Taiwanese electronics company HTC unveiled the HTC Vive Pre at the Consumer Electronics Show 2016 and the virtual reality headset is currently available to interested developers.
The HTC Vive Pre will serve as a transitory model that will link the original Vive virtual reality headset and the final consumer model, which is expected to hit the market sometime in April. The Pre is a second-generation development kit whose main focus is the development and creation of fully immersive virtual reality contents.
According to The Verge, the Vive Pre was not meant to be released in the first place since the original plan for the consumer grade HTC Vive was to release it before the end of 2015. However, due to unforeseen development problems, HTC and Valve decided to postpone the release date with the promise of adding "a very, very big technological breakthrough."
HTC finally unveiled at 2016 CES that the "big technology breakthrough" is the addition of a front-facing camera that gives Vive users a sort of window of the real world. Experts believe that the addition is indeed a major breakthrough for current virtual reality headsets.
HTC demoed some virtual reality content that are currently available for the Vive. These programs include "Job Simulator" which is a physics-based game, 3D painting app "Tilt Brush," and undersea environment "TheBluVR."
The Vive is probably one of the most powerful and exciting virtual reality headset to hit the market. However, unlike other virtual reality companies, Valve and HTC do not focus on advertising the games that are compatible on the device.
A handful of content creators and developers have announced their support for the Valve SteamVR, which will also power the Vive. However, unlike other virtual reality devices, the Vive has no launch promotions, preorder specials and major title announcement.
Some experts believe that the Vive might focus on non-gaming applications like virtual showrooms or virtual simulations aimed to help professionals like doctors and engineers.
The Vive Pre will serve the temporary role of filling the empty gap while the community waits for the official release of Vive in April. According to GizMag, HTC and Valve promised that they will release 7,000 units of the Vive Pre and will be released first to content developers who already have previously released development kits.