Software engineer ‘virtually’ proposes to girlfriend

Enlarge / And, for good measure, the virtual ring Kelly Tortorice saw while wearing an HTC Vive virtual reality headset before she saw the real one (and said yes). She took off the Vive headset to see her boyfriend down on one knee, in the real-world this time, proposing to her. She added: “It wasn’t imaginary anymore”. But I didn’t say yes.

While the couple’s engagement isn’t the first to be carried out by way of VR headset (there was a Google Cardboard instance version back in March), Murch’s position as a member of the Valve team means that it’s definitely the first HTC Vive virtual reality proposal. And of course, she said yes.

The news came from the bride-to-be’s public Facebook feed, and the proposal took place in a Vive testing room at Valve’s headquarters in Bellevue, WA.

Kelly Tortorice was trying out the HTC Vive headset, developed in partnership with Valve, when a virtual diamond ring appeared in vision. But it was the virtual reality system’s inventive controllers that allowed the proposal to go off without a hitch: by holding the controller out in front of his girlfriend, Murch was able to line up the virtual ring and the engagement ring. Tortorice wrote on her Facebook page. “I love you and I can’t wait for the life ahead of us”.

According to Ars Technica, it is being advertised hitting store shelves the end of the year.