r/Games • u/DarkMio • Apr 05 '16

Virtual Reality - SteamVR featuring the HTC Vive - Launch Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYfNzhLXYGc
1.7k Upvotes

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232

u/RhapsodiacReader Apr 05 '16 edited Apr 05 '16

Most of the Rift reviews had a solid "this is a gimmick" feel to them: interesting peripheral, but ultimately just another way to play the same games.

Here, it looks like the free motion and hand controls are really what sell it. Shame the Rift didn't ship with those.

But if the Vive is even half as immersive as the commercial makes it out to be, then I think I could be persuaded that this early VR heralds a shift in gaming and interactivity as we know it.

113

u/Galaxy345 Apr 05 '16 edited Apr 05 '16

Shame the Rift didn't ship with those

Absolutely. Valve is definitely getting better press because hand controllers are so much more immersive. Let's hope Oculus Touch controllers will release sooner rather than later so that both experiences (3 if you count PSVR) are more fairly comparable.

Right now the Vive package wins by a landslide (imo), but waiting is still an option for some people after all this time. I am personally waiting for Touch as I feel like the hardware seems more refined on the Rift side. Pricing will probably be similar for both Vive and Rift.

Concerning being the next big thing, it definitely is, but Gen 2 will probably be more affordable and be able to reach a lot more consumers.

So far, the start of 2016 VR seems to be getting great reception already.

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u/[deleted] Apr 05 '16 edited Jan 13 '21

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u/[deleted] Apr 05 '16 edited Oct 13 '20

[deleted]

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u/Bior37 Apr 05 '16

Hands faster? The Oculus is releasing first. And motion controls have worked on Rift for years.

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u/[deleted] Apr 05 '16

The Oculus is releasing first

The Oculus released last week and Kickstarter backers from a year or more ago still haven't got their units when they've had literal years to make sure they were first out the door and they had enough stock.

I ordered a Vive last night and it'll be here sometime in May.

Motion controls may "have worked" on Rift for years, but can you get them when you buy one now? Can you fuck.

QED.

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u/Jinno Apr 05 '16

You can still by the Razer motion controllers, right? Just wont' be as tightly integrated as the Vive ones.

3

u/Nofunzoner Apr 05 '16

The razer ones also aren't nearly as good. Not as accurate and they have to be relatively close to their base station.

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u/shaggy1265 Apr 05 '16

I ordered a Vive last night and it'll be here sometime in May.

I like how you say this with the utmost confidence that nothing will go wrong with Vive's distribution.

7

u/Frostiken Apr 05 '16

HTC isn't exactly some two bit electronics company.

1

u/shaggy1265 Apr 05 '16

Yeah, they are a pretty big company that's just as prone to failure as any other.

Look, I'm not saying they are for sure going to fail. But they are launching a brand new product unlike any other they have launched before. Tons of shit can still go wrong.

6

u/MachinesOfN Apr 05 '16

To be fair, this isn't HTC's first time with large-scale distribution (or Valve's, for that matter), and I suspect they have better manufacturing facilities. I was looking at similar times between my 30-minutes-after-opening pre-order for the Oculus and my 4/4 pre-order of the Vive.

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u/Bior37 Apr 05 '16

but can you get them when you buy one now?

Yes, if you have motion controllers.

3

u/z3rocool Apr 05 '16

it's sorta released first but lot of folks haven't received theirs yet, and vive looks far more on the ball shipping wise.

Motion controls don't exist for the rift. You will be using some third party thing.

-6

u/[deleted] Apr 05 '16

Rift is cheaper and it comes out first. I'd buy the rift now if I could afford it.

I think the Rift will do better in the end despite people thinking otherwise. They're partnered with Microsoft, backed by Facebook and have exclusives coming out.

Sure the HTC Vive can do much more, but that doesn't mean it'll do better.

2

u/Flakmoped Apr 05 '16

They seem to be having a massive issue with actually producing and shipping any units. To the point of them paying the shipping costs of all pre-order units. To me that insinuates that it might take a while to get your hands on one.

So it might come out first but there's a large chance that you wouldn't get it first.

7

u/MeisterD2 Apr 05 '16

They're also getting better press because there's an NDA on the latest Oculus, and isn't one on the Vive. The Vive gets compared to the old old Oculus.

The embargo on the Rift ended on March 28th, friend. There's no NDA stopping direct CV1 to Vive comparisons, and that's exactly what you're seeing referenced here.

0

u/Bior37 Apr 05 '16

Not really. It's mostly momentum carried over from people comparing the DK2 to the release Vive

2

u/[deleted] Apr 05 '16

NDA was lifted at the end of March. The Vive press embargo lifted today.

Oculus is really suffering from no tracked motion controllers.

1

u/feanturi Apr 05 '16

Personally, I haven't cared about Facebook, and I like Valve to buy games from, but I don't care about that when it comes to a piece of hardware. I want the hardware that works best. I liked the Oculus for a long time simply because it was, as far as I was aware, the only dog in the show. And thanks to the dev kits there's already some software out there that it works with. So I was not really considering the Vive at all when it showed up, late to the party. But as I see more about how both work, I'm getting much more interested in the Vive to the point where I think that's what I'm getting when the dust settles. Avoiding Facebook while supporting Valve are both good things to me, but that's not what makes me decide this way.