SteamVR – Here what Valve could show at GDC 2015

A few hours ago, Valve has announced its presence at GDC 2015 that will take place next March 2/6 in Los Angeles, to present the new Steam Machine, the final version of the controller and, surprisingly, the Steam VR. Nothing we can say about the design, but searching through patents we could imagine what news will show the well-known publisher.
Many patents have not been yet approved by the US (usually have to wait a couple of years) and were filed around the same time (March 2014), which is why we think they are related. Although based on official documents, we invite you to consider everything as a rumour until Valve itself presents their products.

The visor may not be similar to a Oculus Rift, but more to a Hololens / Google Glass. In fact, a patent on a “head-mounted display” reveals that it will be transparent or semi-transparent, therefore it allows the user to watch both image projection and the real world.

Also – but this was obvious – it would be able to transform the 2D image in 3D, allowing the visor to realize the “augmented reality” by combining the images projected with those of the real world, and the camera / sensors would follow the movements of the eyes.

Finally, the real news may be about the VR controller: a patent about a particular “wearable” device shows a controller to apply to the player’s hand and that, we think, exploiting magnetic fields allow us to make certain movements or game controls. From the drawings and descriptions we can see a device composed of four parts: a bracelet (or watch) around the wrist, two rings and a fourth object to be applied to the palm of the hand.

Are these the news that Valve will show at GDC 2015? We’ll see!