I recently tried the HTC & Valve’s Vive VR headset. I cried. And grinned. And laughed. And had one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had in my life.
Hands-On With The HTC Vive : Read more
Hands-On With The HTC Vive : Read more
The Vive use's Valve's SteamVR platform, which is a set of APIs that any developer can support in their games, and any or all aspects of the platform can be incorporated. So if there is a game that just needs to use the Vive's head-tracking feature, there is no reason a developer can't just support that one feature.Ok here's my question and no article on the Vive / Valve VR that I've read so far has answered it:
Will games have to be written from the ground up to support the Vive, or like the Oculus Rift, can support be modded into a game? I know most of the features Vive brings to the table wouldn't be supported, but what about head-tracking? This is the one reason this decision is so difficult for me. I keep seeing developers being blown away by the Vive, but I wonder, will I be able to use it to go play minecraft, STALKER, Alien Isolation, and other games that already do support the Oculus?
Either way this future excites me and I can't wait to see what games get made with this system in mind!
I'm sure there'll either be a Vive starter kit minus the controllers, or another OEM will partner with Valve to make an entry-level SteamVR headset for sit down only gaming experiences.The main thing I want to know is if there will be a Vive that excludes the movement sensors as I personally don't have the space where my PC is setup to stand up and move around at all so I will be only able to sit. I'm sure they must have thought of this but I just haven't seen it mentioned much
I do want to try out Crescent Bay sooner than later so I can compare the experience. From my understanding after talking to and reading articles by people who have tried both there isn't much difference in the visual experience and tracking accuracy. Both are 90 Hz headsets, both have sub-20 ms of latency, both do 360 degree head-tracking and both have a similar (unspecified) FoV.Interesting read Alex, I think now you need to quickly go and test the latest version of Oculus and give us feedback on it. I have disappointing review of the Vive before and glad to hear that you found the opposite. I really want this technology to succeed and we need fast and accurate tracking, high Hz, Hi-res screens, and no motion sickness. From your article it seems like they are on track with achieving this. Hope they don't scale it down due to commercial reasons. I rather spend 500-1000USD and get something decent. Anyways a comparison to the competitors from your perspective would be great. If I remember correctly the Vive requires some sensors/reflectors to be installed in the room where you use it which is something that we can get rid of eventually for sure.
Ya, same question here. I've been wanted to do a full PC upgrade, but I'm waiting to get a better sense of what the high-end of these looks like.It is going to be pretty hard to figure out which VR headset to pick up next year. First I need to get a newer GPU to drive one though... no way my old GTX570 is going to be pushing two 1200p+ displays, especially at 90Hz lol.
The Vive demo was running on a single GTX 980. The Portal demo, using the Source 2 engine, looked amazing and was of course running at 90 fps with this hardware. However, that was a pre-canned demo, not a full game. I think come the Vive's release one may even need Pascal to power a proper game (Portal/HL 3) with that level of fidelity on the Vive.Ya, same question here. I've been wanted to do a full PC upgrade, but I'm waiting to get a better sense of what the high-end of these looks like.It is going to be pretty hard to figure out which VR headset to pick up next year. First I need to get a newer GPU to drive one though... no way my old GTX570 is going to be pushing two 1200p+ displays, especially at 90Hz lol.
It is not just the room tracking, but the SteamVR controllers too. Oculus currently doesn't have official VR input hardware - there are either 3rd party add-ons like the Leap Motion or the Sixense STEM or you just use a traditional gamepad/mouse & keyboard. The Vive's controllers use the same tracking tech as the headset, and allow for 360 degree control, even if you are playing a sit-down game that doesn’t require full body tracking. Because there are two sensors, you can, for example, look over your shoulder and reach behind you to control something, or grab an object.Am I right in thinking that the main difference between this and the OR is the room tracking? As cool as that sounds (about as close to a holodeck as I can think of!) I just don't have that amount of empty space available.
I guess common sense would dictate that you clear an area to use the Vive. Since the play space is adjustable, if you are only able to allocate 6 x 6 feet, then the system will adjust to that space. Of course, there may be games that require a larger minimum play space, etc.I'm well up for this but it's definitely going to end up killing people. Walking around with a full headset on your face is crazy. Still if they can make the sensors pick up objects in your room you could model your Elite spaceship interior using chairs and tables![]()
Amen, although I am kinda hoping some modders just add PC support to Sony's Morpheus. That thing will have 120 Hz, OLED screens, and likely be cheaper than the vive.I'm sold, take my money.
It is not just the room tracking, but the SteamVR controllers too. Oculus currently doesn't have official VR input hardware - there are either 3rd party add-ons like the Leap Motion or the Sixense STEM or you just use a traditional gamepad/mouse & keyboard. The Vive's controllers use the same tracking tech as the headset, and allow for 360 degree control, even if you are playing a sit-down game that doesn’t require full body tracking. Because there are two sensors, you can, for example, look over your shoulder and reach behind you to control something, or grab an object.Am I right in thinking that the main difference between this and the OR is the room tracking? As cool as that sounds (about as close to a holodeck as I can think of!) I just don't have that amount of empty space available.