Virtual reality is something that simply has to be experienced to be understood. No amount of commercials or print advertisements will be able to effectively convey the experience of VR to consumers, which is why experiential advertising is going to be a huge key to VR’s success. We have already heard that the Oculus will be demoing the Rift in retail stores but what about the HTC Vive?
Turns out the Vive is getting the rockstar roll out treatment as well – complete with a tour bus.
Announced today, HTC will be taking the Vive on the road over the summer to demo it in locations across the US. Beginning this week in San Diego, CA for Comic Con, the public will get the chance to try the headset which thus far has remained fairly elusive, outside of behind closed doors appearances at the Mobile World Conference, Game Developers Conference, E3 and a small number of public demos and hackathons.
Those in San Diego this week will be able to try the Vive between 10am and 8pm tomorrow through Saturday and 10am to 6pm on Sunday. The demos will be located at 530 Island Ave, the corner of Island Ave. and 6th St.
The bus will feature three stations with latest version of the Vive development kit, complete with wireless controllers. The demo stations will be running the same reel that was shown to press at this year’s GDC. This includes experiences like Tiltbrush, The Gallery and Job Simulator – all of which are among the best experiences in VR at the moment. Each person will get to spend 20 breath taking minutes in the headset, enough to go through a full demo reel.
But it wouldn’t be a tour without more planned stops. Speaking with a representative at HTC we learned of two more planned stops on the Vive’s road trip, Louisville and Seattle. The Vive will appear at the Forecastle Festival in Loisville, KY on July 17 – 19 and will be in Seattle August 2nd – 8th for The International DOTA 2 championships. According to HTC these stops are just the beginning, with more currently being planned. Currently there is no word whether the tour will go international – but we will report back as soon as we know more.
We will be sure to keep you updated with the latest on the HTC Vive’s tour.
[We are currently awaiting photos of the Vive Tour bus – until then enjoy this Deep Dream of the Vive (pictured above)]
