Panasonic revealed an updated design of its lightweight, tethered VR glasses at CES 2021. The tweaks include cameras for inside out 6DoF tracking and dual 2.6K micro-OLED panels with High-Dynamic Range (HDR) capability and 120Hz support.

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• The company first revealed the prototype at last year's CES. The newest version now includes “optical technologies used in LUMIX digital cameras."
• The glasses would connect to PCs or 5G smartphones via a USB-C cable. They would be compatible with SteamVR for gaming and social apps.
• UploadVR called them "very promising enhancements to the glasses," which it speculates could "find a market as an ultra-comfortable passive media viewer."
• Panasonic hasn't said when it might release the glasses or how much they would cost.

Pollen Robotics' Reachy Robot can now be controlled with VR. The French startup revealed some new updates for the humanoid robot at CES, including the teleoperation functionality using a VR headset and controllers.

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• Users could control Reachy remotely to perform tasks such as picking up and placing objects. The robot can "learn from the demonstration of the humans who control it," aiding in app development.
• In addition to VR functionality, Pollen updated its cameras and onboard computer.
• Reachy, an open-source robotics platform, costs $17K and is geared toward robotics research.

Also at CES, Sony announced an immersive concert experience for Oculus and PSVR starring singer-songwriter Madison Beer. The virtual performance features a digitized version of Beer transposed into Sony's concert hall venue in New York City.

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• Beer performs a medley of songs from her upcoming debut album, “Life Support," in the experience due out sometime this winter. The album itself is due out on Feb. 26.
• "While it still looks like ultra-sophisticated animation, it’s getting closer every year to looking like real life," Variety reports.
• Watch how Beer was digitally recreated in this video:

Indie developer DrBeef and his crew have released a port of Doom 3 to Oculus. Doom3Quest, out now on SideQuest, was modified to work on Oculus Quest 1 and 2.

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• The game has updated graphics, fully tracked VR weapons, and a 12-hour campaign that's identical to the original.
• DrBeef, aka Simon Brown, also developed the "Doom," "Quake," "Half-Life," and "Wolfenstein VR" mods.
• Users will need to have SideQuest installed on their PCs to run Doom3Quest. They also need to buy a copy of Doom 3 (not the BFG edition) from Steam, which is $4.99.
• Full instructions are available here.

Rec Room has officially surpassed 1 million active VR users every month. The free-to-play game/social meeting space says around half of its users are on Oculus Quest 2.

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• The platform surpassed 2 million annual VR users only last month. The pandemic and October release of the Quest 2 likely played a huge role in the recent uptick.
• Its active daily users in VR spends 2.7 hours, on average, when they visit, according to designer Shawn Whiting.
• Last month, Rec Room has raised $20M for its virtual hangout universe, which allows users to create virtual rooms, games, and objects and interact with friends worldwide. The company plans to scale up its tools for creators and make them more accessible.
• Rec Room is available in both VR and 2D versions for Steam, Oculus, PS4, iOS, and more.

In case you missed it: Oculus is accepting feedback on how to improve its Quest platform. This includes everything from first-party apps to the Oculus mobile app and settings menu. Oculus asks users to do their best to submit original ideas, rather than ones already proposed (like these below).

Some current suggestions:

• Make the "Asgard's Wrath" offer available for every Quest 2 owner, rather than only recent customers.
• Update the Netflix app to HD and current standards.
• Bring the native Gallery app for viewing videos/photos to the Quest 2.
• Allow multiple user profiles so people can share and demo the Quest.
• Add the option to run Quest 2 at 120Hz.
• Remove the Facebook login requirement.

• This company raised $9.3M to help orgs gift employees with glamping trips, Peloton bikes, and virtual sommelier lessons. Check out Blueboard's Experience menu.*
• Dutch startup SenseGlove launched its Nova haptic feedback gloves for VR training at yesterday's CES.
• The animated VR film "Baba Yaga" for Oculus Quest and Quest 2 and VR movie "Battlescar" for Quest and SteamVR headsets are both launching this Thursday, Jan. 14.
• Apple received a patent for technology that would enable its future AR Glasses to unlock all Apple devices in close range.
• A Redditor used the VORPX program to convert Cyberpunk 2077's visuals to VR.
• Over 30,000 companies are building their eCommerce apps all without writing a single line of code.*

*This is a sponsored post.

Tweet of the Day: VR enthusiast @ToastyHere shared this "must have" VR accessory 😉