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It's a day earlier than expected, but hardware manufacturer HTC have just announced the "HTC Vive", a virtual reality headset developed in a partnership between HTC and Valve. The headset, shown below, is fully compatible with Valve's SteamVR program and features hand and motion tracking in a 15 feet by 15 feet space through the use of a "base station" and a pair of ergonomic wireless controllers, one held in either hand.


According to the headset's official website, the device features a 90hz refresh rate, a 1200x1080 per eye resolution, 360 degree motion tracking, and a "room scale experience", allowing the user to freely move around while wearing the headset without feeling sick or tired over long periods of time. As usual with Valve, a number of software partners for the headset have already been working with the device, including game developers such as Bossa Studios, Cloudhead Games, Fireproof Games, and more.


HTC are reporting that a developer kit for the HTC Vive will be released sometime in the Spring in order to help get software ready for the device's launch in Holiday 2015 (likely November or December). No details regarding how the device will be sold or how much it will retail for has currently been announced, but getting a consumer-ready model out of the door at a reasonable price point is likely a top priority for both Valve and HTC. With GDC 2015 starting tomorrow and Chet Faliszek's EGX Rezzed talk taking place just one week later, it's quite possible we'll hear more from Valve's team regarding the project in the coming few days, so stay tuned!

In this week's Round-Up, we're discussing the reveal of one of Valve's most ambitious projects to date - SteamVR, which will be shown off at GDC 2015 next week! We're also checking out a few recent updates for Dota 2, TF2, and CS:GO!

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Hot off the press! Valve has just announced their plans for next week's GDC 2015.


In a press release from Doug Lombardi, he states that Valve will be demonstrating "Steam Machines with the final Steam Controller, new living room devices, and a previously-unannounced SteamVR hardware system."

Click to read the entire press release:


We've known that the Steam Machines and the final Steam Controller would be making their appearance, but there are two new elements of note:

1. "New living room devices," which sounds separate from our current knowledge of the Steam Universe.
2. There will be a demonstration of a new "SteamVR hardware system."

We have zero details on this new bit of information and we'll have to wait for GDC to roll around to find out more.

If you (or know someone that is) are attending GDC, Valve invites you to stop by their booth to demo all of their hardware that will be on display, including this new SteamVR hardware. You can make an appointment @ http://www.steampowered.com/universe.

There is also now an official Twitter account for SteamVR @SteamVR.

In other news, Doug also released some new staggering Steam stats! As of today, there are:

• 125 million active Steam accounts
• 4500 games
• 400 million pieces of user-generated in the Steam Community

That's all for now. Stay tuned, folks!

Update: For more on this story, and to learn exactly what Chet will be talking about EGX Rezzed 2015, please check out this news post: http://www.valvetime.net/threads/valves-gdc-2015-announcement.245755/

In December we learned that Chet Faliszek would be presenting a developer session at EGX Rezzed. We were told that the session was "under wraps" and that we would hear more details about it in January.

We just learned of another page on the EGX website. It says that Chet's developer session will take place March 13 @ 1:00 PM. But what will he present? That's the kicker... We still don't know the details of that tiny bit of information.

According to the Valve Time theory: "more details in January" + "more info coming soon" = more info on March 13th. Give or take a few days to adjust for GDC 2015 where we could learn more details about this "secret content" prior to Chet's EGX developer session. Either way...

Thanks to @SteamEmpire for the tip

It's been a big week for Dota 2 and Half-Life fans, with the most recent Half-Life 3 finding arriving right in the middle of this year's New Bloom 2015 update! With GDC 2015 fast approaching, what does it all mean?

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