Zalusithix
Member
As a Vive owner... I have to say to anybody that was contemplating getting into PCVR with a Vive but was holding off primarily due to the cost: take advantage of this deal. The differences between the headsets don't amount to nearly enough to justify the Vive over the Rift at this price. The only exceptions to this that I can think of are if you''re physically unable to route the cameras needed for the Rift back to the computer, or wear glasses with wider frames. I don't expect HTC to come close to this price point until maybe later this year when the LG unit hits. You could wait a few weeks to see if HTC responds, but even if they do, I really don't expect it to be proportional.
Some might have reservations to what Oculus is trying to do with the walled garden approach. I understand this, and I agree, but you're not obligated to spend a dime in their store. Just buy everything on Steam and ignore anything that costs money on the Oculus store. You'll be able to carry your Steam VR library forward to whatever brand your next VR headset will be without worry.
Others might have reservations because they don't want to support the company because of how they handled the whole Palmer ordeal, but honestly at this price they won't be getting much in the first place. They're obviously banking more on making the majority of their money on the software side of things, so much like the previous point, just don't spend money in their store. If anything, buying the headset and not giving them any money through the store is actively working against their desires.
If you're paranoid about Facebook datamining you, I'm pretty sure that many of the services Oculus installs and auto-starts can be disabled/manual start - particularly if you plan on using Steam for games.
Concerns about exclusive games are unfounded, as anything on Steam will support the Rift at least on a base level. Most games these days also have settings and tweaks to make using the Touch more natural on top of that. A dev would have to go out of their way to explicitly block usage of the Rift, and you can be rather confident that the community would work to undo that effort. The majority of the PCVR community is against headset based hardware locking regardless of who's doing the blocking.
Mind you, this recommendation is based purely on cost being the major factor. If cost isn't the primary issue holding you back, then you might be better off waiting for the LG unit later this year. That plus Valve's Knuckles controllers should be superior to both existing options in the PCVR space right now. Higher resolution screens, no Fresnel/Hybrid-Fresnel lens artifacts, flip up headset with rigid head mount but still maintaining the front facing camera, lighthouse based tracking (likely second gen lighthouse tracking). Only thing lacking on the prototype was integrated audio, and that could have easily been added by now.
Some might have reservations to what Oculus is trying to do with the walled garden approach. I understand this, and I agree, but you're not obligated to spend a dime in their store. Just buy everything on Steam and ignore anything that costs money on the Oculus store. You'll be able to carry your Steam VR library forward to whatever brand your next VR headset will be without worry.
Others might have reservations because they don't want to support the company because of how they handled the whole Palmer ordeal, but honestly at this price they won't be getting much in the first place. They're obviously banking more on making the majority of their money on the software side of things, so much like the previous point, just don't spend money in their store. If anything, buying the headset and not giving them any money through the store is actively working against their desires.
If you're paranoid about Facebook datamining you, I'm pretty sure that many of the services Oculus installs and auto-starts can be disabled/manual start - particularly if you plan on using Steam for games.
Concerns about exclusive games are unfounded, as anything on Steam will support the Rift at least on a base level. Most games these days also have settings and tweaks to make using the Touch more natural on top of that. A dev would have to go out of their way to explicitly block usage of the Rift, and you can be rather confident that the community would work to undo that effort. The majority of the PCVR community is against headset based hardware locking regardless of who's doing the blocking.
Mind you, this recommendation is based purely on cost being the major factor. If cost isn't the primary issue holding you back, then you might be better off waiting for the LG unit later this year. That plus Valve's Knuckles controllers should be superior to both existing options in the PCVR space right now. Higher resolution screens, no Fresnel/Hybrid-Fresnel lens artifacts, flip up headset with rigid head mount but still maintaining the front facing camera, lighthouse based tracking (likely second gen lighthouse tracking). Only thing lacking on the prototype was integrated audio, and that could have easily been added by now.
