Meta Quest 2 and Quest Pro will receive their last OS release by March 2027. New app submissions for these devices are accepted only through December 2027. Existing apps will keep working and developers can still ship updates until the cutoff.
Key points
Final Horizon OS 2.13 rollout completes by March 2027.
New app submissions close in December 2027.
Sources
XREAL Aura launch with $200 discount, Quest sales decline
XREAL Aura launched with a $200 launch discount, pricing the 12GB/256GB model at $1,099 and the 16GB/512GB model at $1,299. Meta reported Quest headset sales fell 6% in Q3, while AI glasses revenue grew.
Key points
XREAL Aura 12GB + 256GB: $1,279 list, $1,099 discounted price.
Meta Q3 Reality Labs revenue $443 million, down 6% due to lower Quest sales.
Sources
GPT-6 Astra edits Qwen3.5-0.8B weights, 0.016% change improves math 6x
GPT-6 Astra edited Qwen3.5-0.8B weights, changing only 0.016% of parameters, and achieved up to 6× better math performance and 3× better instruction following, without gradients or training. The approach is called Weight-Space Programming.
Key points
Weight edit percentage: 0.016% of Qwen3.5-0.8B weights changed.
Performance gains: math reasoning up to 6×, instruction following up to 3×.
Sources
JPEG XL Integration to Firefox completed after 12+ years
JPEG XL integration to Firefox completed after 12+ years, promising a faster and nicer looking internet. The effort spanned over a decade.
Key points
Integration status: completed for Firefox
Development duration: 12+ years of hard work
Sources
- Original post
- connect.mozilla.org - Linked in the post
VIRTUAL BEINGS 12 principles to create believable characters
VIRTUAL BEINGS founder Wendelin Reich outlines 12 principles for making digital characters feel alive. The list defines observable behavior, continuous activity, interaction with environment, and other traits. It is presented as guidance for character design.
Key points
Observable: Behavior must be perceivable by the player, turning internal states into visible actions.
Continuous: Characters are always behaving, even when appearing idle.
Sources
- Original post
- youtu.be - Linked in the post
Unreal Engine transition to UE6, dropping Actor system and Blueprints
Unreal's Unreal Fest Tokyo preview shows a planned move from UE5 to UE6, removing the Actor system, Blueprints, and the C++ Gameplay Framework. AI-assisted migration will be used for moving existing projects.
Key points
Transition: UE5 to UE6 announced at Unreal Fest Tokyo.
Changes: UE6 will drop UE5’s Actor system, Blueprints, and C++ Gameplay Framework.
