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HTC Vive Reviews Thread

Shadowmask72
Honored Visionary

Here's a thread for HTC Vive reviews (please post any you find) as the official launch is hours away.

Note: If you're not interested in the Vive on the Oculus forums then don't click the topic or read it.

Cramgaming.com

https://youtu.be/wB2qXp2SSNI



Destructoid

"VR is here, and I have been sold as a believer. While the Oculus is a very strong VR headset, the Vive feels like it's in a league of its own comparatively. The big sticking issue is how the market reacts to the price long term, and if development of new games maintains a consistent pace."

Kotaku

While the Vive’s best moments are some of the coolest I’ve experienced in video games, I can’t recommend purchasing it right now. You’d be spending $800 on something that’s going to be much better after months’ worth of software (and maybe even hardware) revisions, and there currently aren’t enough great games to justify the investment.

The Vive really is something you should see for yourself, but if you want to try it, go to a store that’s demoing it, or make friends with somebody who already ordered one. I’m excited about what the future holds for the Vive, but the future’s not here yet. 


The Verge 8/10


    GOOD STUFF

  • Lots of innovative motion control-based games and experiences
  • Emphasizes motion control and body movement
  • Rich, customizable user interface
  • Solid construction
  • BAD STUFF

  • Heavy and ungainly
  • User experience can be glitchy and confusing
  • Many games still feel unfinished
  • Highest total cost for a VR headset


POLYGON 8/10

So yes, the Vive asks a lot from anyone buying the platform, but it gives just as much back, if not more so. Everyone has the same reaction after a demo, in our experience: They remark on how complicated it seems and how little they’d want to set one up in their own home, and then they get wide-eyed and want to tell you all about how amazed they are by the experience. Valve’s challenge is to get the second part of that reaction to overrule the first, and the company will have an uphill battle on its hands, but it’s off to a very promising start.

GAMESPOT

Before you take the plunge with Vive, you have to prepare yourself accordingly. Unlike Rift, Vive comes with strict spatial requirements if you plan to utilize its hardware's full potential. It's not the easiest suite of hardware to set up, nor is it as refined as Rift, but Vive delivers the most advanced VR experience to date, a luxury that comes at a cost and with compromises. Where Rift feel's like a VR headset built for mainstream consumption, Vive caters to the hardcore crowd that will stop at nothing to get the best VR experience. Over time, Oculus can presumably catch up when it releases its Touch controllers and sells individual sensors to expand Rift's interactivity and motion-tracking capabilities. But for people who can't wait, who are willing to go the extra mile right now, Vive is the only way to experience today's most advanced VR technology from the comfort of home.

ENGADGET 

The Vive is no doubt the geekiest thing I have in my home right now -- and that's saying something. It's an impressive effort by HTC, which has had a rough few years in mobile, and Valve. It's oh-so-close to being the Holy Grail of VR experiences. It's just too bad that ergonomics get in the way of truly enjoying it.

At the same time, I'm sure there's a market for the Vive, even in its current incarnation. Hardware geeks are known for sacrificing their bodies for the glory of technology, and I'm sure they won't have a problem with a few aches and pains for glorious, immersive VR.

Tested - 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiDBp6OnsKY



IGN Review - 9.3/10 


AMAZING

The Vive's room-scale VR and motion-tracked controllers make it an incredibly powerful system.


Pros:
  • Amazing VR
  • Room scale
  • Motion controllers
  • Comfortable
Cons:
  • Tracking issues



System Specs: MSI NVIDIA RTX 4090 , i5 13700K CPU, 32GB DDR 4 RAM, Win 11 64 Bit OS.
381 REPLIES 381

VizionVR
Rising Star


So this is the 4th day since I noticed the pending charge on my CC and I've had no further information. How long after the pending charge appeared did you guys receive your Vive? I'm seeing all sorts of conflicting stuff over on R/Vive, some people saying that there package turned up quickly with no shipping details or order status changes, some seem stuck in pending charge limbo. What's your experience?


My pending charge appeared March 28 then disappeared from my bank account 5 days later. No money was withdrawn till Thursday last week. That same day I received my tracking number.
Not a Rift fanboi. Not a Vive fanboi. I'm a VR fanboi. Get it straight.

SlimBoyFat
Adventurer
Thanks guys. I'll let the excitement subside then!
Intel i7 4770K @ 4.5 GHz | Asus Z87 MAXIMUS VI HERO | 16GB 2133MHz | GeForce GTX 780Ti 3GB GDDR5 | Samsung 500GB SSD | Thrustmaster TX | Occulus Rift DK2

Ironlemons
Protege
https://www.reddit.com/r/Vive/comments/4fn55s/terrible_rma_support_they_sent_me_a_vive_pre/

Better check that you get actual consumer version of Vive instead of Pre. 

Its really sad to see how much negative attention both Oculus and HTC/Valve are getting recently. VR is something I've dreamed of for years and I am more and more exited about both HMDs every day, if I had the money I would buy both just to support the VR industry. However at the same time my trust in companies making these HMDs are slowly eroding even though I try to stay positive.

@VizionVR that dog video is really funny ^^

DrOculus
Adventurer
@VizionVR nice vid 🙂 , the problem is when you have the wand cleaning you`re boots and in VR  it`s mapped to some monster...let the nightmares begin!!!

przecinek
Rising Star
I have a Vive and I'm nowhere as impressed as some people here. You have to remove ceiling lamps / chandeliers if you live in an apartment or forget about roomscale. My controllers came with outdated firmware that you have to update by running cmd lines through command prompt. Easy lol, just type stuff like this:

tools\lighthouse\bin\win32\lighthouse_watchman_update.exe 
-d tools\lighthouse\firmware\vr_controller\watchman_dongle.bin


I had problems with tracking in a certain spot. Tried different angles, different coverage etc only to realize it was something else that was interrupting the laser signal. I still don't know what it was but after moving computer and all the other stuff elsewhere problem got sorted. I just can't see this taking off with the amount of hassle, even if experience is good indeed.

Then there's content. Simple games where you fight with flying cubes (holopoint). Some alphas with a ton of bugs. There's also a bunch of indie games that people made ages ago and are now ported to "roomscale" and suddenly relevant (and for 10-20€).  So many crazy cashgrabs on Steam I'm seriously considering porting my old 2d game for HTC Vive and selling it for 20€ 😉 It would look a bit like this:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/446620/?snr=1_7_7_151_150_1

There are other things I don't like and other nuisances but I'm not planning on writing a whole review. Just some quick food for thought.







SickleFoot
Protege
So are you going to keep it or sell it on?

przecinek
Rising Star
Due to delays my Rift is still months away so I'm not planning on selling Vive right now 🙂


Synthetic
Rising Star
Many users reporting tracking trouble from the steam forums, you are not alone prz

Anonymous
Not applicable
@przecinek Which Vive do you have, consumer? Reading this link https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/SteamVR/HowTo_Update_Firmware

The first line says this:
How to update firmware on the first generation Vive development kit. If you have a consumer Vive or a Vive Pre, update firmware by going to SteamVR > Devices > Update Firmware.

Alot of these updates talk about the dongles, that were part of the Vive DK1...but maybe I am wrong, are these updates for the consumer version too?

przecinek
Rising Star
They must have shipped it with the wrong firmware. One of the controllers wasn't pairing at all, after a bit of looking around (mostly /vive reddit as official help files were pretty useless with advices like "make sure you're controllers are charged" lol) I managed to pair it via USB. This is when I got the "outdated firmware" warning sign. I'm not sure why normal SteamVR firmware update didn't work but my controllers sure look CV not DK1 🙂 Rounded end and everything.

P.S There's a thread on Reddit about a guy who got Vive Pre in his package and HTC support keeps telling him it's the same as CV 😉