LG launched their upcoming Virtual Reality headset at GDC 2017 a few weeks ago in what is set to be a monumental development for the VR industry. LG has been long working on their version of a VR headset and it’s great to see them working with Valve to bring this to life. The tracking technology used in Valve’s Steam VR is the same as what appears with HTC Vive’s headset with a few small differences that will make VR developers extremely happy.
LG is currently sending out development kits to an exclusive set of select partners (mostly big companies that have development teams ready to deploy and work on creating new games/experiences). LG didn’t give a direct timeline for the time frame behind their consumer-based release but we should get an announcement from them in the coming months in regards to partners and developers.
From the looks of things the tracking base stations look very similar to those provided by HTC Vive’s headset. They are comparable with their FOV and the resolution is said to be a a bit clearer than current Vive/Rift options however from those who have demoed the hardware the consensus is that it is on par with the Vive.
Here are the headset specs for those wondering:
- Two panels (one for each eye) with a resolution of 1440 by 1280 each
- OLED display from LG
- 3.64 inches diagonal
- 90 Hz refresh rate
- 110 degree FOV
This means that there is a new real contender in the VR headset space, and they will look to push adoption with their Steam platform for the gaming community. This could mean widespread adoption and better accessibility to games and experiences for Steam subscribers as well as easier portability between games/platforms.
While no price has been defined as of yet, we can expect it to come in at around the same prices we are currently paying for Vive/Rift. I guess a lot of that has to do with market research and feedback they get from developers.
