The Pixel 4 and 4 XL won't support Daydream VR and the Daydream View headset is also unavailable for purchase on Google's store, marking the final nail in the virtual reality platform's coffin.

At Oculus Connect 6, Facebook unveiled a powerful new addition to the Oculus Quest: Hand-tracking. Using the cameras already built into the Quest, the software is able to sense and recreate your hands and individual finger movement in VR. Is it too good to be true?

Virtual reality headsets, aimed at reducing the pain of women in labour, are being trialled.

Poor Barry Thompson is about to get fired, and you're the unfortunate one shouldered with lowering the ax. You might not feel sorry for Barry given he's virtual. But the idea is that firing him in VR will help prepare you if you ever need to terminate someone who isn't made of pixels.

Coming via software update in November

Finnish start-up Varjo launched its first virtual reality (VR) headset on Tuesday in a bid to capture the growing industrial market for the technology, despite slow pick-up among consumers. The $5,995 headset will be sold directly to businesses in industries like architecture, engineering and construction. Varjo has already collaborated with companies including Airbus, Audi and Volkswagen.

Combining cognitive-behavioral therapy with virtual reality technology could help people suffering from social anxiety disorder, according to preliminary research published in the journal Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy. “I am interested in the topic of virtual reality (VR) based therapies as the open a lot of new possibilities. VR surroundings are accessible, interactive and customizable to fit the needs of a patient,” explained Chris N. W. Geraets, a PhD student at the University of Groningen and corresponding author of the study.

Nintendo Labo VR, the cardboard accessory kit for the Switch, is up against a lot of expectations as the company’s official foray into virtual reality. It’s the fourth installment of the Labo series, which first launched one year ago to mixed reviews. Parents and schools lauded its tactile building experience and programming features as creative educational tools for kids, while some critics dismissed it as a novelty item that lost its fun after the first few plays.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, the best-selling consumer electronics products aren’t necessarily a company’s latest or highest-end products; mass-market customers often gravitate instead towards affordable models with good enough performance. That’s the reason console makers keep last-generation models around after launching superior sequels: as long as there’s a promise of at least token continued support, “old” hardware is still viable.

Three years ago, I duct-taped a laser tracker to the top of my eminently patient wife’s painting easel. On a converted baker’s cart in the corner, I set up a glowing green PC. Then I ran half a dozen cables between the PC and a HTC Vive VR headset. This was the price of the best VR experience on the market: To be able to actually walk around and wave my hands in physical space, I had to wrap my dining room in wires.

Want to use the GNOME or KDE Linux desktops on your virtual reality headset? A new open-source project aims to let you play games and use your Linux desktop with your VR head-mounted display.

A recent study found virtual reality experiences were better at easing pain than watching televised nature scenes. Immersive distraction seems key to the success, scientists say.

In Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One, humanity escapes a gritty dystopia by donning VR goggles and entering a virtual world called OASIS. Back here in a comparatively rosy 2013, we don’t have a fully immersive virtual experience—yet. But virtual reality is undergoing a renaissance. And while Oculus develops a consumer-ready virtual reality headset, Second Life creator, Philip Rosedale, and his latest startup, High Fidelity, are hard at work constructing a next-generation global virtual world.

In May 2012, a programmer named John Carmack tweeted a picture of what looked like steampunk bifocals made out of a black shoebox. “This is a lot cooler than it looks,” read the caption. He was right. Since then, that awkward contraption—now more streamlined, and known as the Oculus Rift—has become the most anticipated new product in gaming since the Nintendo Wii got people off the couch.

Virtual reality has a come a long way since the 1990s, the heady days of Lawnmower Man and epic battles with evil triangles and squares. But with the arrival of the Oculus Rift headset, VR is poised to change the way we play, work and learn. That may sound like hyperbole, but I assure you that it's entirely justified.

It's been a week and I still can't get my experience with the latest Oculus Rift prototype at CES 2014 out of my mind. The Oculus Rift, which made its debut at CES 2013 and then further enchanted reporters at E3 2013, is undoubtedly one of the coolest pieces of technology I've ever seen.

Very soon, advances in neuroscience and technology are going to allow us to create virtual experiences that are far more fun and meaningful than real-world experiences—what happens then?

Virtual Reality is coming. As in, actual, good, user-friendly virtual reality. The stuff sci-fi has promised us for decades. Don’t take my word for it...

The most exciting aspect of contemporary virtual reality is its implications. Even using Oculus VR's early duct taped-prototype, most users immediately

We've figured out what affordable VR hardware will be capable of within a couple of years, and assembled a prototype that reveals that that level of VR hardware is capable of stunning VR experiences. That hardware is almost certainly going to appear in that timeframe, and it will be worth starting to develop for it now. This talk will discuss what that hardware is, and what it makes possible.