Valve Index VR headset announcement! Preorders from May 1st

It’s official, gaming-giant Valve is entering with waters with a headset of their own. If you head to their steam page you may be pleasantly surprised that the Valve Index VR headset still stands. Earlier today Doug Lombardi, Valves spokesman dismissed all rumors of an April Fools joke in an interview with The Verge. Confirming Valves planed full product announcement and preorders for May the 1st. The target shipping date for the Valve Index is sometime in June.

Features

• Headset – Two Front Facing Tracking Cameras
• Integrated Headphones
• Tether with DisplayPort 1.2 and USB 3.0 Connections
• Power Adapter
• Regional Power Adapter Plugs
• Two Face Gaskets (narrow and wide)
• Cleaning Cloth
• Valve Index Controllers/Knuckle controllers(Not mentioned on the steam page, but confirmed by Valve)

Inside-Out Tracking

The two frontal cameras hint that the Valve Index VR Headset will opt for inside out tracking. Windows Mixed Reality headsets were the first to push this style of tracking for the PC VR units and seems to be the trend moving forward. The one big drawback is controller tracking accuracy, as the frontal cameras would lose the motion controllers when moved behind the head – especially frustration when shooting a bow. Both the Oculus Rift S and the Vive Cosmos look to expand on this idea by adding additional side cameras. Inside out tracking allows more flexibility when moving the headset to other play areas and setup time is greatly reduced without the mounted wall sensors. It will be interesting to see if Valve do go for this style with the two frontal cameras alone.

System Requirements

Torn between the Valve Index, Oculus Rift S and Vive Cosmos? Same here! Let me know what you think in the comments section below.