doors,

I’m checking out the HTC Vive Pre, the second generation development kit for HTC and Valve’s

virtual reality headset.

The Pre is coming at a weird time — it’s only going to be around for a few months before

the consumer design comes out in April.

But there’s supposedly a good reason for this.

The designers came up with a big new feature that they wanted to put in — a front-facing

camera that shows you real reality inside virtual reality.

If you move outside the space that the Vive’s two sensors can map, you’ll see a blurry

monochrome version of the real world.

A feature called ‘Chaperone' Mode let’s you see everything like this. So I can see

and sit in a chair instead of tripping over it.

It’s HTC and Valve’s answer to how you drink a glass of water in VR.

The current demos don’t do much with the feature but developers could also use the

feature to blend real space with the game.

Besides the camera, the Vive Pre has re-designed controllers that look a lot more polished.

Although they work about the same.

We don’t know how much is going to change between the Pre and final Vive, but it’s

at least possible to imagine it as a finished product.

If you want to see more cool stuff from us at CES, check us out at youtube.com/theverge