They had better watch out, zombies. Armed with HTC's new Vive Focus Vision reality headset, 20 Minutes flushed out their lair and went to clean up in the middle of Paris. Mission accomplished? Better than that, equipped with a specially adapted assault rifle, we destroyed them all! To have fun.
5K vision and 120° FOV
They had found refuge not far from the Georges Pompidou center, in an EVA (Esports Virtual Arenas) arcade room improvised for the presentation of the new Vive Focus Vision headset, HTC's new “weapon” for gamers, particularly suitable for hunting. to zombies.
Hybrid headset for autonomous use, but also PC VR headset for seasoned gamers, the Vive Focus Vision has many advantages to strengthen the arsenal of zombie hunters. But not only that. In standalone mode, this headset with 5K overall resolution and a FOV (Fields of View) – i.e. a field of vision – of 120° (which avoids unwanted head movements) – no longer needs the base stations to operate. spot. So, no more sensors to place in the room where you want to have fun and no more monopolized power outlets for a perfect mesh of your playing field.
The helmet is also equipped with a camera pass-through in color for mixed reality (that which combines images broadcast on its screens and real transparent images). In PC VR mode, therefore connected wired to a PC, the Vive Focus Vision finally connects via DisplayPort. This socket, without compression (unlike USB-C), allows you to maintain total visual fidelity to the content viewed, with a comfortable refresh rate (90 Hz currently, 120 Hz promised using a upgrade to come) and an absence of latency. Technically, we may simply be surprised that the Vive Focus Vision adopted Qualcomm's XR2 processor, which may seem a little dated for a headset with so many pretensions…
Shooting accuracy and hemoglobin
Still, in survival mode, our descent into this filthy bunker in the game Arizona Sunshine 2 (Vertigo Games) turned into total immersion in the Halloween atmosphere. Helmet on the head, automated vision adjustment (based on the distance between our eyes), we are immediately ready to eradicate the zombies that appear from all sides. The two headset controllers are for the occasion housed in a weapon of war specially developed by EVA for its arcade rooms. This assault rifle, particularly simple but realistic to use, allows you to point and shoot with fairly fine shooting precision in an environment of approximately 10 x 10 meters.
For their part, the four cameras of tracking of the helmet seem extremely precise in locating us on our hunting ground. Visual comfort, with 2,248 x 2,248 pixels in each eye, never fails, with heightened realism in the point-blank shooting scenes, when a gigantic zombie seems to want to make short work of the improvised soldier lacking energy. training that we are. Blood spurts. The sound broadcast in the helmet's dual-transducer speakers adds its dose of truth to the vision, cutting us off from the ambient noise of the room where we are operating. And… it’s a massacre!
Okay, let's face it. We died several times during this commando operation, sorry, this gaming experience. But beyond the helmet's removable battery with autonomy of up to 2 hours, it is not very complicated to give yourself a new life to go back on a mission!
A fire hose with haptic feedback
Finished playing. Successor to the Vive Focus 3, HTC's Vive Focus Vision also has its eye on the professional world, that of corporate training. Once our zombies were decimated, we were able to test the new helmet with FLAIM Trainer, an Australian simulator developed for firefighter training. Our rifle stored in its rack, this time we grabbed a perfect replica of a fire hose full of sensors and dedicated to the exercise.
Larger than life, the device has haptic feedback based on the power of the virtual water projected according to 120 possible disaster scenarios. You must aim, adapt the length and intensity of the water jet on the hearth and pull on the lance more or less strongly depending on the power of the spray. Impressive ! Especially since for the training to be perfect, the simulator is doubled as a replica to the nearest gram of the oxygen bottle that the firefighters carry on their shoulders during intervention, but also with a jacket whose temperature increases as the we're getting closer to the fire! The potential seems enormous.
There remains one price: 1,199 euros. A fairly high price for the Vive Focus Vision which will undoubtedly “pass” into the professional world, but which risks slowing down the enthusiasm of individuals, even if they hardcore gamers.
