Steam Dev Days: New SteamVR Controller, Next-Generation Lighthouse Base Stations Teased

Steam has walled off its annual Steam Dev Days confab from the press, but this did not deter some information from leaking. One of the most notable of these involves the announcement of a set of virtual reality (VR) controllers that can allow its wearer to open his hands to pick virtual objects as well as the next-generation Lighthouse Base Stations.

The sources mostly constitute tweets from developers who are attending the event. One post should spark what one can consider as a rumor, but when there are several posts that are already citing the same information, then that is already a certainty, short of official confirmation.

As of this writing, information about the new set of SteamVR controller — yes, that is what Valve is calling the device — is already splashed all over Twitter, perpetuated by posts bearing #SteamDevDays.

Based on available information, the controllers seem to be made to work for third-party VR hardware such as the HTC Vive. This is not really surprising because Valve has been reported to be collaborating with HTC for its VR projects such as the Vive's VR tracking system. TechCrunch went as far as saying, for instance, that Valve has been responsible for most of the underlying VR Tech for HTC Vive.

Tech Times previously reported that SteamVR is part of the HTC Vive's tracking system and has been designed as an open source technology for HTC's VR headset, one that a third party can use without license fees. Conference keynotes also touched on this piece of VR technology, which the company called as Lighthouse tracking system.

Simply put, this is a mechanism for tracking objects in the virtual world using lasers emitted by base stations. It appears that Valve has confirmed that the technology is indeed open source and has also promised to build several, with about 300 hardware partners. The plan is to make the Lighthouse tracking system faster.

So far, the SteamVR controllers were just part of keynote presentations at the Steam developer conference. Before the event ends, however, participants expect to get a glimpse of an actual prototype and possibly preview it in action. On this note, it is not yet clear whether a pair of base stations will make an appearance as well.

Valve seems bent on rolling the technology out by 2017 as indicated in a post by Twitter user Shawn Whiting. The SteamVR controllers, however, could come sooner than that schedule.

Pricing information has not been made available for both pieces of VR hardware or for sensors that will be sold to third-party VR accessory manufacturers.