Meta’s VR Legs Video Was a Lie
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently demonstrated that his company was working on improving the look of his virtual reality world (Horizon Worlds), which appears to have generated several billions of dollars since its creation.
Avatars were once just floating torsos, but soon they will have legs, as part of this upgrade to make the world look like it was created even earlier.
Sneak peek of the future today at Meta Connect ?:
— Meta (@Meta) October 11, 2022
✅ Our first mixed reality device @MetaQuestVR Pro
✅ The start of a new way to work in the metaverse
✅ Cutting-edge @RealityLabs research to build technology that connects people
Read more ? https://t.co/Ryf01kVM4c pic.twitter.com/2c1i7AAm7U
The weird video was inhabiting a strange space at the time, as Ethan reported:
“Meta spent $10 billion on technology this year, and today’s model finally brings the VR platform past Fire Emblem: Awakening on the Nintendo 3DS, another game without legs. Even with that, we don’t know what more money might bring. VR foot photos, particularly those on our Oculus storefront, may be exactly what puts us over the top. When Zuckerberg started talking about feet, we were on live chat watching the whole thing unfold, and we nearly lost it.”
Zuckerberg was seen jumping around in the video, giving everyone an early look at the technology, which is not expected to bring full-body avatars until 2023. Was he, though?
Every person who has been around *checks the culture* of any piece of marketing should know by now that companies are not always truthful when trying to sell something. In this instance, Meta’s video was assisted.
According to Ian Hamilton of UploadVR, Meta has issued a subsequent declaration, which says “To provide a sneak peek at the future, the presentation included animated sequences created from motion capture data.”
Meta Faked VR Legs Demo
— Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) October 14, 2022
'The segment featured animations created from motion capture' https://t.co/r024rPWEYy
There is always salt to chew on when a company tries to sell us something that isn’t out yet, whether it’s a vertical slice at E3 or a photo trick shown at an Apple event.
This specific thing is especially amusing because a project that has spent billions of dollars to resemble a Kinect demo—a piece of hardware first showcased in 2009—has ended up with its own stupid foot-related moment.
It’s possible that when it’s eventually released the technology will look just like this! Or perhaps it won’t. Perhaps Horizon Worlds will forever remain a mystery to all of us, never to be utilized.
