News A new VR actor [HTC-SteamVR Vive] pre-orders 29th Feb

The Vive camera does more than just let you see, it is tracked within a 3D space and capable of edge detection of objects, that opens up all sorts of exciting possibilities.

For example it could simulate your rig as the car seat, correctly adjust so the game view of the wheel and your rig wheel match, and possibly the same with a bunch of other peripherals. If it can accurately track the wheel then there is the possibility of enhance reversed kinematics for arms and legs. Lots and lots of things are possible.

Keep in mind that game devs need to explore the possibilities, content that can take full advantage of the tech is a way off yet.

But for me the Vive is far more interesting than the Rift and GearVR, though I have those and each has its own strengths and weaknesses. GearVR has traditional pass through that is easy to operate and new hand tracked controllers are being demonstrated, but it does not have positional tracking. The CV1 Rift will be comfortable and easy to use. But the Vive is still genuinely innovative in terms of exploring VR capabilities.

As far as I am aware it is not known if Vive motion offset is or is not possible. I asked ages ago but never got a response.

A few members here applied for Vive dev kits but I have not heard that anyone actually got one.

The Rift camera tracks the movement of the HMD in 3D space.

So say you have a lot of surge then the camera reads that as moving your head looking up and down relative to the horizon, so the virtual world you see is bobbing around. Not very realistic.

Motion cancellation is where the movement of the motion simulator is also tracked and subtracted from the HMD movement. In effect it is cancelling the movements we use as tricks to simulate motion.

Interesting to see how competitive or not it gets with price, particularly ancillary costs. I stirred up a hornets nest over that on reddit regarding clarifying Australian concerns about Rift pre-orders: https://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/40eu35/palmer_suggests_australians_take_concerns_to_accc/

There is a lot of baseless web misinformation articles claiming the Vive will be $1500 floating about at the moment: http://www.ubergizmo.com/2016/01/htc-vive-priced-1500/

In contrast here is a quality Tested wrap up interview concerning the Vive:

Hardware wise other than some audio additions and packaging I don't really expect the CV Vive to be that much different to the Pre, which is why I suspect the Pre was so prominent on so many different CES stalls.

That said, it is an unusual lead up to a launch, but so too was the lead up for the Rift with Palmer's Twitter storm, the release of the Rift pre-order date before it opened and without pricing, and the now infamous 'ballpark' cost comment Palmer later apologised for, as it mislead consumer expectations. Nor is the cost of Oculus Touch known so there is still no way to work out an all in cost for the Rift, particularly in places like Australia where there is no explanation for ancillary costs.

Price wise the Vive is a complete package at launch in terms of including controllers, but it is hard to make an accurate cost estimate. The two Lighthouse emitters are as cheap as chips, much cheaper than the Oculus camera. I am presuming the parts component cost for the Vive HMD would be similar to the Rift. The Vive controllers would likely be more that the Xbox controller but it is hard to say by how much. One potential difference is that HTC owns its production lines while Oculus does not, and HTC has established distribution experience/arrangements.

What may make a huge difference in places like Australia is if the Vive comes in under AU $1000 ($700 or less USD at current exchange rates) and can be imported. If so GST would not apply saving 10%, a direct or redirect agent could be used for shipping and all up the Vive would then likely be significantly cheaper than the Rift + Touch.

But it is all speculation at this point, same as what happened with the Rift and estimates were way out on that. The Vive has always be touted as a 'premium' experience and up until now most have assumed that meant it would cost significantly more than a consumer oriented Rift. As it turns out Oculus has also gone for the premium experience. So it is anyone's guess as to how that will translate with Vive costs relative to the Rift but may well be much closer than many originally thought, particularly after ancillary charges, where things like additional shipping will apply with Touch.