awwhhhh shieeet:Valve announce an Oculus rift killer Virtual Reality headset in conjunction with HTC

[Raptor]

HTC has just announced the Vive, a virtual reality headset developed in collaboration with Valve. It will be available to consumers later this year, with a developer edition coming out this spring. The company has promised to have a significant presence at the Game Developers Conference next week, where devs will have a chance to play with Valve's VR technology

The Vive Developer Edition uses two 1200 x 1080 displays that refresh at 90 frames per second, "eliminating jitter" and achieving "photorealistic imagery," according to HTC. The displays are said to envelope your entire field of vision with 360-degree views. The company says in a press release that it's the first device to offer a "full room-scale" experience, "letting you get up, walk around and explore your virtual space, inspect objects from every angle and truly interact with your surroundings."





The device uses a gyrosensor, accelerometer, and laser position sensor to track your head's movements as precisely as one-tenth of a degree. Most surprisingly, there will be something called the Steam VR base station, which will let you walk around the virtual space instead of using a controller. A pair of the base stations can "track your physical location ... in spaces up to 15 feet by 15 feet."

BASE STATIONS CAN "TRACK YOUR PHYSICAL LOCATION ... IN SPACES UP TO 15 FEET BY 15 FEET."

Gattis added at MWC that "It's also really light, so you can wear it for a long time without feeling weighed down." There are headphone jacks on the side of the developer edition, but it sounds like the final consumer version will have a built-in audio solution.

It will be available with a pair of HTC-made wireless controllers for manipulating objects or shooting weapons through hand tracking. They're "designed to be so versatile that they will work with a wide range of VR experiences." While the Vive will certainly play nice with games, but it's also about other experiences, including virtual reality through partners like HBO, Lionsgate, and Google.

HTC AND VALVE ENTER THE VR RING

HTC's Peter Chou hyped the new device during the press event today in Barcelona. "We believe that virtual reality will totally transform the way that we interact with the world. Virtual reality will become a mainstream technology for the rest of the world," he said. Chou named a few examples of what you'll be able to do with the Vive: "Attending real-time concerts, learning history, reliving memories."

The Vive is the result of a "strategic partnership" between Valve and HTC. Valve teased its new virtual reality device last week, and said that more details would come at the Game Developers Conference this week in San Francisco. We'll be there to bring all the news to you live.


its finally happening. The VR arms race has just began. I feel blessed for being alive to see this

 

[-DMP-]

Really, no responses?

I was surprised to hear about this. Im surpised the industry is backing VR like this as its been so taboo for years (mainly for hardware reasons). But also the isolated experience aspect of VR as a whole has been seen as off putting. But I guess now that everybody stares at their phones all day anyway(an technology has gotten to the point of feasibility and affordability), we might as well stare at VR as well.

I cant wait till these come out. If this takes off, it could be like living through the early days of the internet all over again

-DMP-

 

[The_Sheff]

Oculus rift seems like some cool tech that the developers keep displaying just enough to keep the funding going but will never actually recoup its costs with an actual consumer release.

Maybe this Valve version will actually come out one day.

 

[Ciggavelli]

I kinda wish oculus rift and valve woulda partnered up. Now I gotta buy 2 headsets. And best believe I will. I've wanted VR since I was a child

 

[Raptor]

I kinda wish oculus rift and valve woulda partnered up. Now I gotta buy 2 headsets. And best believe I will. I've wanted VR since I was a child

competition is good. Valve felt betrayed when oculus joined facebook. They were pretty much working together since 2013 and shared their resources. Ill probably demo both and buy the one with the most dev support and features.

 

[Raptor]

Really, no responses?

I was surprised to hear about this. Im surpised the industry is backing VR like this as its been so taboo for years (mainly for hardware reasons). But also the isolated experience aspect of VR as a whole has been seen as off putting. But I guess now that everybody stares at their phones all day anyway(an technology has gotten to the point of feasibility and affordability), we might as well stare at VR as well.

I cant wait till these come out. If this takes off, it could be like living through the early days of the internet all over again

-DMP-

The only thing thats slowing things down is the slow evolution of GPUs. Valve and Oculus have prototypes that would blow anyone away locked in their R and D department. We are talking about 150 degree FOV, 120 frames/s, body tracking and 4k screens. But those prototypes require a 20,000 dollar gaming pc. Weve been on 22 nm for years for GPUs. While top CPU manufacturers are already on 16 nm and might go to 12 nm. NVIDIA and the other GPU manufacturers got to step up their game.

 

[Raptor]

Hands-on review: MWC 2015: HTC Vive

There’s a TV show from the early 1990s called Red Dwarf that depicted a group of humans (and humanoids) that were lost in space in the future, desperate to get home.

One of the big ways they stayed entertained was with a holographic headset that let them play in hyper real worlds, like they were living in the action sequence.

It was meant as comedy, a chance for men to be stupid and depraved and powerful and ultimately escape the onboard reality they were faced with. I always thought that idea, that experience, would never be real.

But with the HTC Vive I took my first steps towards that world.

The frustrating thing is I can’t talk about my experiences until Wednesday, but suffice to say it was awesome. This is true 360 virtual reality and it’s a world away from the sit down fixed appearance on the Samsung Gear VR, for instance.

But I can say this: I promised myself I wouldn’t start smiling or laughing when I tried it on. I promised I would be a professional journalist, sagely analysing what this meant for the world of virtual reality and it’s place in HTC’s future strategy.

I lasted approximately seven seconds before I started giggling like a tipsy schoolgirl. It’s far more than a gaming platform, as it will allow you to do things like tour museums, watch films and learn – as well as hopefully kill zombies in full 360 motion.

I wish I could say more, but check back on Wednesday to get the full experience explained.

Design
The HTC Vive headset looks and feels precisely like any other of its kind on the market right now, but with the ability to move around a room when playing.

Unlike some of the more mobile-focused offerings, this one needs to be tethered to a PC (and a powerful one at that) to work, so you’ll need to be careful when wandering around to not trip over. The big difference is on the front of the headset, which is adorned with 37 sensors that connect to two wireless infrared cameras.

These wireless cameras are placed in two corners of a room (3m by 4m is suggested as adequate) and combined with the headset will create a virtual space to play around in.

The headset is tight fitting but perfectly comfortable, with a strap across the top to hold it in place, with another strap that secures things around the back.

During my time, where I was pretty energetically moving, it didn’t slip once, so the fit is clearly up to scratch.

HTC stated that it came on board as a partner with Valve to create this system as it was capable of creating beautiful hardware. While the unit is solid, it’s not really what I’d call beautiful – it’s black plastic with some little reflectors in it, and the untrained would have no way of knowing it wasn’t an Oculus Rift.

I’m hoping the final version, which will be on sale by Christmas this year, will have a more impressive chassis – making this out of brushed metal would be really cool, and I get the feeling it’s going to be quite expensive anyway, so adding a little more to make it look premium wouldn’t hurt.

Early verdict
I’m getting to the verdict now because, well, there’s not really much I can say about the HTC Vive system without telling you about what it’s like to actually use, which will happen on Wednesday evening.

It’s a plastic headset that really doesn’t look very different to anything else you’ve seen out there – but trust me, if / when you get to use one, you’re going to see it’s a massive game changer.

Will you get one as soon as it’s announced? Well, it depends on the developer ecosystem, but it sounds like many games will be ready for the late 2015 launch. I really hope this takes off, as it’s something that really pushes on the ability of technology in the home.

 

[Ciggavelli]

Hands-on review: MWC 2015: HTC Vive

There’s a TV show from the early 1990s called Red Dwarf that depicted a group of humans (and humanoids) that were lost in space in the future, desperate to get home.

One of the big ways they stayed entertained was with a holographic headset that let them play in hyper real worlds, like they were living in the action sequence.

It was meant as comedy, a chance for men to be stupid and depraved and powerful and ultimately escape the onboard reality they were faced with. I always thought that idea, that experience, would never be real.

But with the HTC Vive I took my first steps towards that world.

The frustrating thing is I can’t talk about my experiences until Wednesday, but suffice to say it was awesome. This is true 360 virtual reality and it’s a world away from the sit down fixed appearance on the Samsung Gear VR, for instance.

But I can say this: I promised myself I wouldn’t start smiling or laughing when I tried it on. I promised I would be a professional journalist, sagely analysing what this meant for the world of virtual reality and it’s place in HTC’s future strategy.

I lasted approximately seven seconds before I started giggling like a tipsy schoolgirl. It’s far more than a gaming platform, as it will allow you to do things like tour museums, watch films and learn – as well as hopefully kill zombies in full 360 motion.

I wish I could say more, but check back on Wednesday to get the full experience explained.

Design
The HTC Vive headset looks and feels precisely like any other of its kind on the market right now, but with the ability to move around a room when playing.

Unlike some of the more mobile-focused offerings, this one needs to be tethered to a PC (and a powerful one at that) to work, so you’ll need to be careful when wandering around to not trip over. The big difference is on the front of the headset, which is adorned with 37 sensors that connect to two wireless infrared cameras.

These wireless cameras are placed in two corners of a room (3m by 4m is suggested as adequate) and combined with the headset will create a virtual space to play around in.

The headset is tight fitting but perfectly comfortable, with a strap across the top to hold it in place, with another strap that secures things around the back.

During my time, where I was pretty energetically moving, it didn’t slip once, so the fit is clearly up to scratch.

HTC stated that it came on board as a partner with Valve to create this system as it was capable of creating beautiful hardware. While the unit is solid, it’s not really what I’d call beautiful – it’s black plastic with some little reflectors in it, and the untrained would have no way of knowing it wasn’t an Oculus Rift.

I’m hoping the final version, which will be on sale by Christmas this year, will have a more impressive chassis – making this out of brushed metal would be really cool, and I get the feeling it’s going to be quite expensive anyway, so adding a little more to make it look premium wouldn’t hurt.

Early verdict
I’m getting to the verdict now because, well, there’s not really much I can say about the HTC Vive system without telling you about what it’s like to actually use, which will happen on Wednesday evening.

It’s a plastic headset that really doesn’t look very different to anything else you’ve seen out there – but trust me, if / when you get to use one, you’re going to see it’s a massive game changer.

Will you get one as soon as it’s announced? Well, it depends on the developer ecosystem, but it sounds like many games will be ready for the late 2015 launch. I really hope this takes off, as it’s something that really pushes on the ability of technology in the home.

It's going to be "quite expensive?" That might be a problem for them. The Rift was only gonna be like $300

 

[-DMP-]

It's going to be "quite expensive?" That might be a problem for them. The Rift was only gonna be like $300

Maybe they are going for the high end, pc master race crowd?

What ever it is, I'm interested

-DMP-

 

[Ciggavelli]

Maybe they are going for the high end, pc master race crowd?

What ever it is, I'm interested

-DMP-

I'll probably buy it regardless, but if you gotta have a high end rig and spend $1000 for this headset, that is seriously gonna hurt this device. The price of entry will be in the thousands

 

[Rekkapryde]

The price of entry will define when VR becomes a success.

 

[daze23]

rumor was around $300 for this thing too. we shold find out more soon

@Liquid can we merge this with my SteamVR thread?

 

[rapbeats]

Really, no responses?

I was surprised to hear about this. Im surpised the industry is backing VR like this as its been so taboo for years (mainly for hardware reasons). But also the isolated experience aspect of VR as a whole has been seen as off putting. But I guess now that everybody stares at their phones all day anyway(an technology has gotten to the point of feasibility and affordability), we might as well stare at VR as well.

I cant wait till these come out. If this takes off, it could be like living through the early days of the internet all over again

-DMP-

exactly. i dont think these dudes understand what this could mean for the future of tech in general. This plus that microsoft virtual reality. crazy. I told you when the 360 dropped with that kinect, which actually built on what the Wii did with motion detection and gaming(props once again to good ole nintendo for starting this VR arms race).

forget gaming for a moment. you can put these things in a GYM and have people running on tread mills, biking. while they are moving forward at their real speeds seeing things go by in first person as if they are there. There where? where ever you want to be. Run along the beach, run in the woods. run up the side of the great wall of china. How far would you run, bike with that experience?

i dont even wan to address gaming because thats just too much to even think about. lol

 

[-DMP-]

exactly. i dont think these dudes understand what this could mean for the future of tech in general. This plus that microsoft virtual reality. crazy. I told you when the 360 dropped with that kinect, which actually built on what the Wii did with motion detection and gaming(props once again to good ole nintendo for starting this VR arms race).

forget gaming for a moment. you can put these things in a GYM and have people running on tread mills, biking. while they are moving forward at their real speeds seeing things go by in first person as if they are there. There where? where ever you want to be. Run along the beach, run in the woods. run up the side of the great wall of china. How far would you run, bike with that experience?

i dont even wan to address gaming because thats just too much to even think about. lol

im probably more excited for applications outside of gaming the most. visiting places iver never been, courtside VR seats to sporting events, VR movies

gaming will pretty much have to go through the PS1/N64 growing pains again.

Its crazy to think that I could possibly be about to experience ANOTHER game changing industry unfold. (first was internet, second was cellphones)

-DMP-

 

[The Phoenix]

Oculus still has Carmack though. And for me that's the difference. Can't wait to see what that guy is cooking up for it.