Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

10/11/2017 Update: I have now owned my Vive for 1 1/2 years and while I do not play it as nearly as much as I would like to, it is truly an amazing experience and I love showing it to new people. If you are looking for a productivity VR headset for seated experiences, I suggest looking into Samsung's Odyssey or Pimax's 4/8K headset due to the higher pixel density. Few things to note since this time last year: * Price drops! * Way more games! Check out the /vive Reddit for suggestions, but there are some great ones out (check out Raw Data, Arizona Sunshine, Elite Dangerous, Onward, Doom 3 BFG Mod, to start with). * Valve has confirmed 3 original VR-made games; albeit, when and what are a mystery. * Valve has shown off new VR Controllers that are meant to mimic hand-like interaction * VR is growing with Microsoft Mixed Reality launching and general adoption growing. With this, prices have fallen. * There are other headsets on the market, but I am still a proponent for the Vive due to its upgrade-ability and overall approach to no-walled-gardens. * The Deluxe Audio Strap is a wonderful addition and adds comfort and integrated headphones to the Vive. * Outside of the Rift, do also look into Pimax's new headset (can utilize the Vive tracking and the resolution is higher) for gaming. * Fallout 4 VR is only 2 months away * The Rift now has touch controllers, roomscale, and is slightly cheaper; albeit, the walled garden still exists. I find the Rift's controllers to be slightly superior to the Vive's current controllers, but the tracking requires USB 3.0 connections for each camera and can be a bit messy. Full & Original Review Below: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A wonderful VR experience and be sure to buy it directly from HTC's Vive website. Orders now ship within 2-3 days and you get the bundled games included (Tilt Brush/Fantastic Contraption/Job Simulator). BIG NOTE: Fallout 4 (the COMPLETE game) is coming to HTC Vive in 2017 :) Basically, the Vive is a first generation VR headset and while I love it I would only suggest it if you are fine with using a 1st generation headset. No, there aren't problems, but no it is not perfect. Mainly, it's expensive and you need a powerful computer to run it. While there is a large selection of games continually coming out, your options are still quite limited (people are still learning what to create after all). Game development is quite limited to indie developers due to the money AAA studios have to invest. With all this in mind, I love my Vive and I am happy with my purchase and if you would like more details about the Vive, I would checkout their website for explanation videos on Chaperone and what the HTC Vive itself is. In this review, I'm just going to enumerate some points about the Vive and why I prefer it over the Oculus Rift. A short summary of points: - $800 includes everything you need including touch controllers and tracking lighthouses that can be over 15 feet apart and are wireless (no USB hookup like Oculus) - The Vive is currently the only commercial headset supporting room scale VR. - The Vive is currently the only commercial headset offering manufacturer touch controllers. - The Vive is anti-exclusive, is completely open to developers, and functions solely on Steam (opposed to attempting to lock users in on the Oculus Home) - Re-Vive allows the Vive to play Oculus exclusive games. Why not Oculus? - They are attempting to buy exclusives through funding of developers (HTC/Valve is funding developers w/o promise of exclusivity). This matters due to the ecosystem and Oculus's ability to undermine a growing ecosystem. - It is owned by Facebook and its user agreement allows for complete data collection. - Touch controllers will not be arriving until at least November of 2016. - Room scale is being promised with the arrival of said touch controllers, but some individuals are skeptical. - Current gameplay consists of sitting in a chair with an Xbox controller. You will want to walk around in a VR world, it is the first thing you want to do. - The screen is nice; however, their business practices are appalling and is one of the main reasons I refuse to support them. I do not want to support a company who is actively working to undermine VR - a entirely new ecosystem - as a whole in order to lock developers to their platform (timely or not). - Even with the promises roomscale, two camera are needed, both needing a USB port (opposed to Vive's wireless lighthouses) - There is no word on the price of the touch controllers and new camera. $600 does not include anything needing for roomscale or touch. The Oculus itself is not a bad headset by any means (many reviews say the screen actually looks a little crisper), but it currently lacks in the roomscale which I find incredibly important to VR. This importance is hard to communicate and a quote I read yesterday sums it up quite nicely "attempting to explain VR is like attempting to explain architecture by dancing." Pair this with Oculus's attempting at exclusivity and their data collecting and I want to stay far away. NOTE: The claims below are no longer accurate. You are able to set up a separate account, but Oculus continues to ask for a wide variety of parameters (as do many other programs). Also, Oculus Runtime 1.8 requires you to be inter-connected with Facebook. Taken from their update word-for-word: "By opting to connect, you agree: Your Facebook friends will become your Oculus friends. As you add friends on Facebook and your friends connect to Oculus, your friend list here will be automatically updated. Your Facebook name will become your real name on Oculus. Even if your settings currently restrict your real name privacy, your Facebook friends who connect to Oculus will be able to see and search your real name.”