EGX 2015, Thursday morning, 11:30am.

We met up with team over at HTC, who are looking after their inclusion into the virtual reality market, HTC Vive. Virtual reality is not a new technology, as companies have been trying to bring it to market as far back as 1968 with the Ultimate Display. Fast forward 47 years to 2015, and there are currently three big contenders trying to take the VR crown.

The HTC Vive is a head mounted display which is being co-developed by Valve, as part of a deal of it being designed for SteamVR. This will enable the device to quickly attach itself onto their massive PC game library with few complications.

At the event, the demo was taken in a booth on the show floor, which inside was an empty room complete with black walls and a couple of motion tracking cameras in the top corners. One of the first things we noticed was how small the SteamVR base stations are, and that there were only two of them. Our first thoughts were that it was pretty impressive if it can track accurately as you walk around the room. The HTC team started their preparation for the demo, which involved syncing the strange wand like controllers which come with the SteamVR by placing them in the centre of the room.

After this, it was time to get the headset on. Putting it on, the first thing that was noticeable was the weight. As a developer kit, you can forgive it for not worrying too much about the design, and over weight of the device as long as it worked. The design is a mix of the standard fair of VR headset coupled with many holes over the front. This houses the gyrosensor, accelerometer, and laser position sensors that are all used to track your head movements as accurately as possible. HTC made us aware that it is able to track movements of 1/10th of a degree, and as numbers go that sounds pretty impressive. The Vive is also able to connect any headset into the main body of the device, allowing you to use whatever one you wish for the audio. With the Vive and headset online, on it was time to enter the virtual world.

Initially, you are booted up into a white endless room that seems to go on forever. Even this was an impressive first start for the Vive, as the clarity of the imagery was fantastic. The  clear and crisp visuals did not make it feel like you are staring at a computer screen, which is often just a couple inches away from your face. Coupled with the great visuals was the minute tracking detail, ensuring every slight movement was replecated into the VR space. The next step was grabbing the controllers, and being able to see some form of appendage in the world. After this, it was time to get walking.

Walking in a virtual environment is a strange one to begin with, as your hands are floating VR sticks and your legs are no where to be seen. The HTC Vive does well at trying to make this as easy to use as possible, which is helped by the high frame rate of 90FPS and what seemed to be perfect real world movement while walking around the room. My first mission was to find a console in the middle of the room, and from there the controller basics were explained along with Vive’s chaperone system. Without it, walking in the real world while being in the virtual one does produce some risk of smashing your face against the wall. The chaperone system allows you to tell the Vive how big the space is, and it provides a blue wall mesh as a guide when you get too close to a wall. For immersion, the grid only comes up when you are close. This is good call as it would be off-putting to see it in the distance of any games or worlds you are playing, providing you with a reminder of “Hey, remember you’re in VR”.

Next up were the demos with the first being the Blu by WEVR Labs. This sees you step below the surface of the ocean on a broken ship. Walking around, you are able to bat fish out of the way, and just explore the surroundings. Visually, the demo was amazing and even if you watch the video above you can get a sense of what it is like to stare directly into the eye of a giant whale that comes to see if you are friend or food.

Next up was a painting demo, which was called Tilt Brush. This was a fantastic use of VR in my opinion. Being able to draw in a 3D space which you can walk around was fascinating. Even better when you are able to add snow, fire, stars and many more animated effects to your virtual canvas. I could easily see myself losing hours just messing around painting, drawing the stars and planets combined with the option to change your environment. These can vary from day and night, to being out in space. For the commercial release of Tilt Brush, I hope they add many more environments and effects you can use. Imagine being able to draw your own log cabin in the mountains, or a lush green field. Holodeck here we come.

Tilt Brush was the most creative way to show of the HTC Vive and buckets of fun.

After this, I played a little mini game which reminded me of a mobile game where you have to land planes in an airport. The basic aim was to click on a plane/helicopter and setting its path down to the airport landing zones. This was a fun experience, and something that kids would enjoy. It certainly beats playing it from a 2D top down view from your mobile phone, but at the same time does not really push the boundaries of VR gaming. The only problem I had with the demo of the HTC Vive was the cabling. As a developer kit, it requires a lot of pretty heavy cables which do place a noticable weight down on your head. It also become a trip hazard, more so when you can not see your feet and are wandering around the test environment. A short fix for this until they figure out how to tidy up the cables could be to include the cabling in their chaperone system. This will help you to see where not to step, at a small sacrifice of breaking your immersion.

By far the most impressive demo of the HTC Vive was the Portal VR demo. Not only is it visually amazing being able to capture the Aperture Science labs perfectly, it is a Portal fan’s dream to be a part of the universe in such a different way than ever before. You are tasked as a human worker as a test subject, and have to complete a series of tasks from the familiar computerised voice. The controls are used in great ways, having to open draws and look, or not look, at certain areas. All of this happens while being wrapped up in the Portal humour that many gamers have grown to love. Further down the line, you are tasked to repair a robot, and after one thing leads to another a familiar face comes to chat to you. It ultimately decides that you are expendable, and it was a ridiculous idea to begin with to use humans, decommissioning the test and recycling the parts elsewhere.

There were many other demos that are available to play. Another Valve specific one called the Secret Shop, which is DOTA 2 themed, along with a few others I noticed such as Google and First Contraption. Time was a valuble resource at EGX 2015 for the HTC Vive, and as every room was packed with bookings, we were unable to try everything that was on offer.

Overall, the HTC Vive really stole the show. It is an impressive step up in the VR space, and a threat to PlayStation VR which we also demoed at EGX and Oculus because of its partnership with Valve using SteamVR technology. The base stations are top notch, being able to track your movement smoothly. There were a couple of sync issues with the controllers and the base stations, which shows it still has a few bugs to work out, as well as the problem with the cabling. This is a significant  hazard in a technology that promotes being able to walk around. Being able to use the whole kit in your living room or bedroom is what is going to sell the idea to most gamers, so the chaperone system can be tuned to match the size of your room. This feature is a must have, and HTC confirmed that it works in a space as small as the size of a yoga mat, so there is no need for an empty giant house in order to use it.

If you get a chance to play the HTC Vive, I would recommend it 100%. It is definitely worth the wait if there is a queue, because at the moment nothing matches the experience you will get with it. In terms of VR and the quality of the demos it offers, the HTC Vive is a stronger contender in the race to achieve Virtual Reality.