HTC Vive Review

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Gizmodo published a review of the HTC Vive today and, when all was said and done, they felt that it was a "beautiful machine with no good games." Another drawback? Cables. Lots of cables.

Virtual reality has always been an expensive hobby. Even in 1995, when the only VR option was the Nintendo Virtual Boy, it was hard to justify spending money on the device. It was uncomfortable to wear. It didn’t have any good games. And it was a little ahead of its time. Fast forward to this week, and after spending hours playing with the HTC Vive, I can safely say that VR is still an overpriced novelty.
 
Keep wondering with the Gizmodo review, at least with the way it read, that it was intentionally done this way regardless of what the reviewer thought but rather what the revenue stream dictated. The "wire mess" they showed was done in such a way to make it look as bad as possible. Almost as bad as those late night commercials for some "i'll help you save your life from this widget which solves this problem that really doesn't exist". After re-reading the article again...it feels like a biased Engadget review. Sorta sad. Click bait at best...
 
Trepidati0n said:
Keep wondering with the Gizmodo review, at least with the way it read, that it was intentionally done this way regardless of what the reviewer thought but rather what the revenue stream dictated. The "wire mess" they showed was done in such a way to make it look as bad as possible. Almost as bad as those late night commercials for some "i'll help you save your life from this widget which solves this problem that really doesn't exist". After re-reading the article again...it feels like a biased Engadget review. Sorta sad. Click bait at best...
Click to expand...

To be fair however, the big problem with the PC VR issue is that they are not a viable way to become mainstream. Think about it. For VR to be successful you have to have a large-enough user-base to justify investments from developers to develop games for. The issue with the Vive which I agree with is the cables and lack of games (obviously). The Oculus and the Vive are made for a very niche market. People who have powerful-enough computers and have the know-how on how to set it all up which even with the Oculus I heard takes an hour.

If any of you want VR to really succeed, it's going to be through the PSVR. There is already a large user-base of PS4 owners, and the setup and plug-and-play nature of the PSVR is a lot more user-friendly let-alone affordable to the average gamer. All reviews state that the experience on PSVR is fantastic, as well as the most comfortable headset to use especially for people who wear glasses. There are already a large amount of developers developing games for the platform, and the Playstation 4 is a safer bet to develop for b/c of the already large existing user-base, pre-order sales, and the fact that all PS4 hardware is the same. Whereas every computer setup to run Vive or Oculus is basically different and there will be radically different experiences based on your setup.

We should all be rooting for the success of the PSVR, otherwise support for VR across all platforms will be very slim with most content likely coming from modders on PC.
 
Trepidati0n said:
Keep wondering with the Gizmodo review, at least with the way it read, that it was intentionally done this way regardless of what the reviewer thought but rather what the revenue stream dictated. The "wire mess" they showed was done in such a way to make it look as bad as possible. Almost as bad as those late night commercials for some "i'll help you save your life from this widget which solves this problem that really doesn't exist". After re-reading the article again...it feels like a biased Engadget review. Sorta sad. Click bait at best...
Click to expand...

Chaos Machine said:
Gizmodo and gawker sites in general are designed around click bait.
Click to expand...
More than that, Gawker is financially on its last legs after the Hogan trial. I wouldn't be surprised if there is money changing hands to paint everything but the Rift in a bad light.
 
Yeah, pretty horrible review of what is easily the best VR out there.
And that cable mess pic is just astonishing.

The review is all over the place. Praising it as the most cutting edge one minute and bitching about cables the next.
 
zamardii12 said:
We should all be rooting for the success of the PSVR, otherwise support for VR across all platforms will be very slim with most content likely coming from modders on PC.
Click to expand...

There are 75,000,000 users of Steam, an even then. It doesn't matter any more than the number of PS4s that are sitting out there being used as bluray players because there just aren't any games.

PSVR has the same zero chance of being mainstream as any other tech. Costs as much as or more than a PS4, has appalling specs, and will be connected to a pitiful machine for the most part, the PS4. Nobody is going to embrace a lesser quality experience than a monitor. IF (really it's a matter of when) VR ever creeps into the mainstream it will be an incredibly slow process. These first technologies probably don't have much of a prayer as it is, these are too expensive and/or too weak to ever see widespread use. VR has to be excellent for productivity and other media consumption, not just games. More importantly, they will have to be better than a monitor.

None of these are better than a monitor.
 
I stopped reading the article after they mentioned having to install steam. I knew then the article wouldn't relate to me and the person reviewing the hardware would not approach the review from a pc gamer perspective.
 
Twisted Kidney said:
None of these are better than a monitor.
Click to expand...

It depends on the application. Viewing VR content on even the lowest budget VR system will blow away viewing it on any monitor.
VR will be mainstream, because its tied to mobile tech. This first gen VR is just that, 1st gen.
People need to look past the goggles, and concentrate on the immersive experience, that is what will be mainstream. Mobile phones are being built around VR already, that will bring a wireless system soon enough that will surpass current hardwired PC systems. Making it mobile, affordable and using smartphones will be the winner. Everyone upgrades all the time, and almost everyone has one.


And there is this.... Valve Nearly Doubles Number Of HTC Vive VR Launch Titles
 
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thenapalm said:
To be fair, how would you illustrate the complete nest of necessary cables in a picture? String them lengthwise side-by-side?
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First of all the controllers don't stay wired, that's only for charging. Second, those black boxes are the lighthouses, those go in the corner of your room away from you to track your movements, cables never touch you. And finally the huge bundle coming out of the Vive itself is actually a single bundle of cables that breaks out into 3 ends. So really the only cable you will be dragging is the the thick one thats curled around all the others. That picture is completely misleading.

vivepre-9-980x654.jpg
 
thenapalm said:
To be fair, how would you illustrate the complete nest of necessary cables in a picture? String them lengthwise side-by-side?
Click to expand...

You don't need to illustrate it. Just like most electronics, the nest of wires only exists when you take everything down and try to store it somewhere. When you hook stuff up, you put wires under your desk, behind stuff and so on. The only wires that should be a concern are the ones that get in your way. That's all that needed to be illustrated.
 
Absolutely, really the only pain in the ass part to me is making some space and figuring out where to put/mount the light stations. One of those is optional.
 
i rather have cables than other one since anything you create on your own Facebook owns it.

Vive>Oculus
 
Damn, I might skip the first generation of VR units altogether.

I cancelled my Rift order because it isnt quite as good and their backdoor spying tech is a show stopper.
So I ordered the Vive but according to this review it is very heavy, in itself a show stopper. It will need to be very tightly strapped and will cause fatigue, no use for long sessions.
And there is nothing shipped with it worth having and none to buy.
I'm not impressed with the wire tripping problem either, I hope I can dangle mine from the roof.

HTC made a right mess of this, especially when its 50% more, £747 in the UK !!
Facebook can simply piss off no matter the price or quality.
 
The HTC Vive is lighter than PSVR 1.22lbs vs 1.34lbs, but I doubt any reviewer will mention this when PSVR is reviewed in October. Seems too many sites have disproportionately highlighted the negatives of both the Vive and Oculus, and make excuses for PSVR. Now that both the Oculus and Vive have been released, it seems this is continuing.

Also, anyone complaining on the [H] about the Vive having too many wires, or is too complex.............well it's hard to believe you are any kind of PC enthusiast.
 
I dont get blinded by my PC though, causing me to trip over its wires. :p
All my PC wires run round the room edge and stay still.

Good point about the PSVR being even heavier!
 
Chaos Machine said:
I stopped reading the article after they mentioned having to install steam. I knew then the article wouldn't relate to me and the person reviewing the hardware would not approach the review from a pc gamer perspective.
Click to expand...
THis.
It's like a car review beginning with, "first I had to go get my driver's license."
 
Twisted Kidney said:
There are 75,000,000 users of Steam, an even then. It doesn't matter any more than the number of PS4s that are sitting out there being used as bluray players because there just aren't any games.

PSVR has the same zero chance of being mainstream as any other tech. Costs as much as or more than a PS4, has appalling specs, and will be connected to a pitiful machine for the most part, the PS4. Nobody is going to embrace a lesser quality experience than a monitor. IF (really it's a matter of when) VR ever creeps into the mainstream it will be an incredibly slow process. These first technologies probably don't have much of a prayer as it is, these are too expensive and/or too weak to ever see widespread use. VR has to be excellent for productivity and other media consumption, not just games. More importantly, they will have to be better than a monitor.

None of these are better than a monitor.
Click to expand...

Your comments spew nothing but ignorance especially for something you have never tried yourself. I knew when writing what I wrote that someone would chime in about graphics quality (which when it comes to the actual interaction with the game in a VR-space is mitigated by the fact that you are IN the environment). Also, your point about 75 million Steam users is entirely moot. I question how many of those have PCs that meet the requirements for the Vive and Rift; let-alone be good enough to deliver a flawless experience. And quite frankly I don't understand why you kept saying "they will have to be better than a monitor." What does that even mean? Do you have any idea what VR is about? Why would you think that VR should be a replacement for a regular monitor? VR is a experiential medium for entertainment, and not a replacement for anything.
 
zamardii12 said:
Your comments spew nothing but ignorance especially for something you have never tried yourself. I knew when writing what I wrote that someone would chime in about graphics quality (which when it comes to the actual interaction with the game in a VR-space is mitigated by the fact that you are IN the environment). Also, your point about 75 million Steam users is entirely moot. I question how many of those have PCs that meet the requirements for the Vive and Rift; let-alone be good enough to deliver a flawless experience. And quite frankly I don't understand why you kept saying "they will have to be better than a monitor." What does that even mean? Do you have any idea what VR is about? Why would you think that VR should be a replacement for a regular monitor? VR is a experiential medium for entertainment, and not a replacement for anything.
Click to expand...
I think he raises a good point, however. If I am putting together a brand new system, and I need a new 'visual interface device', at the price of the Vive, I'm looking at some REALLY high resolution and/or VERY large displays; particularly given the hardware requirements. So if I'm going to be plunbking down money on this stuff, i might be hesitant to get a VR rig if the day to day desktop experience isn't very good, because I don't really want to buy BOTH a monitor AND a VR rig. I don't know what the resolution is of the in-VR desktop image, but if my option is a 1440p, 30"+ standard monitor, or a in-VR 19" 1900X600 display, the VR rig is going to be a tough sell irrespective of the VR capabilities since I still have to use my computer AS a computer.
 
Its not feasible to use higher res at 90fps minimum with current gfx hardware.
Its pushing the boundary as it is.
 
Nenu said:
Its not feasible to use higher res at 90fps minimum with current gfx hardware.
Its pushing the boundary as it is.
Click to expand...

Reviews have shown otherwise.

But what do you care? None of this generation's HMDs are good enough for you anyway.
 
Modred189 said:
I think he raises a good point, however. If I am putting together a brand new system, and I need a new 'visual interface device', at the price of the Vive, I'm looking at some REALLY high resolution and/or VERY large displays; particularly given the hardware requirements. So if I'm going to be plunbking down money on this stuff, i might be hesitant to get a VR rig if the day to day desktop experience isn't very good, because I don't really want to buy BOTH a monitor AND a VR rig. I don't know what the resolution is of the in-VR desktop image, but if my option is a 1440p, 30"+ standard monitor, or a in-VR 19" 1900X600 display, the VR rig is going to be a tough sell irrespective of the VR capabilities since I still have to use my computer AS a computer.
Click to expand...

No, it's not a good point, because no one with any sense is suggesting that VR headsets are supposed to replace monitors for day-to-day computing tasks. No one should be thinking of it as an either/or situation. That doesn't mean that VR has no value, because it offers experiences you absolutely cannot get with a conventional monitor. If you don't want both, that's fine, but understand that having both doesn't mean doubling up on devices which perform the same task, it means expanding the range of things you can do.
 
I have been saying this since the DK1. No matter what the hardware specs, VR will never take off until 2 or 3 AAA must have games are made. Until then, people will just see it as a novelty, not something they need to have.
I am 100% sure those games will come, but when, I don't know.
 
TheSmJ said:
Reviews have shown otherwise.
Click to expand...
Fine if you are prepared to accept lower quality.
There are hardly any released games yet, there are bound to be games that have lower quality settings for current hardware, it would be worse with higher res displays. They will come out when single cards can easily handle them.

Also those who play non VR high end games on a HMD will need to compromise on quality to maintain near 90fps. Higher res could make many games unplayable.
This will be a major use of the first gen HMDs.

But what do you care? None of this generation's HMDs are good enough for you anyway.
Click to expand...
One might be but thats nothing to do with you.
If people were only interested in a product when they were going to buy, it would destroy the industry.
Luckily people are allowed to be interested and have opinions.
Your world seems pretty limited.
 
Gatecrasher3000 said:
I have been saying this since the DK1. No matter what the hardware specs, VR will never take off until 2 or 3 AAA must have games are made. Until then, people will just see it as a novelty, not something they need to have.
I am 100% sure those games will come, but when, I don't know.
Click to expand...

I am not too familiar with VR, but I don't see why regular first-person can be "patched" to work in VR-space. I don't think it would be too difficult, and I have seen some clever mods since the DK1 days. I think a big driving factor for VR will be community support.
 
Nenu said:
Also those who play non VR high end games on a HMD ... This will be a major use of the first gen HMDs.
Click to expand...

Who exactly intends to do their non-VR gaming in a HMD? I know I don't. The novelty of that would wear off very quickly, as you deal with the inconvenience and discomfort for absolutely no benefit. I know you can play normal games inside that virtual desktop app but in that case you wouldn't actually be running the game at the HMD resolution, so the performance issue is moot.
 
Litfod said:
Who exactly intends to do their non-VR gaming in a HMD? I know I don't. The novelty of that would wear off very quickly, as you deal with the inconvenience and discomfort for absolutely no benefit. I know you can play normal games inside that virtual desktop app but in that case you wouldn't actually be running the game at the HMD resolution, so the performance issue is moot.
Click to expand...
I intend on doing it and as do my friends who are getting headsets.
it will be especially good for racing games if you have the hardware to maintain the framerate.

The tools are available to make it easy so why not.
Its Stereo vision done properly, many of us have waited a long time for this.

It doesnt matter if it isnt a full VR experience, you can play it exactly as you used to before and many games will allow you to look around with head movements as well.
More immersive is good by me!

Your point about discomfort is valid if the headset is too heavy.
Exactly the point I made earlier.
 
zamardii12 said:
I am not too familiar with VR, but I don't see why regular first-person can be "patched" to work in VR-space. I don't think it would be too difficult, and I have seen some clever mods since the DK1 days. I think a big driving factor for VR will be community support.
Click to expand...

I know of 2 tools so far to play none VR games on a HMD.

http://www.mtbs3d.com/new-vireio-site
uses proper hacks for head positioning.
free

vorpX - VR 3D-Driver for Oculus Rift - 3D Driver for the Oculus Rift and similar Virtual Reality headsets
no head tracking
costs

The notes I made are a few weeks old, things might have changed.
 
Looks like what I was expecting. people need to remember that the Vibe has tracking for moving around a room as well. Only thing i'm curious about is if I have to use the normal audio jack... or can my USB headset work on this?
 
cptnjarhead said:
And there is this.... Valve Nearly Doubles Number Of HTC Vive VR Launch Titles
Click to expand...
Ikea VR Experience? Cloudlands: VR Minigolf Demo? Minigame Party VR? Atlas Reactor VR Character Viewer!?

Damn, those are some killer apps.

But seriously, this is the same fudging of numbers we saw with Steam Machines. Headlines that excitedly cite the shear amount of titles available for the device, while completely failing to mention that all of them are either rudimentary Indie titles or walking simulators. Minigames and "experiences" don't appeal to the owners of high-end gaming rigs, which is Vive and VR in general's target audience.

I think we can all agree that the lack of must-have titles is a major problem for VR.

 
I don't know about VR automatically being an expensive hobby, the Samsung Gear VR is a pretty damn nice piece of kit. I paid $99 for mine, and it's worth every penny imo. It's fun watching people react to the different apps, and VR porn is a surreal experience.

The thing I like best is the 3d art, it's pretty wild seeing what people have visualized. There are some things that you just can't experience outside of a VR headset, it's really a wide open new medium.

 
Looks like I will be waiting until 2nd or 3rd generation and major price drop. I am enjoying my home made head tracking gear and wonder if I could make a VR set with some rasberry Pi.
 
I've said it before and I'll say it again, it's all going to be about content. Nobody knows how to properly implement VR yet. Everyone thinks you just take your favorite 1st person game and voila, it will translate perfectly to VR. WRONG. 1st person shooters, racing sims, and so forth are exaggerated for fun factor. The whole point of VR is to immerse you in something believable, but you cant be immersed in the impossible. For VR to work properly you need to simply recreate life in it. Physics have to make since, map layouts and design have to be reasonable. Jumping from a moving helicopter through a plate glass window and rolling across the floor to blow some guys head off is not going to work. Neither is racing 120mph and crashing through a horde of cars.

The best VR demos to date have all been "experiences", things where you did almost nothing and were just along for the ride. These are the only things that give you the opportunity to look around and explore, which is what we basically do in real life. But how many times can you explore something before you get bored?

Finally the actual ergonomics are still a big hindrance. GearVR is the final destination for VR platforms. A fully untethered experience, but one advanced enough that it can detect your actual hands and fingers and let you walk around freely without any cables. Imagine a more sophisticated front facing camera system with leap motion capabilities. Holding goofy wireless sticks to act as your hands in VR will always be awkward.
 
People keep bringing up weight. My mc helmet weighs 3.6lbs, according to Nolan, b4 you add in the communication system. While I have plenty of reservations regarding this gen vr hardware and software, sub 2lb headsets are not one of them. Review read like they liked it but had to say it sucked.
 
Lith1um said:
I don't know about VR automatically being an expensive hobby, the Samsung Gear VR is a pretty damn nice piece of kit. I paid $99 for mine, and it's worth every penny imo. It's fun watching people react to the different apps, and VR porn is a surreal experience.

The thing I like best is the 3d art, it's pretty wild seeing what people have visualized. There are some things that you just can't experience outside of a VR headset, it's really a wide open new medium.

Click to expand...

"...go out and get a sheep." bwahahaha....and that one dude looked like he was REALLY getting into it.
 
Gorankar said:
People keep bringing up weight. My mc helmet weighs 3.6lbs, according to Nolan, b4 you add in the communication system. While I have plenty of reservations regarding this gen vr hardware and software, sub 2lb headsets are not one of them. Review read like they liked it but had to say it sucked.
Click to expand...
Your helmet doesnt hang off the front of your face with no rear balance and require tight straps to anchor it to your face.
Not even slightly comparable.
 
I just read the Ars review. The weight of the device and the fact that it's strapped to your face like goggles; not worn like a headset, was problematic in the author's opinion.

It was flat-out uncomfortable in his experience.
 
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