Last week we were at CES 2023 to try out the latest VR and AR tech, and I was excited to
see how much there was to try.
I saw the near future of our industry with the first consumer-ready haptic gloves, new
gloves that can replace our motion controllers entirely, an anti-motion sickness device,
an optics solution that has the potential to be game-changing, electrically stimulated
suit that actually made me feel pain, a bunch of new VR headsets and more...
Hi, I'm Cas, and there was so much XR stuff I could try that I could not fit everything
in this video.
So today, I wanted to highlight some of my favorite things.
Some of the things I talk about deserve their own video, so that's coming later.
Subscribe for that, as that supports us a lot as well!
As a thank you, here's a picture of my kitty.
The first of my highlights is NeuroSync's C-Infinity.
We wouldn't have been able to cover CES like this without them as they sponsored our trip!
So a huge thanks to them for supporting the channel today.
The C-Inifinity is an anti-motion sickness device that can gradually give you your VR
legs.
They have neuroscientists on their team that have discovered a way to solve the simulator
sickness problem for most people.
Motion sickness is a huge problem in our industry as it's the only thing that could instantly
scare people off from VR forever.
I got better over the years, but I can still get sick so I was the perfect test subject.
But next to this, the C-Infinity is also a huge controller you can use to play any flat
game.
They've been working closely with LukeRoss and his mods.
So I tried multiple games during my time there; one was Cyberpunk in VR.
How it works is that if you want to move forward and backward, you pull or push the arms.
To turn, you use your own body.
The rest is just done with buttons, and honestly, it felt great.
One of the things that still makes me feel sick is smooth turning, but I didn't have
any problems here.
Of course, I only tried it briefly each day.
The team told me it would take some more time to gain my VR legs, so I'm excited to review
this unit later.
I think these guys are doing god's work!
So keep an eye out for them; links are below.
Next on the list is the new bHaptics TactGlove.
You might know them from their haptic vests.
They're now coming with the first consumer-ready wireless haptic gloves.
A light and stretchy fabric with 10 LRA motors, three different sizes, and using Bluetooth,
it connects to your VR headset and lets you feel what you're touching with vibrations.
They had a new demo this time which was impressive.
Basically, they've modified Meta's First Hands experience, which was already a great demo
on its own.
And it worked so well with the gloves.
My individual fingers were tracked better, and the extra vibrations added another layer
of immersion.
Since you can use it with their other products, it really starts to feel like Ready Player
One is coming to life.
You can get one for 299 dollars with a release date in February and pre-orders begin this
month.
I also got to try the Diver-X VR gloves.
You might remember this company from this...
Which, unfortunately, was canceled, but they did it professionally.
Now, they're working on the ContactGlove, and it's unique because it not only has haptic
feedback and hand tracking but also has button input, just like conventional VR controllers.
So you can use them to replace motion controllers entirely and play any SteamVR game.
They had an early version at CES, and I could play The Lab, a free SteamVR game, and I thought
it already worked great.
It takes some time to get used to, but I can see the potential here.
Many gloves only allow you to play hand-tracked games but being able to use them to play regular
VR games is very interesting.
Okay, so don't confuse these haptic gloves with force feedback gloves like the ones by
HaptX.
These gloves can track fingers and vibrate too, but next to that, it also pulls back
on your fingers a bit to make you feel resistance.
By applying just the right amount of force, it allows you to feel the size and shapes
of virtual objects and even the difference between textures, and that's precisely what
I could feel during my demo.
I've tried force feedback gloves in the past, and this one has always been on my bucketlist.
But unfortunately I have to say all these force feedback gloves are right now not for
consumers.
They're all currently focused on the enterprise and are really expensive.
But I'm happy I finally got to try it!
I mean these kinds of technologies are mind-blowing, and I hope we'll see them become a standard
item in our VR home arsenal some day.
I also tried two new haptic vests!
Like this one by Skinetic.
This vest is equipped with 20 voice-coil motors all over the torso and can provide a wide
variety of tactile sensations.
Initially, I wasn't excited because there are just so many of these vests now, but I
was surprised because it felt stronger than other haptic vests I've tried, even with the
fewer motors on this vest.
Playing Half-Life Alyx was a really fun time, and I honestly didn't want to stop playing.
It will start shipping in May this year, but this vest isn't cheap at 750 dollars and I
am kinda doubting if it's going to be worth the price.
The following vest I tried is absolutely crazy, as it actually hurt a bit.
It's an electrically stimulated vest and uses an algorithm that modifies nine different
wave parameters for you to feel infinite sensations.
The interesting thing is that it feels different from vests that give vibrational feedback.
Here, I could actually feel the sensation of something going through my body, like getting
stabbed.
I guess that's the electricity going everywhere.
You can also set the intensity yourself, and at some point, I could feel pain.
Of course, you don't have to set it that high, and when it's at your favorite level, it feels
really immersive.
I was really really really surprised, and I think this is my favorite haptic vest now.
Also, the price isn't bad; you can get one for under 500 dollars and you can preorder
one right now for even lower than that.
You might remember the TeslaSuit, which is also electrically stimulated, but it's enterprise-focused,
and it ONLY cost THIRTEEN THOUSAND dollars...
-.^
If you're new to VR, there's one thing you have to know.
Us VR enthusiasts are obsessed with making our experiences as real as possible hence,
why almost all these products are about making it more immersive.
We'll continue in a bit, but now I wanted to show you a new accessory by AUBIKA.
I went by their booth, and there was this Alien head there that you could use as a headset
stand and a charging station.
It's still in prototype, but the goal is to eventually have three different USB-C outputs
that can charge up to 120 watts.
If you lift the top, you can also put the controllers there or anything else you want.
This stand should fit most VR headsets, and I thought it looked really cool, so I thought
I'd share it.
Next on the list is OVR's Wearable Scent Technology.
Inside is a single, universal Scentware cartridge that produces thousands of unique digital
aromas.
You can mix and match yourself to create new scents too and then share it with friends
or family or your followers.
In my demo, they showed me a couple of scenes in VR.
I smelled a burning campfire, marshmallows, lavender, and new scents I didn't recognize.
I was kinda amazed at how accurate it all smelled.
Like I recognized it immediately.
You might also remember the FeelReal, which never came to life because it was seen as
a Vaping product and couldn't get FDA approved.
OVR's scent accessory isn't vaping, but they have told me they aren't approved yet.
One to watch if you're interested in these things but keep in mind that with new technology
like these, developer adoption might be the biggest challenge
Shiftall, Panasonic's subsidiary, has also been very active.
They've already shown us they could suppress our voices, give us full body tracking without
needing base stations, and a Steampunk-like VR headset (more about that later).
This time, they announced a new VR controller called the FlipVR.
It's interesting because the controls can be flipped to the back of the hand with a
simple twist of the wrist, allowing you to have your hand free to do other things like
drinking.
Now before we move on to the last part, VR headsets.
We also found something else that has the potential to be game-changing.
Ant Reality's optics solution has up to 120 degrees field of view & active shutter to
switch between AR and VR modes.
Current AR glasses have a small FOV, so the edges of the screen are very visible.
The field of view here was the widest I've ever seen in AR glasses, and I couldn't find
the edges as quickly here.
Plus, it's such a small form factor; I mean, it just fits in glasses.
So that ability to cut out ambient light and change into VR mode means we might get some
insane mixed-reality headsets in the future.
So I'm really excited about this.
So yes, I finally got to try the Shiftall MeganeX.
I fell in love with the Steampunk-like design when I first heard about it in 2020, and since
then, I'm happy to see it's actually releasing this year, although at a steep price of 1700
US dollars.
Ouch.
What they say is unique about this headset is that it's ultra-lightweight and has a 5.2K
micro OLED display.
Almost no other headset uses this display yet and it has great-looking visuals, but
I was disappointed at a few things.
First, the comfort as I had some trouble keeping it on my head.
It was also blurry and I could not get it sharp easily.
Also, the headset seems too expensive and just a little too late.
Many headsets are now getting more comfortable, smaller, and are cheaper.
There's even one coming up under NDA, which I think will knock this one out of the park.
So it's hard to recommend.
I also tried the Pimax Crystal again, and it's better than I expected initially, given
past Pimax disappointments.
It has an impressive, crispy display at 35/42 PPD and didn't have any weird visual things
like they had before in other headsets.
The specs are a bit crazy, too, as it supports inside-out tracking, SteamVR tracking, and
even has a standalone mode.
I tried it twice; the last time was during VRDays, where I tried the SteamVR tracking,
and now I could try the inside-out tracking, which works, but I must say, it's not great
yet as I could easily find some dead spots.
Pimax says these are the things they're currently fixing by software.
Unfortunately, there's no standalone demo yet.
However, they did let me try something upcoming that is very promising, but I'm not allowed
to talk about it yet.
More about that, hopefully soon.
For now, I'm glad the headset works and doesn't seem to be an overpromise.
But the Pimax Portal is another story.
This hybrid 4K handheld gaming device that you can also use as a VR headset is REAL,
and it works for console gaming, but VR needs a lot of work.
They showed me a demo where I could play Tilt Brush in 6DoF, but while moving around, I
had a discomforting warping issue.
Pimax says they can also fix it by software; it IS the second time I have tried it with
different problems, so I don't know.
I'm still skeptical about this product as I worry this may never be a great VR experience
and that it might scare off newcomers but we have to wait and see.
A lot has happened ever since we visited the Lynx R1 office a year ago.
It wasn't without some issues back then, as it was a prototype.
Last week was the first time I could try the more finalized headset, and it seems they've
solved most of the issues I had before.
I remember a few things, like having trouble finding the sweet spot and also the AR display
wasn't calibrated yet, but this wasn't the case anymore.
And it just now made me realize how far ahead they are with their depth color full-color
passthrough and I cannot wait to compare this with other headsets.
The Lynx-R1 should finally ship this year!
At the show, I also FINALLY had the chance to try out the PSVR2, and basically, it was
AMAZING, but it wasn't perfect.
I made a separate dedicated video on this, so I recommend you watch that.
I'll link it below.
Last highlight was trying out the HTC VIVE XR Elite, HTC's newest standalone headset.
The one that brings them back to consumers.
Unique about this headset is its built-in diopter adjustment, full-color passthrough
with depth sensor, and WiFi 6E low latency SteamVR streaming.
You can also convert the headset to a glasses-like form factor and stream content wirelessly
with a compatible Android phone.
If you want to hear all the specs, you can find them in my previous video.
I went into my demo with not too many expectations, but I was actually surprised at how well everything
worked together.
Tracking was actually great; I tried standalone Hubris, and it looked beautiful, and they
had some novel stuff, like I could use one hand with hand tracking and one controller
at the same time; and then the passthrough was one of the best I've seen so far.
I've always been a fan of HTC VIVE's hardware, and I want them to succeed, but I am worried
there isn't enough to play on their standalone store to justify the cost.
Hopefully, they'll prove me wrong.
I'm making a dedicated video with my full thoughts on this demo very soon, so please
subscribe for that and like this video while you're at it.
That's it for now.
I didn't even get to talk about some other things I've tried during the show, as this
video is already getting way too long.
I would love to know if there's anything else you want to hear about, and I might make more
videos.
Also, let me know what you think about these highlights in the comments below.
Thanks for watching.
Special thanks to our Champions.
VR ON!
Qai qian.