Valve has been taking big leaps into becoming a hardware developer over the course of this past year. It's Steam Machine console and Steam Controller have made developers everywhere at least bat an eyelash or two and now the company is getting ready to unveil something completely different. Valve will show off its VR headset prototype to developers at a private event in January.
According to IGN, the VR headset will make its debut at the invite-only developer conference Steam Developer Days in Seattle. The company's Michael Abrash will explain why it is embracing the concept of VR technology in a talk titled "What VR Could, Should, and Almost Certainly Will Be within Two Years."
Valve has "figured out what affordable Virtual Reality (VR) hardware will be capable of within a couple of years, and assembled a prototype which demonstrates that such VR hardware is capable of stunning experiences. This type of hardware is almost certainly going to appear in short order, and the time to start developing for it is now. This talk will discuss what the hardware is like, and the kinds of experiences it makes possible," a description for the event reads.
Following the talk, a few lucky attendees will have the opportunity to test drive the prototype headset. The event will also feature a discussion from Oculus Rift founder Palmer Luckey that will discuss "many of the best practices, technical hurdles that VR developers should be aware of, and some of the counter-intuitive approaches we've seen work."
In addition, the company will have talks to discuss its Steam Machines, Steam Controller, the future of Linux-based development, in-game economies for Team Fortress 2 and Dota 2 as well as much more. The event will happen after Valve unveils its hardware partners for Steam Machines just before the Steam Developer Days at CES in January.
