Steam Adds Easy Access To Virtual Reality Mode In Latest Beta, So Boot Up Your Rift

Valve has updated its Steam beta client (via Engadget), and the new software introduces an easier way to get at the company’s new virtual reality mode for its platform. Previously, access had to be gained via command line prompt, but now, there’s a new item added to the View menu that lets you switch to VR mode easily. You’ll only see it if SteamVR is also installed, and if the software can detect a compatible head-mounted display, however.

The software can now also switch between desktop, VR and Big Picture mode, and can detect an HMD being plugged in after Steam has started, thus prompting the menu item to appear. The update is fairly small, but it signals that Valve is serious about VR support, and moves the feature closer to a retail release, which is likely designed to coincide with the introduction of the Oculus Rift consumer hardware, or Valve’s own VR headset, which is currently in prototype form and said to be “lightyears ahead of the original Oculus dev kit,” which admittedly isn’t reflective of the current Crystal Cove Oculus prototype version.

We’ll probably have multiple options of immersive gaming computers we wear on our face in the coming years, basically, so let’s prepare our mugs to bear the weight of electronics-filled goggles. I’m doing neck exercises as we speak.