Drats!
Swap out your mechanical keyboard for a crappy membrane plank before reading any further. It's just a precaution, should you decide to Hulk-smash your keyboard in frustration at what we're about to tell you.
Remember the Vive VR system being developed by Valve and HTC we told you about earlier this year? It's the one that impressed our own Jimmy Thang, who had a chance to demo early versions on two separate occasions (lucky dog!) and called it "the best VR experience I’ve ever had. And this is coming from a guy who has tried nearly all of the VR headsets out there, including Oculus VR’s newest Crescent Bay prototype. This is the closest thing to a modern-day holodeck we have at the moment."
High praise, and rather than take his word for it, you were supposed to be able to buy one in time for the holiday shopping season. That will still be true for some of you, though by and large, most early VR adopters will have to wait until 2016 to experience the Vive. That's because Valve revealed HTC will only make available a "limited quantity" of Vive VR headsets for its 2015 launch.
"Later this year, HTC will offer the first commercial Vive units via a limited quantity of community and developer systems, with larger quantities shipping in calendar Q1 2016," Valve said at PAX Prime, according to GamesIndustry.biz.
We know, it's a first world problem and all that jazz. It's also disappointing because we've seen first hand how awesome and promising the Vive VR is. While Valve didn't say exactly how limited the initial launch will be, it appears the focus has now shifted to next year.
That's also a bummer for Valve and HTC, as the delay negates the head start it would have had over the first consumer version of Oculus Rift, which is also supposed to ship in the first quarter of next year.
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