HTC Vive Preorders This Morning

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HTC Vive preorders are now live and Blue's News has rounded up all the info on date, pricing, and what you get for your money. Are any of you preordering?


Credit card purchases will put a hold on the required funds, but Paypal transactions will be processed immediately. Shipping will commence on April 5th, and they believe preorders will be fulfilled on a first-come, first-served basis, and that purchases will be limited to one per customer. They also have regional pricing details for perspective on how the North American $799 MSRP will translate to other regions, and an outline of what all that money gets you.
 
I'd like to wait for reviews, plus StarVR, Asus, and Gigabyte all have their own models coming out by the middle of the year too.
 
Ordered as well... now have both the Rift and the Vive on pre-order. I plan to compare them thoroughly and keep whichever I like better. With all the hype and limited supply, I expect both will be in high demand, so it should be easy enough to off load one.
 
Huh....Rift comes out for $600, everyone complains about price.

Vive comes out for $800 and so far in the thread everyone is pre-ordering one.

The motion controllers do seem a better deal, but for an extra $200 over the Rift? I don't see the value. What makes the Vive that much better?
 
MavericK said:
Huh....Rift comes out for $600, everyone complains about price.

Vive comes out for $800 and so far in the thread everyone is pre-ordering one.

The motion controllers do seem a better deal, but for an extra $200 over the Rift? I don't see the value. What makes the Vive that much better?
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I think a lot of the people complaining weren't planning on buying one anyway. As for the difference, it's mostly the motion stuff adding to the cost. That's all secondary to me, although I read that the Vive has a higher vertical FOV than the rift, which made a perceivable difference in the experience.
 
If VR is still alive in a year with broadening developer support, I'll consider buying one. I'm not willing to invest so much money into a new product that still has not proven itself in the market. So far there is still nothing but hype.
 
Steam has posted that it is Vive ready. Does that mean that one would have trouble getting a Rift to work with VR "ready" games on Steam, or are VR headsets going to be like a keyboard and mouse. In other words, as long as the drivers function on the computer, most likely any VR ready game will work with either headset.
I'm interested but as Armenius stated, I am going to wait a little bit to see how supported VR becomes.
 
Good luck with your pre-orders. Excited to read reviews when they finally ship.
I'm waiting for more systems to come out, like ones with foveated rendering.
My system will need an upgrade either way, so im going to see what gets the best bang for the buck.
Its a good time to be a PC gamer though!
 
I'll buy one, but it's gotta be around 400$ max.
DK2 was 350. The price point hasn't been met yet. I expect there to be a lot of early adopters who will get butthurt as development stagnates until someone really starts to sell them.
 
Armenius said:
If VR is still alive in a year with broadening developer support, I'll consider buying one. I'm not willing to invest so much money into a new product that still has not proven itself in the market. So far there is still nothing but hype.
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Ditto! I am in wait and see mode.
 
Supercharged_Z06 said:
Ordered as well... now have both the Rift and the Vive on pre-order. I plan to compare them thoroughly and keep whichever I like better. With all the hype and limited supply, I expect both will be in high demand, so it should be easy enough to off load one.
Click to expand...

I hope your planning to post your experiences and I look forward to reading it.
 
MavericK said:
Huh....Rift comes out for $600, everyone complains about price.

Vive comes out for $800 and so far in the thread everyone is pre-ordering one.

The motion controllers do seem a better deal, but for an extra $200 over the Rift? I don't see the value. What makes the Vive that much better?
Click to expand...

SteamVR
 
Armenius said:
If VR is still alive in a year with broadening developer support, I'll consider buying one. I'm not willing to invest so much money into a new product that still has not proven itself in the market. So far there is still nothing but hype.
Click to expand...

Spoken like someone that's never actually tried a Vive. There's a whole lot more than hype, there's a shit load of VR game development going on.
 
DPI said:
Spoken like someone that's never actually tried a Vive. There's a whole lot more than hype, there's a shit load of VR game development going on.
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So where would one go to try a Vive without spending $800?
 
MavericK said:
So where would one go to try a Vive without spending $800?
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Locate a friend that's an early adopter or is getting one? Post after April asking if any fellow [H] members live nearby and are willing to let you test drive?
It will probably be several months to a year before you see anything pop-up as an in-store demo anywhere.
 
Aireoth said:
I hope your planning to post your experiences and I look forward to reading it.
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No worries - I will definitely post/share here once they both arrive and I've had some time to play with them. Looks like that will be mid to late April.

I asked Kyle to consider creating a new sub-folder on the [H] forum for VR, but I guess the hype/popularity both need to ramp up a bit more before that happens... Perhaps something eventually like:
Forums > [H]ard|Ware | VR Software
Forums > [H]ard|Ware | VR Hardware
 
Armenius said:
If VR is still alive in a year with broadening developer support, I'll consider buying one. I'm not willing to invest so much money into a new product that still has not proven itself in the market. So far there is still nothing but hype.
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Well, for the HTC Vive alone, which isn't due out until April, there are over 100 games currently in the chute (and some of these are being done by Valve):
Complete list of HTC Vive VR Games | finder.com.au

The Oculus Rift also has quite a few games in the chute as well, with many more being formally announced in the coming weeks leading up to launch:
compatible_games - oculus

Granted not all of these are AAA titles, but still... And I'd say the tech has already been proven - as it has been well demoed and dev kits have been out in the wild for quite some time now. There are a boat load of developers working this and lots of info/sneak peeks/blogs/etc. out there if you look.

I'd say it is a bit more than just "hype" at this stage.
 
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I pre ordered mine, 7:06 I got confirmation email. Whooo!!!! It's surprising how many current games plan or do support VR right now.

I think one thing HTC/Steam did right is let us know the price before hand. Many people (Including myself) waiting for the Oculus pre order expecting a lower price or simply to find out how much it was. If you where hammering the HTC server this morning, it was most likely to pre order a unit.

At current VR price points I had to pick one and the HTC vive seem to be the obvious choice for me.
 
Armenius said:
If VR is still alive in a year with broadening developer support, I'll consider buying one. I'm not willing to invest so much money into a new product that still has not proven itself in the market. So far there is still nothing but hype.
Click to expand...
Not pre-ordering because you want more information or reviews, or want to try it firsthand or wait for a price drop is smart and makes sense. Expecting VR to be dead in a year and saying there is nothing but hype means you don't know what you're talking about. We've had literally years worth of working prototypes now, with a growing ecosystem of VR support for games before we even have an official version. More and more companies are working on VR in one fashion or another. Will this die down some? Maybe. But saying it's nothing but hype when you could literally have some type of VR experience today on hundreds of different games makes you sound just resentful.
 
Here's a pretty good talk by Valve employee Alex Vlachos (given at GDC) that dives into VR rendering technology, covering not only general VR rendering but also goes into some of the more advanced topics:
 
Hey, haters are gonna hate I guess. Wasn't holding it up as a glowing endorsement or anything, just evidence that there is stuff out there that is being worked... Sure over half of those titles are crap, but the other half actually has some potential and there are a few real standouts in there as well. And come on, comparing this VR tech to Ouya.... that's just plain mean spirited!
 
I'm interested in the tech, but again I must ask, are games going to be made specifically for each device (ie; Vive can only play game A and Rift can only play game B)? Or is it going to be more like a monitor, keyboard, or a mouse for example where the game does not care about the input or output device as long as the drivers work?
If the headsets are going to have "exclusive" titles, then I will definitely be waiting a while to see which one will be the better buy for me.
 
cocheese256 said:
I'm interested in the tech, but again I must ask, are games going to be made specifically for each device (ie; Vive can only play game A and Rift can only play game B)? Or is it going to be more like a monitor, keyboard, or a mouse for example where the game does not care about the input or output device as long as the drivers work?
If the headsets are going to have "exclusive" titles, then I will definitely be waiting a while to see which one will be the better buy for me.
Click to expand...

Oculus is going to blow it by beginning to sell without a working motion/input solution, instead shipping a lame Xbox controller. Fragmentation.

Vive is going to have first mover advantage with a complete solution including the superior motion control tech standard equipment. And let's face it, Steam owns PC gaming. This made the decision easy for me, not to mention the Vive having a better vertical FOV which reviewers that tried both Vive and Rift said made a decent difference.
 
DPI said:
Oculus is going to blow it by beginning to sell without a working motion/input solution, instead shipping a lame Xbox controller. Fragmentation.

Vive is going to have first mover advantage with a complete solution including the superior motion control tech standard equipment. And let's face it, Steam owns PC gaming. This made the decision easy for me, not to mention the Vive having a better vertical FOV which reviewers that tried both Vive and Rift said made a decent difference.
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LOL, this is like saying Gigabyte is going out of business because Asus made a better mobo one generation. To say there isn't room for 2 VR headsets is just silly. Not only is Oculus backed by the vast financial resources of Facebook, their dev kits have been in the wild for significantly longer so most engines have had the support built in for OR much longer than HTC but they have integrated Vive support as well so there is your "fragmentation" argument.

As far as the controller vs touch, I played with the OR using the controller (which I hate btw, I am a kbm guy) and it was totally fine. I am much more excited to sit at my desk with a keyboard and mouse and use VR than rearrange my livingroom, mount 2 receivers up on the ceiling, cover all my windows, and then wave my arms around for hours. I am NOT saying that the Vive is going to fail. I think it's going to do great; however, I picked the OR because A) it looked like it was shipping first and B) the tracking device just sits on your desk. I'll maybe buy the touch controllers later but it's not that big of a deal to me.
 
cocheese256 said:
I'm interested in the tech, but again I must ask, are games going to be made specifically for each device (ie; Vive can only play game A and Rift can only play game B)? Or is it going to be more like a monitor, keyboard, or a mouse for example where the game does not care about the input or output device as long as the drivers work?
If the headsets are going to have "exclusive" titles, then I will definitely be waiting a while to see which one will be the better buy for me.
Click to expand...
would like to know this as well. Are games going to be cross platform? As in can you use a OR on steam games meant for the vive or will the vive and OR not be able to play the same games? Honestly if they make everything exclusive that could be a death warrant for VR, fracturing what is most likely going to be a small audience by restricting what games work on what device might kill the momentum of the VR industry even if its just as simple as 3D and head tracking that's only cross compatible.
 
Seventyfive said:
LOL, this is like saying Gigabyte is going out of business because Asus made a better mobo one generation. To say there isn't room for 2 VR headsets is just silly. Not only is Oculus backed by the vast financial resources of Facebook, their dev kits have been in the wild for significantly longer so most engines have had the support built in for OR much longer than HTC but they have integrated Vive support as well so there is your "fragmentation" argument.

As far as the controller vs touch, I played with the OR using the controller (which I hate btw, I am a kbm guy) and it was totally fine. I am much more excited to sit at my desk with a keyboard and mouse and use VR than rearrange my livingroom, mount 2 receivers up on the ceiling, cover all my windows, and then wave my arms around for hours. I am NOT saying that the Vive is going to fail. I think it's going to do great; however, I picked the OR because A) it looked like it was shipping first and B) the tracking device just sits on your desk. I'll maybe buy the touch controllers later but it's not that big of a deal to me.
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No offense but straw man, I didn't say anyone's going out of business or any of that other stuff, only that Oculus is blowing it by making touch optional and taking forever on it.

Of course there's room for 2 players, this market needs competition. I've followed Oculus VR since the first day of Kickstarter campaign, watched them dick around moving goalposts and delaying while Carmack shifted gears to working on the mobile crap, and it wasn't until Valve/HTC announced the Vive that Oculus finally got a fire under their asses and started announcing dates.

So these competing devices will keep each other on their toes if nothing else.
 
DPI said:
No offense but straw man, I didn't say anyone's going out of business or any of that other stuff, only that Oculus is blowing it by making touch optional and taking forever on it.

Of course there's room for 2 players, this market needs competition. I've followed Oculus VR since the first day of Kickstarter campaign, watched them dick around moving goalposts and delaying while Carmack shifted gears to working on the mobile crap, and it wasn't until Valve/HTC announced the Vive that Oculus finally got a fire under their asses and started announcing dates.

So these competing devices will keep each other on their toes if nothing else.
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So it sounds like probably agree more than we disagree. I think I took your "blow it" comment too strongly.
 
Does the Vive have to use the touch sensors, or can it be used with a keyboard and mouse? The touch sounds really cool, but I can see some games would be more practical (more fun and precise to control) to sit at a desk and use the keyboard and mouse.
 
cocheese256 said:
Does the Vive have to use the touch sensors, or can it be used with a keyboard and mouse? The touch sounds really cool, but I can see some games would be more practical (more fun and precise to control) to sit at a desk and use the keyboard and mouse.
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Either.
 
MavericK said:
Huh....Rift comes out for $600, everyone complains about price.

Vive comes out for $800 and so far in the thread everyone is pre-ordering one.

The motion controllers do seem a better deal, but for an extra $200 over the Rift? I don't see the value. What makes the Vive that much better?
Click to expand...
I think its because it was supposed to be the affordable vr (the rift)
Vive makes more sense in paper at least more tech .
 
Uvaman2 said:
I think its because it was supposed to be the affordable vr (the rift)
Vive makes more sense in paper at least more tech .
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its also not owned by facebook and doesnt include some crappy headphones. That alone is worth the $200 for me.
 
I've only hear good things about the headphones... also adds to the comfort factor... but yea, ymmv...

and yea, Vive never made statements that led people to believe it would be cheap... that's a big reason why less people complain about it...

I'm just excited things are selling well. Can't wait to try my friend's Vive ;P
 
Youn said:
I've only hear good things about the headphones... also adds to the comfort factor... but yea, ymmv...
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Im sure they are OK headphones, but most gamers have their own headset that will be better. my senheisers will be way better than what they include.
 
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