HTC Vive Archives - Argyll Free Press

The HTC Vive Was a Little Late for a Good Reason

February 23, 2016 By Deborah Campbell Leave a Comment

While the past weeks have been all about the VR hype with the Oculus Rift preorders coming online, the HTC Vive was nearly forgotten in the absence of news; however, the HTC Vive was a little late for a good reason, it would seem, because it just came out into the daylight with a huge series of good and surprising news.

While in essence, the HTC Vive is pretty much the same thing as the Oculus Rift, and more specifically a virtual reality headset that promises to host the upcoming advancement of VR technology applications, there seem to be some differences. At least in what the bundle purchase and included items are concerned.

Firstly, the HTC Viva was announced to come with two handheld controllers over the Oculus Rift’s included Xbox controller. The two, separate controllers have inbuilt motion sensors that will allow the user’s movements to be tracked across a room and mimic them in the virtual reality experience. This will be the kind of feature that allows for a much higher level of immersion in future games coming out for the virtual reality platform, for example.

And while we’re on the topic of immersion, it seems that HTC has put a few extra ounces of effort in raising its bar as high as possible. The HTC Vive adopts a design that is slightly different from what we had originally seen in the pictures and on displays. Apparently, the upgraded model also includes a brighter display that was made to provide its users an even deeper sense of immersion.

The HTC Vive demonstrates the ability to combine both realities without losing touch of either.

But HTC seems to be tame and thoughtful when it comes to the long-term effects of being completely immersed in a virtual reality game or experience. The headset includes a front-facing camera that will allow you to see the outside world on the account of a switch if you want to take a break from using the gear. The company itself stated that this addition “demonstrates the ability to combine both realities without losing touch of either”.

This could also hold some valuable implications in what augmented reality is concerned too as it will open up some gates for smaller scale of virtual reality applications – with some utility found in things such as engineering, construction and so on.

However, the HTC Vive has also just announced its price and it would seem that the extra additions will have their fans whipping out their wallets for the sum of $799, $200 more than its direct competitor, the Oculus Rift, will cost. Not to mention that in order to be able to run the HTC Vive, you’ll have to make sure that your computer is performant enough to run VR applications to begin with.

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HTC Vive Pre-orders Start On 29 February, Watch Out Oculus

January 12, 2016 By Cristopher Hall Leave a Comment

HTC Vive pre-orders start on 29 February, watch out Oculus, you’re in a for the fight of your life. Given that virtual reality enthusiasts all over the world were utterly shocked last week upon the news that Palmer Luckey doesn’t know what in the same ballpark means, the HTC Vive might just have the upper hand.

Cher Wang, HTC CEO, has spoken to the Telegraph and said that the company has chosen to shift its focus on virtual reality, and drive away from the smartphone industry, because now, HTC, is more realistic.

HTC has partnered with game maker supreme Valve to design an immersive virtual reality headset. It will sell world-wide starting with April of this year, competing directly with the much-awaited Oculus Rift. Sony’s PlayStation VR is out of the question at the current moment as there is no information available on pricing or release date. What we do know is that Sony has stated, over and over again, that the company will release their virtual reality headset only when they have enough content available – the Japanese company is known for working on more than 100 titles for their VR headset.

For the HTC Vive, Valve will be in charge of the gaming platform with their beloved Steam – as well as offering a place for Oculus Rift lovers.

Even though we have an official pre-order date, we still don’t know what the price of a Vive headset will retail at. Yet, we will have details in the upcoming weeks regarding the cost of a Vive, notes Cher Wang.

But why the sudden shift from the smartphone industry?

Well, because the huge competition from Xiaomi and Apple, with both companies pumping a ton of money on marketing and communications. There are also a lot of other Chinese competitors that offer low-quality devices with staggering specifications, notes the CEO of HTC.

During CES 2016, HTC displayed and demoed their 2nd-gen dev kit, the Vive Pre. Those who were present, were the first to witness the huge difference between the two dev kits.

However, regardless of the change in design, the price needs to meet the expectations of VR enthusiasts across the world so the adoption rate soars, and brands jump on the bandwagon.

You need a powerful PC to run a VR headset. A PC that will make you cough up something between $500 and $1000. Dell’s Alienware has already started offering bundles that shave $200 off the base price of an Oculus Rift, and, Cher Wang says, that HP and Asus will be releasing VR-ready PCs in the upcoming months.

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Valve Starts Shipping HTC’s Vive VR Gear to Developers

June 8, 2015 By Kenneth Scott 2 Comments

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?

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