Some time ago, we wrote about how Valve has paired with HTC, and they are building a new Virtual Reality headset called Vive, and that they will be shipping their device to a select few developers.
Now, we are happily announcing that Valve has started to ship the VR dev gear, and those of you who were selected – you lucky bastards – should expect a delivery man knocking on your door any day now.
For those of us who haven’t been chosen by the almighty Gaben – me included – the time to meddle with Valve’s VR headset will be later this year. Regular gamers will have the chance of playing with The Vive this Christmas – and it’s going to be one hell of a gift for your geeky loved one.
Valve has confirmed that it has started shipping Vive Developer Edition.
This week, we have started shipping the Vive Developer Editions. This first wave includes a wide range of developers from major movie studios, triple A developers, to small indie teams working on their first title. We will continue to ship to additional developers through the spring and summer.
In the box is a headset, 2 Lighthouse base stations, 2 wireless Steam VR controllers, various cables, instructions, and everything else needed to get started. This will allow developers to target the same system consumers will have in their homes later this year.
If you don’t have the Valve VR gear you can still be an observer. Head down to their community SteamVR Developer Hardware discussion, and take a look at what awesome stuff brilliant minds are coming up with.
At the moment, we don’t know any information regarding its price, nor its availability – but it’s most likely going to ship worldwide. What we do know is that the SteamVR will have its very own Steam Store page filled with virtual reality games, movies, and apps.
It’s a bold move, and Valve’s alliance with HTC may be fruitful to say the least. There isn’t a king yet, and more and more companies are jumping on the virtual reality bandwagon. Take for example Google, who has recently announced that they will be building a VR gear in collaboration with GoPro. Facebook-owned Oculus Rift will be shipping starting early 2016, and Sony’s Project Morpheus is kept under a tight sealed lid.
I’ll happily buy a virtual reality headset, a couple of months after the internet will be filled with peer reviewed devices. FullDive seems like a nifty, and cheap product – and I’m more inclined on buying it, rather than a $400 device on release day.
What about you? Do you fancy this virtual reality trend? Or do you think it will flop miserably?
