Ben Lang
Reporting on XR for a decade+, Co-founder of leading independent VR news pub RoadtoVR.com. Journalist & analyst, not evangelist.
Twitter twitter.com/benz145
- Now that Horizon Worlds is being deemphasized, is it still going to be called Horizon OS and the Horizon Store?
- Gorilla Tag player count over the last year:
- Maybe now that Meta is pulling back on Horizon Worlds it can go back to promoting quality VR games in the Horizon Store instead of interspersing them with amatuer user-generated content.
- One thing I don't like about AI agents is that it means I ask friends/family for information/recommendations less often. Maybe I'm getting a faster (and possibly better) answer, but it's easy to see how intelligent AI agents would incentivize talking to friends/family less and less often over time.
- Viva Pinata soundtrack is finally back on Spotify, now with a brand new recording and mastering: open.spotify.com/album/1erRBR... Cheers @grantkirkhope!
- After looking back at everything that happened in the last year, I do believe 2025 is a pivotal moment for XR. The next 5 years are going to see a lot more progress than the last 5 years.
- Are there any good examples of flatscreen (non-VR) indie games that are highly immersive?
- What's your personal VR Game of the Year for 2025?
- Quest 3 with new Vision Pro strap. Now we’re talking.
- Still dreaming of a VR game where you pilot a mech and fight large robotic enemies. After a battle, hop out of your mech to saw and cut important parts from the enemy. Climb your mech and attach parts by welding, etc. Hop back in the pilot seat and go take on bigger enemies with your new equipment.
- If the next Meta headset (let’s say a Vision Pro competitor) shipped without controllers in the box (optional add-on), would this be good or bad for the XR industry overall?
- I never thought late-stage capitalism would be so… overt.
- If you were waiting for a sale to pick up Reach, you can get a 40% discount on the Quest version with the code BFCM25. Deal is running until December 2nd.
- Looking for an experienced WebXR developer for a paid project. Please DM if you are one or know one!
- I appreciate that Apple has engineered their laptops to withstand feline magnetism.
- Power Wash Simulator, except it’s in VR and you’re meticulously hand-cleaning guns from dirty/decrepit to shiny and functional.
- Galaxy XR fits comfortably in Meta’s $60 Quest 3 case… unless you’re really itching to pay $200 for Samsung’s case.
- How does Halo 3 still look this good? It’s almost 20 years old.
- Is it a mistake for Valve to not be officially selling Steam Deck through major retailers like Amazon and Best Buy?
- Siri is feeling slower than ever on iOS 26. My partner just got a Pixel 10 and Gemini looks far snappier.
- Updated Vision Pro no longer includes the Solo Knit Band and Dual Loop Band in the box, suggesting that they think the new Dual Knit Band is the superior option all around (I sure hope so).
- What VR game has the best feeling / most interactive environmental destruction?
- Smoothest Battlefield launch since... 2010?
- For anyone waiting for Spotify lossless audio quality, I finally got the feature on my end. Double check your app store to see if there's a manual update you can do.
- How did this branding end up so inconsistent?
- Oh boy. It's hard for me to imagine any outcome other than game quality going down and designed-for-addiction microtransactions going up apnews.com/article/ea-e...
- I’m very confused about this iOS 26 interface. What do these buttons do?
- Will HTC Vive adopt Android XR?
- Hmm, PSVR 2 app for SteamVR updated for the first time since April. "We've made some performance and stability improvements to the app," is the only changelog. I wonder what prompted the update.
- Anyone have access to lossless audio quality in their Spotify app settings yet?
- What’s your reaction to the Connect 2025 announcements?
- It's cool that Meta is offering several styles of smart glasses, but Google Glass was way ahead of the game with an interchangeable lens design that allowed you to change style without needing an entirely new unit.
- Name that HMD
- New AirPods Pro 3 can do real-time language translation which is pretty cool. Seems like a sensible feature to add to Vision Pro too. Absolutely niche, but if the solution is already built, seems it could be worthwhile to add.
- Take a step back in time to the VR industry as it was in 2012: roadtovr.wordpress.com
- What VR game has the most impressive enemy AI that you’ve ever seen? Let’s just exclude HLA because it would probably be 50% of answers.
- I’m surprised it’s not a standard feature of all calendar apps to be able to mark an event as “tentative” and then later confirm with a button or check box that it is confirmed. 
- Apple keynote one week before Meta Connect. Should be a fun September.
- Just found my new favorite virtual desktop manager for Windows 11. Completely free and works great: github.com/newlooper/Vi... (P.S. for VR friends: this is about managing multiple Windows desktops, not virtual reality!)
- Meta Connect keynote is at 5PM PT this year? 🤨 In previous years it's been around 10AM.
- Zero Caliber 2 Remastered is offering to lower the game's price based on Steam wishlist milestones. Do we think this will lead to a net benefit for the game's revenue?
- Does anyone in my feed have any connections at @BambulabGlobal? Trying to get in touch for a VR related-related 3D printing project/article for @RtoVR
- You can now get XREAL glasses at Best Buy (major US retailer) 👏
