The Oculus Rift will cost an "obscenely cheap" $599 when it ships this spring, but the rival Vive headset, headed for the same release window, still hasn't been given a price tag. While it might be nice if the Vive was somehow cheaper than $599, the stuff HTC has been showing off this week at CES 2016 offers evidence to the contrary.
HTC and videogame publisher Valve became the unsung hero of those disappointed in Oculus VR for accepting Facebook's money.
"For too long, the promise of virtual reality has been little more than a promise. Today we stand on the precipice of a new era. Vive is creating a world where the only limit is human imagination," said chairwoman and HTC CEO, Cher Wang.
Now with consumers disappointed over the price of the Oculus Rift, and its founder's remarks about it being "cheap," there have been some hoping Valve and HTC deliver something more people can afford. However, with its controllers ready to go and its brand new camera, an enthusiast-level price tag for the first consumer version of the Vive should surprise no one.
Features And Specs
The device is still not in its final form, but HTC literally smoothed out some of the Vive's rough edges and dialed up the graphical fidelity for the latest version of the virtual reality platform. The base stations and touch controls have been streamlined, with the former receiving tracking improvements and the latter getting ergonomics enhancements that include grip pads.
Also new to this version of the Vive, which is going by the name Vive Pre, is a new eye that's situated on the front of the headset. This new eye augments virtual reality, digitizing elements of the real world to let Vive wearers know where they really stand.
In other words, the new camera allows the Vive to warn wearers of walls and tables and other potentially bone- and immersion-breaking elements inside of living spaces.
The camera provides two primary functions. It acts as a pause button, outlining in green obstacles in a room and overlaying them in the virtual space. This feature can be triggered with the press of a single button.
The other function is warning users of obstacles, using the same overlay and outline formula, but here, with what's known as the Chaperone system, the Vive calls out walls and objects whenever a wearer gets too close.
One feature the Vive and the Rift just can't shake is a hard connection. For all the walking around the Vive will facilitate, and the Rift in future releases no doubt, there's still the issue of being chained to a PC.
HTC and Valve could have gone with a wireless build for their walk-around VR headset, but that would have added more bulk to a headset that some critics believe is still too heavy on the head. Plus, that would also drive up the retail price of the headset.
Pricing And Release
Depending on parts and suppliers, the consumer version of the Vive could come in at a lower price point than the Rift. But considering all of the tech that'll ship in Vive branded boxes this April, it might be wishful thinking to look for HTC and Valve to match Oculus VR's price.
For one, the Oculus Rift isn't shipping with its Touch control system. The Vive is shipping with its controllers.
On top of that, the Vive has a fleshed out room-sensing system and a camera on top of that.
One thing that won't ship with the Vive are games - well, nothing has been said about bundled games yet.
Games
The bad news for the Vive is that it is compatible with fewer made-for-VR games than the Oculus Rift. The good news is, it should take developers considerably less work to port between PC-based VR headsets than going from iOS to Android or Xbox One to PlayStation 4. So if it's a hit on the Rift, it should hit the Vive.
The even better news is, a growing library of existing games are being reworked to support the Vive and the Rift. On top of that, there's a growing library of multi-platform VR games that will support both headsets as well.
Vive-compatible titles to keep a watch on include Adrift, a game that plants players inside a damaged space station; The Assembly, a puzzle adventure game that locks players inside an underground lab where crazy experiments take place, and Eagle Flight, a game that puts players in control of an eagle soaring through an abandoned Paris.
