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Back in March at the annual Game Developers Conference, Valve and HTC revealed that they would be teaming up to launch ‘The Vive' a virtual reality headset due out for the end of this year. Since then, we haven't heard much but it looks like things are still on track.
The Vive was being demoed with new wireless controllers at Comic Con in San Diego last week and fortunately enough, TechRadar was there to ask HTC some important questions. Speaking with the site, HTC's executive director of marketing, Jeffret Gattis, revealed that the company was aiming to show off the consumer version of its headset in October.
“We are targeting mid-October, but have not yet finalized the event details, venue, etc. Our hardware development, for the consumer versions of both the HMD and wireless controllers, remain on schedule for the end of 2015.”
Aside from that, no specifics were given about the final hardware inside of the headset but it will end up being “more refined from a design standpoint” when we see the consumer version in a few months time. The company still stands by its 2015 release date so it will be interesting to see what Valve has planned software-wise for the launch.
KitGuru Says: Those who have tried the HTC Vive so far have reported back very positive impressions. Valve has been working on virtual reality behind closed doors for many years now, so it will be interesting to see what the company can bring to the table this year alongside HTC. Unfortunately, we don't really have much in the form of game announcements just yet, which could be a problem as the Oculus Rift is launching with plenty of exclusive titles.
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It’ll be interesting to see what has changed. Its specs were almost exact to that of the Oculus Rift but the fact that it looks so much heavier than the Oculus is enough to turn me away from a simple earlier release
These days the two are extremely similar in specs, with the HTC Vive slightly edging out the Oculus–last I heard. Valve’s announcement of the Vive forced Oculus to push back their release date and scramble to catch up on specs.
Many of the tech people that have I read or watched, who demoed the two platforms, have often claimed that the Vive is a more immersive experience–even in its early state.
I also like the wall mounted trackers that allows for room tracking and movement tracking, and the additional sensors on the Vive seem to give it an upper hand, feature and potential wise, over the Oculus.
Personally, I think the HTC Vive looks like the better product. And it is being developed by a game company and is not owned by Facebook–both pluses in my book.
It is also worth noting that the guy behind the Oculus Rift has been accused of, and is in the process of being sued for, stealing a lot of the foundational technology in the Rift from a company that hired him to help flesh out their product. Kind of scummy.
Lastly, Oculus licenses some of its VR tech from Valve and Valve was involved in helping them develop the early versions of the Oculus device. They also helped them overcome some of the age old issues with VR tech from a software/firmware/hardware standpoint. As you can guess, Valve was pretty pissed when they heard Facebook bought them out.
Knowing these things makes me think that Valve’s products are going to be a lot better in the long run. The HTC Vive is only one product from one company, there will likely be far more innovation and variety using Valves multi-business approach, and a lot more industry brain power and input going into their IP than OR can pull of using their current approach.
Am I right that the Vive requires a load of space in the area you are using it ? or will you be able to sit at your desk and use it ? Because not being able to sit at my desk will stop be buying one outright, we don’t all live in lavish mansions with acres of space in every room !
It’s not a requirement but it will allow for a much wider area of tracking. A lot of people see this as a plus side over Oculus Rift but lets all be honest with ourselves, even if games utilised the 15m or whatever tracking space VERY little of us are actually going to use it.
I keep hearing all this about exclusive titles for the face-rift. Surly with them coming to pc and the same kind of software/hardware being used to build both then how can the games be exclusive? The worst that happens is that some white hacker need to make a driver or two that allows the games to recognise one headset as the other?
Are there something i dont understand about this?
Thanks Gary, thats a bit of a relief. I guess i’ll just sit back and wait for the reviews to come in now.
I check up on draft that aforesaid 19958$@mt5
bj.
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1080×1200 per eye
Most likely they both use exactly the same oled panels last I heard, the vive’s tracking is arguably better, although I’m not too interested in room scale VR (probably just gonna use it standing and sitting), and you can also use multiple oculus tracking cameras to get the same kind of thing. Oculus touch does look much more comfortable, even though it will release even later.
For me a weight difference is more important than this tracking technology difference, let’s see what the consumer Vive will look like in it’s october reveal. (and what the pricing will be, and what content we’ll have at release etc)
Oculus push back their release date? q1 2016 is their very first release date.
scramle to catch up on specs? right…
For me trusted VR reviewers such as ‘tested’ are still not able to pick a winner.
And “Valve was pretty pissed when they heard Facebook bought them out.” is just speculation from your side…
I do thank valve for showing oculus low persistence.