Valve has an event called Steam Dev Days going on right now in Seattle, and discussions of upcoming hardware are happening in a low-key fashion. There have been no announcements yet as to what has been covered in the conference, but attendees have been posting about some virtual reality controller prototypes that look quite different from what the market offer today.
The Verge reports that what makes these new controllers stand out from the rest is that they can detect when a player opens and closes his or her hand, which lets him or her grip objects within the game. As of now, the Vive controllers tend to handle actions such as this by a simple trigger at the back of it and while it does its job well, it is not too engaging.
As compared to rival Oculus' counterpart device, their Touch controllers for the Rift headset can simulate hand movement more naturally. Based on released pictures, it seems that these prototypes are meant to be used while strapped to the palm of the hand.
This could show another advantage which the Oculus Touch as over this new device, since this has to be firmly gripped at all times while such is not the case for the Touch's ergonomic design. The prototype controllers are also covered in multiple sensors which are presumably the same type with the Vive's lighthouse tracking system and there's also some lights whose functions are not yet known.
GameSpot reports that this new controller was developed in partnership with Taiwanese company HTC and from pictures, users can open their hands without dropping the controller. It is also presumable that the controllers can be able to track user activity and replicated hand movements with finger articulation with great accuracy.
Valve's Doug Lombardi has revealed that the company is still gathering feedback on the design prototype at this point of development. When asked about more details including release date, price and whether or not the company will be giving out loyalty discounts, Lombardi shrugged these off and said that the company will have more details very soon.
