On our tour of the HTC Lounge at CES: 2018, we were taken to a booth to play DOOM VFR, the famous action-packed VR first-person shooter. We played for 10 to 15 minutes shooting and fighting bad guys with the HTC Vive Pro and Vive Wireless Adaptor, plus Vive tracking controllers. Experiencing how the three Vive products worked together as a unit and in the freedom of room scale blew us away.
Expansive Game Play
First off, the wireless adaptor worked amazingly with the Vive Pro headset and Vive tracking controllers! There wasn’t any latency or drop in refresh rate which is important to consider while playing a quality and fast-paced VR game like DOOM.
I was concerned that the Vive Pro might make the display a little hotter, but there was no noticeable temperature increase, which made playtime way more fun. Playing for what felt like a good chunk of time, ended up only being around 10 to 15 minutes. The expansive range of motion and large scale (up to 32 feet) really boosted my heart rate. Because of the wireless adaptor, DOOM transformed into an unrestricted fighting workout.
Not having a wire attached to the back of the head was very freeing. We could move around and not worry about tripping over a cable or having neck strain from being pulled backward like older models. We wanted to know more about how the wireless adaptor worked but because it’s still in development, they couldn’t tell us the exact battery life but they did tell us it is very easy to swap out batteries.
Wireless VR Improves Fitness, Sports, and Training
The future release of the new HTC Vive Wireless Adaptor is not only going to turn the older generation Vives into wireless headsets, the nature of its unrestricted design is going to turn those headsets and the new Vive Pro into fitness machines.
The old worries of tripping over wires or feeling overheated in VR are now being removed, which will hopefully motivate reluctant consumers to buy these headsets and use VR as a fitness outlet. HTC’s anticipated release of their new headset and wireless adaptor really makes us excited to see how many other VR games will be transformed into cardio, strength training, and gamified exercise.
Vive and Vive Pro headsets that are hooked up to the wireless adaptor is going to be a huge advancement for athletic training and sports. Having these VR headsets around will make it easier for coaches and trainers to keep a VR headset in office without having to deal with wires; because they’re not there to deal with wires, they’re there for training.
The future release of the HTC Vive Pro and Wireless Adaptor offers VR owners and the businesses, arcades, and virtual gyms more flexibility to roam and really immerse themselves in virtual worlds and gaming experiences. When you feel the freedom of tetherless headsets you’ll never want to go back to wires.
