HTC Vive now or Black Friday?

[Dayaks]

I want to get the family a Vive for Christmas.

Tempted to get the Vive now. It'd give me plenty of time to set it up/drill holes in the walls, see how my headphones fit, game settings, Ect. I like Christmas presents to be immediately functional. Nothing was more of a buzz kill on Christmas morning than waiting for the parents to assemble something.

I was going to wait for Black Friday to see if there are any deals, but I am itching to burn my cash on this. Generally there aren't BF deals for anything worth buying anymore.

What do you guys think, get it and start "setting it up" in my spare time or wait for BF? What would [H]'ers do?

 

[UnimatrixZero]

I'd say get it now. Get everything ready and plan out how you want to set it up. You may need extension HDMI and USB cables if your computer will be farther away, unless you will have a dedicated PC by your play space. Also, whether you will mount the light base stations to the wall, tripods, or rods.

Personally, I got a dedicated PC with a GTX 980 Ti for my Vive in my living room. There should be some good sales on VR games on steam by Black Friday.

 

[MavericK]

I highly doubt we will see any significant discount on any HMDs for the foreseeable future.

However, I am expecting some deals on VR games so you might wait before going all-in on game purchases.

 

[MavericK]

Heads-up for anyone looking to buy - it appears Newegg is offering a free headset ($20 value) with the Vive now. Nothing special but still, free stuff.

HTC Vive - Virtual Reality Headset - Newegg.com

 

[Dayaks]

Thanks for the heads up on The headset. I was thinking of grabbing a cheap headset for parties. My friend might give me $$$ to have this be part of her party package.

I have to agree with these comments.

Yeah - there's enough free games that come with it and free demos I plan to wait for sales on the software.

Tilt Brush comes with it (great). I'd have to grab Raw Data and Job Simulator at some point (kids love JS for some reason..)

 

[noko]

Prices will also be affected by how well they are selling. Game bundles, hardware given out free with HMD's indicate you may see some short little sells at first as time goes on. 24hr blitz like $100 off etc.Maybe with a catch or two at first like needing to apply for a credit card or something you have to buy with it. Then real sells and price reductions. Also if other players come into the market like Razor set is $399 - when that gets better refined, better supported (if on these) with workable controllers - that will drive prices down as well. I can hear the whining already for those who spent $800 and next year something better with more stuff is going for $500 or less. PS4 VR will have a big impact on VR good or bad - it is coming.

 

[LurkerLito]

Personally I say go in when you have time to set it up to enjoy it. For me the holiday season is more about being with family, so I'd rather have my Vive setup and working and giving the family a chance to play it than to get it during then having to spend the time with the family setting it up.

As far as the other VR options, it won't do anything for this holiday season. So unless you are planning on not buying it till next year sometime there isn't going to be many price breaks. Remember this is the first holiday season where all these devices will be generally available. No one is going to be reducing the prices for this one till after this season. The best you might see is a few extra addon games thrown in on BF.

 

[pj-]

It would probably be safe to wait until oculus releases touch. If it ends up cheaper overall than vive, then HTC may respond with a price drop.

 

[noko]

Year end, HTC and Occulus might want to get there numbers sold up especially if they have an over inventory (if that is). Once PS4 VR hits, PC VR sells may drop like a rock (maybe). A lot can happen by BF or Christmas.

 

[MavericK]

It would probably be safe to wait until oculus releases touch. If it ends up cheaper overall than vive, then HTC may respond with a price drop.

All currently available information points to $200 for the Touch controllers, so it would be the same price overall. Might drive HTC to have a small discount but I don't see it being significant.

 

[TheSmJ]

All currently available information points to $200 for the Touch controllers, so it would be the same price overall. Might drive HTC to have a small discount but I don't see it being significant.

$200 is the expectation (mine too) but there isn't any official word, or even hints on price either way so that number is nothing more than an educated guess. Also, reports from developers indicate that they're much happier with the overall functionality of Touch vs the Vive wands.

 

[UnimatrixZero]

All currently available information points to $200 for the Touch controllers, so it would be the same price overall. Might drive HTC to have a small discount but I don't see it being significant.

I think it's more likely that they'll change up the games bundle or include more games in addition to the current bundle. Most of the hardcore enthusiasts have already bought the Rift or Vive and this first generation of VR is far from being a mainstream product. Sony's VR may change all of that but they have over 40 million PS4 consoles out there while PC users with computers powerful enough for VR are a huge minority of the PC user base.

 

[MavericK]

I have my reservations about PSVR. I don't see the PS4 (or really even the PS4 Pro) as being an adequately-fast platform for decent VR performance.

It will likely sell a lot better than the Vive or Rift currently, and an expanded user base for VR is definitely beneficial to the technology, I just wonder if it will be an equivalent experience.

 

[Dayaks]

I think it's more likely that they'll change up the games bundle or include more games in addition to the current bundle. Most of the hardcore enthusiasts have already bought the Rift or Vive and this first generation of VR is far from being a mainstream product. Sony's VR may change all of that but they have over 40 million PS4 consoles out there while PC users with computers powerful enough for VR are a huge minority of the PC user base.

There's definitely a large PS4 user base, but what I think is more important is there's very little risk with PS4 VR. I see people being less hesitant jumping in.

nVidia does sell ten million+ of mid range and high end each year... But I think it takes a little more technical competency for the PC.

I wonder if PS4 VR games will transfer half decently to PC. Could eventually be win-win?