GDC 2017 is starting to fade into the distance and the VR industry is settling down again once more before the next big week of events. Still, we have some big stories surface from some of the post-show announcements to get through, plus some cool experiments from the development community this wekk.
Intel’s Standalone VR Headsets Coming This Year
Standalone VR headsets, which feature all the necessary processing power embedded in the device itself, might seem like a distant dream, but Intel insists they aren’t. This week we reported that the company’s reference design for such a device won’t just be available to other manufacturers by the end of the year but also the first consumer device will be on the market. They’re likely to be pretty expensive though; closer to $1,000, in fact.
Oculus Touch Doubles Rift Steam Users
We don’t have a lot of numbers for VR headset sales yet; Sony is the only one to provide official data of the three high-end headset makers. Over on PC, Valve’s data for users of its Steam platform does give us some clue of how Rift and Vive are performing, though, and we uncovered some interesting stats this week. The launch of Oculus’ Touch controllers doubled the number of Rift owners that used Steam, no doubt hungry for new content to play.
HTC Hits Out At Rift Exclusives
For as long as they’ve been making them, Oculus has come under fire for its exclusives. The company’s Oculus Studios titles can only officially be played on Rift, shutting Vive owners out unless they use third-party hacks. It’s been a while since that topic has been in the headlines, but HTC’s Joel Breton brought it back into the spotlight when he called out the company, saying Rift exclusives were hurting developers. Ouch.
Vive Ecosystem Conference Hits China Soon
HTC may not have a big conference like Oculus Connect over in the west, but over in China it makes headlines with its Vive Ecosystem Conference. This year’s show will be taking place in Shenzhen in just a few weeks’ time. We’re not exactly sure what to expect from the show though HTC is teasing some announcements surrounding strategy and ecosystem.
VR Isn’t Safe From Cats
Cats have conquered the internet and it looks like VR won’t be any different. Now that the Vive Tracker is in the hands of select developers, Triangular Pixels has leapt at the chance to attach it to their cat. Fitting the device to a jacket that the feline wears, experiences are able to detect when the user’s pet walks into a room so you can avoid stepping on it.
