The Oculus Quest is no longer available from some retailers, less than two weeks before Facebook’s annual conference for virtual reality projects.
U.S. retailer B&H Photo Video marked the Oculus Quest as discontinued, while the wireless virtual reality headset is no longer available on U.K. retailer Overclockers, as reported by UploadVR. The device is also out of stock across many official retailers.
A sales representative from another U.K. retailer also told UploadVR that the Oculus Quest was marked as end of life and that there were no scheduled shipments for the device.
The headset’s disappearance, however, is not a sign of a failed product. Oculus dropped its Oculus Go headset to focus on the Oculus Quest, which was a turning point for the Facebook-owned company as it balanced the ease of using a standalone device with enough power to come close to the capabilities of wired headsets.
With Facebook Connect, formerly known as Oculus Connect, set to be held entirely online on September 16, the sudden unavailability of the Oculus Quest further fuels rumors that the Oculus Quest 2 will make its appearance at the event.
Digital Trends has reached out to Facebook to confirm the Oculus Quest’s unavailability, and whether it has something to do with what is planned for Facebook Connect. We will update this article as soon as we hear back.
The Oculus Quest 2 is rumored to be a lighter and smaller version of its predecessor, with a design that will make it more comfortable to wear for prolonged virtual reality sessions. It is also expected to adopt a two-tone look, according to an alleged image of the device.
Facebook was reportedly aiming to launch the Oculus Quest 2 within the year, but the COVID-19 pandemic is said to have pushed back its release to 2021.
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Gaming laptops and I have a complicated relationship. One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it. I was a broke college kid, and that was the best I could afford. So trying out high-end gaming laptops is always fun. But ASUS' ROG Zephyrus G14 is a lot more than a laptop that can run AAA games. It is portable, so you're not lugging around a 2.5kg machine everywhere you go. It is built well, none of that plastic chassis, and can even function as a normal laptop outside of just gaming.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.