LG And Valve Are Building A SteamVR Headset That Will Compete With Oculus Rift And HTC Vive
In the VR space for the PC, it is largely a two-horse race between Facebook-owned Oculus and its Rift headset and the HTC Vive, the latter of which has the backing of Valve. Interestingly enough, it appears that Valve is also working with LG Electronics on yet another VR headset solution, one that will utilize SteamVR Tracking and the OpenVR platform. Perhaps a price war is not too far off.
That is getting a bit ahead of ourselves. It remains to be seen how pricing for VR hardware will shake out in 2017, but in terms of available solutions, LG is going to be joining Oculus and HTC. The company is planning to show off a prototype at the Game Developers Conference that runs from today until March 3. LG wants to elicit feedback from developers before finalizing the design.
There aren't many details surrounding the headset. Road to VR claims that Valve confirmed its involvement to the site, saying that the headset is "designed to deliver a high fidelity, next generation VR experience." We suspect more information will be divulged once the prototype is trotted out, which we hope will include a price and release date.
This is not LG's first time trying to break into the VR category. Last year it launched its 360 VR headset, though it didn't garner positive reviews. Both the look of the headset and the VR experience were criticized by reviewers and users, and at this point it's pretty much a footnote in the short history of modern VR.
Looking ahead, don't be surprised if other companies make a run at VR in the PC space. Valve opened its SteamVR Tracking technology to third-party developers last year without any royalty strings attached. The idea was to open the door for more hardware makers to step through.
That is getting a bit ahead of ourselves. It remains to be seen how pricing for VR hardware will shake out in 2017, but in terms of available solutions, LG is going to be joining Oculus and HTC. The company is planning to show off a prototype at the Game Developers Conference that runs from today until March 3. LG wants to elicit feedback from developers before finalizing the design.
There aren't many details surrounding the headset. Road to VR claims that Valve confirmed its involvement to the site, saying that the headset is "designed to deliver a high fidelity, next generation VR experience." We suspect more information will be divulged once the prototype is trotted out, which we hope will include a price and release date.
This is not LG's first time trying to break into the VR category. Last year it launched its 360 VR headset, though it didn't garner positive reviews. Both the look of the headset and the VR experience were criticized by reviewers and users, and at this point it's pretty much a footnote in the short history of modern VR.
Looking ahead, don't be surprised if other companies make a run at VR in the PC space. Valve opened its SteamVR Tracking technology to third-party developers last year without any royalty strings attached. The idea was to open the door for more hardware makers to step through.
