HTC had some exciting announcements for its PC VR line at CES 2019, but what about standalone? Vive Focus definitely wasn’t the focus (sorry) of this year’s show. Regardless, some cool new 6DOF controllers are currently being sent out to developers. Three new videos give us a closer look at them.
VR developer SkarredGhost recently got his hands on a pair of the Vive Focus 6DOF controllers. He’s since posted a bunch of videos on his blog that give us our best look yet at the kit.
The first video takes you over the basics of the kit. There’s an up-close look at each controller’s trackpad and tracking ring. Interestingly, the developer also shows the face plate you’ll need to fix to the front of the Focus in order to track the controllers.
Next up is a look at how to connect the face plate to the Focus. As the developer points out, the plate actually plugs into Focus’ lone USB-C slot, though it provides a new one in its place. Initially snapping the kit on looks pretty simple but, if you want to, you can put some screws in to make the upgrade a little more permanent.
Finally we have what you’re really looking for; a video of the controllers in-action. This short clip shows them at work in the Focus menu. They seem to have pretty solid tracking. We were pretty impressed when we went hands-on with them, though we haven’t had the chance to truly push their limits yet.
Focus released in the west late last year as an enterprise-level headset. It’s not clear if HTC will ever position it as a consumer device too. Something tells us it’s got its consumer hopes pinned on the new Vive Cosmos right now.
As for the controllers, we’re not sure when they’ll be readily available beyond developers.
