HTC has just announced the HTC Vive Cosmos Series, an entire lineup of new VR headsets set to utterly change the face of HTC’s VR lineup.
The HTC Vive was, and still is, something special in the VR gaming space. The premium Vive Pro kit is a full room kit costs over $1000 and brings some high-end fidelity to the consumer VR experience. Now, HTC is augmenting this top end of the market with three brand new headsets as part of the Comos range and associated accessories. The HTC Cosmos Platform brings a whole range of features that are included in the HTC lineup for the first time.
Each of the four products in this range comes with interchangeable faceplates. Users can get more out of their VR headset over time. Future upgrades in functionality and performance are as easy as changing the front faceplate. There’s no need to consider an upgrade quite yet, however. Each of the new Cosmos series headsets comes in at a combined resolution of 2880 x 1700 pixels. This is an 88% increase over the original Vive. Setting themselves apart from competitors like the Oculus, the Vive Cosmos all come with a flip-up screen design that makes coming in and out of a new world far easier than fighting your way into another headset.
Vive Cosmos
The center of this lineup is the, already available, Vive Cosmos, a 6 camera system that makes use of the huge leaps in inside out tracking that have allowed the Oculus systems to drive down the cost of VR gaming and even go as far as adding hand tracking. The high def display, alongside a new set of controllers and a relatively inexpensive price point, for HTC, makes this a great replacement for the original Vive.
Cosmos Play
The Cosmos range comes with three new varieties. Starting at the entry-level, the Vive Cosmos Play brings VR to a more affordable consumer market, previously out of reach for HTC. While the Daydream and even Oculus Rift S have been busily driving down the price of VR on PC, this is HTC’s first real entry-level headset. It features 4 cameras to provide inside out tracking and is perfect for titles like Viveport Video, Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs, The Curious Tale of the Stolen Pets, and A Fisherman’s Tale.
Cosmos XR
The Cosmos XR takes the VR world that gamers might already be familiar with and expands those horizons. A stand-alone edition and faceplate for the Cosmos range, this version of the Cosmos includes high-quality XR passthrough cameras, bringing the real world into the Vive. The near-complete passthrough field of view utilizes the majority of the VR display (up to 100 degrees FOV) meaning that there isn’t anything that you won’t be able to blow away.
Cosmos Elite
A distinct step up from the Cosmos Play, the Elite pairs external tracking tech that HTC has been tied to with the flexibility of inside out systems. The combination of existing base station tech, Steam tracking support, and the ability to upgrade the faceplate from the Vive Cosmos makes this possibly the most enticing consumer headset on the market. It pretty much has everything.
There’s a ton of detail about the new range. You’ll be able to find out more about the Vive Cosmos series on the official website for now. Orders for the HTC Vive Cosmos Elite open on 24 December but you can grab the Cosmos right now for $699 and upgrade the faceplate later if you want a higher fidelity experience.
