Ars Technica: Valve’s long-rumored VR headset is finally real: the Valve Index, coming in June

[Bookoo]

This may be a complete rumor, but there was a youtuber the other day at GDC talking about trying a Valve headset. He was saying it had wide FoV, they would be revealing it soon and it even had body tracking (EX: Legs) with the inside out tracking cameras.

Within like an hour or so someone was posting comments all over YT/Reddit that it was fake and just meant to be a prank and apologizing for it. When I first watched it I thought it was just some sort of joke that seemed sort of stupid, but once those comments started coming out it actually seemed like they were doing damage control.

 

[Feep]

This is the closest I've ever come to believing Half Life 3 rumors.

WILL I EVER LEARN?!

 

[Randomly Generated]

This person just decided to pull "100%" out of their ass. The code he posted lists no numbers.

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That... is totally true. lol

 

[Nzyme32]

Expecting Valve Index to be Valve's hardware branding, judging from Trademark filings.

- The headset and knuckles are definitely not the only hardware Valve has planned. (Steam Portable, please)
- A few games are tied into this, in particular No Mans Sky VR update. A bunch of Valve folk have cryptical highlighted it, so I assume a similar release time frame and some special features.
- Keep an eye on a game called Boneworks also, the devs of which are due to provide more info. Already confirmed to be built around Knuckles

As far as VR goes, Knuckles appears amazing. If the headset can match, I am all in.

 

[Deleted member 984]

Include Team Fortress 3, and Left 4 Dead 3, call it the VR Blue-box and the amount of salt and cash Valve would get would be stunning.

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Oooh L4D in VR. Forgot that even existed but damn it would be good.

 

[Skittles]

.mp what?

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they're voice lines from a dota 2 announcer pack

 

[Aztechnology]

This person just decided to pull "100%" out of their ass. The code he posted lists no numbers. Also, that could be from the standard code for any of Steam's pages.

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Lol it's literally CSS styling.

 

[Heid]

If the rumored 135 degree field of view is correct, you'll want a computer to handle the screen resolution to make that look good. I'm thinking this is Valve making their own headset as a next-gen replacement for the Vive, using their new Lighthouse 2.0 and Knuckles controllers. Now that Oculus has shown their hand, for next-gen VR there will only be Valve and Pimax.

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Are you talking about Rift S or the 140 degree mechanical varifocal display prototype lol

I think Portal is far more ripe as an IP for VR implementation than HL, and likely one of the reasons why the original Valve VR demos use the IP and the knuckles dev demo also use it. Unique ways of interactivity suit it perfectly.

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Have you played much VR? Its literally the exact opposite of what you said.

People are used to artificial/thumbstick locomotion. Loads of FPS VR games use it now. Portal locomotion with flipping upside down, automatic reorientation and flying at 800mph through portals to build momentum... Yeaaaaa

 

[Deleted member 3897]

Already own a Rift, but Im in as long as it ships to my country.

 

[Deleted member 2840]

samred did they tell anything else?

 

[crimsonheadGCN]

The opposition period is over for the trademark of "Valve Index," which is why they probably started teasing it today:

https://trademarks.justia.com/881/39/valve-88139735.html

 

[Green]

OK, and Half Life 3 is a launch title right? RIGHT?

Seriously though, can you buy the Knuckles separately? I already have an Oculus and I have no desire to "upgrade" yet.

 

[Randomly Generated]

OK, and Half Life 3 is a launch title right? RIGHT?

Seriously though, can you buy the Knuckles separately? I already have an Oculus and I have no desire to "upgrade" yet.

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I don't think you'd be able to use Knuckles with a Rift since they use different tracking.

 

[VN1X]

"Upgrade your experience" is one of the worst taglines in recent memory. Completely lacklustre and uninteresting.

 

[Pai Pai Master]

This is the closest I've ever come to believing Half Life 3 rumors.

WILL I EVER LEARN?!

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I mean this thing has to have a Half Life game in development for it. But is it a VR remake of one or both older HL games, or is it straight up Half Life 3 with VR support?

It's highly unlikely to be the latter, but it doesn't seem impossible since we know so little about what Valve has been up to all this time.

 

[low-G]

"Upgrade your experience" is one of the worst taglines in recent memory. Completely lacklustre and uninteresting.

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It's interesting to VR owners, as both the teaser image and that tagline are a clear message to people disappointed with the Rift S reveal.

 

[Maximo]

Oculus Rift S is a side grade im hoping Valves VR offers better features.

 

[JigglesBunny]

Can't wait to stick with my Oculus and brute force whatever Half Life VR title they release on it.

 

[Heid]

"Upgrade your experience" is one of the worst taglines in recent memory. Completely lacklustre and uninteresting.

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Its a reference to how the Rift S and many new VR HMDs are not upgrades at all.

The tagline will only be lame if there isn't any landmark new physical features, besides Knuckles which are a given.

eg. I bet a built in optical hand tracker (like Leap Motion) goes in that front pouch space.

 

[jediyoshi]

I don't think you'd be able to use Knuckles with a Rift since they use different tracking.

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IIRC Assuming you have Light Houses you would, Steam VR is pretty good about keeping input devices agnostic to setup.

 

[Randomly Generated]

I mean this thing has to have a Half Life game in development for it. But is it a VR remake of one or both older HL games, or is it straight up Half Life 3 with VR support?

It's highly unlikely to be the latter, but it doesn't seem impossible since we know so little about what Valve has been up to all this time.

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I can't believe "HLVR" is a remake of anything. That seems like a crazy waste of resources for a company that doesn't have a huge amount of developers.

 

[samred]

samred did they tell anything else?

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Nope. Thus, we're all looking forward to the seven-hour GameXplain video on the matter.

Spoiler

I say that with love. Their Super Mario Maker 2 analysis is some of the best content the Internet has ever seen.

 

[Deleted member 984]

Have you played much VR? Its literally the exact opposite of what you said.

People are used to artificial/thumbstick locomotion. Loads of FPS VR games use it now. Portal locomotion with flipping upside down, automatic reorientation and flying at 800mph through portals to build momentum... Yeaaaaa

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Yeah I've played hundreds of hours (possibly thousands) in VR. Never been even close to nauseous in anything and Portal does nothing compaired to what Detached does.

But saying that if they are going to design a Portal game for VR they are going to build around VR gameplay not m+k gameplay.

 

[Deleted member 4372]

Holy shit. I was readybto buy an S for No Mans Sky VR. Now, I need to wait and see.

 

[ashbash159]

The rumours for HLVR is that it's not HL3. You play as Alyx. Potentially there is co-op with another player as Gordon. Co-op may be separate or similar to how Portal 2 was set up.

 

[Dreamwriter]

Oculus Rift S is a side grade im hoping Valves VR offers better features.

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The rumors about this (which involved photographs which match this design, so are legit) said this device has a 135 degree FOV, which is a decent amount larger than current headsets. So yeah, at least that much is better.

 

[Kaako]

Needs specs, all the specs. Looking forward to try it out.

 

[Pai Pai Master]

The rumours for HLVR is that it's not HL3. You play as Alyx. Potentially there is co-op with another player as Gordon. Co-op may be separate or similar to how Portal 2 was set up.

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I feel like most people would just call that Half Life 3 rebranded for VR though right?

Who knows if we'll ever actually know, but I'm curious if HLVR is a new game they started working on specifically for VR after scrapping whatever they had done for Half Life 2 Episode 3/Half Life 3? Or did they take what they were working on, and rework it into what is now being called HLVR?

If it even exists.

 

[TheUnseenTheUnheard]

I can only get so excited

 

[Vibranium]

Say what you want about their game production but VR is definitely a Valve thing people should be excited for. Just need to know the price here.

 

[sph3re]

Half Life 3 as the launch game please?

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Is there a form I can fill out to request all Half-Life 3 posts be a bannable offense

 

[Heid]

Yeah I've played hundreds of hours (possibly thousands) in VR. Never been even close to nauseous in anything and Portal does nothing compaired to what Detached does.

But saying that if they are going to design a Portal game for VR they are going to build around VR gameplay not m+k gameplay.

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The only way I've seen portals work WELL for VR locomotion is Budget Cuts. I think deviating from the traditional Portal mechanics would actually turn people off...?

 

[Sleeping Lesson]

So extremely interested to get the details of this. I hope wireless was a big consideration in the design, even if it's not there out of the box.

 

[Randomly Generated]

I feel like most people would just call that Half Life 3 rebranded for VR though right?

Who knows if we'll ever actually know, but I'm curious if HLVR is a new game they started working on specifically for VR after scrapping whatever they had done for Half Life 2 Episode 3/Half Life 3? Or did they take what they were working on, and rework it into what is now being called HLVR?

If it even exists.

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If Valve does release another HL game, the history of its development is definitely going to be fascinating. I guess if the game features the Borealis we'll know they used some Ep3 stuff in it. I don't think it was ever clear what HL3 was going to be, though a bit of code made it sound like an open world RPG.

Damn I'm excited.

 

[Odrion]

Oh thank god Valve take save us from these other VR headset fuckboys.

 

[cakely]

Very, very cool.

I expect that it will ship with a VR game, set in the Portal universe, but not first-person portal.

Can't wait to see the stats!

 

[TeaberryShark]

May is very soon; when could we expect to hear more?

 

[GuyFive]

If it comes in at around 500 with controllers and better specs than the oculus S I'm in for one.

 

[Deleted member 12790]

does it come in red

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[Nzyme32]

"Upgrade your experience" is one of the worst taglines in recent memory. Completely lacklustre and uninteresting.

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It isn't a tag line, just a cryptic teaser sound byte, considering I expect Valve to put out a video and be done, rather than your usual console-centric mass market storm and catchy slogan attached

If you look closely at the HMD, the front of the headset has a kind "glass" covering. Behind that is where the leaked images show an empty USB powered slot. That is your "upgrade" slot, if we're taking guesses.

 

[Deleted member 984]

The only way I've seen portals work WELL for VR locomotion is Budget Cuts. I think deviating from the traditional Portal mechanics would actually turn people off...?

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Not if it's well implemented and well designed. After all it's how developers decide on the placement of white panels which really effects what you can or can't do.

Portals strong point has always been its balance of gameplay, ease of accessibility, smooth learning curve and humour. Plus when a person feels like they are getting flung through the air at 100mph rather than watching something go at 800mph I don't think many fucks will be given except for the stanch Luddite that wants everything to be as it was.

 

[1-D_FE]

Woohoo. I deliberately keep my expectations very low when it comes to Valve, but this was always my hope. That one day they'd just drop this news out of the blue.

I've come to grips that's it's going to be LCD. I just hope it's LCD with actual benefits (IE RGB/high resolution/and that rumored 135/140 degree FOV. If I'm giving up my OLED, I need actual upgrades for that exchange.)

We know from the resume of the fired guy that they were working on improving wireless codecs and were working on a HMD that had optional wireless. So here's hoping for a wireless option too:)

A real resolution upgrade, 140 degree FOV, and wireless would make me very happy.

Obviously this thing is shipping with Knuckles. And I would assume 1 of their games. So fuck yeah! Let's do this.

 

[Randomly Generated]

It isn't a tag line, just a cryptic teaser sound byte, considering I expect Valve to put out a video and be done, rather than your usual console-centric mass market storm and catchy slogan attached

If you look closely at the HMD, the front of the headset has a kind "glass" covering. Behind that is where the leaked images show an empty USB powered slot. That is your "upgrade" slot, if we're taking guesses.

Click to shrink...

So you can upgrade with accessories or something?

 

[Nzyme32]

This person just decided to pull "100%" out of their ass. The code he posted lists no numbers. Also, that could be from the standard code for any of Steam's pages.

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It's Tyler McViker, the ultimate fanboy steeped in hype culture and rumour mongering. That's no surprise

 

[Sleeping Lesson]

A real resolution upgrade, 140 degree FOV, and wireless would make me very happy.

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Yep, exactly right. As someone coming from a Vive/Rift, this is the minimum for me to upgrade. Wireless in particular is really important for me.

 

[TheUnseenTheUnheard]

I see they're not removing the physical IPD adjustment. I think that was a bad choice for the Rift S.

 

[stillwrapped]

ok so NOW can we have a Half-Life game please?

 

[HStallion]

Can't wait to hear more. I wonder how far a jump this is gonna be.

 

[Nzyme32]

So you can upgrade with accessories or something?

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Potentially. I am throwing this at the wall, though, as it is curious to me that to make that decision with the front. Perhaps it's aesthetics, but I'm guessing not. The cavity was with a USB port in the leak, easily accessible. Also looks like there is some potential ventilation their as well, which if you use other VR headsets for long periods, is a real issue. Kind of hoping they have something wacky and innovate like lighthouse in there.

 

[I KILL PXLS]

Fucking finally. Need more details!