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HTC-Vive

Today, just earlier Mobile Earth Congress, HTC announced both Vive VR's price tag and some additional features. The headset volition price $800 at launch, pre-orders begin on February 29, and the device will include some novel functionality, including the ability to integrate with smartphones.

Vive's official annunciation states: "Enabling you to stay connected to the existent world, without exiting the virtual world, Vive Telephone Services demonstrates the ability to combine both realities without losing bear on of either. By allowing you to receive and answer to both incoming and missed calls, get text letters and transport quick replies and check upcoming calendar invites straight through the headset, information technology opens upwards a whole new world of possibilities for both consumers and businesses."

Vive is talking about total SteamVR integration into its platform and the $800 price tag buys you lot two hand tracking, wand-like controllers. I experimented with these in Sonoma at RTG'south Polaris architecture effect, though I didn't come away with a loftier opinion of them — they weren't working all that well when I tested them, and one hand kept dropping out during gameplay. Assuming that upshot got solved, the final controllers were comfy enough and easy to hold for the short time I used them.

The Vive ships with two titles, at least for now — Job Simulator and Fantastic Contraption, neither of which I've played personally.

Don't pre-order a Vive, either

Earlier this month, later on Oculus unveiled its recommended hardware, I stated that I didn't think people should pre-order the Rift, even though I believe VR has tremendous long-term potential and want to run across it succeed in the gaming market.

All of the reasons I recommended people take a wait-and-run across arroyo to the Rift employ to the Vive as well, at least equally strongly. Still gobsmackingly amazing VR may prove in the future, right now, today, the engineering science is new, and the price of entry can be considerably more than than $600 to $800 depending on what kind of PC hardware you currently own. I've built gaming PCs for people for less money than y'all'll pay for just the HTC Vive.

There'southward a lot nosotros don't know yet about how VR solutions will compare betwixt companies or which games will exist cross-compatible on which platforms, and which will technically be cross-compatible, merely in reality volition perform vastly better on ane solution versus another. Oculus has gathered most of the headlines to-date, but that doesn't mean it'south automatically going to field the best solution.

The fact that many PC gamers who have been perfectly happy with 30-lx FPS at 1080p will need to upgrade to substantially more powerful hardware in order to experience VR means that it'due south all the more than important to wait and run across what real-earth operation looks like. Do you demand a GTX 970, a 980, or a 980 Ti? Is an R9 390 enough performance, or should y'all buy a Fury X or expect for Pascal / Polaris later this year on 14nm? These aren't just hypothetical questions; they all carry price tags. It's going to take some time mail-launch to see how the hardware compares, how game support shapes up, and which solutions ultimately deserve buy-in and which don't.

When I recommended people hold off on pre-ordering the Oculus Rift in favor of waiting for reviews and performance data, some readers commented that it was strange to run across a website called ExtremeTech being so conservative with its recommendations. I'thousand perfectly happy to extoll the virtues of VR or other cutting-edge engineering science when we're talking near them as experiences or potential game-changers. When information technology comes to telling you where I think y'all should spend your hard-earned greenbacks, I'thousand a lot less willing to play fast-and-loose with my recommendations.

If you already accept a tricked-out high-end gaming rig or a 6-effigy take-home pay, you've got enough cash on hand that yous don't have to worry if your VR bet doesn't pan out. If you were i of the first Oculus backers on Kickstarter and you've stayed engaged with the company since it first went live, you've already fabricated your ecosystem and purchasing choices.

If $600 to $1,500 represents a huge chunk of coin for y'all — and I suspect for most people, it does — so wait. Be excited for the possibilities, but don't buy the hype. Wait for physical reviews and long-term compatibility projections before you commit to backing whatsoever platform, and you'll be a lot more probable to be happy with both the headset you lot buy and the hardware you buy to power it.