SteamVR headset teaser image surfaces, reveal coming next week

Valve plans to reveal its very own SteamVR hardware system at GDC next week, and we may already have some idea of what it will look like thanks to a teaser outline. It's... exactly what you were expecting, unless you were waiting for some holographic contact lenses, or perhaps a surgical-strength laser that etches the images directly onto your retinas.

The outline, spotted by Steam Database on Valve's official Steam Universe demo page, looks like a standard head-mounted display, with a box for the screen and optics in the front, three exposed cables (don't even start about Half-Life 3), and attached head straps. That's not all, though - according to sources who spoke to GR+ sister site TechRadar, the display is already being tested by developers outside of Valve.

It seems that SteamVR is even a step-up from Oculus' Crescent Bay model, the latest publicly demonstrated prototype of the seminal Rift VR headset line. TR's Hugh Langley wasn't able to say much more when I asked / begged him for details, although he did note that this is a significant change in course for Valve. The company's previous VR demonstrations were impressive but seemed more focused on the overall potential for VR than selling a specific product.

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Then again, considering how Valve partnered with external manufacturers for the Steam Machine program, SteamVR may be more of a generalized operating system and design philosophy than a single Valve-designed product. So Valve and Oculus could still be business partners rather than competitors by the end of next week.