XR Weekly Update (July 21, 2025): Bytedance Developing MR Headset, HTC Teases New Product, and More!

Sure, let’s dive in and unleash a bit of chaos.

Hey, welcome back to the weekly brain dump on all things AR/VR. If you’re bored or just digging for some juicy tech bits, stick around. Plus, there’s a giveaway buried in here somewhere. Oh, and before I forget—did you catch my chat with the gang behind Animal Company? It’s loaded with clever ideas on cranking out successful XR games and a sneak peek at some new game mode they’re cooking up. Okay, let’s dig into the madness.

Top Stuff That Happened This Week

Pico’s New Gadget

Alright, so ByteDance (yep, those TikTok folks) and Pico got a new headset bubbling. Tossed the old idea for Pico 5 and now they’re on a fresh roll. It’s called “Swan.” Kinda like a bird? It’s a featherweight thing, around 100 grams. Uses hand-eye voodoo or something. Heard they’re cooking up chips like Apple’s R1. Makes you think of that rumored Meta geek stuff, right? Zucky’s on a similar ride with code names flying around like Puffin and Phoenix. These little gadgets might make mixed reality, well, a real thing. But that puck connection? Meh, I can’t stand it when I try Vision Pro. Anyway, curious to see how they shake things up in the market.

Wanna dig deeper? Look up Bytedance’s new headset chat on Road To VR and Upload VR.

Stuff That’s Also Happening

Meta’s Wide View Gizmo

So, Meta swung by SIGGRAPH and threw some head-spinning research our way. Imagine XR headsets with a 180° horizontal view, which frankly sounds wider than my energy for Monday mornings. Uses something called "curvy reflective polarizers." Sounds techy, right? Cool. The MR version has front cameras cranking an 80MP at 60Hz. So, say bye to tunnel vision. But, let’s not hold our breath for a store shelf version anytime soon.

HTC Vive Tease Alert

HTC Vive popped up on social, throwing teasing bytes — "Ready for what’s next? Pin this: 25.033° N, 121.564° E." That’s Taipei 101 for ya, in case you detest Google Maps. HTC’s turf. So, what’s cooking? Headset? Fancy gadget? Please, let it be epic.

A Little Something Worth Mention

Brazen Blaze F2P Dive

Game news! Brazen Blaze, a hot VR brawler, just went free on Horizon Store and Steam. Not their first rodeo with F2P; Meta seems to dig it. But seriously, does this work? Kids want free stuff ‘cause, well, they’re broke. I’m skeptical — can small VR hang with F2P’s giant costs? A few might pop — Gorilla Tag did, after all. Let’s hope Meta’s keeping the little guys afloat.

Alex and the Jets’ VR Play

Jumping into VR mode, Alex and the Jets are hoping to woo the audience tired of Quest 2’s mediocre MR. Sad truth? MR’s just not as booming as VR right now, thanks to Quest 3/3S’s not-so-stellar hustle. Hope this doesn’t slow MR down, but who knows.

Techy Tidbits and Other Schpiel

And in the galaxy of tech announcements… Brace yourself! Chengdu Guangyu Gaowei’s rolling with Coray Air2 glasses — 49 grams of silicon carbide wonder. Yup, the same stuff with export drama. $700 a pop if you’re feeling adventurous. Limited hands-on yet, so tread lightly, explorers.

Oakley’s jumping into smartglasses, trying to snatch the crown from Ray-Ban — someone at ZD Net gave ’em a thumbs-up for comfy vibes and sharp shots.

Oh and, a fresh VRChat headset: Bigscreen is painting the Beyond 2e purple and tagging it for VRChat fans for $50 more. Comes with virtual goodies — because who doesn’t love digital swag?

VR Geek Toys Alert: There’s a plugin for tossing Gaussian Splats into VRChat. No native support, but the community whipped up a tool. Much like that UdonSharp affair. These guys really know how to hack their playground.

Meta Tools Nerd Moment: Meta’s dangling a Runtime Optimizer for VR devs! Toss it in your Unity stew to crush those nasty bottlenecks. Works with OpenXR, sweet little bonus right there.

Culture Bits ‘n Bobs

Venice Immersive Festival rolled out choices aplenty with 69 projects from 27 countries. Hit up their links for all that XR goodness.

Also, loads of content teasers — Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles graphic spills? Yes, please. Hidden Memories of the Gardens Between is getting bigger with an XR touch. Loads of augments and realism — I can’t wait.

And then — PlayStation’s blowing out discounts until July 29th. Snap up titles like Metro Awakening and get gamer-happy.

Oh, Random Stuff Last Minute

Meta’s peeking into medicine. Kickstarter success for FreeAim VR shoes. And Varjo’s bidding adieu to some old headset muse. Meanwhile, The New Yorker’s pondering if AI’s our loneliness fix. Personally, a loner’s paradise doesn’t sound half bad with less human noise.

Squishies giveaway! Get ‘em while they’re squishy… or gone.

Dive into XR courses — free stuff! Kudos to Dilmer Valecillos for the community love.

And lo, FM DUO cameras: 12K filming baddies for those chasing detail dreams. Go wild.

Wrap-up: Lend a hand to Ukraine via Red Cross; your help counts.

(Header pic by HTC Vive, because visuals rock.)

P.S. Leave thanks for the lovely supporters helping out this chaotic corner of the web. Stay curious, folks!

Perfect chaos might look a bit like this!