Business

This upcoming VR headset aims to solve virtual reality’s most frustrating problem-

The Bigscreen Beyond is an upcoming VR headset that claims to be the world’s smallest. I don’t doubt the claim, either—this thing is smaller than your average pair of ski goggles, and that could help make VR a lot more comfortable. I’m not kidding about its lightweight nature, this thing is said to weigh just 127 grams. That’s nearly four times lighter than the Meta Quest 2.

It’s also only 49.2mm deep, which is much thinner than most headsets on the market today. That means the headset protrudes out from your face a lot less, which could make it a whole lot more comfortable and less fatiguing to wear. That’s the aim, anyways.

It’s achieved through a few key components. Firstly, MicroOLED displays. These compact panels deliver a total resolution of 5,120 x 2,560, or 2,560 x 2,560 per eye, at up to 90Hz refresh rate. That’s impressive considering the Valve Index’s resolution is 2,880 x 1,600, or 1,440 x 1,600 per eye. The Beyond’s lenses fit into a much more compact space than most. They’re only 1-inch big, which means each pixel is crammed very close together to cut out the screen door effect that plagued first-gen VR headsets.

Also required for this sort of form factor are pancake lenses, which not only sound delicious but also drastically reduce the space required between the lens and the screen to actually create a 3D effect. These lenses have been a pretty popular concept for next-gen VR for a while, with Meta using pancake lenses in the Quest Pro and Nvidia using pancake lenses for its uber-thin holographic glasses.

But there is a kicker. To keep it small and compact, the Bigscreen Beyond has to be made to measure. Once you pre-order the device, you send Bigscreen a 3D face scan, which is used to build the headset to your face shape and interpupillary distance (IPD). That means, unlike many other headsets on the market, you can’t change the IPD on the fly to adjust for use by multiple people.

It’s a bit of a selfish buy, and means there’s a pretty big trade off to get such a compact form factor as this. However, there is a big benefit to this, too. If you’re someone that uses glasses or contact lenses, you can also order customised prescription lenses that slot into the Beyond headset to make it a perfect fit for your eyes.

Alright, I’m pretty on board with this concept. I absolutely loathe having to wear glasses in VR. No matter how spongey the face plate is, it’s never spongey enough to be comfortable over long periods with even the thinnest frames. Some little prescription inserts sound like a dream, to be honest.

The important bit for us PC gamers is that the Beyond is fully compatible with SteamVR. It’s a PC VR headset—there’s no onboard processing here for a standalone headset like the Quest 2. That also means you will need to buy SteamVR Base Stations and Valve Index Controllers to get a proper PC gaming experience with the device.

The Bigscreen Beyond is expected to ship in Q3 2023, though for all the personalisation and face-scanning the company admits there will be a delay in receiving the headset after ordering.

It’s been priced at $999 on pre-order. Or £1,149 for us Brits, in what has to be the worst exchange rate deal since Nvidia’s RTX 4090. It’s also €1,369, which is even steeper again. Damn these European prices.

YouTube channel Tested have had their hands, or face, in a near-production level Bigscreen headset and came away pretty impressed with just how compact this device is. Most of all, it sounds like the customised face cushion is the real winner here, and that does sound like a smart way to keep the headset’s pressure distributed over a wider area to avoid fatigue over long gaming sessions. The MicroOLED displays also sound like they work a treat with a clear picture.

I’m definitely keen to see how this project turns out. I also wouldn’t be surprised if more of these sorts of features are what we can expect from future PCVR headsets from the already big players in virtual reality, like Meta and Valve.

If you haven’t heard of Bigscreen before, they’re known for their VR cinema and movie-watching software. So they’re already players in the VR game, but interestingly not a hardware company at heart. I’m not sure that necessarily matters much, it’s not like Steam or Meta started out with hardware either, but it’s definitely worth bearing in mind this will be a first-generation device.

Related Posts

Get a job- Telltale Games is hiring a Sr. UI Designer

The Gamasutra Job Board is the most diverse, active and established board of its kind for the video game industry!

Here is just one of the many, many positions being advertised right now.

Senior UI DesignerTelltale Games

Location: San Rafael, California

Telltale is seeking a Senior User Interface Designer to join our talented UI team!

Telltale Games is making award-winning, narrative-driven games set in the popular worlds of The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Minecraft and now Batman! These successful properties demand a premium user interface, and the small UI team within Telltale needs your help designing, creating and implementing that interface (both the �…

Neil Druckmann- studio leaders should ascend the ranks to make space for next generation

Last week's DICE 2025 conference hosted by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences kicked off with something of a rarity: a public fireside conversation between two high-profile Sony creative directors Neil Druckmann and Cory Barlog, respectively of Naughty Dog and Sony Santa Monica. Sony's often keen to be careful of high-profile conversations like this, and the pair had a rare opportunity to speak frankly about the highs and lows of creative leadership. Come from South African Online Casinos

(Sony was probably happier with how this conversation went compared to his previous public conversation with another PlayStation employee…)

Druckmann (who is also studio president at Naughty Dog, and executive produced the HBO series The Last of Us based on the video game of the same name), shared one anecdote that stood out in a…

Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Collector's Edition Art Book Is 50% Off For Cyber Monday

Fans of Insomniac’s superb Spider-Man games will want to check out the Cyber Monday deals on the official art book for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 before they’re gone Come from Sports betting site VPbet . Published by Dark Horse in June, The Art of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is on sale for 50% off at Amazon and Target.

The standard hardcover edition is up for grabs for only $25 (was $50). Alternatively, you can get the Limited Edition Deluxe version of the book for $50 at Target or $60 at Amazon. The Deluxe Edition launched for $100, and these are by far the best deal…

Marvel 1943- Rise Of Hydra Will Be Set In Occupied Paris, Wakanda, And Beyond

Earlier this year, Uncharted’s Amy Hennig announced that her first title at Skydance New Media will be Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra, a game that will bring Captain America face-to-face with the Black Panther of World War II, Azzuri, who is also the grandfather of the modern Black Panther, T’Challa. The early preview trailer suggested that the game would take place in Europe during the Nazi occupation, but apparently the story will also bring players to Wakanda and other locations.

“Wakanda and Occupied Paris are both key locations,” Henning told EW. “We wanted to tell a globe-trotting story.. Come from malaysia online casino . There are yet-to-be-revealed locations in between… Wakanda at this point in time is hidden away from the outside world and protected by this impenetrable jungle. They are non-interventionist, but events transpire that pull them into the conflict. They have to protect their interests. The w…

140 Review

In modern electronic music, the rhythm of dubstep–and most club music–typically moves at a brisk 140 beats per minute. Those who are familiar with the club scene would agree that when the music plays hot, the audience lets loose with an overwhelming urge to move and sway with the rhythm as if one entity. The feeling can be difficult to describe to someone who hasn’t been on the dance floor. 140 is a 2D platformer that attempts to re-create this coalesced consciousness without the overpriced ticket rates, sweatiness, and questionable substances. The game blends colorful, abstract visuals and an exciting soundtrack that invites you to solve 140’s secrets by tapping into the heart of the music and moving with the beat.

A pet project of programmer Jeppe Carlsen, who was lead gameplay designer of 2010’s Limbo, 140 takes some cues from Playdead’s macabre indie platformer. And like its cousin, the game unceremoniously drops you into a world fraught with deadly pitfalls and ensnarin…

Anthony Hopkins Calls His Performance In Marvel's Thor "Pointless Acting"

A new report from The New Yorker regarding the way the Marvel Cinematic Universe has “swallowed Hollywood” revealed an interesting tidbit regarding renowned actor Anthony Hopkins’ feelings on his role as Odin in the MCU’s Thor franchise. “If you’re sitting in front of a green screen, it’s pointless acting it,” Hopkins told the publication.

This may come as a surprise to fans of the MCU’s Thor film series, as Hopkins’ performance–especially in the first Thor film–received high praise Come from bangladesh online casino . Directed by Kenneth Branagh, the 2011 film had a distinctly Shakespearean feel to it that elevated the source material into something modern audiences could relate to–even audiences who were unfamiliar with the comic series upon which the films are based.