Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the virtual world is so delightful. And this Christmas, VR will offer us all a beautiful escape from the inevitable family bickering and those slightly racist second cousins you see once a year.
Maybe there's a shiny new VR headset waiting for you under the tree. If so, make sure you check out our guide to the best Oculus Rift games and best PS VR games. If it's HTC Vive games you're after, head over here.
If you've been following the big news this week, you'll know that Nintendo dropped hints that its new Switch console may have a VR element to it, and that Editor Michael Sawh just can't get enough of Headmaster.
But what else has been going on?
Read this – News blips and tidbits
PS VR gets YouTube support
This week UploadVR spotted that folks on Reddit and Twitter were seeing a new update for the PS4 YouTube app – update 1.09 – that adds support for PS VR. It seems like it's a gradual rollout, so don't worry if you can't see it yet as only some users are reporting getting it, but when you do you'll be able to dive into YouTube's library of 360-degree video content.
IMAX VR on hold
We'd been anticipating the opening of the first IMAX VR cinema in Manchester by the end of 2016, but it is not to be. The Verge reports that the VR pilot centre, set to be the first of six locations, will now arrive in "early 2017". The VR cinemas will use the StarVR headset, a collaboration between Acer and Starbreeze, which we took for a test spin earlier in the year.
VR for arcades and theme parks
Sensics, which co-founded the OSVR open source platform with Razer, has announced it's building a headset specifically tailored for out-of-home experiences – arcades, theme parks, that sort of thing. VR arcades are on the rise, but current consumer headsets aren't always an ideal fit. Sensics is designing one that will be durable, easy to swap between heads, and easy to clean, meaning to you won't have to wear the sweat of the person who played it just before you, and the 100 others before them.
Play this: I Expect You to Die
You know those real-life escape-the-room experiences? Well this is like one of those, only just a little less real – which is probably for the best. Schell Games's puzzler puts you in the shoes of a 007-riffing secret agent who also has telekinetic abilities, which you must combine with brainpower to escape a series of deadly scenarios. And as the title suggests (beyond being a reference to Goldfinger), you are going to die a lot. The game has finally arrived on PS VR if you're in the US, and is very much worth your time. For those of you in the UK, sadly you'll be waiting until early next year.
Watch this: Amazing art in VR
Most of us at Wareable use Google's Tilt Brush to draw crap snowmen and rude objects, but others out there are doing much more worthwhile things. Elizabeth Edwards is one artist embracing the new medium, and some of her stuff is seriously impressive. Using Oculus Medium and Tilt Brush, she's brought to life some incredible 3D creations. You can read her profile over at Mashable, and check out more videos on her YouTube channel via the video above.
How we test
By Hugh Langley
Now at Business Insider, Hugh originally joined Wareable from TechRadar where he’d been writing news, features, reviews and just about everything else you can think of for three years.
Hugh is now a correspondent at Business Insider.
Prior to Wareable, Hugh freelanced while studying, writing about bad indie bands and slightly better movies. He found his way into tech journalism at the beginning of the wearables boom, when everyone was talking about Google Glass and the Oculus Rift was merely a Kickstarter campaign - and has been fascinated ever since.
He’s particularly interested in VR and any fitness tech that will help him (eventually) get back into shape. Hugh has also written for T3, Wired, Total Film, Little White Lies and China Daily.