First HTC Vive / Steam VR Hands-On Preview Emerges “..it’s a massive game changer”

GDC 2015 has only just kicked off, but we’re already starting to hear first-hand accounts of Valve’s new HTC manufactured VR Headset, the Vive.

HTC’s Vive announcement at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona yesterday, is barely a day old and already we’re starting to hear word on the Valve-engineered headset.

GDC opened it’s doors today, and GenXiSocialBuzz.com (really trips off the tongue that one…) has posted up a short ‘review’ of their hands-on time with the device.

In truth, it’s little more than a preview as it seems Valve are asking journalists to keep their thoughts under their hats until Wednesday, but the journalist in question here seemed mightily impressed.

The frustrating thing is I can’t talk about my experiences until Wednesday, but suffice to say it was awesome. This is true 360 virtual reality and it’s a world away from the sit down fixed appearance on the Samsung Gear VR, for instance.

Details on design and use are a little scant, but he did have this to say on freedom of movement:

The HTC Vive headset looks and feels precisely like any other of its kind on the market right now, but with the ability to move around a room when playing.

Unlike some of the more mobile-focused offerings, this one needs to be tethered to a PC (and a powerful one at that) to work, so you’ll need to be careful when wandering around to not trip over. The big difference is on the front of the headset, which is adorned with 37 sensors that connect to two wireless infrared cameras.

So it begins! We’ll of course be bringing you new information as we find it – and a reminder that the Road to VR team are on the ground at GDC 2015 in San Francisco. We’re hoping to get our hands on the HTC Vive and any other surprises Valve have waiting for us.