There's a TV show from the early 1990s called Red Dwarf that depicted a group of humans (and humanoids) that were lost in space in the future, desperate to get home.
One of the big ways they stayed entertained was with a holographic headset that let them play in hyper real worlds, like they were living in the action sequence.
It was meant as comedy, a chance for men to be stupid and depraved and powerful and ultimately escape the onboard reality they were faced with. I always thought that idea, that experience, would never be real.
But with the HTC Vive I took my first steps towards that world.
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.
But I can say this: I promised myself I wouldn't start smiling or laughing when I tried it on. I promised I would be a professional journalist, sagely analysing what this meant for the world of virtual reality and it's place in HTC's future strategy.
I lasted approximately seven seconds before I started giggling like a tipsy schoolgirl. It's far more than a gaming platform, as it will allow you to do things like tour museums, watch films and learn – as well as hopefully kill zombies in full 360 motion.
I wish I could say more, but check back on Wednesday to get the full experience explained.
Design
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.
These wireless cameras are placed in two corners of a room (3m by 4m is suggested as adequate) and combined with the headset will create a virtual space to play around in.
The headset is tight fitting but perfectly comfortable, with a strap across the top to hold it in place, with another strap that secures things around the back.
During my time, where I was pretty energetically moving, it didn't slip once, so the fit is clearly up to scratch.
HTC stated that it came on board as a partner with Valve to create this system as it was capable of creating beautiful hardware. While the unit is solid, it's not really what I'd call beautiful - it's black plastic with some little reflectors in it, and the untrained would have no way of knowing it wasn't an Oculus Rift.
I'm hoping the final version, which will be on sale by Christmas this year, will have a more impressive chassis - making this out of brushed metal would be really cool, and I get the feeling it's going to be quite expensive anyway, so adding a little more to make it look premium wouldn't hurt.
Early verdict
I'm getting to the verdict now because, well, there's not really much I can say about the HTC Vive system without telling you about what it's like to actually use, which will happen on Wednesday evening.
It's a plastic headset that really doesn't look very different to anything else you've seen out there - but trust me, if / when you get to use one, you're going to see it's a massive game changer.
Will you get one as soon as it's announced? Well, it depends on the developer ecosystem, but it sounds like many games will be ready for the late 2015 launch. I really hope this takes off, as it's something that really pushes on the ability of technology in the home.
from TechRadar: Technology reviews http://ift.tt/1DxcyQ8
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