It has been a good long while since a gaming peripheral came around that truly revolutionized the way games are played. Keyboard, mouse, and gamepad have reigned supreme and virtually unchallenged for ages, with the headset joining the must-have list for multiplayer or online gaming. Even the joystick hasn’t been prominent as a required control option for years. Oculus Rift looks to shake that up.
The Oculus Rift is a virtual reality headset allowing a player to literally turn their head to look around in a game. The technology has impressed many people, including noted names like Gabe Newell and John Carmack. It raised millions from Kickstarter and has been looking to apply itself to actual games. Now it gets to.
Valve has announced that Team Fortress 2 will add in a special VR Mode to the game that will enable players to use Oculus Rift. The mode will be compatible with all classes and game modes and even comes with an exclusive hat in-game for Oculus Rift owners. The mode is currently available only for the PC version of the game, but promises to expand into Mac and Linux versions.
Valve also states that it is also experimenting with implementing virtual reality headset capabilities for Half Life 2 and Left 4 Dead 2 as well, but Team Fortress 2 is the obvious testing ground based on its large community and frequent updates. Cross your fingers that things go smoothly, this is gonna be huge. Gaming has been waiting for a virtual reality headset that works for longer than most gamers can remember.
Sorry, Virtual Boy…
