In 
the looming battle of virtual reality technology, HTC and Valve Software are preparing to square off against Facebook’s Oculus Rift.
At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, both companies announced the Vive, a virtual reality headset that will be made available to consumers later this year.
The 
adult entertainment industry has a reputation as a technology bellwether, but these days that’s largely thanks to its past accomplishments.
While porn was certainly responsible for VHS tapes besting beta and can likely lay claim to leading the charge in online streaming video, it hasn’t done a lot to push the needle in several years.
The 
competition is getting more intense for Facebook’s Oculus Rift.
Valve Software, the videogame developer and creator/operator of the industry’s largest PC game digital distribution platform, will unveil its own virtual reality hardware next week at the Game Developer’s Conference in San Francisco. The company has not yet announced whether the system will see a commercial release, but it is actively meeting with content partners at the show, generally an indicator that it does plan to do so.
Back 
in May, virtual reality pioneer Oculus was served with a scathing lawsuit over accusations that it stole technology from ZeniMax Media, the parent company of gaming powerhouse, Bethesda.
Now, Oculus is firing back.
While 
it’s still anyone’s guess as to when the Oculus Rift or Sony’s Project Morpheus will be commercially available, this year’s E3 made one thing clear: there’s nothing virtual about the fun these devices deliver.
VR may not have been front and center at this year’s show, but it certainly created a lot of buzz. Sony saw huge crowds queing up for Morpheus. The line stretching around the Oculus booth was several hours long.
I tried out a lot of VR games at the show. Here’s what stood out.
One 
of the video game industry’s highest profile publishers is accusing Oculus of stealing its intellectual property to create the Rift virtual reality headset.
ZeniMax Media filed suit Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Dallas, saying Oculus and founder Palmer Luckey “commercially exploited” ZeniMax computer code and trade secrets for their own gain. And it was that software that led to the $2 billion purchase of Oculus by Facebook in March.
As 
cancer began taking its toll on Roberta Firstenberg, it started stealing things she had long loved and taken for granted. Chief among those was the ability to take a simple walk around her yard.
Granddaughter (and game artist) Priscilla Firstenberg, though, managed to outwit the disease and give Roberta a few final strolls using an Oculus Rift headset.
Facebook’s 
$2 billion deal to acquire Oculus last month marked the biggest bet yet on the resurgence of virtual reality.
While any price tag that hefty for an unfinished, unproven technology is bound to spark investor second-guessing, it’s hardly a surprise that this purchase is being especially scrutinized. Like 3-D, virtual reality is a concept that has been touted for years, but has always failed to live up to its potential—and historically been rejected by consumers.
Oculus, 
the leader in the new wave of virtual reality headsets, has been purchased by social media giant Facebook.
The $2 billion deal, which is broken into $400 million in cash and $1.6 billion worth of Facebook stock, represents a seismic shift in the gaming space, as the upcoming Oculus Rift has been widely viewed as one of gaming’s most exciting upcoming technologies.
Virtual 
reality just got a lot more real.
After months of whispers, Sony confirmed Tuesday evening that it’s working on a virtual reality headset for the PS4. And while it didn’t give any details regarding a release window or price, Sony’s entry into this market further raises the profile of so-called VR 2.0 devices, building on the momentum Oculus started with their anticipated Rift device.
Chris Morris: Journalist 