HTC Vive is an upcoming virtual reality head-mounted display being developed in co-production between HTC and Valve Corporation. It is also part of Valve Corporation's SteamVR project.
Release Details[]
The initial launch is scheduled for early April 2016.
Valve and HTC has stated that the Vive will come packaged with two games: Job Simulator: The 2050 Archives and Fantastic Contraption. Both titles rely on the Vive's hand-tracking and whole-room movement capabilities.
Hardware[]
HTC states that Vive has a refresh rate of 90 Hz, requiring content to be rendered at 90 frames per second. The device uses two screens, one per eye, each having a resolution of 1080x1200. The device uses more than 70 sensors including a MEMS gyroscope, accelerometer and laser position sensors, and is said to operate in a 15 feet by 15 feet (4.5 by 4.5 meters) tracking space if used with the "Lighthouse" base station.
Hardware Requirements[]
Valve developed a free tool, called SteamVR Performance Test, that tests your PC to see if it's capable of using the Vive.
From the Steam store page:
The SteamVR Performance Test measures your system's rendering power using a 2-minute sequence from Valves Aperture Robot Repair VR demo. After collecting the data it determines whether your system is capable of running VR content at 90fps and whether VR content can tune the visual fidelity up to the recommended level. For machines that are not VR Ready the tool can help determine whether capabilities are bound by Graphics Card, CPU, or both.