HTC recently sold much of its smartphone division to Google, but retained its VR headset division. With just one major division to focus on, it seems, the company wants to leave no stone unturned to hit success. Now, there are reports that the company is developing one more VR device, dubbed as the HTC Vive Eclipse.
HTC recently registered a trademark in New Zealand for Vive Eclipse, according to LetsGoDigital. Though the trademark does not share much detail to conclude if it is a headset, one part of the application did say that the product is a “head-mounted display for computer simulated reality.” Further, the application says that the product will support “motion tracking sensors” and “handheld computer simulated reality controllers.” From the filing, it is clear that the Vive Eclipse is not an accessory for the other Vive headsets.
Prior to this trademark, it was widely known that HTC was working on a successor to HTC Vive, dubbed as HTC Vive Standalone. The Taiwanese company itself confirmed the development. As the name suggests, the device will run independently of a PC, phone, etc., and will be dependent entirely on its own hardware. However, there were reports that the HTC Vive Standalone will initially be available only in China.
There might be a possibility that the Vive Eclipse is actually the Vive Standalone with a different branding in another market. As of now, not much is known about the Vive Eclipse, but hopefully, we will have more information going forward.
Meanwhile, HTC is working to pitch its products for commercial use in a wide array of fields. At the GITEX Technology Week, the company demoed the same by setting up a room-scale area to pitch VR to businesses. The Taiwanese firm used the same technology that is used in film studios to overlay virtual world over a user’s body.
With such demos, the company aims to detail how VR could be used in the fields of education, travel, healthcare and real estate, notes TechRadar. “The region is accelerating its adoption of digital platforms, and today’s virtual reality technologies are already making radical changes to the way that individuals and businesses can explore their natural world,” said HTC’s President of Middle East Africa, Nikitas Glykas.
Separately, earlier this month, the Taiwanese company launched a Vive virtual reality headset bundle, which includes the upcoming Vive game Fallout 4 VR. The users buying a Vive get a redemption code for the VR version of the game, which will release on Dec. 12. Users who already have a Vive and buy Fallout 4 VR separately, will get free three months access to the gaming service Viveport, notes The Verge. The service usually costs $6.99 a month.
The Fallout 4 VR is one of the major games to come on any VR headset. Further, unlike other big VR games that are only a short spinoff, the Fallout 4 VR is a full adaption of the Fallout 4. In addition, the game is also exclusive to Vive for now. This, along with the fact that HTC dropped the price of the VR headset to $599 this summer, should hopefully be enough to attract users to the VR, something that HTC desperately needs.
