HTC Vive pre order date confirmed

This is the year of virtual reality and by summer 2016, there will be two major headsets on the market.

First will be the Oculus Rift, launching in late March, closely followed by the HTC Vive. The HTC unit has seen some major developments in recent weeks, with a revamped developers model called the Vive Pre debuting at CES in Las Vegas.

Now the company has confirmed that the new headset will be available to pre-order from the 29th of February 2016. That's good news as it suggests no delays to the proposed April release , but we still don't have a solid date when the device will hit the streets.

HTC is also keeping the pricing under wraps for the moment, and that's likely partly down to the negative reaction to the cost of Oculus Rift as revealed last week. That unit started at $599 and was translated to €699 for those living in Europe. It's a high number, especially when you consider that the vast majority of users will also need a major upgrade to their PC hardware in order to live up to the demands of virtual reality.

HTC's system is arguably even more extensive than Rift's with a couple of base stations which map out a safe area which you can move around in and still be tracked in 3D space. With that in mind, the unit cost could be even higher than the Rift, and HTC as well as partners Valve will want to work on a way of breaking that to consumers.

Stay tuned to the official site for more info.