An HTC Vive demo with a SteamVR controller strapped to the back of the hand with what looks like rudimentary finger-tracking is the latest bit of news to emerge from HTC’s Beijing developer event, after yesterday’s reveal of images featuring an updated Vive headset and controllers. The demo appears to use Perception Neuron finger-tracking gloves from Noitom and a SteamVR controller strapped to the back of the hand. It’s an interesting concept, though it doesn’t appear very convenient. Check out the video above to take a look at the demo for yourself. It looks to offer a fairly intuitive way of interacting with simple objects in VR using natural finger movements.
We’ve also heard from Oval Po Liu, the founder of chinese VR news site Yivian.com, that the images revealed yesterday of the headset show a second developer Vive kit prototype and it may not be the final device. We are expecting to see the finalized VK2 at CES in January.
According to Liu, HTC is also developing a content platform and that Valve is open to the plan. Commenters on Reddit’s Oculus forum voiced concern when they spotted digital rights management technology being offered on the HTC developer site. The technology would theoretically lock up a game so it is harder to modify by consumers. How exactly Valve and Oculus will differ in their approach to competing app stores and managing the evolution of their platforms going forward is still unclear. There is a Samsung section on the Oculus store, for example, and it seems both Valve and Oculus hope to partner with additional manufacturers for more VR devices beyond their initial partners.
We’ll keep following the event in China and provide more updates if we come across anything offering more clarity on this news.
Update: This post was changed from its original version with additional information about the finger-tracking technology.
