Oculus is trying to make the Quest the only home headset that matters

Oculus has spent years selling virtual reality fans on a diverse ecosystem of products. At last year’s Oculus Connect developer conference, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg showed off a family of headsets for different kinds of VR: the low-end Oculus Go, the tethered Oculus Rift, and the midrange Oculus Quest. This year, Oculus’ message was subtler, but no less clear: there’s only one headset that matters for consumers, and it’s the Quest.

Up until this point, Oculus has clearly explained why people should want its three flagship devices in their homes. (The Samsung Gear VR still exists, but Oculus admits it’s essentially dead.) The Oculus Go is cheaper and has its own ecosystem of video-focused apps and simple games, but it doesn’t offer…

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Stone Cold Steve Austin, Texas

Contestants Christine Whalen and Wendi Aarons appear on Ask Me Another at the Paramount Theatre in Austin, Texas.

Contestants combine their celebrity expertise and geography skills with this star-studded, state capitals mash up game.

(Image credit: Jessica Mims for NPR)

1845

Ask Me Another

House musician Jonathan Coulton rewrote songs with the word “America” or “American” in their titles to make them about people, places and things that happened the year Texas became a state.

(Image credit: Jessica Mims for NPR)

Lone Star

Jonathan Coulton and Ophira Eisenberg lead Ask Me Another

In this stellar final round, each answer contains something found in outer space.

(Image credit: Jessica Mims for NPR)

Matthew McConaughey: Commerce And Vanity

Ophira Eisenberg and Matthew McConaughey appear on Ask Me Another at the Paramount Theatre in Austin, Texas.

Matthew McConaughey chats in Austin about being Univ. of Texas’ Minister of Culture, his role as Professor McConaughey, and how rebranding his career turned out “All right, All right, All right.”

(Image credit: Jessica Mims for NPR)

Half-Life 2’s NPCs are finally free to blink again

half-lifeImage: Valve

The citizens of Half-Life 2 have it pretty rough. Not only are they being forced to live under an oppressive police state led by a multidimensional empire known as the Combine, but for the past five years, an unfortunate bug has left every NPC in the game unable to blink.

RockPaperShotgun reports that the issue first seems to have cropped up in 2014, when Valve moved its games into its new SteamPipe content distribution system. It’s such a weird little bug that one user who reported it actually dug out an Xbox 360 copy of Half-Life 2: The Orange Box to verify that the NPCs actually did blink in the original game.

Thankfully, with a patch released yesterday, the issue has now been…

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Bearcam, but make it Pokémon

Pokémon is entering the wild world of animal camming with a new “live stream.” Beginning at 6AM PT / 9AM ET on October 4th, The Pokémon Company will broadcast “live footage for 24 hours from a camera set up in Glimwood Tangle—a strange forest located deep within the Galar region.”

Sure, it’s no bearcam, but it’s fair to expect a few early looks at brand-new pokémon. Pokémon Sword and Shield’s release date is creeping ever closer: both games are set to launch November 15th on the Nintendo Switch.

Will any of them top the surprise announcement of Sirfetch’d? Or those unfortunately designed cream pokémon? Hard to say, but dare to dream.

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Spider-Man returns to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Sony and Disney strike a new deal

Image: Sony / Marvel

Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios will make a third Spider-Man movie together after all. Sony and Disney have struck a new deal over Spider-Man, which would let the web-slinging hero return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

“I am thrilled that Spidey’s journey in the MCU will continue, and I and all of us at Marvel Studios are very excited that we get to keep working on it,” says Marvel Studios co-president Kevin Feige, according to Variety. “Spider-Man is a powerful icon and hero whose story crosses all ages and audiences around the globe. He also happens to be the only hero with the superpower to cross cinematic universes, so as Sony continues to develop their own Spidey-verse, you never know what surprises the future might hold.”

The…

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