Back in July, we reported on the reveal of VirtualLink, a new VR standard designed to make the next generation PC VR headsets much more accessible devices. At the time major players like Oculus, Valve, Microsoft, Nvidia and AMD all backed the project but there was one key name missing: HTC Vive. That changes this week.
Vive just announced that it’s joining the VirtualLink Consortium at the 2018 XRDC event in San Francisco. In a blog post Daniel O’Brien, GM of Vive in the US, said that the company was “working to define not only a connection standard for future VR products but are also undertaking important work to help to define the future of what VR can be.”
The company didn’t actually announce any future VR headsets that will utilize the standard, nor if it might adapt current headsets like the Vive and Vive Pro to accommodate it. We’ve reached out to HTC to ask after its plans for the platform.
VirtualLink refers to an Alternate Mode of USB-C that should allow future PC-based headsets to connect to rigs with a single cable. Anyone with a current generation Oculus Rift or HTC Vive knows that there are a litany of cables to plug into your PC to get it working, but VirtualLink (along with the rise of inside-out tracking systems), should streamline that setup considerably.
We think VirtualLink could be very important to the future of PC-based VR, even if there’s also the possibility of wireless streaming being a major feature of the next headsets.
Tagged with: htc vive, VirtualLink
The post HTC Vive Joins VirtualLink Standard at XRDC 2018 appeared first on UploadVR.
via Mint VR