PC Makers Have Spoken: The Vive Is the VR Headset to Get

cageymaru

cageymaru

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PC Makers Have Spoken: The Vive Is the VR Headset to Get.
PC Makers Have Spoken: The Vive Is the VR Headset to Get

One of the big trends at Computex was being VR-ready, and everyone from Asus to Zotac was there showing off systems made to support the latest VR headsets straight out of the box. But when it came time to choose one of those headsets to demo that VR readiness, it was clear that there was one headset PC makers overwhelmingly prefer.

That's because nine times out of 10, the headset that was hooked up to all those VR-ready PCs was HTC's Vive. Sure, there were a handful of stations showing off the Oculus Rift, but as I walked from booth to booth, it was impossible to ignore the forest of tripods holding up Vive lighthouses and the excited shuffling of helmeted attendees exploring new virtual landscapes.
 
Oculus can't get the Touch released fast enough. I'm hoping they have a lot to demo at their E3 booth.
 
Sad because the Rift is a much better HMD.
The Rifts focal area is much larger. The Vives focal area is so small as to make it very annoying, such that I didnt want to use it.
Also the Rift is comfortable to wear, the Vive isnt. Its too front heavy and is heavier, it needs strapping on a lot tighter.

If it wasnt for the Facebook T&Cs + constant internet connection I'd have a Rift.
My Vive is being returned and even that is a trauma, they simply dont respond unless its automated.
So my bank are dealing with it.
 
Probably because developers and people making supporting hardware want to attract as many customers as possible, not just those with a Rift, and the Vive/SteamVR ecosystem is a lot more inclusive. Oculus/Facebook's handling of their launch (and their store) has been pitiful, and I'd say they deserve to fail except that their failure will hurt all of VR.
 
Developers will target the HMD with the largest install base. That HMD will more than likely be the PSVR. Many of those games will be ported to the PC, and will in turn be compatible with both the Rift (w/ Touch) and Vive. This means that games which require roomscale to the level that only the Vive is capable of will be few and far between. I seriously doubt that developers are concerned with Facebook's involvement in Oculus or their T&C. They'll go wherever the money is. The fact that the Rift can play games which are sold by/installed on Steam makes it a moot point anyway.

My prediction is that by the end of this year the Rift+Touch will be the best HMD you can buy due to its software library and hardware (provided rumors of Touch's capabilities turn out to be true). PSVR will be the most popular wired HMD due to its low-cost barrier of entry, and Vive will stand behind these two with its roomscale capabilities and integrated camera largely underutilized by developers since it's the only HMD with these features.

Roomscale will probably matter a lot more once the second generation of HMDs are released. By then we'll probably have a competitor with Leap Motion's technology integrated into the headset along with the possibility of inside-out tracking.
 
TheSmJ said:
Developers will target the HMD with the largest install base. That HMD will more than likely be the PSVR. Many of those games will be ported to the PC, and will in turn be compatible with both the Rift (w/ Touch) and Vive. This means that games which require roomscale to the level that only the Vive is capable of will be few and far between. I seriously doubt that developers are concerned with Facebook's involvement in Oculus or their T&C. They'll go wherever the money is. The fact that the Rift can play games which are sold by/installed on Steam makes it a moot point anyway.

My prediction is that by the end of this year the Rift+Touch will be the best HMD you can buy due to its software library and hardware (provided rumors of Touch's capabilities turn out to be true). PSVR will be the most popular wired HMD due to its low-cost barrier of entry, and Vive will stand behind these two with its roomscale capabilities and integrated camera largely underutilized by developers since it's the only HMD with these features.

Roomscale will probably matter a lot more once the second generation of HMDs are released. By then we'll probably have a competitor with Leap Motion's technology integrated into the headset along with the possibility of inside-out tracking.
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I think you are pretty much spot on here.

But I think I should bring up that the next Xbox is rumored to support the Oculus Rift. If that happens, it could end up being a pretty dead heat between PSVR and Rift.

Microsoft Preparing VR Capable Xbox One for Use with Oculus Rift, Reports Suggest - Road to VR

Report: Developer Confirms Work on Xbox One VR Title for 2017

Your mention regarding HTC I agree with as well. I seriously doubt room scale will catch on in a large enough capacity to entice developers to invest heavily in it.

I own the Rift, and strongly believe that once Touch comes out any perceived advantage the Vive has will evaporate.

I do hope Oculus gets their shit together with the store though. I fail to understand why they would deliberately block other hardware from accessing their store and titles. If what they say is true.. and they don't make any money on the hardware.. wouldn't it be in their best interest to sell as many games on their platform as possible to leverage profits?
 
It's not like PC VR will evaporate as soon as PSVR appears, any more than PC gaming has disappeared in the face of modern consoles. It's not really in competition, and all it'll mean to PC VR is that some developers will port their PSVR games to the PC. And then if the sales don't meet Sony's expectations they'll quietly stop supporting it like they always do. The idea of a Rift/XBox union is more interesting, but even that can only benefit the PC. Unless all those ports become Oculus exclusives of course. They had better get their shit together with their touch controllers before that happens, though. Room scale may be optional but motion controls aren't IMO. And they need to figure out how to get units to customers in less than 3 months.
 
Oculus didn't have the touch controllers out for release

/product
 
HTC / Valve didn't have any content for room scale out for release.

/product

Kidding aside, as I realize they have some stuff.. I still really view the HTC Vive as being an effective development kit. They really rushed it to market to try and get the jump on Oculus. I think when you compare the headsets only, Oculus comes out the clear winner, for reasons already mentioned. Once Touch comes out, those will be the superior controllers. Room scale will be available to Rift. Rift has access to Oculus and Valve store titles..

Oculus is the better long term investment.

I can certainly see how people are being wow'd by the Vive and Roomscale though, but to think it's better than Rift, imo is pretty short sighted.
 
sboucher said:
I fail to understand why they would deliberately block other hardware from accessing their store and titles.
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ReVive was blocked because people were using it to play Lucky's Tale for free. Currently, the only way to play the game legitimately is by first buying a Rift, and then downloading the game from their store. Perhaps one day they will make the game available for sale on its own and then users who are interested in playing it can buy the software and run it with any HMD they choose. But, for now the price of the game is rolled into the Rift HMD itself. The fact that Oculus attempted to prevent ReVive (and software like it) from working really shouldn't have surprised anyone.
 
TheSmJ said:
ReVive was blocked because people were using it to play Lucky's Tale for free. Currently, the only way to play the game legitimately is by first buying a Rift, and then downloading the game from their store. Perhaps one day they will make the game available for sale on its own and then users who are interested in playing it can buy the software and run it with any HMD they choose. But, for now the price of the game is rolled into the Rift HMD itself. The fact that Oculus attempted to prevent ReVive (and software like it) from working really shouldn't have surprised anyone.
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Oh I understand that regarding Lucky's Tale, but I don't think it is unreasonable to expect them to be able to apply that title to only people that have purchased the Rift. Then open up the store for that title, and others, to be able to be purchased for use with the Vive, without hacks.. Kind of like what Steam is doing.

That would only benefit Oculus long term, and generate more store title purchases, where they make their money.

Sure, don't support every POS headset that may end up coming to Market. But I think Vive is close enough to the Rift for them to be able to say, ya it meets our min headset spec for VR so we'll support it. Frankly that would be a win for everyone.

I have absolutely no issue with Oculus having exclusives tied to their store. Everyone does it. Steam does it, EA does it.. Just don't make it exclusive to your store AND your hardware..
 
The store might not always be locked down to Oculus's hardware. I think the reason things are as they are (locked down) is because they are currently have three very large plates spinning- The Rift which only just launched, the store, and Touch. Right now they're only concerned with the fact that their own hardware works well with their store and their software. Adding other devices to the mix will only make things more difficult. Oculus themselves have said more than once over the last year that they're open to the idea of supporting other HMDs in the future, but they don't have the resources to dedicate supporting other devices along with their own.

People seem to forget how Steam was in the beginning. It's over 12 years old now. People hated Steam when it was first released and the en vouge thing to do was boycott Valve and their games for forcing them to install the store and log in every time they started a game purchased through the service. Time went on, Steam and the service it provided improved and it has since become the most loved and defended store/platform in the history of PC gaming. The Oculus store was released less than 3 months ago. It's going to take time before it does anything and everything people want it to do, let alone match the capabilities of the decade+ old piece of software known as Steam.

As for why they didn't limit the Revive block to Lucky's Tale - I think that's because they didn't have the granular control they would need to do so based on the architecture of the store and the software they have now. It was an all-or-nothing thing, and they had their IP to worry about.
 
^ Very good points, and I hope your right about them supporting other hardware in the future.
 
It seems to me like those who didn't go Vive because of the controllers being available at launch were ultimately swayed by the Facebook creepiness.

I know I was.

Now if only I could get a GTX 1080...
 
cageymaru said:
Vive Is the VR Headset to Get
Click to expand...

except oculus rift is the superior headset. clickbait writers always fail to mention this part. rift is superior to vive. only the vive motion controllers are superior to rift motion controllers (because rift has none)
 
bAMtan2 said:
except oculus rift is the superior headset. clickbait writers always fail to mention this part. rift is superior to vive. only the vive motion controllers are superior to rift motion controllers (because rift has none)
Click to expand...
In some ways it is, namely comfort. It has some pretty heavy artifacting from the frenzel lenses and a worse fov than the Vive. If you think that htc is going to rest on their laurels and not close the gap with oculus I think you are mistaken. Also, the fight might already be over by the time it even matters for oculus for a number of reasons. 1. Those touch controllers aren't free and are going to bring the rift up in price parity to the Vive. 2 at that same time the psvr will be out. Right now I would bet money the install base for the vive is already higher than the rift, you arent really going to see brisk sales of the rift till it has motion controllers.
 
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