So, as the RoadToVR news source describes it, the Steam VR Desktop Theatre Mode will provide some interesting, value added, middle ground, allowing Steam users to “play any game from their Steam library inside of VR on big virtual display”. “Desktop Theater Mode enables users to play non-VR games with VR systems such as the upcoming HTC Vive and others”.
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In January David Whelan and his team announced on their Kickstarter crowd-funding page for The Apollo 11 Virtual Reality Experience, that the project would support all three major head-mounted displays (HMDs), Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and PlayStation VR at their respective launches.
Valve hasn’t revealed too much about the new mode, which is in early beta, and there aren’t any images or videos of the feature. Examples of no-no’s in the VR world include when the camera control is yanked out of your control to force you to look at a particular scene, cut-scenes, heavy mouse-based yaw control, text-based conversations with NPCs and possibly things like reading menus, keeping track of mini-maps or health/magic bars.
According to TechRadar, the Desktop Theater mode is still in its early beta but Valve is expecting to launch its feature at Game Developers Conference in San Francisco this week.
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What if you’re using something else, like an Oculus Rift? But if you’ve had to move your gaming rig to the living room to take advantage of the space required for motion, you might not have it plugged into a conventional monitor at all. The $600 Oculus Rift ships with “headset, sensor, remote, cables, Xbox One controller, EVE: Valkyrie, and Lucky’s Tale”.
