Did HP just try to steal Alyx’s thunder? Not likely, but the timing of this announcement couldn’t have been better placed. With all of the attention on the virtual reality world today, HP, Valve, and Microsoft have announced a major collaboration. The three mammoth-sized companies are all working together to make the next generation of a high-end VR headset.
As for specs, release date, and any other information, we don’t have it. All we do have is the little teaser video left to us by HP. You can check it out below and give us your speculation in the comments below.
THE NEXT GENERATION
NO COMPROMISES
COMING SOON
That is all the wording we got in this video. What do we do with this information? Speculate.
What Does This Mean?
The headset itself looks clean. It looks like a Valve Index. It seems to be incorporating the same strap system, the same near-field off-ear speakers, and even the same hinges on the headset. It has the front look of a Mixed Reality headset, but we already know it is going to perform much better than any of those headsets.
HP left a little statement with RoadToVr. You can check that out below, but it still doesn’t give us much information.
“Through this collaboration, Valve, Microsoft and HP are bringing a more immersive, comfortable and compatible VR experience,” an HP spokesperson told Road to VR.
More immersive of course, as well as more comfortable. But more compatible? What should we exactly think of that? We are thinking tracking. It seems like having SteamVR tracking as a secondary use of tracking is something that could be very real. The headset, which has some dimples in the front, could very well use multiple ways of tracking. We aren’t sure what they are though.
Are those cameras on the front? Maybe. Maybe no. Even brightening the image doesn’t do much for the dimples. But Valve likely wouldn’t help on a headset if it didn’t have compatibility with their own tracking. But Microsoft is going to have their own ideas too, making this a very “compatible” headset.
Controllers
There is no indication of controllers for this headset though. The ‘Coming Soon’ (more on that in a minute) tag means we will likely see them soon though. The headset should be compatible with each SteamVR accepted controller. Again, there is no indication of this, but it would make a lot of sense.
It would be great to see this headset ship with the Valve controllers, or even an updated version of them. Valve has to get something out of this partnership, right?
Coming Soon
I could be wrong, but I don’t remember anything ‘Coming Soon’ and then release a year later. It seems, and I get the feel, that this headset could be on virtual shelves within a short few months. We should be expecting more updates to come out of this three-headed collab in the coming weeks. Today was a fantastic day to release this news, and now they have millions of eyes on the upcoming project.
It seems HP is taking the lead on this. Let’s see what Microsoft and Valve decide to bring to the table when the specs and more news is released. For more updates on this, make sure to check back at VRGear.com.
