HTC Vive Review, Release Date, News and Rumors: Virtual Reality Gear to Cost $800

HTC announced their virtual reality gear. It costs a whopping $ 800 making the most expensive virtual reality kit ever with even Oculus' own hardware costing about half of the Taiwanese firm's hardware. You can use it to physically explore new worlds rather than merely look around them with only a limited environment available right now. Virtual reality is actually worthy of all the praise it has received. The setup of the Vive however might be a bit frustrating though it's actually worth the headache.

First, you've got to decide what sort of VR experience you want to opt for. While you can opt for a stationary one, where you simply sit in a chair as you do with Rift or Gear VR, it's highly unlikely why people paid the extra $200 for it. They want the room-scale functions that let them physically move around in the VR space. So you've first got to clear an area between five and 15 square feet. You'll have to position and mount two sensors, both about the size of a square baseball, on opposite walls. Next you'll need to go through the relatively simple process of hooking the headset up to your PC which has to mandatorily support VR and map out the area you'll be walking in with the given controllers. This will caution you if you are about to bump yourself to a wall. And probably spend another hour's time setting it up to finally use it.

It's a very heavy hardware. The Vive is much heavier than the Rift or PlayStation VR and comes with a bulky trailing cable. That weight could be problematic for some people, as it ultimately affects the Vive's comfort over long play sessions. But odds are you won't have a lot of those, as the game catalog for Vive is fairly low I numbers right now. The in-game experience is pretty seamless. That frustrating set-up period pays off when you're warned that you're approaching the edge of the safe play zone with a grid that fades into view as you approach. And selecting a game from the menu within the Vive is serviceable but a bit complicated.

Ultimately HTC is making a very ambitious bet on what virtual reality can be with their Vive VR kit. The firm gets a lot credit by creating an experience. There are flaws, certainly, and the initial selection of games is disappointing. But given the early adopter audience, most customers will likely avoid frustration. Still, it's a product that has plenty of room for improvement before it will be even remotely ready for the mainstream world to give it a second glance.