Samsung XR is being killed off, with the apps slowly bringing features to a close before fully terminating the service on Sept 30. From this week, 360-degree video is now unavailable, premium video purchases are suspended and updates have stopped for all Samsung XR and Samsung VR video clients, Samsung said Monday.

Apple has purchased virtual reality company NextVR, Apple confirmed to CNBC. The purchase is further evidence of Apple’s plans to enter virtual reality and related augmented reality technologies as a new product category, although the company has not announced firm plans or a new hardware product, aside from AR software for iPhones.

Virtual reality tore me out of my filter bubble. I met people I probably would never have met in material reality. I felt close to people, I hung out with them in a social VR room for weeks — and only on my long journey to Kuwait, Israel, and the US, where I finally visited them in their material lives, did I realize how far away these people are “in reality.” But this distance did not hinder us from having real relationships.

I kinda feel bad for Valve. “Rejoice, ye faithful, for official Half-Life games have returned from their long hibernation in a giant coccoon of money! Now the true believers will be rewarded with – where the fuck is everyone?” We’re all in quarantine ‘cos of the global pandemic, Valve. “Oh. Would now be a bad time to ask people to buy our thousand dollar VR headset?” I rather suspect it would be, Valve, yes. Still, now could be the perfect time for the VR revolution since everyone’s stuck at home looking for ways to cover their eyes and ears and go la la la not listening to current events.

Half-Life: Alyx is out today, it's a great VR game and a great Half-Life game, and perhaps best of all we don't have to stop joking about "Half-Life 3 confirmed!" because neither that nor the semi-sequel-ish Half-Life 2: Episode Three are still nowhere in sight. In an interview with IGN, level designer Dario Casali explained why, after 13 years, a proper Half-Life sequel still hasn't happened.

We talked to Valve about how Half-Life: Alyx came to be and what it means for the series’ future.

New modelling techniques shed light on the ancient city of Ugarit and can help plan effective conservation.

Valve’s first flagship VR title, Half-Life: Alyx, is now set to launch on March 23rd but unfortunately the company’s Index VR headset is still just about impossible to buy direct. In the meantime, the shortage has seen secondary markets selling the headset at a 150% price premium. Valve Index Stock Check Following up on our global stock …

It appears that the 2019 holiday shopping season may have been the best ever for PC VR headsets. The latest data released this week from Valve shows VR on Steam making its single biggest leap yet, on a path toward an estimated 2 million monthly-connected headsets.

Virtual reality already plays Jedi mind tricks on your brain, but underwater VR is like a zen Jedi masterstroke.

Undeterred by Daydream’s death.

We're only a few weeks into the new year and there's already been lots of positive news about virtual reality.

It was thought VR would be as common as televisions, but despite improvements it is yet to take off.

I walked with Jesus, shopped for a sofa, and flew like a bird over New York City.

VR technology has absolutely dominated the 2019 holiday season as numerous major retailers—both physical and online—continue to sell out of 64GB and 128GB Oculus Quest headsets.

This animal liberation group actually wants to be put on trial. Their goal: force jurors to wear VR headsets and immerse them in the suffering of animals bound for slaughter.

In the seven years since the Oculus Rift showed up on Kickstarter, we’ve seen a plethora of other virtual reality gadgets hit the market. Still, it feels like the tech has yet to make its mainstream breakthrough, and the recent emergence of augmented reality only muddies the waters for potential buyers even further.

Only 6,000 headsets sold?

The modern era of VR has been around in earnest for about three and a half years now. Though it has clearly demonstrated its potential and is slowly growing, adoption has remained niche compared to the broader mainstream gaming industry.

Valve are rarely interested in celebrating their own game's anniversaries, so take this rumor with a mouthful of salt. The source is apparently the same leaker responsible for the DOTA Underlords leak, and is quoting from an interview between "Geoff" (Geoff Keighley, in his capacity as the creator of the "Final Hours" documentaries about Valve games), Robin Walker (co-developer of Team Fortress 2 among other games), and an unnamed third person.