Virtual reality is a rapidly growing field that everyone seems to want a foothold in, even Valve. Confirming earlier rumors, it has been revealed that the PC gaming giant has been working on its own virtual reality headset. Due to the company’s limited hardware experience, the headset is being developed with HTC which will handle the hardware side of things while Valve powers the device with its own Steam VR technology.
Valve’s hardware initiatives haven’t picked up much steam. Until proven otherwise, Steam Machines have more in common with vaporware than they do with a consumer product, and we’ve been hearing about a Valve virtual reality helmet for around two years now. At this year’s Game Developers Conference, Valve actually revealed that helmet, and it took a partnership with HTC to get that hardware through the pipeline. Valve doesn’t have much hardware experience, and seeing as how the Steam Machine initiative has been going, Valve is leaving the hardware up to HTC, but will be pairing the headset with its Steam VR tech, which until now has led a fairly monogamous life with the Oculus Rift. Similar to the newer version of the Rift, the helmet — named the Re Vive (HTC’s spacing, not ours) — is your standard VR visor placed over the eyes supported by a head strap. The unit is covered in over 70 sensors in a fashion that will make any trypophobe’s skin crawl, but allows the unit to track a room in full 3D. HTC claims that the Re Vive is capable of displaying video at 90 frames per second across its two 1200 x 1080 displays.
