Although the HTC Vive motion controllers are decent enough already, it seems that replacements are in the pipeline.
A Valve development slide and hands-on pictures of the prototype controllers have leaked online and they seem to own a lot to the forthcoming Oculus Touch devices.
They have been designed by Valve rather than HTC it is claimed. Valve is the owner of Steam and the Steam VR system the Vive uses.
The slide showing early prototypes was first posted on Twitter by @robmerki, director of Cognitive VR.
New Vive controllers coming soon. Prototype available at #SteamDevDays pic.twitter.com/C5HMvOrwt4
— Robert Merki (@robmerki) October 12, 2016
This was followed by postings from @mxweas and Shawn Whiting, who both tweeted images of the controllers in their own hands.
New Valve controller prototype was really cool. Much closer to having hands in VR vs holding a tool. pic.twitter.com/8LzEkGDEn1
— Max W @ SteamDevDays (@mxweas) October 12, 2016
More photos of the new Vive controllers! #SteamDevDays #Vive #VR pic.twitter.com/o99QHPZvvD
— Shawn Whiting (@shawncwhiting) October 12, 2016
If these are to be the final products, they could take a while to put on considering how much strapping can be seen in the images. However, the less you feel like you're holding a baton, the more immersive the experience, so we heartily approve.
There's no clue yet to when we see the new HTC Vive controllers or how much they'll cost. We doubt they'll be cheap though, considering the Oculus Touch controllers are priced at around £190 for the pair.