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Anybody taking the "leap" (Feb 29th) into the Vive ?

11K views 369 replies 24 participants last post by  Arutha_conDoin 
#1 ·
Anybody planning on preordering a Vive on the 29th ?


I'm in at $799.99 or less.

If it's $849.99, I'd probably still do it.

$899.99, hard to swallow.... maybe maybe not

Over $899 I'll pass for the time being...
 
#2 ·
Seems like you've taken quite the leap from just barely a month ago...

http://www.avsforum.com/forum/145-h...ders-2-days-you-getting-one.html#post40316450
Anthony1 said:
For me though, I have to say that I'm not going to be an early adopter like I normally am. My current PC can't really do VR, so not only do I need to buy a new headset, but fully upgrade the PC as well. But before I go down that road, I have to make sure that VR blows my mind, because if it's just a "meh", no way I'm spending about 2 grand to pull this whole thing off. I need to try a demo that totally knocks my socks off, but I have no idea when that is going to happen. Vive and Oculus both need to do mall tours, or be at local Best Buys or something. I need to actually try this crap in person.
 
#4 ·
Seems like you've taken quite the leap from just barely a month ago...

I change my mind about every other day...

Right now, if it's $799.99, I'm absolutely pre-ordering it. Other than that I'm not sure...


One thing that I didn't really think about, that could be a huge downside... Is the price of the individual games. Back when I used to PC game (2010 to 2013), I was basically getting older games on steam sales for like $7.99 and $9.99 each. Almost every game I bought was $9.99 or less. I didn't mind buying games that I missed the year before and being a bit behind the times. I'm not a big fan of paying full price for digital games, because you really don't own digital games. If I can't sell something, I don't own it.

I didn't mind paying $9.99 for various PC games on Steam sales or gamers gate or something, because I just considered it a long-term rental.

But if I get a VR headset, I'm actually going to have to pay full pop for these digital games, which kinda sucks.

It's going to be awhile before you can routinely get VR games for $9.99 or less on Steam sales. Could be like 2 years away almost. That could be a major problem for me. I'd probably just buy way fewer games and wait for reviews and see if I can try demos and stuff. But, if it's $799.99 or less, I'm in regardless, even having to pay crazy money for games I don't really own.
 
#3 ·
I'll be waiting until the price is announced to make a decision, but I'm most likely in. I've got a big enough room to take full advantage, and my preference is to buy content on Steam anyway (over a separate store that Oculus will have for the Rift).

Other than price, my only real concern is that pesky ceiling fan. :D
 
#6 · (Edited)
I guess the good news is that Valve definitely wants VR to be a thing, so hopefully they can try to facilitate some random VR sales that are pretty aggressive with the pricing.

I just don't think the triple A VR stuff (if such a thing exists) will hit a decent price all that quickly. I guess I'm thinking of stuff like Robinson: The Journey by Crytek or Edge of Nowhere by Insomniac ( is this game exclusive to Rift ?). Those are really the only triple A VR games that I'm aware of, and honestly, they probably aren't really triple A. They are both probably being made by a small team. Like Insomniac and Crytek dipping their toes in the VR waters.

I don't think that stuff will be $9.99 until it's been out at least 18 months.


As for stuff by the small indie studios, that stuff should hopefully hit $9.99 on some sales maybe 4 or 5 months after launch.
 
#7 ·
I'm in at those prices as well.
Oh wait the decimal point is in the wrong place. I was wondering why you had that extra "9" at the end of those prices. Too rich for my blood. ;)
I'm an early adopter of some sort but I think I'm going to wait it out a bit
 
#8 ·
Does anybody know if Adr1ft will be available on day 1 for the Vive ?


I think Adr1ft is my most wanted VR game right now. I just hope I don't get sick like that Cnet lady did at CES. But she was using the Rift with a Xbox 1 controller, and I'm guessing that with the Vive and the two motion controllers you would have your hands in the game and maybe that would make you less sick ?
 
#10 ·
That's the price I expected given the controllers and lighthouse system.


I imagine the rift touch controllers and a 2nd camera will cost $200, bringing full price of both packages to equal costs.
 
#12 ·
I think most people only had that price in mind because the Rift cost $600. If HTC announced the price first, they'd have gotten significant backlash too IMO.
 
#14 ·
Nice to see that Cher Wang reads AVS....

:)


Coming in exactly at the $799.99 price that I was cool with.. Well, I guess I need to actually buy one of these things now. Damn... Of course, getting my pre-order locked down is going to be difficult. I have to work that Monday and don't really have access to a PC to constantly refresh some page. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to make purchases like this at my work. Hopefully it will go live midnight pacific in the night before. Or midnight eastern the night before. Ebayers and Scalpers will be out in force on this one. Everybody is thinking they can sell their late March Rifts for $1200 or more and double up. I'm sure some peeps will be thinking the same thing with these Vive's. Try to buy at $799 and flip at $1500.

Scarcity will probably be a minor issue, whether legitimate or orchestrated. Just like with Oculus.

Honestly, I don't need to be in the earliest waves for the HTC, because the longer I can hold off on buying a PC the better. I kinda wish this stuff was launching in September so I could wait for a new card to come out.
 
#16 ·
Looks like they already took this down.. You can force it to install via "steam://run/323910" though. I had to put that into IE/Edge and it launched it in steam. Chrome didn't know what to do with it.

Looks like my pc is ready :) . Getting oculus over vive though. Might switch sides if the Vive gets awesome reviews, but I'm expecting the room scale functionality to take awhile to get right. By then they might have 2nd gen with higher resolution..
 

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#17 ·
I already preordered the oculus, they're just the name I associate with VR now. TBH I haven't even given the vive much thought....any reason why I should consider owning both? Like are there any exclusive games to the vive or something?
 
#18 ·
Oculus has the better screens and headset ergonomics and comfort.

The problem is, they have a terrible tracking solution, that pales in comparison to the Lighthouse system. If only Oculus could have swallowed their pride, and also used the same Lighthouse system. Valve said they would make it available to any hardware manufacturers, but Oculus had to be the tough guy and try to stick to their own inferior solution.

It's too bad we can't use the best headset with the best tracking system.

As for me, I'll choose the Vive every day of the week due to the fact that it has the vastly superior tracking technology, and the legit room scale feature. To me, true VR is being able to stand up, and walk around a little bit and move around inside the virtual world, and you need to have the most legit tracking possible to take advantage of that, and the Vive has that. No disrespect to Oculus... They do actually have a slightly better headset. I think Oculus has a handful of exclusives.
 
#20 ·
I think the concept/idea of roomscale is great. "Woohoo, I can move around in a virtual space". I think the issue is going to be lack of content. It's going to be games like job simulator and paintbrush. Hopefully some people release some sandbox setups you can build and mess with whatever. However I don't think high quality games are going to be available until end of year at the earliest. By then oculus touch will be out and hopefully we'll have the better ergonomics and comparable movement tracking capabilities. Initially though, I think most people are going to be using VR seated. There are plenty of games that directly translate to that w/o much modification at all. Think driving and flying games. Anything with a stationary seat.

So I think the choice is going to be do you spend $200 more now for something that has slightly worse optics and ergonomics so you can spend maybe 20% of your game time moving around, or do you just save $200 buy the oculus and wait for things to mature before jumping into the standup VR experience. Also how in the hell are people going to do cable management walking around? All the demos have people carrying your cord for you...

In the end I think no matter which headset you buy, you are going to be having a seated experience most of the time for the near future.
 
#21 ·
In the end I think no matter which headset you buy, you are going to be having a seated experience most of the time for the near future.
This is my thing - I'm not sure what sort of compelling experience I can have walking around my room. I can see flying in a cockpit of a plane/spaceship, or driving a race-car. Or having an all-around experience playing a Tomb Raider or Doom.... But I don't get how walking around will enhance the quality of those types of experiences...? :confused:

Maybe once I experience these new types of VR games, things will become clearer to me.
 
#22 ·
Is it just the room scale stuff then? Cause having used VR for a bit, I'm not interested in that at all. It's an accident waiting to happen unless you have a dedicated room for VR, and that's a pretty big ask. VR is already impractical enough as it is. Like that's the one thing that really stuck with me when using the DK2....you are completely blind to the real world. I cannot overstate how big of a problem that is. It's enough of a problem when you're sitting down and moving in that small space....getting up is just completely out of the question.

Room scale stuff makes way more sense with AR. Like I can't wait to get a hololens and have virtual stuff in my living room, but no way I'm putting on blinders and walking around. If that's what valve/HTC is hanging their hopes on, I guess I'll just stick with oculus.
 
#23 · (Edited)
So there's a few factors as far as I'm concerned.

Hardware
Ergonomics: it looks like the Rift CV has the better ergonomics.
Lenses: I've read that Rift CV is a little better.
Screens: I've actually seen most people saying these are about equal.
Motion controllers: Vive is launch with these on day 1, Rift only gets this at the end of the year. But other than that it's a matter of having a wand (Vive) versus a grip (Touch). Personally, even for seated games I'm going to want motion tracked controllers (Windlands is a good example of a game I'd want to sit or stand in, but still have independent hand-tracking).
Room-scale: My living room is the right size for it, so I'd prefer to have the capability for it when I want to use that. Now, Oculus might be capable of this when Touch launches, but their focus on dual-front cameras to prevent occlusion also has developers such as Owlchemy Labs (Job Simulator) saying that the games work, but need to be more 180 degree focused than 360. Logistically though, (biggest advantage here) wiring two 'dumb' laser emitters in the corners that only require power is far easier than connecting two cameras back to the PC. Someone mentioned cable management as a problem, but everything I've read says that HTC/Valve consciously stopped handling the cables for users specifically to see if it's an issue, and most people forget it's there.

Software
SteamVR vs Oculus Home: I prefer all my games to be in Steam where possible anyway, so I don't like the idea of needing another 'pool' for VR games.
Exclusivity: Oculus is funding developers directly, and those that they fund will release for Oculus-only (Oculus Story Studios, EVE: Valkyrie, Lucky's Tale, Rock Band VR). SteamVR is open and in theory (but maybe not initially at launch) should support the Rift (which makes sense because Valve only will make money off the software). It works with the DK2, but might take some time to get Rift CV support.
Non-gaming software: Oculus definitely right now has more of this available, with (based on the GearVR) Oculus Social, Video, 360 Photos, etc. I wonder if SteamVR's focus might be too much towards games (which is ironic, because I think Vive's touchpads over Touch's joysticks are probably more intuitive for non-gamers).
Chaperone and other software perks: Honestly, I love some of the stuff Valve is doing with Chaperone (these sorts of safety measures which Oculus isn't publicly talking about working on seem hugely important for room-scale, and maybe by the time Touch ships, Oculus will have something similar). But I really love this "Vive Phone Services" concept as well. The idea being that when I'm using a VR headset and have headphones on, I feel completely cut off from the world. I actually have a GearVR (but my phone service is not on that phone) now as well as a Rift DK2 that I took off somebody's hands a while ago, and this feeling of being unavailable does limit my time using VR quite a bit. The Vive connecting to my phone via Bluetooth and providing calls and texts should theoretically alleviate that problem, and it's something I never would have thought about but makes perfect sense.

Price
I expect Rift + Touch to be about the same price as Vive, and so this isn't really a factor to me.

So yeah, in my case, I've made the decision for Vive. I could definitely see why someone would disagree though.
 
#26 ·
I think the Bluetooth thing is a neat idea, but that seems completely solvable on the software side. Really good idea though.

Like the number one thing I want out of a VR headset is an immediate "completely return me to the real world" button. Like I want the screen and headphones to be spring hinged, and pressing a button swings them up and out-of-the-way, and pauses the game. And the cable should detach and reattach with ease without looking. Like I want to be completely untethered and using my own eyes and ears in under two seconds, and then be able to get back in just as fast.

The transition between VR and reality needs to be completely frictionless IMO. Maybe too much to ask for first gen but I think solving the usability issues are a way more pressing need than the technical stuff like resolution, motion tracking, etc
 
#30 ·
I just wanted to comment on tripping over the cord....


So, the cord situation was one of my biggest concerns with this, but the more I've read, the more I understand it that the chances of tripping over the cord is extremely minimal.

I think I read something somewhere where a developer has had the Vive at his house for 3 months, using it with his daughters and wife, etc, etc, and nobody has ever even come close to tripping over the cord during this entire time. At first the guy was really worried that maybe one of his daughters would trip over it, but anytime they got close, they would move their leg over the cord or whatever.

Basically, the gist of it, is that you continue to be aware of the cord while in VR, and it's always in the back of your mind and you kinda account for the cord when you're moving around. I've heard that using some type of overheard drop down solution is actually way more problematic. The bottomline seems to be don't worry about the cord, it's a non-issue. I know that sounds extremely strange, but I've read it in dozens of different places or heard people talk about it on video or a podcast, and everybody seems to say the same thing. You just have this innate awareness of where the cord is and you avoid it...
 
#31 ·
I had a fun experience with the DK2, where the wire got caught under the chair. There was enough slack....until I raised up to peek over a ledge. Then the headset tore right off my face and whipped into my desk. Good thing the damage stopped there, it didn't hit the can of Coke a few inches away.

So it'll be hard to convince me the cord isn't a problem standing up, when it's already a problem sitting down.
 
#35 ·
Exactly, right in the article:

A VR headset as simple as the Google Cardboard might be perfect for short bursts of VR consumption, but real VR experiences will certainly look a lot better on a Vive, Oculus Rift or any other dedicated VR headset that can harness the computing power of a gaming rig.
 
#37 ·
The marketplace seems to be sleeping on the Sony PS VR. And I think that is unwise. If it comes in at a $499-$599 price point. And is optimized for their PS4 platform and a Kick A VR theater for their own movies and from other studios. I say look out. They could be the stealth winner. Because PS4 is dominating the console market today. I know I'm not jumping in on the PC side until I see what Sony has to offer right now. And how it marries to their ecosystem.
 
#38 ·
I think they'll have a real hard time selling a $600 accessory for a $300 console. It's a dead end for PS4 IMO, the console isn't powerful enough. And it's coming too late in the cycle, by the time it gains enough momentum to be worthwhile the PS5 will be just around the corner.

There might be a place in this world for a "VR console", but it needs to be specifically designed from the ground up for it.
 
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#39 ·
Has anyone tried the gear vr and either vive or rift? I've only seen the gear vr, and that device has to use small sections of a 1440p screen. I'm wondering how the little screens in these headsets compare in regards to the screen door effect. Watching a movie was just not good enough for me.
 
#41 · (Edited)
If PSVR is more than $399.99 I'd be shocked. I think $399.99 is the maximum they can get away with charging for an accessory to a cheaper console. I fully expect them to sell it for $399.99 as well. My only real concern with PSVR is whether or not they are coming in the Fall (November ?), like the CEO of GameStop said, or if they are still on track for the first half of 2016. Honestly, if I knew the PSVR was coming before September, I might actually cancel my Vive pre-order (assuming I get one on Monday) , and just go with a poor mans solution for the time being, and wait for round two of the high end headsets.

If PS VR is coming in November or something.... man, it would just be really hard to wait till then with all the excitement going on with the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive already having been available for a number of months.
 
#42 · (Edited)
For anyone curious about the room-scale stuff, the Stress Level Zero guys (the team behind Hover Junkers) have been putting up a bunch of videos of various demos.

A select few:

Budget Cuts:
Cloudlands Mini Golf:
Arizona Sunshine:

And an older video of their game, Hover Junkers:

More at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQOB_yCwC5J3rYI-9JuLGZrCJGSxcZjeI

Also, I really like this mixed-reality demo video from the makers of Fantastic Contraption. I suspect something similar is how a lot of VR "Let's Play" type videos will eventually be made.

 
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