HTC Vive Cosmos Elite is out and comes with Half-Life: Alyx for free
HTC’s Vive Cosmos Elite is out today, with the VR headset launching globally and coming with a copy of the imminent and much-anticipated Half-Life: Alyx (including for those who already pre-ordered).
Obviously you won’t get a physical copy of the game bundled, as Half-Life: Alyx hasn’t yet been released, so what you’ll receive is a code in the box to unlock Valve’s shooter when it’s launched on March 23.
Note that this is ‘while supplies last’ and the unlock code will not be provided in the following countries: China, Thailand, Japan, Vietnam, India, Malaysia, Singapore and Ukraine.
The Cosmos Elite benefits from a new faceplate that allows for improved, more accurate room-scale tracking, and more precise hand-tracking should be a definite boon when it comes to playing Alyx.
The headset also comes bundled with a pair of SteamVR base stations, and two Vive controllers. It offers a 3.4-inch 2,880 x 1,700 resolution LCD display boasting a 90Hz refresh rate.
The Vive Cosmos Elite bundle with Half-Life: Alyx is available today as we mentioned at the outset, and comes with a recommended price of $899 (around AU$1,520) or £899.
On your (virtual) marks…
In other Half-Life: Alyx news, while we already know that the VR shooter is out on March 23, Valve has given us the precise time of release, which is handy for those who are keener than mustard to experience their first taste of Half-Life (in virtual reality) for ages.
The exact availability times are as follows:
- US Pacific Daylight Time: March 23, 10am
- US Eastern Daylight Time: March 23, 1pm
- UK GMT: March 23, 5pm
- Australian Eastern Daylight Time: March 24, 4am
As also highlighted by PC Gamer, if you want to pre-load the game before that release time, it’ll be possible to download it from Friday, March 20 (or Saturday, March 21 in Australia).
Half-Life: Alyx is designed to support a whole raft of VR hardware, and not just the more sophisticated efforts like Valve Index or the Vive Cosmos Elite, but the likes of Windows Mixed Reality headsets and indeed the Oculus Quest (connected to a PC via the Oculus Link cable).