HTC VIVE: WOW! BUT BRACE FOR REAL-WORLD WOES
It takes a lot more room to maximize the vast potential
Vincent van Gogh might have had a field day with Tilt Brush, a Google app that artfully showcases the wizardry of the new HTC Vive virtual-reality system that I’ve been testing.
Headgear strapped on my noggin and with a wireless controller in each hand — one doubles as a virtual paintbrush, the other lets me choose the color and type of brush — I’m waving a controller like a wand to create masterpieces inside a 3-D virtual space.
HTC Vive is the second major virtual-reality system to arrive this spring. It may already have reached those who preordered it.
Over a week ago, I tested the Oculus Rift, a giant hit in the Baig household, especially with my 9year-old son, Samuel. He and the rest of us were equally enthralled with Vive, which HTC co-developed with video game creator Valve — maybe more so, though there are added challenges. (A third system, Sony’s PlayStation VR, is due out in the fall.)
During this launch phase, both systems cater to gamers, with Valve’s SteamVR platform the vehicle for buying and downloading experiences onto Vive.
Vive costs $799 or $200 more than Rift, but like the Oculus must be tethered to a pricey and robust PC with high-end graphics. I connected Vive to the same Asus PC (with Nvidia graphics) that I used to test Rift. THE GOOD AND THE BAD OF ROOM-SCALE VR HTC’s system claims one advantage over Rift, though it is just as easily a disadvantage: Vive supports “room-scale VR.” As the name suggests, you’re meant to move around and not merely sit or stand in place, as is most often the case with Rift. That leads to a more compelling and immersive VR experience.
The hurdles begin with a pain- ful setup. You need a space free of obstacles, a minimum of about 6by-6-by-5 feet. The maximum distance between the two base stations that come with Vive is 16 feet, 4 inches, measured diagonally. The base stations use lasers to help the headset and controllers track their exact position in the room. Ideally, those base stations are above you angled down, which is why you’re advised to mount them onto a wall or place them on tripods and in opposite corners. They need to “see” each other, lest you otherwise connect a long cable between them, as I had to do. Oh, and make sure you have available power outlets.
After some trial and error, I barely had enough space in my family room to proceed. AVOIDING OBJECTS Once you’re immersed inside a VR experience, if you come too close to the physical wall, a border of grid lines warns you. Vive has another clever feature: a camera that sketches an outline of the real world to help you avoid coffee tables, chairs and people. COMFORT I found the head-mounted display comfortable enough, though wrapping my own Bose headphones over Vive gear was awkward. I had trouble focusing, same as Rift. In Selfie Tennis, my wife complained about flickering.
When you’re inside a VR experience, you can see a visual representation of the wireless controllers, making the real controllers easy to manipulate. THE EXPERIENCES Launching and closing apps was generally more complicated than with the Rift. Still, I had fun playing Final Approach VR, in which you use a controller to attempt to guide a path for planes to land.
I was intrigued by The Lab, which transports you from one mini-experience to another, from giant labs with conveyer belts to the gorgeous Vesper Peak in the state of Washington, where I met up with a robotic dog and got a sense of the vast possibilities beyond gaming. As I wandered, though, I was frustrated by the appearance of those grid lines suggesting not enough space. Bummer. My family and I mostly enjoyed doodling with lights, fire or “fresh paint” inside Tilt Brush — nothing like walking through your own artwork.
The experiences here can be awesome and HTC has amazing hardware. Unfortunately, the challenges are also all too real.