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

Gizmodo

17-07-2025

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.