HTC's virtual reality headset – HTC Vive, is now up for pre-order in 24 countries including – US, UK, Australia, France, Italy, New Zealand and more. The virtual reality headset is now selling at a pre-order price of $800 including a shipping charge of $30. This means that if HTC ever decides to launch Vive in India, it will cost anywhere between Rs. 50,000 – Rs. 60,000.
The HTC Vive, which was made in collaboration with Valve, had earlier won the 'Best hardware (incl. Peripheral category)' award at Gamescom 2015. The headset was scheduled for a late 2015 release, but HTC was still banking on some big developments in the headset and subsequently delayed the launch of the Vive. HTC has now added a camera module to the headset through which a user is able to see objects in a room to avoid collision. These objects gets ghosted to the virtual reality environment, keeping the VR experience seamless. This feature is being looked at as a boon for one of the most functional problems with VR.
Although the Vive is one of the most sought after VR headsets, it's eye-watering $800 price tag is a bit of a mood dampner. Then again, even the Oculus Rift is priced at $600. Interestingly enough, while the HTC Vive has factored in the cost of motion controllers in the box, the Rift's Touch motion controllers are still under development. The Rift will be shipping with an Xbox One gamepad until the Touch motion controller starts shipping by the second half of 2016. When this happens, Oculus may revise the price of the Rift to include the cost of the controllers.
We had the chance to experience the HTC Vive and you can read our first impressions here. You can also catch us experiencing the HTC Vive at MWC 2016 in the video below.