Two of technology’s most exciting industries are about to come together in glorious gaming harmony.
Valve has teased a virtual reality spectator mode for Dota 2 on the HTC Vive, which you can view on Valve’s Steam VR page, or in the tweet below:
https://twitter.com/statuses/717387309230858241
In the video, you see a Dota 2 stream suspended in mid-air above a 3D map of the game. To the left are game characters, while game statistics are displayed in floating pop-up windows either side of the map.
While we’ve only seen a brief glimpse of the technology, it’s easy to see how much more immersive this system will make watching esports.
Dota 2 is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game available for free on the Steam store. It’s one of the most popular esports games in the world.
The International Dota 2 tournament in 2015 holds the record for having the largest esports prize pool ever, totaling $18 million.
Related: HTC Vive vs Oculus Rift
What’s particularly exciting is that there’s no reason why this sort of software couldn’t be applied to other spectator esports, and even normal sports too.
It’s also worth noting that this system could work without positional tracking, so it could potentially function on a system as basic as Google Cardboard, albeit with some control reworks.
(apester:56e7f1a051c54f4063b9c0c1)
What do you think of Valve’s Dota 2 VR spectator teaser? Let us know in the comments.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
