Half-Life 2 adds official Oculus Rift support

Valve has released an official update for Half-Life 2 that adds Oculus Rift support to the iconic first-person shooter. The update also adds support for SteamPipe, the platform's new content distribution system.

Valve programmer Joe Ludwig, who has led virtual reality development at the company, announced the news in the Oculus Rift forums this week (via Polygon). He cautioned that the port is "more raw" than a similar update for Team Fortress and that fan feedback would be appreciated.

"This port is a bit more raw than [Team Fortress 2] was when it shipped, so we would appreciate hearing about any bugs you find. Just like in [Team Fortress 2], this mode is experimental, so we really want to hear what you think."

Known issues in the Oculus Rift update for Half-Life 2 include the heads-up display being "dim and hard to read," and the "zoom UI shows up in a quad in the middle of the screen instead of on the edges of the screen."

Valve added Oculus Rift support for Team Fortress 2 in March, making it the virtual reality headset's first officially supported game.

Half-Life 2 is not the only game to now work with Oculus Rift. A modder this week posted videos to YouTube (via Kotaku) showing off how the worlds of Minecraft and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim look using the virtual reality technology.