HTC has announced support for the 5Ghz WiFi streaming for the Vive Focus Plus, along with all 6DoF headsets from Vive now supporting the Vive Wave platform. This is going to operate much like the Oculus Link, letting the Vive Focus Plus now play Viveport games and apps with the assistance of the cable. This option is now available for all Viveport Infinity subscribers, just one more great reason to go download and sign up today.
The option is being released in beta today, allowing select content from the Viveport Infinity library to be downloaded and played on the Vive Focus Plus.
As for getting up and running with this new beta, you will need much more than a Viveport Infinity subscription. Users that are trying to access this new feature will need to have a Vive Focus Plus, or any other Vive Wave headset with 6DoF, which excludes the standard Vive Focus. You will also need a VR-ready PC and any standard WiFi 5Ghz router.
The Vive Focus Plus isn’t the most popular Vive headset, but there is still a number of users that have this headset that are going to be taking advantage of this new free feature. The Vive Focus Plus is an enterprise-focused headset, and it is priced like one. Coming in at $800, this headset is only available in select countries. It also is important to note that the Vive Focus Plus was released in China as a consumer-focused headset, which explains why the promotion videos that have been released so far are all in Chinese.
There are over 300 game sad experiences on Viveport M, the mobile version of Viveport. That is the only thing standalone headset users had until today, and now with this new beta that is being released, the number has skyrocketed to over 2,000 titles. Although not all of them will be perfectly optimized for the less powerful headsets, they will still be playable and entertaining for all VR users.
HTC Vive China President Alvin Wang Graylin announced the big news from Twitter this morning. He made sure to remind everyone that there is “no need for special wires or cables,” a likely small jab at Oculus. Oculus is looking to sell their “special wires” for over $60 when it becomes available early next year.
We haven’t had a chance to get our hands on the new capabilities from Vive just yet, but we will be releasing a guide to get up and running with this new beta system once we have it all figured out. We assume it will be very similar to the Oculus Link, which allows the Oculus Quest to run PC-powered game through a powerful USB-C cable. With that being said, the Vive Focus Plus is twice the price of the Oculus Quest, making the two hard to compare in both quality and users being satisfied. The Focus Plus is going to appeal to many in China, but not much more elsewhere. It will be interesting which company picks up more traction with their mobile to PC solutions. For more VR news and community updates, make sure to check back at VRGear.com.
