After the launch of Oculus Rift's pre-order sales, people are a little nervous about the future of VR. The Oculus headset is asking for a steep $600 investment for a piece of hardware that just doesn't have the software to support it yet. Working with Valve, HTC's answer to the VR game, Vive aims to do things a little different. Where Oculus is more of a cockpit view sort of virtual reality system, the Vive is designed to be a "room-scale" headset. It will track steps and follow your movement in a virtual space.
The system was delayed from its initial release due to HTC adding a front mounted camera to the device. The camera will allow the user to view the room around them without having to remove the headset. Since the Vive is all about movement around your living space, this is a nice addition to help avoid the inevitable ramming-your-shins-on-your-coffee-table dillema household VR will present. After experiencing this kind of VR first hand at places like The Void, I can honestly say this is the direction I'm most excited for virtual reality to head in. Now we will just have to see if the $600 price tag is something we are just going to need to get used to...
