It’s another week and so another accidental or maybe purposeful leak comes out from a quest 2 user. Redditor imlife1102 was given access to what seems to be the horizon home feature that was teased back in october of 2021 where your quest friends can join you in your home as their avatar. The reddit user was able to invite a friend into their home and they were able to move around in their space. I found it interesting that we could see their dashboard when they popped in. Nice animation by the way on the pop in. Im life did share that they were not on the public test channel so it was baked into the version 40 update that they recieved. We actually saw a hint of this feature back in the PTC for version 37 called co presence so this seems to be nearly ready for its release. 

To add to this VR code sleuth Samulia also found new strings of code in the recently released PTC for version 41 that looks to hint at creating new horizon profiles attached to your quest accounts. WIth one prompt in the code saying your horizon profile is how you appear and connect with others in VR. We’ll guide you through the steps to get setup. So it seems we might have a new profile process coming soon.

Maybe this is the answer to removing the need for a facebook account to use a quest headset but honestly I’m really not sure but the one positive is that it looks like you’ll be able to more easily change the name that you want to be called in VR according to this string of code here.

What other leaks are coming? Is this just marketing?

Getting a new quest? Get $30 free store credit on me by using my oculus quest coupon code: https://www.oculus.com/referrals/link/QuestQuickie/

My Favorite Oculus Quest 2 Accessories:

Quest 2: https://amzn.to/3PfvOi7

BOBO Battery Headstrap: https://amzn.to/3FvYVcw

Kiwi Pro Grip Covers: https://amzn.to/3l09346

VR Cover Facial Interface: https://amzn.to/3L1prf8

Meta's CTO Andrew Bosworth ran another AMA to answer some more of our project cambria questions, thoughts on VR field of view, working what its like working with Zuckerberg and more.

Getting a new quest? Get $30 free store credit on me by using my oculus quest coupon code: https://www.oculus.com/referrals/link/QuestQuickie/

My Favorite Oculus Quest 2 Accessories:

Quest 2: https://amzn.to/3PfvOi7

BOBO Battery Headstrap: https://amzn.to/3FvYVcw

Kiwi Pro Grip Covers: https://amzn.to/3l09346

VR Cover Facial Interface: https://amzn.to/3L1prf8

Today marks the release of the world beyond, a mixed reality demo from Meta for the quest 2 and the future project cambria headset.

To get started you will need to use the room setup feature found inside the settings tab under guardian. Once you are done setting up your room for mixed reality you can now search for the world beyond in the app store and you’ll find it under app lab or use this link here: https://www.oculus.com/experiences/quest/4873390506111025

When you jump in it’s a little confusing at first but soon a device comes up from the ground below you that turns your controller into a device when you grab it. 

You soon begin to hear some interesting noises and when you look in the correct spot you’ll see our new little mixed reality tomagatchi friend Oppy. 

Use the newly acquired controller device by clicking the trigger to turn it into a flashlight to search out the randomly placed energy balls throughout your room. 

Once you Pokémon catch ‘em all you can then shoot them from your gun and watch them bounce off your walls and around your room and then our little friend will eat them up and ask you to use voice commands to have opp jump, say hi, or come closer. And yes you can pet ole oppy. !

Once all your energy balls are shot here is where the true magic is revealed. The gun device turns into wall portal shooter where you can then turn your walls into the whimsical forest setting we saw in the project cambria highlight. You can reveal the full scene on all four of your walls and ceiling. No luck with the floor though. 

Next you’ll need to find a couple more energy balls for little oppy and then I’ll let you experience the ending. 

This is a fun demo and I’m excited where devs are going to take this new presence platform feature next. How beyond was your world after trying this demo? Let me know and I’ll catch you in the next quickie. 

Getting a new quest? Get $30 free store credit on me by using my oculus quest coupon code: https://www.oculus.com/referrals/link/QuestQuickie/

My Favorite Oculus Quest 2 Accessories:

Quest 2: https://amzn.to/3PfvOi7

BOBO Battery Headstrap: https://amzn.to/3FvYVcw

Kiwi Pro Grip Covers: https://amzn.to/3l09346

VR Cover Facial Interface: https://amzn.to/3L1prf8

Meta might seriously be interested in adding a VR cloud gaming feature to the Quest 2 because a quest user had it accidentally enabled on their headset.

Just over a month ago I made a video where it was found in old firmware code, version 24 back in february of 2020 to be exact that meta might be working on a cloud gaming service code named avalanche. This month there seems to be more light to that theory.

Reddit user technical throw away, nice user by the way, shared a screen grab and video that shows inside the experimental features tab in the settings menu an enable avalanche alpha function. Which matches the code that was found by firmware sleuth samula.. TTA posted that they pressed it and it said finding server for 20 seconds then loaded oculus home. For about 15 seconds it was a really decent framerate, but with a little bit of lag then a spinning ring came up and it stayed like that. 

Tech Trow Away updated their post saying “I've had access to this for a few days now and been trying to find out how to get it working.” When it worked, it was super smooth, but there was definitely noticeable lag between moving the controller and seeing it move. It only worked for 10 seconds, it was basically the same experience as airlink. I didn't get a chance to see what games were available on first launch though, sad face.

With this coming to life it shows that this has been on the oculus / meta’s radar back in 2020 Consulting CTO and Doom creator John Carmack had things to say about wireless and cloud gaming back for the Quest 2 launch.

Of course there are now services like plutosphere, and shadow pc out there that can kind of make this happen through a cloud networked PC connection but they are expensive and personally I’ve had trouble making them work. Speaking of expensive I wonder if this means an oculus pass plus is coming in the future and just how much would that be..

As we’ve learned meta likes to roll out new features quite randomly and scarcely. So this may have been a part of that or a total oopsie. Either way I’m excited for the possibility of official cloud gaming if they can get it right. What do you think? Let’s discuss below and I’ll catch you in the next quickie.

Getting a new quest? Get $30 free store credit on me by using my oculus quest coupon code: https://www.oculus.com/referrals/link/QuestQuickie/

My Favorite Oculus Quest 2 Accessories:

Quest 2: https://amzn.to/3PfvOi7

BOBO Battery Headstrap: https://amzn.to/3FvYVcw

Kiwi Pro Grip Covers: https://amzn.to/3l09346

VR Cover Facial Interface: https://amzn.to/3L1prf8

With the newest quest update version 40 an experimental feature landed on our headsets to prepare us for the upcoming mixed reality presence platform. Here is how to find it and set it up.

Inside your headset go to the quick settings menu on the left side of your home nav bar. Then hit the cog wheel for the settings menu and over to guardian. Under general scroll down to room setup dash experimental.

This will take you to a passthrough view, with a pop up box to setup your room in VR.. Hit continue to begin digitally marking your walls by first finding a bottom corner of a wall in your room and pulling the trigger to drop the first marker. I would suggest unlike me start with a wall that isn’t obstructed, then go ahead and pin the top of that corner to set the wall height. Next just mark the top corners of each of the surrounding walls until you connect back with your first corner and hit confirm.

If you’d like you can now outline your desk by marking the floor underneath the left side of your desk first, then the top left corner surface of your desk and then over to the right corner to set the width and then mark the back right corner to mark the depth. 

Feel free to also set up windows and doors by finding the top left corner then dragging to the bottom right corner of those areas.

Drop in a couch or in my case I used my office chair with the same directions as the desk and there you have it, your room is now set up for mixed reality.

Unfortunately the frustrating thing is as of recording this video there is no way to use the room you just set up.. A window pops up asking you to download the Mixed reality app zuck talked about in the project cambria highlight called the world beyond. But I can’t find it in the store, on mobile, desktop or in headset yet. I guess that is why this feature is still under experimental. Hopefully we will get to play with sweet little oppy soon. 

What do you hope to see make use of this room setup feature and the upcoming presence platform. Let me know in the comments and I’ll catch you in the next quickie

Getting a new quest? Get $30 free store credit on me by using my oculus quest coupon code: https://www.oculus.com/referrals/link/QuestQuickie/

My Favorite Oculus Quest 2Accessories:

Quest 2: https://amzn.to/3PfvOi7

BOBO Battery Headstrap: https://amzn.to/3FvYVcw

Kiwi Pro Grip Covers: https://amzn.to/3l09346

VR Cover Facial Interface: https://amzn.to/3L1prf8

Kiwi Designs hit me up and sent 5 quest accessories to try out and here are my thoughts.

Gone are the days of the rubber cover knuckle grips that you have to remove everytime you need to change out the battery. These grips completely replace your battery cover on your touch controllers by sliding and locking into the provided groove on the controller and then have a door accompanied by a pull tab to easily replace your battery.

The grippy material does feel premium and the knuckle strap itself has a nice soft rubber that I find very comfortable but If you want to rubber shame me there are two included velcro cloth wraps that can go over the grips. They also come with a ring coverfor extra protection which all gorilla tag players could use.

The extended length was something I needed to get used to but now I prefer it even though it makes it harder for me to pack with my headset into my case but thats a trade off I’m willing to make. Overall this is my favorite accessory from Kiwi and you can grab (these grips) from amazon right now on sale for $28 which is a steal in my opinion.

https://amzn.to/3GalTWY

Next up is Kiwi’s enhanced elite headstrap. We’ve all seen the defective cracks in the official elite strap and its lackluster adjustability Kiwi goes next level with the legit durable side straps and a comfortable head strap and skull pad. The strap padding is thicker than harry potter and the half blood prince, not really but you know what I mean and the skull pad is actually padded unlike the elite strap that is basically a styrofoam cup. Also it rotates at the speaker points for a more customizable fit. 

Pick this thick boy up for $44.

https://amzn.to/3wMBRCq

Number 3 is simple yet important. If you want the best fidelity and connection to your quest for playing PCVR games you need a link cable, and with the price tag of the official oculus link cable coming in at 80 freakin dollars you might be like me and just pass on it. But Kiwi came to the rescue with a $20 link cable, yes I said $20 that has the same 5 gigabyte per second transfer speeds and matching 16 feet of length. The only difference is that it is usb A to right angle usb c which I might argue as a pc user you have more A ports available than C. But if you are looking for a usb C version Kiwi has a 10 ft version for $18 and a 16ft for $60. Let’s just hope you have a usb A port available to get more bang for your buck. 

https://amzn.to/3wCZsqi

Next we have the new fitness facial interface, say that three times fast (3x) this kit comes with not one not two but threes different face pads. 2 leather foam pads for normal use and a sport pad for working out that is made for absorbing your sweat and more importantly it’s machine washable.

The nose guard is expanded to help even more with blocking light leaks and it comes with a glasses spacer in case you lost your original one. The foam feels great and I really like the option of the sweat sucker pad for those thrill of the fight sessions. This is rando but I really like that lens cover in this kit, its just easier to pull in and out of my headset.  Grab this upgraded face kit for $46 or get the more affordable version that leaves out the sweat sucker for $36

https://amzn.to/3lzMGCT

Speaking of fitness last but not least is the VR dumbbell weight for your touch controllers. Admittedly this is a niche product but if you want to challenge your beat saber or synth rider sessions this will do it. Slide in the bottom controller attachment and then the top and you can place however many of the 3 50gram weights into the slot and close the cover then slip on the protective cover. I will say you may want a controller grip for these because the top heavy weight does create an almost constant I’m about to drop my controllers feeling. Honestly these aren’t really for me but I can see the usefulness for anyone that wants to push their vr workout.

https://amzn.to/3lHLhu3

If you are interested in any of these products all the links are in the description below and feel free to ask questions in the comments and I’ll answer them. Thanks again to Kiwi for letting me check out these products