Valve has started handing out early versions of its Vive virtual reality headset to a first wave of testers, consisting of ”a wide range of developers from major movie studios, triple A developers, to small indie teams working on their first title.”
Included in the Developer Edition kit sent out is a headset, two Lighthouse base stations, two wireless Steam VR controllers, plus all the assembled paraphernalia one needs to get the VR set up and running.
It’s a similar move to what Oculus did last year with the Development Kit version of the Oculus Rift, but rather than selling copies, Valve are giving them out for free to selected testers. The application page is here, but it’s specifically designed for developers as opposed to interested members of the public - you’ll need to have a verified company, plus a rundown of the project that you’ll be using the Vive on.
”We will continue to ship to additional developers through the spring and summer,” says Valve. When the consumer version of the Vive launches later this year, it will be among the more expensive of the first wave of widely available virtual reality headsets, according to Valve’s partner HTC.
