A couple of weeks ago, the PlayHubs game jam took place in London, and Valve showed up there with three HTC Vive headsets in hand. Developers had 48 hours to create whatever they wanted with the virtual reality headsets, but the legion of Lord GabeN also presented its own demos, some of which were seen at the last GDC. The most talked-about was Aperture Science, which locks the player in a small workshop. Want to see what it's about?
Despite some personal reservations, it's very hard not to be excited about virtual reality. Considering all the names involved, virtual reality should emerge as an extraordinary movement that paves the way for a new phase in the world of computing. Hardware delays and the scarce availability of software raise doubts here and there, yet there are demos that make us fall in love again in a matter of minutes. I think we're all keeping an eye on Valve. Oculus has made a lot of noise with its Rift, and Sony is advancing quickly with Morpheus... but Valve is Valve. I admit the company lost steam in some aspects (SteamOS, Steam Machines, etc.), and the latest Steam builds aren't as stable as I'd like. Even so, Valve is in deep with virtual reality, and we definitely want to see its work.
The Aperture Science Demo
After several leaks of poor quality, the folks at ValveTime had the opportunity to explore the VR demo based on Aperture Science up close. The interest is logical since it's one of the main franchises, and there's always room for a rumor or two. Basically, the player is trapped and assigned to a small repair workshop. After a short tutorial explaining how to recharge two small devices, the demo lets you explore three drawers (one with a rotten cake, obviously), and then you need to pull a lever that opens the main door, giving way to a completely broken Atlas robot, thanks to GLaDOS's brutality in her tests.
An excellent animation shows all the parts of Atlas, but things get complicated when the player has to repair it in less than 60 seconds—a simply impossible task. Right after that, someone very familiar appears to all of us... though we're not sure if we should be happy. The point is that the demo ends shortly after, and we're left screaming for more. Valve should ensure that HTC Vive support is perfect in all its games, and something tells me that headset will be much friendlier than the Oculus Rift in several ways. The alternative is that Valve tells us something about a certain theoretical physicist. If it does, the internet might break...
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