In the wake of all the exciting Apple announcements at WWDC 2017, the Stream partnership that brings SteamVR to Mac may not have got the excitement it deserved.
Apple has announced that SteamVR will now be available in beta form on its Mac computers. That means this already well developed platform will be bringing all its cool VR experiences to Macs. So how do you get involved?
First up, this will only work with Macs running the new version of macOS’s Metal graphics, ideally Metal 2, meaning you’ll need macOS version 10.11.6 or above.
Next up is the hardware - you’ll need an HTC Vive headset as that’s the only unit supported at this stage.
Steam has made it clear, in a blog post, that Mac’s SteamVR will offer full-on room-scale tracking just like Windows and Linux versions can handle.
Apple did show off its dedicated VR hardware solution from WWDC. This beast featured a Thunderbolt 3 GPU enclosure powered by AMD Radeon processors - ideal for developers then.
Apple also showed off augmented reality on its iPads, suggesting this commitment to mixed reality is something Apple is going for across its devices. Expect to see more cool VR and AR experiences in the near future as Apple developers get involved and send this into the mainstream at last.
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