HTC’s Viveport VR app Platform goes live

HTC’s Viveport VR app Platform goes live

 

We already knew that the HTC Vive would have it’s own dedicated app store last year, but we have never been able to see it in any depth, but thankfully a Developer that is currently using the headset has given us a sneak peak at HTC’s Viveport app on Reddit, giving us a nice look at the applications settings and store pages, though sadly no apps are on show yet. 

what we can see is the app library page and the settings page, which shows us how to set install logations for VR applications and a few other basic settings, though it is expected that the app will evolve up until the HTC Vive’s release date in April 2016. 

 

  

Right now we know that HTC has teamed up with Valve to make the Vive Headset, which would mean that Steam could indeed act as a storefront for the Vive’s PC gaming content, though it is good to see another dedicated place to find non-gaming VR apps and other VR oriented programs. 

Given the popularity of Samsung’s Gear VR headset HTC may choose to make their own Mobile phone headset which could potentially use the same storefront, though it would oviously be overshadowed by the Vive headset when it comes to gaming. 

  

    

 

The HTC Vive has been delayed until April 2016 due to a recent “big technological breakthrough” by HTC and Vive. The companies will be skipping the Original Vive and ship the new and improved version in April, providing end users with a better experience and not punishing early adopters of VR.    

 

         We shouldn’t make our users swap their systems later just so we could meet the December    shipping date.

 

This announcement came at the same time that new images have leaked, showing what is presumably the newest iteration of the HTC Vive headset and their VR motion controllers, showing a more streamlined design for the VR headset. 

 

 

Right now we do not know what HTC’s “very,very big technological breakthrough” is for their VR headset, but we do know that it will be revealed at CES 2016 next month. 

It seems that HTC and Valve didn’t want to launch their VR platform with a unit which they already seen as obsolete, a unit which would undoubtedly be replaced by this new and improved version sooner than many users would expect. The delay in the HTC Vive’s release will allow the company to launch with what they say is a superior product, which hopefully will help with the adoption of the headset and give developers a little more time to release and polish some VR ready games.  

 

Why would I buy a handicapped product? You won’t like it.

    

Hopefully HTC will be revealing their recent technological breakthrough sooner rather than later, but holding off the release so that their product can be improved will undoubtedly result in the HTC Vive delivering a better gaming or VR experience for users at launch. 

One thing that many potential VR users have been questioning for a while now is if any VR headsets will be implementing a form of FreeSync or G-Sync, but right now Valve/HTC’s technological breakthrough is unlikely to be anything to do with Variable refresh rate displays. 

 

You can join the discussion on the HTC Viveport VR App for PC on the OC3D Forums.