During a recent interview with the BBC at CES 2014, Valve designer Brian Coomer revealed that Valve plans to release a “VR software development kit” during its upcoming Steam Dev Days conference.
The development kit will provide game makers with a standardized user interface for virtual reality headsets such as the Oculus Rift and the, as of yet, unannounced virtual reality hardware currently being developed by Valve. Although there are still significant hurdles to overcome, such as the motion sickness that often results from a world that is constantly being redrawn, Valve appears to be embracing Virtual Reality gaming as the next big thing.
Valve"s developer conference, which takes place Jan. 15-16, will include a number of virtual reality-focused sessions such as “Wild West of VR – Discovering the Rules of Oculus Rift Development” and “Virtual Reality and Steam.” In the description for “What VR Could, Should, and Almost Certainly Will Be Two Years,” Valve programmer Michael Abrash strikes a confident note in his predictions for the future of virtual reality and gaming.
Abrash writes in the description that Valve already has a prototype, and it may have an affordable, mass-market product within two years.
"That hardware is almost certainly going to appear in that timeframe," he states, "and it will be worth starting to develop for it now.”
Source: BBC | Image via Oculus VR