HTC's Vive is coming soon, and it will cost you a good chunk of cash to experience it.
Taiwanese phone maker HTC and game developer Valve have confirmed the price tag of the Vive virtual reality system: it’ll set you back $799.
That’s quite a hefty price tag that makes the system $200 more expensive than the Oculus Rift, which was criticized for costing $599, double that of early developer units, according to a CNET report. Not only that, it would require the purchase of a gaming PC costing in the range of $1,000.
The HTC Vive will be available in early April, although you can preorder it beginning February 29.
HTC has been marketing this system hard in recent months, trying to demonstrate that it’s worth the money. The Vive is different in that you can stand up and move around in a limited area, versus having to stand still and passively experience everything with other systems. It can create a fascinating feeling that you’re actually in a certain location, adding to the realism. Vive’s vice president Dan O’Brien bragged that there’s nothing else that can do what their virtual reality system can at a press briefing recently.
Even though Vive costs more than Rift, it’s actually cheaper, HTC and Valve claim, because you don’t have to buy a computer for it to work — it’s a complete system. It has the headset, two base stations for detecting motion, earbuds, and a link box as well as two wireless controllers. These controllers act as your virtual hands.
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