SteamVR

Valve is perhaps best known for the Steam PC gaming store and platform but it is perhaps a lesser known fact that it has also developed and published a few games, including the famous Half-Life franchise. It is, however, also infamous for being unable to follow up on its ow promises of sequels, particularly in completing trilogies. The company is now stirring up the waters by announcing what it says is its flagship VR game. But, no, Half-Life: Alyx might not be the Half-Life 3 fans were promised many moons ago.

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The folks at Valve released new Valve Index VR headset kits today for immediate shipping in the USA. The Valve Index VR system was actually first released in late June, but "initial quantities were outpaced by demand." As Valve tells us today, "users were asked to reserve their hardware as new kits were in production." Today's the day when new kits begin to ship.

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The HP Reverb VR Headset Pro Edition has 2x smaller LCD displays where most competitors have larger AMOLED. But the HP headset has more pixels per eye, a larger field of view, and a slightly lighter overall weight than HTC Vive Pro and Samsung Odyssey. This device weighs approximately the same as the current Oculus Rift headset, and works with both Steam VR and Windows Mixed Reality VR systems.

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February saw just over a dozen employees laid off from Valve, possibly the result of shifting plans for the game company's virtual reality division. Among the 13 people let go, a number are confirmed to have been working on VR-related projects, including the SteamVR platform, along with some that are believed to have been involved in new hardware development.

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The HTC VIVE Wireless Adapter is a bit of technology that changes the overall feeling of reality in a room-scale VR experience. This is an add-on to the original HTC VIVE and the HTC VIVE Pro. This adapter isn't required to enter virtual reality, but it'll make the process a lot less painful if you're not particularly sure-footed. Less painful, that is, if you didn't have a rough time setting up the VIVE in the first place.

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The current big challenge for virtual reality technology is to work in large rooms. The next dream for the future, however, is likely to be multi-room experiences, where users can wander between rooms or other connected spaces without issue. This is probably still a couple of years away, but HTC has shown off a small example of how it could work, with a demonstration featuring a Vive Pro, multiple base stations, and a beta of SteamVR 2.0.

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Back in 2016, Valve debuted its vertically oriented "Knuckles" controller for use with SteamVR. The device remains exclusive to developers, but a new EV2 model has just been unveiled with a number of refinements that translate to improved controls in a VR environment, including new sensors that detect finger movement and grip strength.

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This week the folks at Hyperbolic Magnetism are probably pretty pumped up about all the press they're getting for Beat Saber. They first started development for this game back in 2016, and between then and now it's been tested by hundreds of users. In its first couple weeks on the Steam VR store and Oculus Store, Beat Saber's become a sort of shock hit.

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Today we're taking a look at the first round of HTC VIVE Pro reviews from a variety of publications. What we've found is a whole lot of "this is very expensive" and "not for the average user" - which is pretty much what we could have safely assumed would be said. What's not so obvious is judgement on the intended audience - on who HTC assumed would be buying this device in the first place. We're looking at everything.

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While most Elder Scrolls fans are probably wondering when Bethesda will finally reveal The Elder Scrolls VI, it turns out the company isn't quite finished with its long line of Skyrim ports. This new port, however, is worth getting excited about, as Bethesda has revealed that it's bringing Skyrim VR to Steam. The launch happens next month, too, so the Steam version of Skyrim VR is just a couple short weeks away.

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This afternoon HTC revealed the HTC Vive Pro, a next-level experience for virtual reality gamers. This device takes what the HTC Vive is and ramps every aspect up another notch. This includes audio, display, and hardware design. This device is the premium experience missing from the VR market today - up to the next level in every way.

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We're now in the midst of one of the three Steam Sale events leaked recently in a Reddit forum. The other is, of course, Thanksgiving's own Black Friday, followed by a Winter Sale. Generally the Winter event is one of the bigger two of the year - but the one we're in right this minute isn't too shabby itself.

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