Back in the days, everyone was astonished when they played a ball bouncing off a bar that goes up and down, up and down. Nintendo stepped it up a bit when they introduced the iconic plumber Mario brothers. Fast forward 10 years, the graphics has gone 10,000 times better than the two-dimensional characters that saves a princess from a vicious king that who knows where it came from. Controllers became very sophisticated and technical at the same time, end were the days of the usual up, down, left, right, A and B. The storylines became a more movie like from a simple don't let the ball go through your brick and you're done.
Today, you can play games like you are actually in it, like the Ocullus and Samsung VR who let its gamers feel like they are inside the game playing as the character. However, phone and computer pioneer HTC has finally entered the ballgame. Online games review authority Tomsguide has reviewed the newest and latest virtual reality game gadget from HTC and all they can say about were praises.
HTC has partnered with games maker Valve to create an immersive education and entertainment virtual reality gadget the HTC Vive. The gadget was introduced, or it is more appropriate to say the prototype was formally introduced at the Mobile World Congress and HTC's director of marketing, Jeff Gattis. He said that the HTV Vive has over 70 sensors and empowers the gadget to have a 360 degrees room tracking, so that gamers or users can walk around an entire virtual world and see objects from different perspective.
Another good thing that HTC did on their Vive is that they prevent the users to get nauseated while playing. Unlike Ocullus which is running only at 75-Hz, HTC spiked it up at 90-Hz so players won't get dizzy or sick. The virtual headset is also very light so it won't be too hard for gamers or users to balance the thing while in use.
HTC also confirmed during the launch that they are going beyond gaming and is with talks and negotiations with prospect partners such as HBO, Lion's Gate Entertainment, Google and Taiwan's National Palace Museum.
To go deeper on HTC's Vive, according to their website, HTCVR, the resolution of the gadget's screen is at 1, 2000x10, 080 pixel, each eye with a refresh rate of 90 frames per second. HTC also takes pride on their photorealistic display imagery technology, which fills the user's vision in all directions. This technology takes out the jitters that are common to the previous virtual reality technology. The Vive is also equipped with a headphone jack so players and users can experience the whole nine yards of ultimate gaming in just one device.
It will also come with a custom game controller, in each hand, that will allow the gamers and users to interact with virtual objects in the virtual world.
At this point, Vive's price and official release dates are still unconfirmed, but according to Wareable, HTC's Vive might be released sometime in November, the same time Valve will roll out their Steam Kit. With regards to price, the website is looking at anywhere from $200 to $500.
With this technology, indeed the gaming world has evolved from the Jurassic era to the new age. Not only that, HTC has raised the bar with regards to virtual reality and this could spark a great battle between VR manufacturers, which is good for the community, because this only means that better VR gadgets will be available sooner than expected.
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