Virtual Game Nut

A new world of experiences will open to early Windows Mixed Reality adopters next week, when a SteamVR preview comes to the Microsoft-powered headsets on November 15.

Windows Mixed Reality headsets just launched alongside the Windows 10 Creators Update on October 17, and the Mixed Reality apps in the Windows Store currently number in the dozens. SteamVR—which appeared in Steam when the HTC Vive launched in early 2016—offers more than 2,000 VR apps. Most are games but SteamVR also holds some interesting non-gaming software, such as Google’s superb Tilt Brush.

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For those who want to get into virtual reality but lack the hardware, HTC is offering a nice deal on the Vive VR system and a graphics card. Right now for $800 at Vive.com, you can get the HTC Vive base system, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 graphics card, and a pre-order of Fallout 4 VR.

Overall this is a great deal. The Vive is normally $600; at today’s prices, the 1070 goes for about $400; and Fallout 4 VR is currently $60. All told, HTC’s deal gives you a discount around $260. Not bad for a beginner’s dip into the world of virtual reality.

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The fierce competition between the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift heated up even more on October 17, when Microsoft and its partners launched Windows Mixed Reality headsets as part of the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update. Oculus actually struck back just before Microsoft’s VR army marched out, announcing a $100 price drop for the Rift at its Oculus Connect 4 developer conference.

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On October 17 Microsoft released the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update. It adds a ton of new features, but the most important may be Windows Mixed Reality. Timed alongside the Fall Creators Update release is the first slate of Microsoft’s Windows Mixed Reality headsets, sourced from third-party manufacturers like Acer, Lenovo, HP, Dell, and more.

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Going into my hands-on demo with Oculus’ Project Santa Cruz headset, think I forgot how it felt to be surprised by virtual reality. We’re coming up on three years since the last major advance in VR, which I’m going to peg as the first time I tried the HTC Vive’s room-scale experience. Since then we’ve seen a few refinements—Oculus Rift’s built-in headphones and lighter form factor, the remarkably comfortable and intuitive Oculus Touch controllers—but the fundamental tech has stayed pretty similar to the Vive demo I saw in 2015.

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“The sweet spot.” It sounds like that’s going to be VR’s new focus, as we head into Oculus Connect’s fourth annual iteration. And what is that sweet spot, exactly? Not mobile VR, not PC-based VR, but a blend of both. No wires, but the same high-fidelity experience people get from the Oculus Rift.

That’s still probably a ways off, but Oculus took its first steps in that direction at Connect, announcing its new $199 Oculus Go headset, plus giving us our first look of the upcoming “Santa Cruz” prototype with inside-out position tracking.

Let’s dig in.

[ Further reading: HTC Vive vs. Oculus Rift vs. Windows Mixed Reality: What’s the difference? ]

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PC-based virtual reality keeps getting more and more affordable. Earlier this year, picking up the Oculus Rift with its (then) optional Oculus Touch controllers cost a staggering $800. Over the summer, Facebook cut the price to $500, and at Oculus Connect 4 on Wednesday, the free-fall continued. The Oculus Rift + Touch bundle now costs $400—a permanent price drop of 50 percent in a matter of months.

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Google’s Daydream View is only a year old, but it’s already receiving a minor refresh to make one of the best mobile VR headsets even better as Google invests in virtual tourism.

The tweaks on the hardware side are minor, but welcome. Most notably, the new Daydream View includes updated high-performance lenses that promise better visual quality and a wider field of view—though Google didn’t delve into hard numbers. The original model had a ho-hum 90 degree FOV. As far the visuals go, it makes sense for Google to stay vague there, as the Daydream View requires a Daydream VR-enabled smartphone like the new Pixel 2 to act as its brains and screen, and display quality varies from device to device.

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Fallout 4 VR. Doom VR. Skyrim VR. Whether or not they turn out good, it’s safe to say Bethesda’s upcoming slate of VR titles mark virtual reality’s biggest software launch since…well, ever. Three well-regarded and “full-length” games, all ported in full—and exclusive to the HTC Vive, at least on the PC side.

HTC’s taking full advantage of the situation, announcing today that from now until some as-yet-unknown time in the future, all new Vive headset purchases will be bundled with a free copy of Fallout 4 VR. Given that the hardware currently retails for $100 more than the Oculus Rift after this summer’s price cuts, a $60 freebie should help take some of the sting out of the price and help the Vive compete against Oculus Rift and Windows Mixed Reality headsets.

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Intel has decided to halt development on its Project Alloy standalone VR headset, executives said, as a standalone headset proved to be no match for PC-powered VR.

In August 2016, Intel launched Project Alloy in conjunction with Microsoft, as one of the first instances of making the technology behind virtual reality into an open-source platform, sort of like the PC. But Intel decided not to go forward with the project for two reasons, according to Kim Pallister, the director of the Virtual Reality Center of Excellence at Intel: lack of customer interest, and a discovery that a self-contained headset just didn’t offer the performance of a PC that could be plugged into a wall.

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