During the Meta Connect keynote with Metas Mark Zuckerberg, there were quite a few big announcements.
Mark couldn’t wait to talk about the Meta Quest 3, showing off a bunch of new upgrades at Meta Connect the team has made with the newest Meta Quest headset, including the two colour sensors and depth sensor that allows the headset to take in your surroundings fully. He even mentioned during a shooter being able to take cover behind your couch in the real world, with the ability to place things in augmented reality and have it anchored there. They used placing picture frames and TVs as an example. This is going to go a long way in making the home space in Quest a lot more comfortable.
One of the biggest announcements from this year’s Meta Connect was the fact that Xbox Cloud Gaming is coming to Meta Quest this December. With the ability to anchor TVs and create screens in the Meta Quest 3, this will be big for someone like me who shares TVs with my family, with the ability to toss on my headset and play Starfield while my child watches Bluey.
There was also a brief glimpse at some upcoming titles like Assasin’s Creed Nexus with no date and Roblox, which is out now for Quest. Speaking of release dates, to little fanfare, they also announced that the Meta Quest 3 will start shipping on October 10th for $499.99 ($649 CDN).
The big takeaway from the whole Meta Connect event was the focus on AI, with Meta having a few AI that they are launching on Meta and Instagram over the next months. The demonstration that went on way too long was Mark Zuckerberg playing a text adventure with Snoop Dogg.
A handful of the AI in Meta chat that they have rolled out have specific interests, like Mr. Beats, a comedian who will help you write jokes or the chef who will help you with recipes. It is an interesting idea, but as a writer, it starts to raise big issues.
Mark also talked about smart glasses with all the aforementioned AI coming installed on them. It is clear that Meta has dived right into the AI advances. They announced the ability to live stream from the smart glasses. This seems like a really cool innovation in the technology, giving us a demo with a Formula 1 driver showing off its potential.
Launching on October 17th for 299.99, that is really good pricing for not only smart glasses but for the ability to tie in AI assistance with the ability to use Instagram on the fly and Meta as well. Mark Zuckerberg made a push to mention that Meta is trying not only to push innovation but also make it affordable, and the price points they showed today for both the Meta Quest 3 and Rayband Smart Glasses is a great proving point to that.
