logo
The Atomic Purple Game Boy of VR Headsets Is Here, and It's Glorious

The Atomic Purple Game Boy of VR Headsets Is Here, and It's Glorious

Gizmodo3 days ago
I'll admit it, I'm a sucker for Atomic Purple. There's just something about the Game Boy nostalgia that gets me every time. Slap a translucent shell on just about anything and you've got my attention. That goes for Nothing's products, these Beats earbuds, and the many, many retro Anbernic handhelds. Now, it goes for Bigscreen's Beyond 2e VR headset, too.
We're excited to partner with @VRChat to launch the Bigscreen Beyond 2e: VRChat Edition pic.twitter.com/iQy7CCEkYO
— Bigscreen (@BigscreenVR) July 16, 2025The recently released Beyond 2e isn't a huge departure from the Beyond 2, but it does sport an exclusive 'Atomic Purple' shell that borrows style tips from Nintendo's iconic Atomic Purple colorway, which debuted on the 1998 Game Boy Color and later made its way to the N64. Not going to lie, I love it. Nostalgia, you dirty dog, you win again. While the Bigscreen Beyond 2e may look like a Game Boy, it's actually all about another thing—VRChat.
Bigscreen made its new headset specifically for lovers of VRChat, a VR game-turned-social platform where you get to sport silly avatars and talk to other people. I could go down the rabbit hole talking about how strange VRChat can be, but for now, let's stick to hardware. From a technical perspective, there's not a huge difference between the Beyond 2 and 2e, but Bigscreen says that it did go all out to miniaturize its eye tracking. Believe it or not, according to them, the Beyond 2e has the world's smallest eye-tracking system and features a sensor the size of 'a grain of sand.' To help that tiny sensor, Bigscreen says it also worked on the software side of things.
'Unlike prior approaches, Beyond 2e's eye-tracking algorithms utilize novel computer vision techniques. We trained AI models of the human pupil and run inference on GPUs in real-time on models fine-tuned to each unique individual,' Bigscreen said in a statement.
As Bigscreen notes, eye tracking is a big part of delivering a solid VRChat experience since it helps players translate their expressions more and make avatars more lifelike. It's hard to say how all of that hard work paid off from an eye-tracking perspective, but the fact that it can shrink something like that down so much is a feat in and of itself. For hardcore VRChat fans, this may not be the most high-tech experience (tethered headsets are still best for that), but it is lightweight at 107 grams, which is hard to argue with.
Outside of eye tracking, Bigscreen is also including some other perks for VRChat users, including a special VRChat-themed box and some exclusive items and stickers for in-game use. If you're as jazzed about this Atomic Purple headset as I am, you may want to place a preorder quickly. Bigscreen's Beyond 2e is limited edition and only available 'while supplies last.' It starts at $1,269 but may be more expensive depending on what cushion you choose. It's set to ship in September.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

The 10 Most Outrageous ‘Robot Chicken' Sketches
The 10 Most Outrageous ‘Robot Chicken' Sketches

Yahoo

time12 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

The 10 Most Outrageous ‘Robot Chicken' Sketches

As we approach the premiere of Seth Green's 'Robot Chicken: Self-Discovery Special' to honor of the animated adult stop-motion sketch comedy series' 20th anniversary, we wanted to remember some of show's most iconic sketches. When Seth Green launched 'Robot Chicken' alongside Matthew Senreich on Adult Swim in 2005, it became an instant hit that fans stayed up late to watch. While some sketches may not hold up today due to some of the crude jokes, let's just say 'Robot Chicken' isn't afraid to stretch the limits of comedy, no matter how dark the gags become. More from TheWrap The 10 Most Outrageous 'Robot Chicken' Sketches 7 Best Superhero Shows Streaming on Netflix Right Now Eileen Fulton, 'As The World Turns' Star and Broadway Actress, Dies at 91 7 Best Prestige Dramas Streaming on HBO Max Right Now Check out the best sketches we chose below. 'Jason Vorhees at Home' In this quick sketch, viewers get a behind-the-scenes look at Jason Vorhees's life when he's not out and about murdering people. He's a normal guy who does his own laundry and enjoys a good puzzle every now and again. 'Voltron Got Served' Paying homage to dance battle culture and the film 'You Got Served,' 'Robot Chicken' shows Voltron showing off his best moves. 'Care Bear Cleansing' The Care Bears turn a new, murderous leaf when they decide to launch a genocide on the Care Bear Cousins in an effort to save their race of Care Bears. 'Tooth and Consequences' While visiting a child to drop off their earnings for a tooth, the Tooth Fairy overhears an incident of domestic violence happening between the child's parents. That's when she takes matters into her own hands. 'Pokemon Outtakes' After years of putting on a show for kids, Squirtle has an emotional breakdown and breaks character. But Pikachu warns him of the consequences if he doesn't get his act together. 'The Emperor's Phone Call' Just when Emperor Palpatine was having a good day, he gets a bad phone call from Darth Vader about the status of the Death Star. 'M. Night Shyamalan's 'The Twist'' This sketch takes a hilarious jab at filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan's tendency to incorporate unexpected plot twists in his films. 'What a twist' became a running joke throughout 'Robot Chicken' seasons. 'Delicious Gummy Bears' In one of the darker sketches a gummy bear gets caught in a bear trap and is forced to chew herself out of it. 'Mario and Luigi Go To Vice City' When iconic video game characters Mario and Luigi can't cross their bridge in Mushroom they take another route through Grand Theft Auto's Vice City 'Bop It … or Else' The popular '90s kids toy turns out to have its own killer ulterior moment in this hilarious one-minute sketch The post The 10 Most Outrageous 'Robot Chicken' Sketches appeared first on TheWrap.

Burgeoning Hedge Strategy Amplifies Commercial Technology In Defense
Burgeoning Hedge Strategy Amplifies Commercial Technology In Defense

Forbes

time15 minutes ago

  • Forbes

Burgeoning Hedge Strategy Amplifies Commercial Technology In Defense

ATLANTIC OCEAN - MAY 14: In this handout released by the U.S. Navy, An X-47B Unmanned Combat Air ... More System (UCAS) demonstrator launches from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) May 14, 2013 in the Atlantic Ocean. George H.W. Bush is the first aircraft carrier to sucessfully catapult-launch an unmanned aircraft from its flight deck. The Navy plans to have unmanned aircraft on each of its carriers to be used for surveillance and be armed and used in combat roles. (Photo by U.S. Navy via Getty Images)Advancing the Mix of Defense Capabilities The President's defense budget, released in June, embraces a vision of balancing traditional platforms with new digital technologies—a 'Hedge Strategy'—at a pivotal moment for military modernization. This "high/low" approach, enables the U.S. military to complement its arsenal of (high) expensive defense platforms of ships, tanks and planes with new capabilities such as small, inexpensive, AI-enabled and upgradeable unmanned systems (low). Hedge Strategy is a term coined by Rear Admiral (retired) Lorin Selby and me in a paper we co-authored in 2022. Later that year, Rep. Ken Calvert, Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee—Defense (HAC-D), called for adopting new technologies—predominantly commercial technologies—as a hedge strategy and provided increased funding for the concept. Today, the vision is becoming a reality on a much larger scale. America's military arsenal now includes an increasing inventory of unmanned systems across air, sea, and ground, along with a proliferated constellation of small satellites. Harnessing leading commercial technologies, these capabilities weren't mature enough to be on the battlefield a decade ago but have proven instrumental in Ukraine and other recent conflicts. In fact, in describing the War in Ukraine a few weeks ago, former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, Colin Kahl, observed that this war is a surprising mix of the trenches and artillery shells of World War I with World War III. We haven't left the industrial age of armaments behind, but armaments are now complemented by drones and emerging digital technologies which, in combination, are game-changing capabilities a modern military cannot live without. This photograph shows the first batch of Ukrainian made drone missiles "Peklo" (Hell) delivered to ... More the Defence Forces of Ukraine in Kyiv on December 6, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. December 6, 2024 marks the 33th anniversary of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. (Photo by Genya SAVILOV / AFP) (Photo by GENYA SAVILOV/AFP via Getty Images) Recognizing this, Congress has strongly supported the organizations within the Defense Department which focus on commercial capabilities such as the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), whose budget has increased ten-fold in the last three years to $2 billion for FY26, and the Office of Strategic Capital, which now can offer up to $4 billion in loans for component technologies like batteries and rare-earth magnets that are critical for defense. The Defense Department must pivot quickly to adopt new capabilities to augment what's in place and do so with more cost-effective technologies. In other words, our military must shift from expending the U.S. Navy's multi-million dollar missiles to neutralize Houthi low-cost drone attacks. Additionally, we must embrace more nimble and asymmetric warfare like Ukraine's recent Operation Spider's Web. Systems that provide low-cost, attritable mass, better tactical situational awareness, and optimized decision-making by fusing multi-modal data in real-time all reinforce the mix shift towards new capabilities. Traditional primes like Lockheed Martin and L3Harris, along with emerging primes like Anduril, are advancing lower-cost, mass produced munitions to improve defense-offense cost ratios. SANA'A, YEMEN - NOVEMBER 13: Mock drones and missiles are displayed at an exhibition on November 13, ... More 2024, in Sana'a, Yemen. Yemen's Iran-allied Houthis announced on Tuesday that they launched a significant attack by drone and ballistic and cruise missiles on US Navy vessels, while they were navigating at the Bab al-Mandeb strait off the Yemeni coast. (Photo by)$1 Trillion for Defense The appropriations landscape today is multifaceted. For the current fiscal year—FY25–Congress did not pass a defense budget, so the Defense Department operates under a Continuing Resolution which is less efficient than an on-time budget since a CR usually means no annual spending increases (regardless of inflation) and no new program starts. For next fiscal year—FY26, which begins this October—the President submitted his budget four months late which puts a burden on Congress to appropriate funds on time. The FY26 budget request at $831.5 billion is only slightly larger than last year's $825 billion. WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 03: Members of the House walk up the steps outside the U.S. Capitol during the ... More procedural vote on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act on July 03, 2025 in Washington, DC. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA), President Donald Trump and other Republicans are scrambling to gather enough support to begin debate on Trump's sweeping tax and spending bill. (Photo by) However, Congress recently passed the Big Beautiful Bill (or Reconciliation) which includes $150 billion of additional and multi-year defense spending for the next five fiscal years with $133 billion planned in FY26. Defense spending in FY26 might include the regular appropriation of $831.5 billion plus $133 billion plus around $40 billion for nuclear refurbishment executed by the Department of Energy. This combination pushes top-line defense spending to a record $1 trillion. However, this level of spending, as a percentage of U.S. GDP (estimated at $30 trillion for 2026), is only 3.4% of the economy. Historically, the U.S. has spent much more on defense: 6% in the Reagan build-up, 9% in the Vietnam War and routinely 8-10% in the 1950s. The cost of fighting (and potentially losing) a major war with China is far more costly than what the U.S. spends on defense. With a nod to Ronald Reagan, President Trump's 'Peace through strength' policy means the U.S. must continue to invest to deter adversaries from initiating future wars. A $1 Trillion defense budget is likely to become the norm as geopolitical tensions suggest we will be in a great power competition with multiple capable adversaries for years to come. Our adversaries, especially China, recognize that new technologies can deliver battlefield advantage and our adversaries are sharing military technology and strengthening each other's supply chains. As a result, the race is on to invest in new capabilities and adopt them rapidly to yield a military edge. In addition, the U.S. must rebuild with its allies the ability to sustain manufacturing for the materiel needed in a conflict. Golden Dome, All Types of Unmanned Systems, and AI HawkEye 360 satellites gather signals intelligence data to provide governments with better ... More understanding of activity in regions such as the South China Sea. HAWKEYE 360, HERNDON, VIRGINIA Specifically, there are several initiatives fueling large spending increases that should benefit commercial technology vendors. Perhaps most visible is the President's Golden Dome estimated at three years and $175 billion or more to develop. The FY26 down payment on this initiative is $25 billion with two-thirds for more and better sensors from space that could detect enemy missiles, improvements in standardized satellite manufacturing, and better ways to search and process the increasing amount of space-based imagery. DoD will heavily leverage commercial solutions in delivering Golden Dome. Rendering of Albedo's Clarity-1 in Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO) capturing exquisite imagery For the first-time, there are large, dedicated budget lines for aerial, ground-based, maritime surface and underwater autonomous systems, totaling $16 billion including AI-based software to control them. A partial list includes $1.4 billion for small unmanned aerial vehicles like the first-person view drones in Ukraine, $2 billion for medium maritime surface autonomy, $.7 billion for underwater autonomy, $1 billion for one-way aerial attack drones, and $3 billion for systems to counter drones. Lightfish Security ASV features a small solid state radar and a high resolution day/night camera to ... More detect and identify vessels within a few miles and transmit the radar image and video real time to the user. Designed to be used in a constellation of multiple vessels to counter Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing, monitor protected marine areas, secure our maritime borders and maintain overwatch on critical maritime infrastructure In AI-based software, spending will increase 50% from $1.5 billion to $2.2 billion according to defense data provider, Obviant. This should significantly expand the military's adoption of AI-based commercial applications such as modeling and simulation for logistics, analyzing the electromagnetic spectrum, code generation and modernization, and other AI-native applications like agentic workflows. The Pentagon's Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office recently awarded four contracts (each worth up to $200 million) to the leading large language model providers so that, analogous to the Department's multi-cloud strategy, the Pentagon can make use of multiple models for better decision What? The upshot of this shifting mix of capabilities is a much more favorable environment for commercial technology adoption with opportunities for new vendors. The defense primes have consolidated 90% over the last 30 years to only five companies. While there are only one to three primes competing for major weapon systems, there are dozens of companies producing unmanned systems, software. and space solutions. As the Department buys these new capabilities, there is a much-needed opportunity to expand the supply base. In addition, both the Congress and the Administration have been rapidly ordering changes to streamline the requirements, budget and acquisition processes that underlie the historically long timeframes to deliver new warfighter capabilities. The SPEED Act and FoRGED Act will include some of the biggest reforms in decades much of which will be incorporated in this year's National Defense Authorization Act. The President has already issued six Executive Orders to modernize defense acquisition, realize American drone dominance and rapidly increase shipbuilding capacity. The process changes incorporated in these Orders reinforce existing law that the military should buy commercial first wherever possible (rather than unique military items) and emphasize commercial methods of procurement (leveraging Other Transaction Authority vs. Federal Acquisition Regulations). Additionally, the Department should use a modular open-systems approach when designing large platforms that allows for substituting more capable subsystems on a faster cycle (rather than buying a set specification from a single vendor for decades). These changes create an inflection point for commercial technology adoption. UNITED STATES - MAY 06: Full committee hearing on the "Department of Defense at High Risk: The ... More Chief Management Office's Recommendations for Acquisition Reform and Related High Risk Areas." Witnesses: Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn testifies Location: 2118 Rayburn House Office Building. May 6, 2009. (Photo By Douglas Graham/) In an increasingly dangerous world, we are entering a new era of record defense spending and the adoption of commercial technologies to augment current capabilities. The Trump Administration is striving for real reform in what's being bought and how it's being bought—doubling down on acquisition tradecraft pioneered by the Defense Innovation Unit as described in the book Unit X. Consequently, these process simplifications make it more attractive for venture-backed companies to develop a defense business. Hedging existing military capabilities with solutions from defense tech vendors not only complements what defense primes can do with large platforms (ships, planes and tanks) but also brings more competition to defense procurement with companies that can ramp manufacturing quickly. Today's arsenal of democracy needs to not only be better stocked but also stocked with more modern capabilities. Additionally, the arsenal should include companies that can iterate capabilities with warfighter feedback since improvements on the battlefield now happen in hours not years. Ukraine demonstrates that wars are never won as rapidly as aggressors imagine before the conflict. Consequently, success requires new capabilities that evolve rapidly plus sufficient industrial capacity to sustain a war effort for years. A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket carrying the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) ... More weather satellite Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite U (GOES-U) lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Florida, June 25, 2024. The United States on June 25 launched a new satellite expected to significantly improve forecasts of solar flares and coronal mass ejections — huge plasma bubbles that can crash into Earth, disrupting power grids and communications. A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket carrying the satellite into orbit took off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 5:26 pm (2126 GMT), the US space agency announced. (Photo by Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo / AFP) (Photo by MIGUEL J. RODRIGUEZ CARRILLO/AFP via Getty Images)

Freddie Prinze Jr. Unpacks (Spoilers) Scenes In ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer'
Freddie Prinze Jr. Unpacks (Spoilers) Scenes In ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer'

Forbes

time15 minutes ago

  • Forbes

Freddie Prinze Jr. Unpacks (Spoilers) Scenes In ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer'

Freddie Prinze Jr. in "I Know What You Did Last Summer." Now that the new version of I Know What You Did Last Summer is out in theaters, Freddie Prinze Jr. can finally talk about the legacy sequel's shocking twists and the film's big cameo appearance. Also featuring the return of Jennifer Love Hewitt from the 1997 original film of the same name, I Know What You Did Last Summer opened in theaters nationwide on Friday. The film follows a group of five friends — played by Madelyn Cline, Chase Sui Wonders, Jonah Hauer-King, Tyriq Withers and Sarah Pidgeon — who are targeted by a hook-wielding fisherman in the coastal town of Southport, N.C., after they covered up the accidental death of a motorist a year prior. Since the gruesome deaths perpetrated by the mysterious, slick-wearing fisherman echo the circumstances surrounding Southport Massacre that Ray Bronson (Prinze) and Julie James (Hewitt) survived nearly three decades before, the friends seek out the help of the former couple. The problem is, Ray and Julie — who went on to marry but are now are bitterly divorced — are reluctant to help the group ferret out the identity of the killer before he strikes again because of the trauma that they still carrry with them. Note: The rest of the story reveals major spoilers from "I Know What You Did Last Summer." Chase Sui Wonders, Madelyn Cline, Sarah Pidgeon and Freddie Prinze Jr. in "I Know What You Did Last ... More Summer." Prinze Says His Character's Twist Made It Easy For Him To Board 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' In a Zoom conversation on Friday, Freddie Prinze Jr. revealed that he initially said no to the idea of reprising Ray Bronson for I Know What You Did Last Summer, but since the film's director — Do Revenge filmmaker Jennifer Kaytin Robinson — was a friend of his, he decided to hear her plans for a potential new film featuring his legacy character. As it turns out, Robinson had a twist in store for Ray that Prinze immediately embraced — she made the one of the heroes of the original story one of new film's villains. To start, Prinze said he was intrigued by the different ways Robinson made Ray and Julie deal with the trauma they suffered after surviving the wrath of the fisherman killer nearly 30 years before. While Julie approached it from a healthy standpoint, Ray coped with the trauma led him down a very dark path that rears its ugly head as both he and Stevie (Sarah Pidgeon) are revealed in the third act to be the killers wreaking havoc in Southport. As it turns out, the person who died in the accident that the friend group caused was a close friend of Stevie's. As such, it made Stevie and Ray crack at the same time because Ray had promised to watch over Stevie after her father died. Effectively, witnessing Stevie's trauma over losing her friend was too much for either of them to bear. 'Jennifer started talking about that trauma path and how it's going to break his psyche and he's going to be a broken man,' Prinze said. 'He hasn't dealt with it the way Julie has. He's run away from it and has refused to deal with it in the past 27 years, and the pressure in the prison [of his mind began to build up]. 'So, when the same thing happens to Stevie — who he happens to love and care about like a daughter, almost — because of the empathy that he had for Stevie, it made it much more justifiable for Ray to cross a line that you can't uncross,' Prinze added. Ironically, Prinze said he wasn't present and wearing the fisherman's slicker for Ray's kill scenes in I Know What You Did Last Summer. In retrospect, he feels it was a good move to shoot any scenes of him in the iconic outfit during filming because it virtually eliminated the chances of the shocking plot twist being leaked. 'They shot [the kill scenes] without me when I was still in America and they were filming in Australia,' Prinze said. 'I only wore it when they had me try it on to get sizes, so that we would find somebody that was the same size as me so would fit them the same way. 'It was one of the more challenging things in the movie, to be honest, to find somebody with the same body type as me, Prinze added. "After that, Jen discussed with me which kills were mine and which kills were Sarah's throughout the script.' About That Big Cameo In 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' While the public has been led to believe that Freddie Prinze Jr. and Jennifer Love Hewitt were the only two characters from the original I Know What You Did Last Summer to return for the new film, director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson had figured out a creative way to bring another key character who died in the 1997 film. The fun part about bringing back the character, Helen Shivers, for a nightmarish dream sequence is that the star who played her, Sarah Michelle Gellar, is also Prinze's longtime wife. It provided the couple with a plausible way of downplaying any rumors of a cameo when she posted photos of her visiting her husband in Australia during production. Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddie Prinze Jr. at the "I Know What You Did Last Summer" Los Angeles ... More Premiere held at The United Theater on Broadway on July 14, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty Images) As such, Prinze said nobody knew about the cameo from day one of the production, except for him, Gellar, Robinson, her co-screenwriter, Sam Lansky and later on, select people at the studio. None of the cast members were even told about the cameo, Prinze noted, with the exception of Madelyn Cline — who shares the scene with Gellar — but even she didn't find out about the scene until later in the production. 'It was really under wraps so that nobody would know, so there was no chance for it to get out and I was so excited about it,' Prinze said. What made the scene even more thrilling for Prinze to experience was that when Gellar recently attended the premiere of the film with him, the general feeling was that she was there to support her husband's new film. Little did people at the premiere know that Gellar was in the film, too, and Prinze's character's storyline was about to take a shocking turn. 'It was pretty exciting to know those two secrets and to have kept them for so long, so to get honest, genuine responses from people is a really rewarding experience,' Prinze enthused. 'People didn't recognize her at first since it's a silhouette of her from the back. "When she turned, the whole crowd in the 1,100-seat theater we were in went bananas … they genuinely love Sarah and they genuinely love that character, and I thought it was so smart that Jen put that scene in there,' Prinze added. Rated R, I Know What You Did Last Summer is new in theaters. Note: Some quotes in this interview were condensed or edited for clarity.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store