Facebook, Sony, Valve, Microsoft, Samsung – it seems like every company is trying to outdo each other with their own VR headsets, kicking off a trend that is sure to persist for years to come. Intel announced that they were working on a VR headset of their own sometime last year, but at this year’s CES conference in Las Vegas, Intel took the stage to showcase their headset, dubbed Project Alloy.
What makes Project Alloy stand out from available VR headsets, as well as others currently in development is that it does not require an external console or a power source. Project Alloy has a built-in battery, as is the computer that runs the headsets processes.
The demo showed the capabilities of the project, which could turn the already existing furniture within a room and convert them into video-game themed assets when the user simply looks at them. Intel has dubbed this process, “merged reality”.
In the demo, a bookcase and a small coffee table transformed into thematic video-game assets to make the room appear more like a futuristic spacecraft.
This demo becomes less impressive when you realize that the room they performed the demo in was pre-scanned before the show, but what Intel has shown could turn VR on its head and pose a direct threat to the likes of Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and PlayStation VR.
