Limited quantities available early. http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2015/08/28/valve-htc-vive-2016/1
Not surprised one little bit. 'Valve time' is an equal opportunity force of nature that applies just as much to hardware as software.
that's disappointing, I was looking forward to this. But, if waiting means a more polished product then that's fine with me.
A couple of months back there was a comparison of all the incoming headsets and the HTC/Valve Vive was the clear winner. I've got my fingers crossed the Vive maintains the lead until release day. But I havent worked out where to steal 15 square foot of floor space so I can free roam while wearing it ... [added] actually it cant be 15 sq ft. Maybe 15 sq meters?
I've got $1000 earmarked for the second pre-orders happen. I'd love to get one this year. $1000 should cover it by a decent margin.
Both headsets (the Vive and the Rift CV1) are nigh identical in terms of display hardware, and very similar in terms of tracking ability (large volume outside-in optical tracking, supporting hand-tracked controllers). The primary differences are: API: Valve are doing static masking and not using asynchronous timewar. Oculus are using asynchronous timewarp, but are not using static masking (or if they are using dynamic undermasking, they've not announced or implemented it yet) Handheld controllers: Oculus Touch is not bundled with the HMd, Vive's controllers are. The Vive controllers use 'haptic tocuhpads', Touch uses physical buttons and capacitive 'finger height' sensors. Anecdotally, people have described the Vive controllers as like 'holding tools' (with the tool represented in the virtual environment), whereas Touch is described as being closer to having your hands present in the virtual environment. Touch has also been described as more pleasant to hold, with the Vive's 'grip' triggers being hard to use due to controller ergonomics (risk of dropping the controllers due to weight distribution). The Vive controllers are non-final, so may change before release. Games: For the near future, games on the Vive will be on the Vive, games on the Rift will be on the Rift. this is due to API specific optimisations. A 'universal' API is not easy, and will not be easy in the near future, due to the extreme latency optimisation requirements. I'm in the "why not both?" camp, having been putting aside a few quid a month for the last couple of years to cover headsets, peripherals and hardware upgrades. Given that neither HMD has been publicly release, and on is not even in it's final design revision, it's way too early to decide on one or the other. Wait for both HMDs to be released, budget for the required upgrades to your PC, then consider which HMD has the most games you want to play.
Quite right for consumers to wait, then buy whichever suits their budget, their gaming setups, and their personal preferences. Its not too early to compare what is already available to compare, and like I said, a comparison has already been made and Vove came out on top (worth googling comparison stories and adding to your vast treasure chest of VR data goodness). Considering Oculus already makes people gasp and giggle - including myself - having the Vive selected as the better hardware by the guys that tested 5-6 different VR solutions makes me excited for Valve. Bring it on.
Here's my prediction: Apple will release a VR headset before all of them, then they will be heralded as the 'inventors' of the VR-headset. Then somebody will find out the reason all the others were delayed was because Apple bought up all the required parts for their device. Then later the others will release it but their software will be full of tracking and unacceptable EULAS and I'll be very disappointed.
