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HTC unveils wireless, 6DoF VR headset

Vive Focus expected to be first all-in-one option to feature six degrees of freedom head tracking, will debut in China

The VR hardware market continues to evolve. According to an Engadget report, the company used the Vive Developer Conference in Beijing to announce its new Vive Focus headset, which combines the wireless benefits of cell phone-based headsets like the Oculus Gear VR with the built-in screens and six degrees of freedom (6DoF) head tracking similar to tethered home units like the HTC Vive.

"In the past, standalones have always kind of represented a mediocre balance, where you don't have much content and you can only do rotational, and it's not that much different than Cardboard except now you have one individual machine," HTC Vive China President Alvin Wang Graylin told the site. "Now you can essentially do most of the things that you could do on a high-end machine on a standalone."

Other manufacturers have announced wireless headsets with 6DOF tracking (Oculus' Santa Cruz project being one notable example), but HTC expects Vive will hit the market first. However, the company has also only announced the Focus for the Chinese market so far, and it hasn't said when the headset will launch in China or how much it will cost.

Graylin also declined to provide an update on the Google Daydream-powered headset Vive had announced earlier this year, saying only that HTC was focused on Focus for the rest of 2017.

The Vive Focus will come with a controller that only supports 3DoF tracking, but the hardware will support accessories that can add 6DoF functionality, such as like Leap Motion.

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Brendan Sinclair

Managing Editor

Brendan joined GamesIndustry.biz in 2012. Based in Toronto, Ontario, he was previously senior news editor at GameSpot in the US.