Gadgetory

a month ago I tried the vive pre a developer version of HTC in Valve's virtual reality headset I called it unfinished and incredibly fun and I've been looking forward to the consumer version ever since now I finally got it in my hands and it's just as much fun but it still doesn't feel finished the vibe has gotten more polished since it was first announced last year but it's not a pretty piece of hardware the finished headsets almost identical to the vive pre which is to say it's big front heavy and sort of industrial looking the pre had a couple of issues that seemed totally fixable like the fact that it's foam facemask soaks up sweat like a sponge but don't expect that to change on the vibe of course all the good things about the Prieur here - the vive blocks out most light unless you're looking straight down your nose and it's not too uncomfortable once you get used to its size although it's notably less comfortable than the oculus rift unlike the rift the vibe doesn't come with built-in earphones it does include a pair of earbuds you can plug in but you'll probably want to use your own setting up the vive involves a lot more than just plugging it in the vibe uses your computer's HDMI and USB ports just like the oculus rift but in between your PC and your headset there's a link box that needs plugged into a power outlet and then there are the lighthouses - laser towers the vive uses to detect its position we're going to hope that this doesn't over balance and I'm just going to try to put this tape on here - I don't know add a fig leaf of protection the lighthouses are set up diagonally across the space you want to use anywhere from a box that's just big enough to stand up in to a 15 by 15 foot room they don't need to be connected to your computer but they do need their own power supply so hopefully you've either got lots of outlets or lots of extension cords once you've got all this done you're ready to set up steam VR a tool in valve steam gaming platform given how complicated the vibe is steam VR is good at giving you feedback about what's working you can always see what's connected right on the dashboard and there's a simple calibration process that's even sort of fun um and actually wait I forgot to run room setup for room scale experiences you trace around the entire play space with a motion controller and steamvr sets up chaperon lines to match it uh that went pretty smoothly for the vibe it was very smooth for the vibe this all takes some time but it's worth it as long as you're also fine paying $800 plus the cost of a gaming PC when everything works the vibe is the best experience you can have in VR right this minute the screen is a little grainy but that's true of every headset the field of view feels shaped a little different from oculus but different doesn't mean worse here and the laser towers are incredibly forgiving as long as they're above you and pointed towards you they track almost perfectly a front-facing camera can show you a rough outline of the outside world at the press of a button or whenever you move outside the Vives boundaries that's all great but there's one thing that really sets the v apart right now it's just about the only headset that lets you move around in VR you can use normal game pads or a mouse and keyboard with the v but most experiences are based around a pair of motion controllers that fit in your hands like remote controls I've got a few issues with them like the fact that it's way too easy to hit the home button under the trackpad but they stayed away after you've used the controllers for a while they're also incredibly solid which is good because even if you never accidentally throw them across the room in a game of VR tennis you'll probably whack the wall or some furniture at least a couple of times in side VR adolphus setup a lot of features you've got a full version of Steam plus the ability to see your computer desktop and set a custom environment all around you the fact that Valve already has a ready-made platform is a huge benefit here there are already tons of people playing modding and selling a wide variety of games on Steam the downside is that this can make everything sort of complicated your settings are spread out over lots of different menus and steamvr itself still has plenty of glitches if you're already used to Steam it's not too hard to figure things out but it's not a friendly system for newcomers which is too bad because the vibe shakes up all the usual stereotypes about PC gaming it features creative non gaming tools like tilt brush and virtual desktop plus non traditional games like audio shield where you defend yourself against the notes of your favorite songs motion controls can feel incredibly fresh and intuitive and they support a huge number of different experiences you can shoot guns at zombies or you can solve plumbing puzzles to make tiny alien bears happy there's something for almost everyone it can just be hard to find it can also be hard to find games and tools that aren't rough experimental or very short this is okay at first especially because you'll probably want to take breaks every hour or so standing up and walking around is more tiring than sitting in a chair but after a while I wanted something more substantial and my favorite experiences were clearly unfinished ones the vibe is where you go for cutting-edge virtual reality at least for the next few months but that also means that nobody has figured out exactly what to do with it whether you're talking about specific games and apps or its whole user experience by the time it's polished the vibes going to be competing with oculus which will support a lot of the same titles later this year but for an early adopters headset the vive does everything it ought to it's flexible functional available and often incredible Oh God what do they do if you want to compare the HTC vive with the oculus rift you can check out our oculus rift review if you just want to see more of our experiences with the vive that you can also check out our preview of the vive pre