gap. On their on their camera? No, it's just that's why it's that's why I said interesting, because I've only ever seen hyperlog gamma as a camera capture setting, not a display setting. Yeah, but I'm starting to see it more here and there, so it might mean something slightly different in the display world versus capture.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, be new to me.
SPEAKER_03The Sony thing.
SPEAKER_02It's trying to be a lot of so oh also supposedly the pass-through cameras are very, very high resolution, but like they're more high resolution than it costs. Uh someone compared them to the pass-through cameras on the Apple Vision Pro, but they said the color accuracy was much more accurate than on Apple Vision Pro.
SPEAKER_03That's good. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And then it's got like just drag and drop prescription inserts that you don't have to purchase at the time of the device and aren't tied to a device, which I think that whole system on Apple Vision Pro, like, why didn't they just do that? Like chartables? It doesn't make sense. Yeah, like much like my headset.
SPEAKER_03It does stink, but remember it was always supposed to be like a developer device.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_03That was it was that's why it was so custom out of the gate. It is frustrating because people want to want the device, but yes, that stinks. The fact that you have to like get a seal that's custom to your face, which it's kind of a cool thing, but then again, yeah, handing it off to somebody else or even selling the thing becomes an issue.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, right. Well, yeah, why would I want to randomly hand my Apple Vision Pro to my friend the one developer?
SPEAKER_02So it supports and also for the front. It's like supports 8k 60 frames per second video, which I mean probably supports more than that if it's doing immersive video. That's actually something that we are we haven't been sure about is what are the upper limits of its immersive video playback capabilities? Like it does say here that it it supports H263, H264, H E V C, MV H E V C, MPEG 4, VC1, VP8, VP9, and AV1. So MBHEVC, so will it support Apple immersive video? Probably
Pass‑Through, Optics, And Fit
SPEAKER_02not.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, well, I mean Apple won't support them, right? So it's like, but you know, it might be hit up, but it might be giving like that's good though, because like if you're creating, if you have an Earth sermersive and you're creating for the Apple pipeline, and you can just be like, oh, this also works for Android XR, that's great. So if they're adopting the the standard, then that's cool.
SPEAKER_02MBHB, MBHBC. Yeah. And it also says it's got all of the like immersive, like many, many audio playback formats, including including Dolby Digital, AC3, Adolby Digital Plus, and Dolby Atmos at launch. That's cool.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So I tried out that blue, the the Blumhouse thing, and man, the spatial audio in that with the Dolby Atmos was well done. Nice. Like that was the most impressive thing about the entire thing was the Atmos literally felt like it was pixel perfect. Nice. Like it came from exactly the source. Right. Uh it was the best, probably the most impressive audio that I'd ever heard in VR in that Blumhouse Four thing. Hmm. And it so also the the headset has Bluetooth 5.4, Wi-Fi 7. So that Wi-Fi 7 thing, that's actually a new deal. Because if you have a Wi-Fi 7 router, you can get that latency down to like some of the lowest I've ever seen. Yeah. Mind you still based on what your rendering time is. So like, and out of the box, this uh Android XR supports virtual desktop and PC link. So like you'll just be able to have a virtual monitor or play virtual desktop day one.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. It it does it with like the Prism X Arbigue. Or like we're shame enough Wi-Fi 6 right now. And you and we had issues.
SPEAKER_02Well, that's more of the implementation of their website.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. This is not a good criticism of Wi-Fi 6.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. Seriously. Wi-Fi 6, I I get great late latency with Wi-Fi 6.
SPEAKER_03I don't even have problems. I'm not even on Wi-Fi 6. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Uh just saying because, well, yeah, what's interesting here is 70 millimeter innered pupillary. I mean, I'm at 6. I'm actually 6'9. Oh, so you can't get that in the quest. Yeah. You can't? No. I can't get there. It's one of the reasons I honestly didn't even get prescriptive lenses, which I wouldn't be able to insert with like the new ones that you, the ones you have that are magnetic or cool. It's like, well, if my pupillary distance isn't going to work, then why would I do that? So it's uh it's opening up a market there. Where what do you mean?
SPEAKER_02Uh when you get your eyes exam- I don't know if anyone here has, you know, it glasses, but the quest three, the it's got pancake lenses, so the sweet spot is all the way up to the edges. So it doesn't matter what if I uh change the PD. I mean you should put it as far out as you can, but you should still be fine. So even with the pancake lens.
SPEAKER_00So why is there a PD? Uh adjustment.
SPEAKER_02That's just it's it's like a it's like a default. It's so that people with like 74 like don't use it. That's just like the ext the extremes. You're still within the house. It's interesting. I always thought you needed to adjust that in order to like it's I mean you should adjust it, yeah. But it's like as long as you have it all the way far, all the way out, you should be fine. So the quest only goes up to like 65. Well, that's for the actual in between, but you can s like I said, the yeah, the pancake lenses have sweet spots all the way up to almost the outer edge. Okay. Anyways, tax important. So it's also here's the other thing
Weight, Comfort, And Competition
SPEAKER_02is that it's 1.2 pounds. So it's dramatically lighter than the Apple Vision Pro. Yeah. And this is every price, everyone that's mentioned this has said it is much, much, much more comfortable and lighter, literally lighter than the Apple Vision Pro.
SPEAKER_00Wait, wait, wait, wait. Give me back slightly back to vision correction. It's like, does it have the same thing that the vision, like a Veter does, where you can adjust the diopter on your lensers?
SPEAKER_02No, no, it doesn't have myopia correction. It doesn't? No. Okay. Well, that and the myopia correction on those glasses isn't even a good implementation because I have myopia and astigmatism.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And it doesn't affect furrostigmatism at all. But even the myopia adjustment didn't work in the way that I wanted it to. So when I would try to get it plugged in, it still didn't work. Interesting. Yeah. Okay. Well, moving on. Yeah. So it's much lighter. It seems like it's generally everyone who said it's just it just feels better to wear.
SPEAKER_03Which is even more significant because the sort of whatever the refresh of the AVP is actually like 150 grams heavier.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And it I did read that that it's because of the tungsten insert. Did you hear about this? So the head strap, the extra weight that you're talking about, yeah, actually comes from flexible tungsten that they put in the mesh on the back of the headset as counterweight. Interesting. However, I'm a little dubious about that.
SPEAKER_03I mean, that it makes more sense than like somehow the chip is heavier. I mean, that's all they changed was the chip.
SPEAKER_02No, from what I read or I was watching tested a review of it, and they said that the new head strap makes Apple Version Pro much more comfortable. Yeah. So it seems like now, now that the Galaxy XR is out, all the AI stuff, whatever, I don't care about that stuff at all. It seems like we finally have a well-rounded device that can stand toe-to-toe with at least the other devices on the market in some ways. I would say personally, probably most ways. I haven't used the device yet, so I don't know. This is all speculative.
SPEAKER_03We have a lot of, yeah.
SPEAKER_02I am definitely interested in getting one. We'll see what reviews are, what the prices end up looking like. And I also want to see how many, how many people return it? Because as we know with Apple Vision Pro, everyone that we know that had one returned it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. To be fair, a lot of those just influencers doing their thing and then returning it. That's true. Yeah. But I know like somebody like Adam is a better example of that. Well, as I mostly was talking about. He really wanted to like work.
SPEAKER_02Like, is is uh mo is motion persistence going to be an issue on this device as well?
SPEAKER_03Right. Exactly.
SPEAKER_02It's using similar panel tech, so yeah, you'd hope not.
SPEAKER_03You'd hope that after a few years they got it, but yeah, there's a lot of wait and see, I think, on this one.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03But I'm excited. I mean, I want it to be good.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I want it to be good too, especially at that better price point, because $1,800 is a lot easier to stomach from $3,400. And especially if this, if this if this is ever gonna stop being like an enthusiast market, we have to have better products. And mind you, obviously, this is four times the cost of the Quest 3, but it's also a device that I think has a much
What Consumers Will Actually Buy
SPEAKER_02more there's much more you can do with it with it in the ways that the device was designed to do. Yeah like the HDR implementation. So it's excellent for watching videos, it's powerful enough to play games that look better than quest three games, you know. That'll be another proof of the pudding is how good do games look with dynamic fobriated rendering on this device. I would imagine that they probably look like low spec PC or mid-spec PC versus like the quest version of the game. Yeah. It's not gonna you you're not you don't have a 3080 in there or a 5090. So you're not you might be you actually might be able to get 30 performance, but definitely not 5090 performance. So it's very much a wait, wait and see type of situation, but I'm excited. I like the price point, and uh it's really gonna be interesting to see what the larger market looks at. How the the basic consumer looks at this spice. Is it gonna be something that they care about at all? You know, the economy is pretty rocky right now.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And I think $1,800 on even $1,800 on a face computer, a lot of people are gonna might say is unreasonable.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's definitely pushing the bounce for me. You know, yeah. If it's if it was like awesome, awesome, then sure. But like, yeah, yeah, um, yeah, that's why I gotta wait and see.
SPEAKER_02I mean, and then we'll also see what the steam frame is gonna look like. I mean, the the rumors are that it's going into mass production right now. So it's it's definitely an interesting time because it seems like all the the um the refresh of the Apple Vision Pro Steam Frame eventually and this being here right now is the the next year is going to be really interesting for VR to see how it evolves with this new tech. But also are consumers gonna be able to afford it.
SPEAKER_03But this is all despite you know all the journalists going VR is dead for the hundredth time, you know.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and clearly these things are still moving and stuff like that. I don't I never put a lot of faith into those things. Well, it's just it's it's it's like a trope at this point. It's very much a trope.
SPEAKER_03I don't know what to write about. Let's talk about VR being dead again.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so I think that's that's sort of it for our spooky episode.
Closing Thoughts And Sign‑Off
SPEAKER_02Woo! Hope you guys like it. It's pretty spooky. Pretty spooky. Yeah, got these costumes. All right, and that being said, for the stereoscope podcast spooky edition, I'm the Wolfman. And ghost face.
SPEAKER_01Jason!
SPEAKER_03Figure out how to turn this thing off you.
Podcasts we love
Check out these other fine podcasts recommended by us, not an algorithm.
