HTC Opens Pre-Orders on ‘Vive’

Pre-orders for HTC’s branded virtual reality headset, the HTC Vive, are now open for anyone interested enough to shell out the early adopter’s price of $799.00 US.

When you purchase a Vive you’ll also be receiving Google’s Tilt Brush, as well as the games Fantastic Contraption and Job Simulator for free (limited quantities apparently for promotional materials).

Nevertheless, pre-orders will start at 3pm today, we assume via the official website, and we expect they’ll quickly start to sell out.

Seems like what we’ve been saying so far is making the HTC Vive more favourable than the Oculus Rift, which proves to be spot on too actually. The Vive was developed by HTC and U.S. video game developer Valve Corporation’s software distribution platform Steam. Fans can now secure their unit for first shipping on 5th April 2016 provided that they’re fast enough. A HTC representative told CyberShack that gamers will need a minimum space of 1.5m by 1.5m to use Vive.

The HTC will be going head-to-head – or headset-to-headset – with the likes of Oculus Rift, Samsung, Sony, and Microsoft in a bid to become market leader in the growing VR sector.

It also ships with Vive Phone Services which allows users to receive and respind to incoming and missed calls as well as get text messages and see calendar invites directly through the headset.

Though it is more expensive than the Oculus Rift, it is definitely worth the price. Both the Oculus and Vive require a top-end gaming PC to run, with graphics cards (GeForce GTX 970 or higher) and CPUs (an Intel i5-4590 or better).

If you haven’t yet tried a virtual reality headset of any kind yet we have to wonder, where have you been hiding?

The global pricing for Valve and HTC’s combo VR project, the Vive, has been revealed.