ROFL The sad part is this means HTC is going under very soon. The M10 leaks are terrifying , makes you wish they would go back to the M7-M9 design. This products, they really need to go visit planet Earth, they certainly don't see to have ever been on that particular planet. HTC's shareholders should ask for the board to get their heads checked,and Valve....
I'd be more optimistic if it were any other company than HTC. They've been bleeding money for years, their smartphone business is cratering, and if the leaks are accurate they've been utterly left behind in terms of hardware design with a lacklustre flagship for 2016. Now they're hedging their bets on an bit of hardware that won't move many units both because of its upfront cost and the system requirements to do anything with it.
Even if HTC goes under, valve owns the technology, they are licensing their setup to any oem who wants to make them. HTC just has the 1 year exclusivity.
You do realize this is not a smartphone, and a whole VR kit, right? They have virtually no competition which means if someone wants to get into VR (which will be a lot of people) then this is literally their only option unless you plan to just sit in a chair and look forward, in which case the Rift will be slightly cheaper.
This is a great price compared to the Rift. Its not bad for 2016 and it'll have higher specs and a lower price in a few short years. This is the beginning.
How is this a great price? The iphone 6s has around $230 bom, this on the other hand is just a screen with some gyro sensors and plastic housing with lenses, there's no cpu/gpu/modem/nand/ram or anything in there, maybe $100 worth of parts tops.
you forgot about the lazer base stations that have state of the art room scanning technology. and the controllers which easily add up to $50 EACH on the BOM
cpu/gpu/modem/nand/ram combined are probably cheaper than the lenses alone. The screens by themselves are likely around a $100 (there are 2 of them, one for each eye).
You also completely forgot about the positional tracking system and controllers.
It comes with two controllers (the Rift comes with 0) and two stations for room tracking (the Rift doesn't have this feature). If I wasn't waiting for VR to go mainstream, I'd definitely get the Vive over the Rift. Why would you get the Rift? Don't you want to be able to move a little bit in your VR environments? Like, actually move?
I'm not pre-ordering either this or the Rift. Best to wait until the mass release, see people's unfiltered responses, then work out what's going to be popular. Also the prices might adjust (quite possibly downwards) in response to actual market conditions.
Also whenever I see "<game> DESIGNED FOR <particular piece of hardware>" I despair. Without a common VR platform for the PC emerging, this stuff is going to be highly balkanised and restricted to a few manufacturers' "stores". Calling something "OpenVR" is a good start but the proof is going to be in what gets adopted.
I keeping getting burned with these gimmicky fads.
I bought a highend Panasonic 3D TV, blueray player and jumped on the 3D hype train. The glasses would make me dizzy and the content short of Avatar were crappy conversions. There's also a lack of content.
I bought the Kinect and after some exercise games, everything felt gimmicky and total lack of quality games and content.
The 4K monitors are here but where's the content?
I'm gonna sit this one out. If you can't get consumers to even put on 3d glasses, how can you convince them to put on a giant headset? I'm highly sceptical and jaded of this VR "revolution"...
Congrats. You finally got it. This stuff is just that they can sell you something. 3D was to get you to buy a new full hd tv. Else why would you? 4K is to get you to buy a new flat screen. if it is just full-hd again why would you buy a new one? You would not. Lack of content? The average consumer doesn't now and the guy in the shop doesn't care as he will just tell "It's better" to make a sell.
VR will go down in flames. The market isn't big enough. It's only as big as high-end GPU market which is already tiny. Plus wearing googles has shown not really be accepted by consumers (see 3D).
How tiny is the market exactly? So tiny that a company that does nothing besides sell games is making hardware? High end pc sales are increasing and are the single thing keeping desktops alive.
Also 4K monitors a gimmick? Please get these pedestrian opinions out of my face. 4x the pixels and pixel clock, what an impractical technology.
Honestly you are ill informed beginner99. The fact you are comparing VR to 3D, 4K etc.. tells us a lot. VR is a leap like none other in forever. BTW the Oculus store has a large library of titles already lots of them free.
I got burned with those things too but I can tell you I have a DK2 and it is immensely better than those things. I tried the CV1 and the pre at CES and they are light years better than the DK2. This is *nothing like 3D TV, kinect etc...
Lol @ webdoctor how you manage to get it wrong every! time.
1. 3D TV: first look at 3D was avatar. You could immediately tell it was ok-ish, but meh.. quite gimmicky. Only some scenes gave a real 3D feel. Like 90% of the rest of the movie was the same, but with crappier colours... 2. Blueray: Was really obvious that it was gonna be surpassed by USB-sticks and eventually streaming. Specially since the core technology was sorta more of the same as DVD, you knew it wasn't exciting. Also, it's a way to transport data. How's that gonna dramatically alter your whole experience all of a suddon... a little bit better res and audio. Whooptiedooh! More of the same.. 3. Kineckt: A step forward, but the 'gameplay' mechanic gives you only limited control of a game. Wii was better imo, but playing games with those controller just didn't add all that much too the experice. There was not enough response of - or control over - the game somehow to really get a continuous good and snappy grip on objects in a 3D world.
4. And now comes the biggest innovation in years and you decide to wait it out... The entire VR experience is so much different from a PC monitor or TV. The level of immersion is simply much greater with VR. Perhaps this level of emersion is not wanted for all intended purposes, but at the least a HDM is very different from a monitor. I've tested it and it's amazing (and that was a Oculus V1 almost 2 years ago). Can't be explained. You have to experience it (second best is watching some youtube 'reaction' videos. Furthermore, mouse and keyboard a pretty great devices let's be honest. But to move around - and pick up/move objects - like you would naturally do, but then in a computer generated world sucks you in so much more. Look up the unreal engine 4 Vr thing. How cool is that :)
Adding it all up VR: is much different because, - Screen all around you. Almost entire field of view is covered. Hence a much more realistic viewing experience. -Ability to move camera position and direction in a completely natural way. Hence a much more realistic movement/viewing experience. -Ability to interact with hands (fingers will follow soon with those glove controllers) in 3D environment. Hence a much more realistic handling of ingame objects.
So I fail to see why VR would not make it this time. To experience is really good, just very solid for 1st gen. The hardware is ready for it and more and more people will obtain the required hardware in the coming years. By the time you can buy the VR-headsets the new generation GPU's will almost be out, which means that you can use this with mid-top end last generation GPU (CPU seems to be way less important - plus CPU's havent really gotten all that much better in the last few years). The market for enthousiasts is large enough to produce quite a few of those HDM's for the first year. Specially since it's quite a general purpose device this will bring in a lot more buyers than just enthousiastic gamers. Lot's of companies will buy one for instance. And the general public will gradually follow. Perhaps through PC connected HDM's. And if not through smartphones. Samsung VR is already getting quite popular and works quite well (Vulkan for smartphones might help there as well. Pretty amazing what that can do on a new phone). So lot's of people will upgrade their PC or smartphone in the coming years.
It will be interesting to see where things go, because it is all so new. But I'm pretty sure VR is here to stay.
Love the room tracking part. I'm sure the advertisements are gonna show these giant living rooms with all this space in them, just like real living rooms do...
It will be many many years before this stuff can even remotely be considered mainstream.
2-3 years and these are mainstream, or becoming at least. It is good that these has specks that are good enough, or at least near it. I also have used Dk2 and even that was so good that I decided to get VR equipment, when it would become more mature and cheaper. I am quite sure that those new 4K blue ray players are gonna cost a lot, like blue ray players did cost in the beginning. 500-800$ at mimimum. Now you can get those near 50$. These VR devices will come down in price in few years, but the top models will remain expensive.
It is easy to see that top models will offer 2*4K resolution and 120Hz is few years, and the those will cost near 1000$ while these "lesser siblings" will become near 250-350$.
Even now the very low resolution models will be available 50-150$ but I would avoid those! There is a very good reason, why Vive and Oculust vent to higher resolution and higher fps, than those cheap alternatives!
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jjj - Sunday, February 21, 2016 - link
ROFLThe sad part is this means HTC is going under very soon. The M10 leaks are terrifying , makes you wish they would go back to the M7-M9 design. This products, they really need to go visit planet Earth, they certainly don't see to have ever been on that particular planet. HTC's shareholders should ask for the board to get their heads checked,and Valve....
T1beriu - Sunday, February 21, 2016 - link
ROFL right back at you, man, and welcome on planet Earth where state of the art technology is very expensive for the first few years.JeffFlanagan - Sunday, February 21, 2016 - link
This is less expensive than some prior, far-less-capable HMDs were, and the game list is already longer than I'd expect.jasonelmore - Sunday, February 21, 2016 - link
Yeah but look at the game list.. How many of those developers have you even heard of?https://www.reddit.com/r/Vive/wiki/index
CoreDuo - Sunday, February 21, 2016 - link
I'd be more optimistic if it were any other company than HTC. They've been bleeding money for years, their smartphone business is cratering, and if the leaks are accurate they've been utterly left behind in terms of hardware design with a lacklustre flagship for 2016. Now they're hedging their bets on an bit of hardware that won't move many units both because of its upfront cost and the system requirements to do anything with it.jasonelmore - Sunday, February 21, 2016 - link
Even if HTC goes under, valve owns the technology, they are licensing their setup to any oem who wants to make them. HTC just has the 1 year exclusivity.Source: CES Interview with Valve
Samus - Monday, February 22, 2016 - link
You do realize this is not a smartphone, and a whole VR kit, right? They have virtually no competition which means if someone wants to get into VR (which will be a lot of people) then this is literally their only option unless you plan to just sit in a chair and look forward, in which case the Rift will be slightly cheaper.shabby - Sunday, February 21, 2016 - link
2016 - where the life and death of vr occured.willis936 - Sunday, February 21, 2016 - link
Well you're p much wrong soLord of the Bored - Monday, February 22, 2016 - link
2016: VR failed to go mainstream. Again. Get back to us in a decade. Again.KoolAidMan1 - Sunday, February 21, 2016 - link
Lots of negativity here.This is a great price compared to the Rift. Its not bad for 2016 and it'll have higher specs and a lower price in a few short years. This is the beginning.
shabby - Sunday, February 21, 2016 - link
How is this a great price? The iphone 6s has around $230 bom, this on the other hand is just a screen with some gyro sensors and plastic housing with lenses, there's no cpu/gpu/modem/nand/ram or anything in there, maybe $100 worth of parts tops.jasonelmore - Monday, February 22, 2016 - link
you forgot about the lazer base stations that have state of the art room scanning technology. and the controllers which easily add up to $50 EACH on the BOMsqungy - Monday, February 22, 2016 - link
cpu/gpu/modem/nand/ram combined are probably cheaper than the lenses alone.The screens by themselves are likely around a $100 (there are 2 of them, one for each eye).
You also completely forgot about the positional tracking system and controllers.
Sttm - Sunday, February 21, 2016 - link
What makes this worth 1/3 more than the Rift? I am not seeing it.echoe - Monday, February 22, 2016 - link
It comes with two controllers (the Rift comes with 0) and two stations for room tracking (the Rift doesn't have this feature).If I wasn't waiting for VR to go mainstream, I'd definitely get the Vive over the Rift. Why would you get the Rift? Don't you want to be able to move a little bit in your VR environments? Like, actually move?
squngy - Monday, February 22, 2016 - link
The rift sells you the touch controllers separately (for an unannounced price)stephenbrooks - Sunday, February 21, 2016 - link
I'm not pre-ordering either this or the Rift. Best to wait until the mass release, see people's unfiltered responses, then work out what's going to be popular. Also the prices might adjust (quite possibly downwards) in response to actual market conditions.Also whenever I see "<game> DESIGNED FOR <particular piece of hardware>" I despair. Without a common VR platform for the PC emerging, this stuff is going to be highly balkanised and restricted to a few manufacturers' "stores". Calling something "OpenVR" is a good start but the proof is going to be in what gets adopted.
webdoctors - Monday, February 22, 2016 - link
I keeping getting burned with these gimmicky fads.I bought a highend Panasonic 3D TV, blueray player and jumped on the 3D hype train. The glasses would make me dizzy and the content short of Avatar were crappy conversions. There's also a lack of content.
I bought the Kinect and after some exercise games, everything felt gimmicky and total lack of quality games and content.
The 4K monitors are here but where's the content?
I'm gonna sit this one out. If you can't get consumers to even put on 3d glasses, how can you convince them to put on a giant headset? I'm highly sceptical and jaded of this VR "revolution"...
beginner99 - Monday, February 22, 2016 - link
Congrats. You finally got it. This stuff is just that they can sell you something. 3D was to get you to buy a new full hd tv. Else why would you? 4K is to get you to buy a new flat screen. if it is just full-hd again why would you buy a new one? You would not. Lack of content? The average consumer doesn't now and the guy in the shop doesn't care as he will just tell "It's better" to make a sell.VR will go down in flames. The market isn't big enough. It's only as big as high-end GPU market which is already tiny. Plus wearing googles has shown not really be accepted by consumers (see 3D).
willis936 - Monday, February 22, 2016 - link
How tiny is the market exactly? So tiny that a company that does nothing besides sell games is making hardware? High end pc sales are increasing and are the single thing keeping desktops alive.Also 4K monitors a gimmick? Please get these pedestrian opinions out of my face. 4x the pixels and pixel clock, what an impractical technology.
superkev72 - Monday, February 22, 2016 - link
Honestly you are ill informed beginner99. The fact you are comparing VR to 3D, 4K etc.. tells us a lot. VR is a leap like none other in forever. BTW the Oculus store has a large library of titles already lots of them free.superkev72 - Monday, February 22, 2016 - link
I got burned with those things too but I can tell you I have a DK2 and it is immensely better than those things. I tried the CV1 and the pre at CES and they are light years better than the DK2. This is *nothing like 3D TV, kinect etc...Lurf - Saturday, February 27, 2016 - link
Lol @ webdoctor how you manage to get it wrong every! time.1. 3D TV: first look at 3D was avatar. You could immediately tell it was ok-ish, but meh.. quite gimmicky. Only some scenes gave a real 3D feel. Like 90% of the rest of the movie was the same, but with crappier colours...
2. Blueray: Was really obvious that it was gonna be surpassed by USB-sticks and eventually streaming. Specially since the core technology was sorta more of the same as DVD, you knew it wasn't exciting. Also, it's a way to transport data. How's that gonna dramatically alter your whole experience all of a suddon... a little bit better res and audio. Whooptiedooh! More of the same..
3. Kineckt: A step forward, but the 'gameplay' mechanic gives you only limited control of a game. Wii was better imo, but playing games with those controller just didn't add all that much too the experice. There was not enough response of - or control over - the game somehow to really get a continuous good and snappy grip on objects in a 3D world.
4. And now comes the biggest innovation in years and you decide to wait it out... The entire VR experience is so much different from a PC monitor or TV. The level of immersion is simply much greater with VR. Perhaps this level of emersion is not wanted for all intended purposes, but at the least a HDM is very different from a monitor. I've tested it and it's amazing (and that was a Oculus V1 almost 2 years ago). Can't be explained. You have to experience it (second best is watching some youtube 'reaction' videos. Furthermore, mouse and keyboard a pretty great devices let's be honest. But to move around - and pick up/move objects - like you would naturally do, but then in a computer generated world sucks you in so much more. Look up the unreal engine 4 Vr thing. How cool is that :)
Adding it all up VR: is much different because,
- Screen all around you. Almost entire field of view is covered. Hence a much more realistic viewing experience.
-Ability to move camera position and direction in a completely natural way. Hence a much more realistic movement/viewing experience.
-Ability to interact with hands (fingers will follow soon with those glove controllers) in 3D environment. Hence a much more realistic handling of ingame objects.
So I fail to see why VR would not make it this time. To experience is really good, just very solid for 1st gen. The hardware is ready for it and more and more people will obtain the required hardware in the coming years. By the time you can buy the VR-headsets the new generation GPU's will almost be out, which means that you can use this with mid-top end last generation GPU (CPU seems to be way less important - plus CPU's havent really gotten all that much better in the last few years). The market for enthousiasts is large enough to produce quite a few of those HDM's for the first year. Specially since it's quite a general purpose device this will bring in a lot more buyers than just enthousiastic gamers. Lot's of companies will buy one for instance. And the general public will gradually follow. Perhaps through PC connected HDM's. And if not through smartphones. Samsung VR is already getting quite popular and works quite well (Vulkan for smartphones might help there as well. Pretty amazing what that can do on a new phone). So lot's of people will upgrade their PC or smartphone in the coming years.
It will be interesting to see where things go, because it is all so new. But I'm pretty sure VR is here to stay.
Jumangi - Monday, February 22, 2016 - link
Love the room tracking part. I'm sure the advertisements are gonna show these giant living rooms with all this space in them, just like real living rooms do...It will be many many years before this stuff can even remotely be considered mainstream.
haukionkannel - Monday, February 22, 2016 - link
2-3 years and these are mainstream, or becoming at least.It is good that these has specks that are good enough, or at least near it.
I also have used Dk2 and even that was so good that I decided to get VR equipment, when it would become more mature and cheaper.
I am quite sure that those new 4K blue ray players are gonna cost a lot, like blue ray players did cost in the beginning. 500-800$ at mimimum. Now you can get those near 50$.
These VR devices will come down in price in few years, but the top models will remain expensive.
It is easy to see that top models will offer 2*4K resolution and 120Hz is few years, and the those will cost near 1000$ while these "lesser siblings" will become near 250-350$.
Even now the very low resolution models will be available 50-150$ but I would avoid those! There is a very good reason, why Vive and Oculust vent to higher resolution and higher fps, than those cheap alternatives!
Danvelopment - Monday, February 22, 2016 - link
I'd probably say you keep getting burned as an early adopter more than anything else.Most of the gimmicks have mainstream adoption now, are much cheaper and have filtered down to the standard user.
3D has plenty of content now, and has since evolved into VR.
Full HD has stacks of content when it didn't originally, and 4K and beyond will soon enough.
I wouldn't say give up on new markets, I'd say wait until they mature.