Windows VR Headsets Can Now Play VR Games on Steam

Early adopters of “Windows Mixed Reality” VR headsets can now access a wealth of new content thanks to an official integration with Steam, now available as a public preview, allowing the headsets to play SteamVR content from the platform.

Update (11/15/17): The SteamVR integration for Windows Mixed Reality VR headsets is now available for free on Steam as a public preview. On the Steam page, Microsoft addresses why they’re launching it as a preview:

Windows Mixed Reality for SteamVR is currently targeted at consumers who want to be first to try out their Steam titles on Windows Mixed Reality. There are some known performance and experience issues that we are actively addressing. Early feedback will help spot new issues with a breadth of content.

Microsoft offers a detailed set of instructions for using Mixed Reality VR headsets play VR content on Steam, as well as troubleshooting. Steam helpfully provides the following controls for using the Mixed Reality controllers with SteamVR:

Image courtesy Steam

Original Article (11/9/17): Valve built SteamVR in an open way with the hopes that third-party headset makers would connect to the platform to offer users access to Steam’s library of VR content. With Vive and Rift support already nailed down, Microsoft’s own Windows “Mixed Reality” VR headsets are next in line to join the fray with an officially sanctioned integration which allows the headsets to tap into a trove of new content via Steam.

And it can’t come soon enough for early adopters of the Windows VR headsets. At the time of writing, Microsoft’s own Windows Store offers a paltry 61 VR apps, with only a handful of highlights and no meaningful exclusives.

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Thankfully, a public preview of the SteamVR integration for Windows “Mixed Reality” VR headsets is due to launch on Wednesday, November 15th. The preview is currently available to select developers who have applied via this form. Microsoft is positioning this initial launch of the Steam integration for Windows VR headsets as preview / beta, saying that the official launch will come at some unspecified later date.

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Pimax Teases ‘Next Generation’ Accessories for Its 8K VR Headset

Pimax, the Chinese VR headset manufacturer, released a teaser video showing a number of high-tech accessories that clip onto the company’s upcoming 8K VR headset—a headset that boasts a staggering 200 degree field of view (FOV) at 3840×2160 per eye resolution via its dual LCD displays.

In the video, we see some pretty ‘next generation’ clip-on (and screw-on) modules; eye-tracking, inside-out hand-tracking, scent enabling module, wireless transmitter, prescription glasses frame, cooling fan, and both a halo-style headband with integrated audio and traditional headstrap—everything you might consider ‘the future’ of VR.

image courtesy Pimax

The video doesn’t go exactly how some of the less obvious, and decidedly more exotic accessories work, the most curious being the scent module, which if like others on the market, acts essentially as an oil diffuser with built-in fan. If it works like the similarly-sized scent unit from Japanese startup Vaqso, it contains a small number of ‘scent cartridges’ that activate during specific points during the VR experience, including an integrated battery and Bluetooth radio. This is uncertain however.

What’s also striking is how thin the wireless transmitter appears. It remains to be seen whether the company’s transmitter features an integrated battery like industry stalwart DisplayLink, or requires an external powerbank like TPCast.

image courtesy Pimax

Pimax is staying mum on any of the specifics, and only currently offers an info signup sheet. We can only speculate at this point how good both the eye and hand-tracking are (so we won’t).

Road to VR’s Frank He went hands-on with a prototype of the 8K headset at this year’s CES, saying the headset’s 200 degree FOV was “impressive,” and that resolution-wise, he couldn’t discern sub-pixels “no matter how hard [he] looked.”

In the following months since CES, Pimax has also integrated Valve’s Lighthouse positional tracking to go along with its own optically-tracked system, making it one of the first headsets outside of HTC to do so. A pair of Lighthouse-enabled controllers come in the package, which look like a mashup of the Vive’s own motion controllers and Oculus’ Touch contollers.

image courtesy Pimax

There’s no launch date in sight for the company’s 8K VR headset Kickstarter, but we’re hoping the headset delivers on everything its promised so far in the video.

8K VR Headset Specs

image courtesy Pimax

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Update: Steam Support for Windows VR Headsets to Arrive Before End of Year

Microsoft’s Windows VR headsets (branded as ‘Mixed Reality’) are nearly ready to ship, coming alongside the launch of Windows Fall Creators Update in mid-October. Announced today at Microsoft’s Windows Mixed Reality event, the company says a “preview” of SteamVR compatibility is sure to arrive sometime during the holiday season, giving its line of VR headsets access to the Steam’s vast library of room-scale games.

Update (10/03/17): Microsoft today announced that SteamVR support is surely headed to Windows VR headsets before the end of the year. Starting today, developers will be able to access a preview version of Windows Mixed Reality SteamVR support, but consumers will gain access sometime before the end of the year. The original article continues below.

Original article (09/04/17): Microsoft recently co-announced with Valve that the headsets will support SteamVR content, but didn’t say exactly when it would transpire.

As reported by the German tech publication Computer Base, Microsoft’s Greg Sullivan announced at the Berlin-based tech trade show IFA 2017 that SteamVR support wouldn’t be ready for the October 17th release of the Windows Fall Creators Update. According to ComputerBase, work on hooking the company’s swath of VR headsets into SteamVR has only just begun, and exactly when customers will be able to pop into Steam to buy and play supported titles, Sullivan couldn’t say.

image courtesy Microsoft

Windows VR headsets already have a number of confirmed titles, including Superhot VR (2016), Arizona Sunshine (2016), and Rec Room (2017) that can be available through the Microsoft Store. Check out the full list here.

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‘Raw Data’ is Coming to Oculus Home with Reworked Touch Support & Cross-Platform Play

Survios, the developers behind the impressive first person VR action title Raw Data, has announced that the game is coming to Oculus Rift with fully “re-engineered” Touch motion control support and the ability to play online with your HTC Vive owning friends.

One of the most accomplished early titles for the Steam VR platform and the HTC Vive, the guns ‘n swords gameplay of Raw Data also made it was of VR’s first major commercial successes. According to the developers, the title was the first VR title to exceed $1M in sales, a feat achieved in less than a month.

Now the title is coming to the Oculus Rift with Touch controllers support, and Survios are taking the opportunity to add the ability for Steam VR and Oculus Home users to play together with cross compatibility support.

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Raw_Data_Cover_Art_(1)“We’re thrilled to welcome the Oculus player community to Raw Data,” said James Iliff, Survios Chief Creative Officer and co-founder. “With VR still a young, niche industry, it’s crucial right now for the entire community to be united regardless of platform. We believe VR is ultimately going to be a platform-agnostic medium, and we’re showing our support for that shift with Raw Data’s new, cross-platform compatibility—and that’s just the beginning. We’re going to do everything we can to create content for the entire VR community.”

Alongside the Rift support, Survios also teased some of the new content players can expect to get stuck into soon. The next content update will feature player character rebalancing in responbse to player feedback, with Saija and Boss both receiving “powerful new abilities” and “extensive reworks”, as well as a new mission called “Cataclysm” – which has “descend to new depths of terror as they fend off deadly enemies while traveling on a moving elevator platform”.

No precise work on Raw Data’s release for Oculus Home as yet or when that promised content update will arrive, but Survios are on hand at GDC to show it off to show goers.

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SteamVR to Get Linux and Mac OSX Support Within “a Few Months”

Valve is planning to introduce beta versions of its SteamVR platform for Mac OSX and Linux users within a few months.

One thing’s for sure, if you’re a PC user wanting to indulge in a spot of immersive entertainment right now, the choice of operating systems on which you can do so are mostly limited to just one. Windows dominates the VR PC landscape right now and that looks set to continue for a while longer. However, Valve will soon move to encourage a diminishing of that monopoly, as it plans to bring SteamVR – the company’s Steam-integrated VR platform – to both Linux and Mac OSX platforms within the next few months.

The initiative was revealed by Valve’s Joe Ludwig during a talk at this year’s developer-focused Steam Dev Days event in Seattle last month. During the talk, Ludwig outlined the company’s view that VR should be as open to innovation as possible, touting the benefits for the long term evolution of virtual reality and how Valve, with OpenVR, are trying to keep what Ludwig calls platform “gatekeepers” from (as they see it) stifling progression in the VR space. Additionally, Ludwig stated that it’s been listening to developer and user feedback during SteamVR‘s first year in consumer hands, and says that they’ve heard clearly that a version of SteamVR is wanted on other operating systems.

Ludwig presented a screenshot (seen at the top of this article) of SteamVR running on Linux (distribution undefined), powered by the open source graphics API Vulkan, in turn powering an HTC Vive VR headset. Ludwig goes on to say that “we’re actively working on support for both OSX and Linux and we hope to get support for both of them into a beta in the next few months.”

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This is news that will likely delight both open source operating system enthusiasts, Apple fans and Windows detractors alike. However, be aware that although even when these SteamVR OSX and Linux betas drop, application support for those operating systems are still limited. The vast majority of applications that integrate SteamVR right now, are rendered using the Microsoft DirectX APIs – these as you might expect are exclusive to Windows operating systems. In order for a game to run on an OS other than Windows, the game needs to support a graphics API, such as OpenGL and its successor Vulkan. Those games are limited in number right now, although Valve’s move to open up the possibilities for companies to offer versions of their titles to run on other platforms, may now encourage others to emerge.

The debate on the relative benefits of open platforms versus proprietary will rage on of course, but if you’re interested in Valve’s view of the VR landscape both now and in the future, take 20 mins to watch Ludwig’s presentation (embedded above) as it clears up some long standing confusion on just how ‘open’ OpenVR and it’s required SteamVR runtime components are.

In the mean time, Oculus have gone on record stating that any plans for Mac OSX support are “on hold” and the company’s founder has voiced vocally his reservations about the platform, namely Apple’s hardware lineup and its ability to meet the demanding rigours of rendering virtual reality applications.

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SteamVR Tracking Courses Begin, Already Completed by 50 Developers

Valve opened up their SteamVR tracking technology for third-party development in August, and since then, 50 developers have completed the mandatory training course provided by Synapse, the first company to enter the field.

Synapse says that most of the participants have been interested in gaming specifically, but some have expressed interest in applying the technology to the automotive industry, science, sports, education, and general consumer electronics.

Synapse has received more registrations for the training course than originally anticipated, so they’ve added additional slots for the course in November and December. A representative for Synapse said that there are currently no plans to continue the course past December, so interested developers should sign-up as soon as possible to get in the remaining classes.

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Synapse will also be presenting a compressed version of their training course at SXSW as part of the VR/AR track in March of 2017.

synapse-stemvr-lighthouse-training-course-100012

At Valve’s annual Steam Dev Days event earlier this month, the company laid heavy emphasis on making their Lighthouse room-scale tracking technology available to companies wishing to integrate it into 3rd party products. Valve stated that claiming that those 300 licensees span multiple industries ranging from “entertainment VR to automotive to televisions and toys.” Further, Valve says we can look forward to seeing many of these products appear in 2017.

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Shortly after the announcement that the SteamVR Tracking technology would finally begin to open up to third-parties, semiconductor firm Triad Semiconductor announced that it was collaborating with Valve to create the ‘light to digital’ chips that form an important foundation of the sensors and make the impressively accurate tracking and which Valve recommends for use in products integrating SteamVR Tracking.

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Impressions on Valve’s New VR Controller Prototype from Cloudhead’s Denny Unger

denny_headshot-200x200Valve premiered a prototype of a new type of VR input controller at Steam Dev Days in order to get some preliminary feedback from developers. They’ve created a capacitive-touch controller that is attached to your hand so that you can open and close your hands to mimic the feeling of grabbing a tangible object. They used a modified scene from The Gallery, Episode 1 demo to show off this new controller, and I had a chance to Cloudhead Games President & Creative Director Denny Unger about it at the VR on the Lot conference. We talked about the Valve’s new input controller prototype, the growing ecosystem of lighthouse-tracked peripherals, his thoughts on the future of non-linear narrative, and an update about The Gallery, which recently won best narrative VR experience at the Proto Awards and has surpassed $1 million in sales.

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