Oculus founder visits HTC Vive booth at Tokyo Game Show

Luckey, founder of California-based virtual reality technology firm Oculus VR, visited the booth of Taiwan-based HTC Corp. (???) at the Tokyo Game Show on Friday to experience the HTC Vive, the HTC's first VR headset.

The presence of Luckey at the special VR pavilion at the Tokyo Game Show came under the spotlight as Oculus VR and HTC compete head-to-head in the global VR market. Google Inc.-invested Oculus unveiled the Rift VR headset in 2012.

Wearing the HTC Vive, the Oculus founder played the new game "Linked-door Loves Space Channel 5" developed by Japanese telecom operator KDDI. The KDDI software is the first game in the world that allows several players to experience the game simultaneously.

KDDI is one of HTC's strategic VR development partners, and their partnership underscores HTC's ambitions to boost its product's visibility in the Japan VR market and on the global stage.

The Vive is one of HTC's gambits to diversify away from its core smartphone market, which is saturated and intensely competitive, in the hope of generating a new revenue stream to turn around its money-losing business.

Jointly developed by HTC and U.S. video game supplier Valve, the HTC Vive was unveiled at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) show in March 2015.

The headset is equipped with tracked controllers that allow wearers to inspect objects from every angle and interact with their surroundings.

HTC has taken its Vive headset for the first time to the Tokyo Game Show, which kicked off on Thursday and will run through Sunday.

The product is being displayed in a special pavilion set up by the trade show to showcase VR gadgets from international brands, part of the show's broader initiative to feature emerging technologies such as VR development and artificial intelligence for the first time.

Working with its Japanese partners, HTC is displaying almost 20 kinds of content at the exhibition. "Front Defense" and "Hop Step Sing" were also among the games available at the HTC booth in addition to the KDDI software, and visitors to the VR zone can play those games using the HTC Vive.

Also at the Tokyo Game Show, Taiwanese PC vendor Micro-Star International (??) is introducing its VR One, described by the company as the world's lightest VR backpack PC. The VR One will support the HTC Vive.

HTC said its booth at the Tokyo Game Show is expected to attract about 100,000 visitors during the four-day exhibition.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel