Valve’s Index headset is full of surprises. Not only are we here at PCGamesN quite smitten with the headset’s nifty finger functionality, but during extensive, super serious testing in the Aperture Hand Lab demo we found out that Valve knows when you’re flipping it the bird. This is truly VR 2.0 tech right here, folks.
Don’t judge us, you know deep down you would do the exact same thing. No matter who we plonked into Valve’s latest VR demo the first thing they would do is figure out how to give the middle finger. That’s a given – taking a nice thing and twisting it into something wicked is human instinct. What we didn’t expect was for Valve’s latest VR title to respond to our vulgar shenanigans and call the whole ordeal “disrespectful”.
It seems we aren’t the first to give Valve’s handy robots the middle finger. The developers behind the Aperture Hand Labs tech demo coded in the necessary provisions and voice lines for each and every core in the demo just in case any smart Alec allows their angsty inner-teen to get the better of them.
Each of the cores has their own bespoke, personalised response when you give them the abhorrent finger.
- Frank says: “That’s not a wave, that is a finger. The unfriendliest finger on the entire hand.”
- Alan says: “That is disrespectful. But it is not a shake, so I will allow it.”
- Bill says: “You’re fired. Now you’re rehired, provisionally”
- Deceptive Devin (or maybe Kevin) says: “This deception is going to go a lot smoother if you participate.”
You can check out Aperture Lab resident tough guy Alan’s reaction in the video below. Local PCGN thug Caroline shows him what for around the 03:40 mark.
The Valve Index is the company’s latest hardware creation: a dual RGB LCD VR headset complete with Index Controllers that independently track each of your fingers in real-time. Granted the full kit costs some $1,000, but our very own virtualboy Dave says it’s “simply the best consumer VR setup around.” You can read the full preview of the Valve Index here.
The company made a similarly delightful demo called The Lab, complete with adorable robo-puppy, for the HTC Vive’s release in 2016.
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But if this experience has taught us anything, it’s not that we shouldn’t go around swearing at robots – you can’t teach an old dog new tricks – it’s that Valve needs to develop more first-party titles for the Index and Steam VR. Aperture Hand Labs is charming, superbly scripted, and a fantastic demo for the new tech. More of the same please, Valve.