HTC Vive Fun and Games

I thought I'd spare you any pictures of me in shorts with headset stuck on my face....

The reason for my new hairy new PC is that I ended up getting an HTC Vive VR system. We finally got it working today. The delay has been technical, but it has also been spacial, in that it has taken me this long to clear an area large enough to use the system. And there is now a huge pile of stuff in the corner that I need to find somewhere to put... 

Anyhoo, the system worked wonderfully. The Vive comes with a couple of "lighthouses" that spray infra-red positioning signals all over the room. The headset and the controllers detect these signals and use them to place themselves very accurately in 3D space. What with it being our house and all, I was able to actually screw the lighthouses to the walls and furniture, and they work really well. There's going to be a bit of fine tuning required, and I have managed to try to put my hand through a window sill once so far, but the experience is proper and it is real. 

Next step is to play a few games, get a feel for the system and then pull down some of the software development kits for the platform and have a go at making stuff. And the developments with Windows Holographic are very interesting too.