Walker Industries is a company made up of VR makers. In the Kickstarter video, the head of the company says that he had the dream of building a headset since when he was like 13 years old and was watching Sword Art Online. 9 years later, he’s trying to make his dream reality, by building himself together with a bunch of other talented nerds a fully opensource headset packed with features: the Vector Gear.

In today's email from Bigscreen, with the recent news of Valve selling its last remaining stock of Valve Index headset and accessories, they reached out to HTC to ask if 2.0 lighthouses will be discontinued. They responded saying there is no future plan to retire base stations.

Next Fest is a chance for players to go hands-on with anticipated upcoming games while developers get a boost in visibility, potential wishlists, and invaluable feedback to help shape their projects as they approach a release date.

Some of the participating games released demos prior to the start of Next Fest, like Rustmourne, The Rifted Skies, Drifters: Blackout Crew, and RAID VR. Co-op heist shooter Payday: Aces High will have a demo available with two playable heists after its closed playtest in August.

Please note that this list was provided two weeks ago by Valve and is subject to change. Developers can drop out of Next Fest if their demo is not ready or release a demo on short notice.

Valve confirmed with PC Gamer (via Skarred Ghost) that it’s working on a new headstrap with hot-swappable batteries and Balanced Mode Radiator (BMR) drivers which are said to match the off-ear speakers seen in Valve Index.

Index, which was just discontinued, has long been the audio bar for VR headsets since its release in 2019.

Get your tickets here for the cope train. Next stop: the future!

We’ll cut to the chase: Valve is working on a mid-gen refresh of the Steam Frame, codenamed “Plano”, that is mainly characterized by a pair of new displays. The panel they’re using has a resolution of 3552×3840 per eye and appears to be OLED. It supports up to 90 Hz, although Valve has been experimenting with getting 120 Hz working.

This information comes from the Steam Frame kernel source code that was recently made public by Valve, which has been kindly mirrored to GitHub by the good folks at evlaV. Among this repository are many branches, including some specifically for the upcoming Plano device. From this, we can figure out that Plano began development on the “deckard-oled” branch on December 17, 2025, ended on February 9, 2026, and then resumed on another branch called “deckard-plano” from March 3, 2026 to October 2, 2026, just a few weeks ago!

Valve Index is no longer being produced, which means this could be your last chance to get new stock of the company’s landmark PC VR headset.

Everything is now 20 percent off on the Valve Index page, including:

Valve Index Headset was $499.00, now $399.20
Valve Index Replacement Left Controller was $149.00, now $119.20
Valve Index Replacement Tether was $129.00, now $103.20

If you’re in the US, you’ll notice that Valve is only now selling left replacement controllers. If you’re in the UK or EU, you should still be able to buy both left and right.

Notably, the biggest missing piece is the required SteamVR 2.0 base stations, which give Valve Index six degrees of freedom (6DOF) by emitting lasers. You can find those direct from HTC, priced at $229 for a single unit.

Getting a Steam Frame for the holidays could be a bit dicey, as Valve says the order queue has now stretched into 2027.

Valve says in a news update that customers hoping to get their hands on Steam Frame, the recently launched standalone VR headset, can now view their expected order window by going directly to the Steam Frame product page while logged in to your Steam account.

Order emails are being sent out either by December or in 2027, Valve says, with those in the 2027 camp due to receive further information on their expected order timing by January.

As for customers who haven’t made it out of the interminable waiting list, Valve says that info will be sent out if spots open up; places on the waiting list are sequential, so the later you join, the further you are down the list.

Pico and TikTok owner ByteDance first mentioned the existence of its next headset during a presentation in November 2025, revealing some key specifications. The company then publicly teased the device back in March, calling it 'Project Swan'.

Pico said the headset will have micro-OLED panels with 4000 pixels per inch (PPI), a dual-chip architecture with a self-developed coprocessor for computer vision and image processing, and a new main processor that will have twice the CPU and GPU performance of the Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 in today's Pico 4 Ultra and Meta Quest 3 headsets. It also detailed many of the visionOS-like features of Pico OS 6 and the RealityKit-like Pico Spatial Engine.

There's a new Humble Beyond Reality VR Bundle with an interesting set of sci-fi games to grab.

Bundle pricing: $5 / £4.53 for 2 games, $10 / £9.07 for 5 games, or $15 / £13.60 for all 7. All are Steam keys and must be activated before April 28th, 2027. Here's all the games included:

Blair Witch VR - Mixed (69%)
Z.O.N.A Project X VR - Mostly Positive (76%)
Z.O.N.A: Origin - Very Positive (83%)
Layers of Fear VR - Mostly Positive (71%)
A Rogue Escape - Mostly Positive (72%)
Star Trek: Infection - Mixed (65%)
Homeworld: Vast Reaches - 9 user reviews (no overall rating yet)

Getting the immediate question out of the way, yes, the Titanfall 2 VR mod is as great as advertised. Rather than a barely-performant, deeply flawed, subpar "early version" mod that wouldn't qualify for early access status if it were an actual game, like many of the vibe coded VR mods that popped up over the summer (yes, I played several of them), the TF2 mod feels like a finished product out of the gate.

We will have another article soon from a writer who had never played Titanfall 2 prior to the mod that gets into what makes it great. Having previously played the game myself, I cannot offer that perspective.

Much like Steam Frame, Crystal Pro’s major focus is on wireless PC VR streaming, which Pimax says is built around its own Native Foveated Streaming tech.

PC VR streaming can be done via the included Wi-Fi 6E adapter, although the headset also supports an optional 60G AirLink kit, which uses a two-antenna, 2×2 multi-input multi-output (MIMO) design on the 60GHz band.

Arcturus Vision Camera is an add-on module for Steam Frame which greatly enhances its passthrough camera quality. The obvious visual improvement, tiny size, and reasonable price make it easy to recommend.

In the course of my decade plus of using VR headsets and various accessories, I can’t think of any that were as straightforwardly recommendable as the Arcturus Vision Camera.

Usually that’s because VR headset accessories (especially those which directly interface with the headset’s software) have at least one major downside. Either they’re too big, too expensive, too niche, or just don’t work as well as you hoped.

The Arcturus Vision Camera is the exception to that trend. It’s not just tiny (a mere 10 grams), reasonably priced ($150), easy to use (plug-and-play), and does what it promises; it also fits Frame so perfectly that you’d swear it was a first-party accessory directly from Valve.

Meta has finally unveiled its next-gen mixed reality headset, Meta VR Glasses. While they could technically fit somewhere in its Quest lineup, Meta seems to be making a concerted effort to bridge the gap between its experimental augmented reality projects, like Orion, and its much bulkier Quest gaming platform.

Previously known as ‘Project Phoenix’, Meta VR Glasses are a compute puck-tethered device which are going on sale sometime in Spring 2027, priced at $1,300. You can check out the full specs and launch details here.

I got a hands-on preview of VR Glasses at Meta’s big annual Connect developer conference, giving me a chance to get to grips with the new gaze and hand gesture-based UI, get an early feel for ergonomics, and experience the most pixel-dense display Meta has ever sold.

Meta VR Glasses were just officially announced. Priced at $1300, they have 2.4K micro-OLED displays, weigh 100 grams, and are powered by a tethered puck with Qualcomm's Snapdragon Reality Elite chipset.

The puck runs the same operating system as Quest 3, and supports all the same content, rendered at notably higher resolution thanks to a combination of the more powerful chipset (essentially an XR2 Gen 3 by a different name) and eye-tracked foveated rendering.

The only caveat to that is that Meta VR Glasses do not come with controllers by default, but you can buy Touch Plus controllers separately (available in a new all-black color), or pair the controllers from your existing Quest 3 or Quest 3S, and there'll be a bundle with controllers "in some retail channels".

What do we expect? Rumors tip a pair of camera-free glasses for those who want to avoid the "pervert glasses" stigma. Instead, the wearer will reportedly talk to Meta AI by pressing a button on the side of the glasses.

Meta might also be ready to finally unveil its Project Phoenix mixed reality glasses. Earlier this month, UploadVR reported that Meta's free HorizonOS Prescription Lens app included "the first clear visuals" of the headset in the firmware, showing "a slim headset with glasses-style nose pads instead of a face interface, with sensors visible on the sides and undersides of the temples."

Android XR Bridge (AXRB) is an experimental software runtime for Windows which allows you to run Android-based VR applications made for Meta Quest on your PC. It's notable in that it allows you to play Quest exclusives in 4K (per eye) and high frames per second using the full power of your gaming PC.

While early versions of the program yielded pretty terrible results, recent updates have enabled 4K per eye rendering at 120 FPS, as demonstrated in a recent social media post from AXRB's developer, which shows Pinball FX VR running at said specs.

Resolution Games, in collaboration with Hasbros’ Wizards of the Coast, today launched its next adventure campaign for Demeo x Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked (2025).

Called ‘Campaign III: Twilight’s End’, the newest adventure for Battlemarked’s comes alongside the game’s debut on Xbox, which is notably allows for cross-platform multiplayer across PC VR, Quest, console, and PC.

‘Twilight’s End’, which is priced at $10, brings the story that began in ‘Embers of Chaos’ and continued through ‘Crown of Frost’ to its dramatic conclusion.

“For the first time, players can experience the complete journey from the dangers of Neverwinter Wood and Icewind Dale through the final battle for the fate of Faerûn,” Resolution Games says.

At 1 p.m. Friday I ignored my Mac and iPad to record a podcast with VR investor Tipatat Chennavasin using Chromium downloaded from Flathub in Linux on the Steam Frame. I attached my USB microphone through a hub to the USB-C port on the back of the headset.

My preferred USB hub is $20 on Amazon with key features I’ve found useful for standalone VR headsets. The hub passes through power, includes a four foot USB-C extension for plugging into the main device, and it includes both USB-A ports and a USB-C port for additional accessories. I put a yellow sticker next to the USB-C power-in port so it’s easy to see in passthrough which one to connect for additional juice. I prefer the hub because it solves multiple VR usability issues when used in tandem with a shoulder bag. I usually wear the shoulder bag while in VR with additional accessories at the ready. The headset also goes back inside when not in use. I use a folding keyboard when I need to type more than a few letters into a virtual keyboard and a battery pack to eliminate power anxiety without adding head weight. VR headsets should be cared for like a combination of camera and glasses, so I store Steam Frame in a Good VR bag to protect it from dust and scrapes inside of the larger shoulder bag.

For my podcast recording, I turned off sharing my view to Chrome so I wouldn’t violate my embargo by showing Chennavasin through the high resolution color passthrough of the Arcturus Industries’ $149 Vision Camera plugged into the nose port. I connected over Bluetooth to AirPods Pro 2 to avoid audio feedback into the microphone. No longer thinking about the presence of a laptop meant putting the microphone closer to my face while keeping the podcast settings window at a more comfortable viewing angle.

In the afternoon on Friday I wrote an article in Steam Frame using the folding keyboard and emailed Good Virtual Reality subscribers breaking news about Moss development studio Polyarc laying off dozens of employees. A few hours later it hurt to see Polyarc’s games in the “Great on Frame” section of Steam. At dusk I shot 60 frames per second 5K HDR spatial video in Central Park. That’s double the frame rate Apple Vision Pro captures.

By 1 a.m. Saturday I had filled roughly half the internal storage of the headset with downloaded apps, games, and recorded video. I lay down in my physical bed while also in City 17 from Half-Life: Alyx. I had Chrome tabs open so I could switch between streaming TV or movies from either Disney Plus, HBO Max or Apple TV+ subscription services floating in the air.

I ended the day putting the headset into the drawer next to my bed.

Valve just officially revealed Steam Frame's price, announced that it comes with standalone Half-Life: Alyx, and opened reservations to secure a unit.

First revealed 10 months ago, Steam Frame is a "streaming-first" standalone VR headset with a USB dongle in the box that creates a point-to-point wireless connection between your PC and the headset.

Steam Frame comes in two storage variants, a 256GB model for $1059 or a 1TB model for $1299.

Both storage SKUs come with the headset, tracked controllers, and USB dongle.

To be clear, though, the headset has a microSD card slot, so you aren't limited to the onboard storage.

Linus Tech Tips’ secondary channel ShortCircuit appears to have jumped the gun on publishing its first impressions and unboxing of Steam Frame, suggesting we’re truly now right around the corner from launch.

Valve’s first standalone headset is coming very soon, it seems, as the LTT side channel ShortCircuit mistakenly released its unboxing and first impressions video yesterday.

Entitled ‘Our first 30 mins with the steam frame’, the video was quickly made private, although some users had just enough time to grab the video and rehost it across the Internet.