The virtual world was shaken after the announcement of Oculus Touch controllers last week as it makes into the headlines for hardcore and aspiring VR fans. But it seems that the stage has now been taken by Oculus Rift's nemesis, the HTC Vive, upon the presentation of their newest controller prototype.
HTC Vive Controllers
The HTC Vive controller prototype was demonstrated live during the last Valve Software's Steam Dev Days Conference which was held in Seattle. The event was not open to press for some reasons but some developers that attended the conference uploaded and twitted photos and videos of the hand-held device.
Hands and thumbs up for HTC vive VR controller prototype #SteamDevDays @MOVRcom @CologneVR pic.twitter.com/tSRoJ2L07l
— Mario Deutschmann (@vondeutschmann) October 13, 2016
Based on the HTC Vive leaked photos and videos, anyone can assume that one of its key features is the ability to open your hand without dropping the device. Also, based on the video, the HTC Vive, in the near future, can emulate the natural hand motions and movements which are definitely revolutionary for both fans and developers as this may pave a way to a wide array of virtual games and features.
HTC Vive Official Name and Release Date
Currently, not much is known about the HTC Vive prototype controllers and further details regarding the device has yet to be released. According to one of the developers, the device is still unnamed and there's still no particular release date of the said controllers. Until then, we can only guess that Valve has been doing a lot of work in order to dominate the VR market in the future.
Valve's New Lighthouse Hinted
With the presentation of the HTC Vive's new controllers Valve also hinted that a new Lighthouse is also in the making. Note that the current Lighthouse is what's used to track the current HTC Vive headset and controllers. The Lighthouse contain an array of LEDs that is capable of emitting flashes of non-visible lights for up to 60 times per second and is then captured by its sensors.
The talks about the new Lighthouse stems from the Lighthouse system being open-licensed very recently by Valve Software; enabling third-party hardware developers to freely access the platform. The removal of the licensing fees is a huge step by Valve and has this to say: "The existence of more SteamVR-compatible devices will make the SteamVR community more valuable for customers and developers. Having a wide community of hardware developers pushing the platform forward will result in innovations that we Valve would never think of or pursue on our own."
Here is an HTC Vive review for you to check out:
