HTC Hints at 2nd Generation Vive Reveal

HTC are already teasing the reveal of a new consumer version of the HTC Vive.

[Kingcorey13]

Nice

[Aenea]

Wow, that's fast, wonder how current Vive owners feel about that....

[Bladesfist]

https://www.reddit.com/r/Vi...

They seem to be positive.

[Irishguy95]

Like console gamers I imagine. I guess, its bittersweet buying a new piece of kit only for a better version of itself to be revealed soon. I for example got an Xbone around a year ago. Woulda waited for Ps4Pro or Scorpio had I known. But whatever, I got what I paid for.

[freshslicepizza]

@Aenea
"Wow, that's fast, wonder how current Vive owners feel about that...."

probably the same as ps4 current users who now have the ps4 pro to choose from. what i hope is they can get a wireless headset out and of course bring down the cost.

[Aenea]

Except Sony waited 3 years before introducing a new one, the Vive hasn't even been on the market for a year and they are talking about a new model! Plus we're talking about (more than) double the price of a console.

[freshslicepizza]

@Aenea
"Except Sony waited 3 years before introducing a new one, the Vive hasn't even been on the market for a year and they are talking about a new model! Plus we're talking about (more than) double the price of a console."

every year we hear about a new iphone and they aren't cheap. not sure what the big deal is when we really dont know what the second generation is. if the original vive doesn't work on new games you might have an argument to be made. sony and microsoft also redesign the hardware with slim models and so on. how many ps3 models were there? how many nintendo ds models were there?

[ShottyatLaw]

Seriously? It's tech in its infancy. I imagine early adopters feel like this is exactly what everyone expected. You should also expect new versions of other devices like OR sooner rather than later, too.

VR hardware advancements will come rapidly. Prices on older kits will go down. Software will vastly improve. It will take a bit longer because it's in the more restrictive console space, but PSVR version 2.0 will be greatly improved over the current version.

None of this should be a surprise to anyone.

[freshslicepizza]

except you have console gamers who feel burned if those updates happen too rapidly even if they are not required to buy the new stuff. it really is a bizarre way of looking at it but its what many view. presonally i think these new mid-term hardware upgrades will be a major success and that will only convince companies to stop listening to the vocal minority. the only thing they have to do is what sony is doing, making sure they dont alienate previous consumers and forcing them to upgrade too soon but there have been no signs of that from any of the hardware makers.

[warriorcase]

vive owner here. Cannot wait to see what improvements they make to an already great system. Excited

[Jayszen]

Ouch! Current Vive owners are not going to appreciate a new iteration this quick, no matter how intent they are for improvements to be rolled out as they are available. Coming out with a new version of such a premium product in such a short time may hurt HTC unless there is some kind of rebate system in place. In fact, I had the VIVE on order and I have decided to cancel it. Why would I want to buy tech that is about to be improved unless I know I would need to wait at least a couple of years? I guess I can wait till next year. If the tech was cheaper one could justify an annual purchase in the manner their SVP suggests (that innovation cycles will be annual).

[TankCrossing]

Current Vive owners are by-and-large tech enthusiasts with disposable income. I expect most will be pleased at the opportunity to get something better...

I was planning to get a Rift this month though, but now I kinda have to wait until CES. I hope whatever they announce is worth the delay and doesn't cost me a good black Friday deal :-(

[Jayszen]

@TankCrossing

You may well be right about "Current Vive owners are by-and-large tech enthusiasts with disposable income" but in order to get mass acceptance the Vive has also got to be purchased by those who would baulk at the thought of spending $799 annually just to get the very latest improvements. If the tech was $399, many would probably consider updating annually but the Vive is just too expensive at present to do this more than once every two - three years for most people and those who have more sense than money. After all with economies of scale, and larger production orders, HTC would be able to reduce the cost per unit and consequently the price ensuring more people are able to afford the Vive.

I cannot believe that anyone who intended to order the Vive towards the crucial November and December months will not be put off by the news of a new update but if you are right, well so be it - shows how little I know about human behaviour!

[TankCrossing]

I really don't think HTC or anyone else in that VR sector are targetting mass acceptance at this stage. Eventually yes, but there are a lot of obstacles they need to overcome first and price is just one of them.

[zivtheawesome]

it's good to see but it would perhaps be dissapointing for vive users that payed 799$ to find out their headset will soon be outdated already (IMO they shouldn't go with the smartphone route, but release a new version perhaps every 3~5 years would make things better)

[CrimsonPheonix]

Or maybe people can take personal responsibility and realize they don't need to purchase every iteration.

[zivtheawesome]

of course but that doesn't mean that they should release a new headset every year with (probably) minor upgrades at each iteration. IMO it is a lot better to release a much better version later than just spamming more vr headsets each year.

[Nodoze]

wow...already? I would be pissed if I had purchased. Where are the software titles?

[dicemoney]

Why would you be mad you can sell the old one and put towards a new HTC vive

[ji3200]

all the previous Vive games are backward compatible with new vive headset.

[2cents]

Annual VR headsets? You F'n Mad?
Do these people think we are made of money?

Be responsible, build up enough improvements and release at least bi annual.
We don't need just minor incremental improvements for $£€500 - 800 a pop, each year.

I'm glad I got an Oculus... For now.

[TankCrossing]

Wait til you see how often TVs release. You'll be disgusted.

[Master of Unlocking]

Not surprised to be honest: I finally got to try VR a wee bit, the HTC Vive and the PS VR at least, and even before actually putting the mask on, I could tell the glass goggles inside of the HTC Vive were going to make the experience less than stellar (you can see some strange round markings on it, akin to what you'd see on the ...er...headlight of a car :p). Once the helmet entirely put on, bingo! I could see all the pixels and it didn't look good.

For some reason the PS VR, which is a lot cheaper than the Vive, had much better goggles, I couldn't see the pixels as much as on the Vive, wtf! That said, the Vive looks pretty cool, and has a name that also sounds cool, but so does the PS VR. There were all those people (mainly kids that decidedly seemed to be of the age at which VR is supposed to not be suitable) having a go at each option, and the PS VR really stood out compared to the other two, it was impressive with its cool blue leds on a slick white and black helmet, it made me think about that helmet seen in the movie Jurassic Park the little girl uses to watch the dinosaurs in the dark, before being prompted by the lawyer or w/e to put it down if it was heavy, as that had to be an indication that it was worth a lot of money... (yeah I remember my classics, lol).

The occulus Rift clearly seemed to be the less interesting option of the three, it looks cheap, the games look good but they're uninteresting and can be played without VR for some of them (like that one with a top-down view a la crash bandicoot or knack, but with a squirrel)