Playstation VR support will arrive for "Minecraft" later this month. Mojang Studios says a free VR support patch for the PS4 version of Minecraft will appear for anyone who owns the game. Yesterday's announcement comes after Sony unveiled discounts for various PSVR titles; the company plans to release updates shortly about games coming to PSVR.

About Minecraft in PSVR:

• PSVR support has been planned for the PS4 since Sony gave the OK to bring cross-platform play and the Bedrock version to PS4, says Roger Carpenter, Mojang's Minecraft EP.
• It will be "100% the same Minecraft game" that exists now but in VR, he confirmed.
• Players will use their PSVR headsets and Dualshock 4 controllers, not Move controllers. There will be two modes: Living Room or Immersive.
• "Minecraft" launched on the Oculus Rift and Gear VR in 2016 and Windows Mixed Reality headsets in 2017.
• Microsoft acquired Mojang in 2014. The company says game sales now exceed 200 million, with more people playing during the pandemic.

Sony's PSVR promotion:

• Starting at 7 a.m. PST Wednesday, Sony will offer discounts on PSVR games through Sept. 23, which you can find on the PS Store.
• The following games will be discounted:
  • Arizona Sunshine
  • Astro Bot Rescue Mission
  • Blood & Truth
  • Borderlands 2 VR
  • Everybody’s Golf VR
  • Farpoint
  • Firewall Zero Hour
  • L.A. Noire: The VR Case Files
  • Superhot VR
  • Tetris Effect
  • Until Dawn: Rush of Blood

Following recent leaks of the Oculus Quest 2, Facebook could discontinue the original Quest headset. At least two retailers — B&H Photo Video in the U.S. and U.K.-based Overclockers — have listed the Oculus Quest as discontinued, and a sales representative told Upload VR that no further shipments of the original Quest are now scheduled.

More:

• B&H Photo has since updated the Quest's status to backordered rather than discontinued.
• Facebook, which owns Oculus, is expected to announce a successor to the Quest at its Facebook Connect VR/AR conference on Sept. 16.
• Some reports speculate that the Quest 2 could also be released on that date. Facebook could phase out the original Quest - which has been sold out at many retailers - to accommodate the Quest 2.
• Last week, Walmart may have accidentally leaked the price and storage capacity of the Quest 2. A now-removed product listing for an "Oculus Point Reyes" shows 64GB and 256GB versions priced at $299 and $399, respectively.

VR Gaming News Roundup

Upcoming game releases

• Jon Favreau’s long-awaited "Gnomes & Goblins" VR experience will debut on Sept. 23.
• The PSVR version of Neat Corporation's "Budget Cuts" will release on Sept. 25.
• Survios' "The Walking Dead: Onslaught" is due out for PC VR and PSVR on Sept. 29.
• "Star Wars: Squadrons" will have VR support for PC and PS4 when it debuts on October 2...

NantWorks, a holding company founded by U.S. billionaire physician Patrick Soon-Shiong, filed a lawsuit accusing "Pokémon Go" maker Niantic of infringing on its patents for AR tech. NantWorks accused Niantic of using its technology in “Pokémon Go” and “Harry Potter: Wizards Unite” AR-based mobile games.

More:

• NantWorks filed the lawsuit Friday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Soon-Shiong, who invented the cancer drug Abraxane, founded NantWorks, a network of health startups, in 2007.
• The company claims it has researched AR tech for the last nine years and owns at least three patents for improvements to the technology, including a patent involving AR realism.
• Last week, Niantic partnered with eight 5G carriers to bring more AR experiences to more people. Through the Planet-Scale AR Alliance, Niantic will provide AR content to Deutsche Telekom, EE, Globe, Orange, SK Telecton, Softbank, TELUS, and Verizon, which will make the experiences available to customers via 5G handsets later this year.

University of Pennsylvania researchers created a VR training video to show how to administer naloxone to drug overdose victims. The VR training video was just as effective as an in-person training session in a study.

More:

• The training is geared toward everyone, not just healthcare professionals.
• The video displays an overdose victim who is slumped to the ground at the university's cafeteria. A bystander has naloxone in her purs and explains how to perform CPR-like breaths and administer naloxone, an opioid-reversal medicine. Paramedics later arrive to explain the treatment further.
• You can also use a mobile phone and cardboard headset to watch the video, or view it on YouTube without a headset.

In case you missed it: Racing simulator company CXC Simulation developed a custom VR simulator that mimics how it feels to drive a go-kart. The immersive racing technology incorporates haptic feedback via a VR headset.

More:

• CXC replicated the vibrations and physical effort to steer the kart, founder Chris Considine said.
• The system also includes two software-controlled fans to replicate wind simulation while racing.
• Los Angeles-based company CXC has developed full immersion automotive and flight simulators since 2007. The latest custom simulator isn't available for direct purchase.

Quick Hits

• The Oculus Rift S has returned as the most popular VR headset on Steam.
• A "Rec Room" user recreated levels of the PS4/PC game "Fall Guys" in VR.
• The global market for AR/VR contact lenses is expected to reach $1.74bn by 2025.
• Conga tapped into insights from tech-forward business leaders in order to create this fact-packed report: The State of Digital Document Transformation*

*This is sponsored content.

Tweet of the Day: VR enthusiast Lara Bucarey tried out the virtual Black Rock City in the Burning Man Multiverse, this year's digital alternative experience for the desert event.