HTC’s $799 Vive Pro is now available for preorder

HTC today announced its $799 Vive Pro headset is available for preorder with shipping set to begin April 5th. If the most expensive consumer VR headset to date doesn’t tempt you, the company is also dropping the current Vive headset by $100 to $499. With games like Skyrim and Ark Park set to release on the platform soon it’s a good time to get in on the VR craze.

The Vive Pro was revealed earlier this year at CES with a laundry list of upgraded features:

Two OLED screens at 2880×1600 resolution give the Pro a 78 percent increase over the current model

Two cameras give the headset rudimentary depth-sensing and hand/boundary tracking capabilities

Over-the-ear headphones with a built-in amplifier provide vastly upgraded audio fidelity and immersion

Support for a wireless module, though not available at launch, which will allow for untethered use

Better support straps and a more comfortable fit

TNW’s own Bryan Clark tested the headset out at CES, saying “bumping the resolution in its two OLED screens from 2160×1200 to 2880×1600 was indeed noticeable, but calling it a game-changer might be a stretch.”

The cost of entry is relatively high for the Vive Pro: for $799 you’re getting the headset, five months access to Viveport (HTC’s subscription-based version of a VR homespace), and a free copy of Fallout VR.

What you’re not getting is HTC Vive controllers or tracking stations, which you’ll need for most VR experiences. Clearly this device is being marketed for people who are already invested in HTC’s platform and simply want the absolute best experience available.

Daniel O’Brien, Vive US GM, said:

In other VR-related news the much-anticipated Magic Leap headset may be inching closer to a launch date. There’s still very little information available but the company today announced it’d entered into a partnership with Epic Games to provide support for developers to create experiences using the Unreal Engine 4.

According to an Epic Games blog post Unreal Engine 4 support for Magic Leap One includes the following features:

Head tracking

Eye tracking

Gesture and hand tracking

Room scanning and meshing

Spatialized audio

Microphone input

6DOF hand controller (Totem) tracking

Vulkan and OpenGL support

Use of Unreal Engine 4s desktop and mobile forward rendering paths

Epic Games’ CEO Tim Sweeney is seemingly excited for the device’s future, saying:

Still no word on exactly when we can expect the Magic Leap headset to ship, but early indications show that it’s expected to be priced about the same as a premium smartphone.

It’s a fantastic time to be a VR early-adopter and the future’s only getting brighter (or, in the case of the HTC Vive Pro, higher resolution).

The Next Web’s 2018 conference is just a few months away, and it’ll be