Days after Samsung rolled out a Virtual Reality Viewer inn Australia, HTC has announced a strategic partnership with Valve that will the smartphone Company release a mass-market virtual reality (VR) competitor.
Announced at the 2015 World Mobile Congress in Barcelona the HTC Vive Developer Edition will be launched this May 2015 with the consumer edition available by the end of 2015 in Australia.
Vive has combined their Steam VR tracking and input technology with HTC design and engineering capability to develop the all new headset.
Vive offers the most immersive experience of any VR package claims HTC Chairwoman Cher Wang.
HTC executives said that the new offering delivers a full room scale 360 Degree solution with tracked controllers, letting users get up, walk around and explore as if in virtual space. You can inspect objects from every angle and interact with your surroundings.
The new black headset features high quality graphics, 90 frames per second video and incredible audio fidelity capability.
HTC will also introduce new wireless VR controllers, these come in a pair and are designed to be so versatile that they will work with a wide range of VR experiences. Unlike typical game controllers, the HTC VR Controllers are simple and intuitive to use, helping everyone make the most of their experience.
Gaming and beyond
Beta versions of the Vive Developer Edition are already available from some of the world’s top game developers including Vertigo Games, Bossa, Barry -Fireproof, Dovetail Games, Wemo Labs, Google, Steel Wool Games and Owlchemy.
“Our collaboration with HTC is driven by the companies’ shared desire to produce the most compelling and complete VR experience,” said Ken Birdwell of Valve. “Delivering content creators with the Vive Developer Edition is an incredibly important milestone in our efforts to achieve that goal.” Vive executives said in Barcelona.
