VR, The future to gaming technology. Stuff that’s only for the most wealthy and technologically advanced could get and used. Though that last statement is a thing of the past. You don’t need to be too wealthy or technologically advanced to get one and use it to your hearts content. It just takes a small amount of know-how with computers and a bit of cash to do it and most of the knowledge needed can be found online in easy to follow tutorials. There are 2 major VR headsets, the HTC Vive and the Oculus Rift. These are some of the best sets you can get out there. Now that you know what your best choices are here are a few differences between the two because, oh man, there are so many differences.

First the HTC Vive. This is a really nice headset that has a very unique way to track movement. It comes with two tower sensors that track your motions around your play area. With the Vive it’s a movement based play as you can set your game boundaries and move all around in that area. This area can be set as big or as small as you want. The Vive takes a little bit to set up as you need to place the sensors up high using either the anchor brackets that come with it or using the clamps or even, if you can’t set up the brackets or use the clamps, get sturdy tripods to put up. The optimal height is about 6 feet in the air for the average man. Each sensor has to be across the room from each other at a diagonal from your play area and should have clear lines of sights of each other and the play area you’re wanting. The Vive can then be set up in two ways. If your play area is too small or you just don’t want to walk around the play area you can chose the stand still set up or if you want to move around in the play area you can chose to set the play area up. The whole set up shouldn’t take more that 40 minutes more or less. Some features of it are the controllers are really great and also you have a chaperone feature that if you get close to the edge of your play area a blue mesh will appear in the game that you are playing telling you that you’re getting close. This unit that comes with the Vive, 2 of its controllers, 2 sensor boxes, and all the cables and adapters you’re going to need will be $600.

Second we have the Oculus Rift. It is also a pretty nice headset and was one of the first headsets in VR to really catch footing. This headset is more meant for the standstill type of gameplay as it does not have the sensors that track your movement. The controllers are arguably better than the Vives controllers but the controler part of the VR scene still is a long way to go. The Oculus head movements are tracked by a gyroscope on the headset. It comes with an integrated pair of headphones to fully immerse you in the experience.

In what I’ve seen in the two headsets I think I would like the Vive better so I would go with that. I’m looking into buying one and you can get it off of amazon or their official website to get it. That is my choice and you are entitled to yours if you think VR is for you. I hope this article has help you in your decision.