Valve Preparing for the Future With Virtual Reality

[Sarah LeBoeuf]

Valve Preparing for the Future With Virtual Reality

According to Valve's Chet Faliszek, companies not experimenting with virtual reality will "be really behind in the game."

Technology is always evolving, and some companies struggle to keep up. Valve has been trying to stay ahead of the game by experimenting with wearable computing hardware, even making a pair of augmented reality goggles [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/119503-Get-a-Glimpse-of-Valves-VR-Goggles]. According to Valve's Chet Faliszek, virtual reality could soon become a focus for the gaming industry, and the company is "looking at the future and making sure that we're prepared."

Calling Valve's AR goggles "super-cool," Faliszek said that the company is constantly experimenting with new technology, and "there's a whole bunch of stuff the hardware guys are just goofing around with and having some fun with." While Valve's developers are still trying to understand the technology and its limitations, Faliszek noted that "if you're not playing around with ideas in that space already you're going to be really behind the game."

Faliszek said that in addition to Valve, "VR stuff is definitely something people are looking at," so it's possible that virtual reality hardware will be the next big thing in gaming. We're still years away from this happening, if it happens at all, but before too long we could all be living in a virtual reality future.

Source: VG247 [http://www.vg247.com/2012/09/28/valve-and-others-are-definitely-looking-at-vr-tech-faliszek/]

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[Fappy]

VR seems like a pretty big/risky investment, so you can't really blame companies who are reluctant to pursue it. It's a bit too early in the game to make these claims imo.

 

[Falterfire]

VR seems like a pretty big/risky investment, so you can't really blame companies who are reluctant to pursue it. It's a bit too early in the game to make these claims imo.

I'll agree. Microsoft and Sony both put a lot of resources into motion control and the Kinect is now a gamer inside joke and the Move is never really mentioned at all.

I wouldn't say I'm skeptical of these claims, but I think if there's one thing we should all have learned from the Kinect, it's that without some sort of physical feedback, motion controls are awkward and unpleasant to use for anything more than the most basic of tech demos.

 

[jecht35]

I'll agree. Microsoft and Sony both put a lot of resources into motion control and the Kinect is now a gamer inside joke and the Move is never really mentioned at all.

I wouldn't say I'm skeptical of these claims, but I think if there's one thing we should all have learned from the Kinect, it's that without some sort of physical feedback, motion controls are awkward and unpleasant to use for anything more than the most basic of tech demos.

I have never owned an Xbox or Kinect but I have seen some people do amazing things with Kinect in other fields of science and entertainment, in non akward ways i might add . So I wouldn't say Kinect is a bad product, it?s just that no one has really used it in any meaningful way for gaming.

 

[Zombie_Moogle]

I'm excited for this kind of technology. Dev's have played with it before, but we're finally in a place where the hardware can fit the ideal.
Notch said a little while back he'd support the Oculus Rift. I'm scared; Virtual Reality Minecraft might actually make me lose my job

 

[GenGenners]

I'll agree. Microsoft and Sony both put a lot of resources into motion control and the Kinect is now a gamer inside joke and the Move is never really mentioned at all.

I wouldn't say I'm skeptical of these claims, but I think if there's one thing we should all have learned from the Kinect, it's that without some sort of physical feedback, motion controls are awkward and unpleasant to use for anything more than the most basic of tech demos.

I have never owned an Xbox or Kinect but I have seen some people do amazing things with Kinect in other fields of science and entertainment, in non akward ways i might add . So I wouldn't say Kinect is a bad product, it?s just that no one has really used it in any meaningful way for gaming.

This is still an issue though because it means other people were doing Microsoft's job FOR them. They shouldn't have marketed it for gaming, simple as.

On the subject of VR though, providing that same feedback motion controls lack will prove an ever greater challenge.

 

[jecht35]

This is still an issue though because it means other people were doing Microsoft's job FOR them. They shouldn't have marketed it for gaming, simple as.

On the subject of VR though, providing that same feedback motion controls lack will prove an ever greater challenge.

I agree with you Microsoft is lame at promoting the thing and making use of it. I just want to say that the thing was not a total waste because it does provide some interesting potential for people to mod it for their own use.
Well to stick on topic I think VR is a long ways away but we will only get there through trial and error so I support Valves efforts.

 

[Iron_will]

I wait for the day I can wear giant vr helmet that fully immerses me into a game. All your senses and everything.

So I can battle the BETA in big mech and feel everything they do to me... except, you know, not actually dying when they do.

 

[Pyrian]

I think the problems with the Kinect are mostly the limitations of the device, and not of the idea. The lag, in particular, makes a lot of things that should work fine, not work well at all.

 

[Entitled]

VR seems like a pretty big/risky investment, so you can't really blame companies who are reluctant to pursue it. It's a bit too early in the game to make these claims imo.

I'll agree. Microsoft and Sony both put a lot of resources into motion control and the Kinect is now a gamer inside joke and the Move is never really mentioned at all.

I wouldn't say I'm skeptical of these claims, but I think if there's one thing we should all have learned from the Kinect, it's that without some sort of physical feedback, motion controls are awkward and unpleasant to use for anything more than the most basic of tech demos.

I think, the main difference between motion controls and VR is, that there was never any obvious market demand for motion control. It looked really cool in techdemos, but the way it works would have required the invention of entirely new gameplay genres that didn't have an audience.

Augmented reality games might meet the same fate, ending up as gimmicks that look good on video but not something that you would want to do every day.

But if nothing more, then at least VR has an obvious advantage over monitors and TV screens. Its an obvious benefit, once they actually manage to make a high-resolution, wide-FOV screen with no latency, just strap one on, and it's like a screen, only much better and more immersive. End of story.

After that, also adding realistic motion control to them, (with force feedback, or omnidirectional treadmills, or whatever, is a matter of an entirely diferent development that can be investigated separately.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well them playing around with it and bringing it to the market has always been a huge leap that mostly does no happen, I mean how many of you got the motion controlled Portal/L4D versions?

This has been played around with for years and sofar the main problem is the tech that is required is not affordable, a Kinect with top precision and the processing power to eliminate lag would cost you a grand, same goes for VR sets.
Yes we can get some cheap shit out there as we have been getting all over the place, problem is that cheap shit isn't usable.

 

[cerebus23]

I really dunno if they would be hyping this as much as they are if they did not feel they were onto something.

But will be interesting to see how they make this affordable and not weigh 10 lbs.

 

[llubtoille]

I for one, look forward to experiencing porn in all new and exciting ways.

 

[Souplex]

That worked out so well for Nintendo.

 

[William Dickbringer]

That worked out so well for Nintendo.

that came out before we could master putting color in our handheld game devices now our cellphones can handle 3d tech so if we can revisit it where it won't cause an eye strain like 3ds then sure

 

[Souplex]

That worked out so well for Nintendo.

that came out before we could master putting color in our handheld game devices now our cellphones can handle 3d tech so if we can revisit it where it won't cause an eye strain like 3ds then sure

Yes, but the virtual boy was made by a competent company.

 

[Nalgas D. Lemur]

That worked out so well for Nintendo.

that came out before we could master putting color in our handheld game devices now our cellphones can handle 3d tech so if we can revisit it where it won't cause an eye strain like 3ds then sure

Yes, but the virtual boy was made by a competent company.

It was, and it worked a lot better than most people give it credit for, at least in my experience. I still have mine in a box somewhere, and while the hardware wasn't terribly powerful and couldn't really handle full 3D polygonal graphics, things like layered sprites and 2D planes were fairly effective. None of my friends or I got headaches or eye strain from it, and we mostly adjusted to the single color display after a few minutes. It's a bit...quaint these days, but it was pretty neat at the time.

The biggest problem was usually trying to find a chair and table that were the right height to play it comfortably without having to hunch over and make your neck sore. Well, that and the whole thing where it got discontinued after about 20 minutes and everyone stopped making games for it, but at least that meant they all went on clearance barely a month after launch. Heh.

 

[imgunagitusucka]

18 years ago I played a two player VR FPS set up as a demo in my local supermarket (or mall). I played it every day for the week it was there and it was amazing, so immersive that you had to be "restrained" by a small padded hoop type platform thing to stop you trying to walk through the world that encompassed your senses completly 360 degrees, up, down and all around. They had two comfortable VR headsets that didn't hurt your eyes at all and they were linked together allowing a 1v1 deathmatch using a handgun controller with a d-pad for movement at the hammer part of the gun. you could look down at the gun and turn it and it was like you we looking at your own hands (albeit in rather blocky graphics) The arena was a multilevel open area with massive birds dropping you in to spawn. I've been waiting for home VR ever since and now they say it's still years away if at all? What I played 18 years ago was incredible so why hasn't any progress been made in this area????? BTW if any one knows what it was I played I'd love to know!!!