Vive Report

First off, we cannot believe this is the second year that we’re running the Viveys. We are honored and thankful for all of your support. What started as a fun project for my wife  and me has continued on surpassing even our initial expectations. What can we say? We just love the community and love VR. We’re still nightly players, still checking r/vive every morning. It’s been a great 1.5 years of the HTC Vive; now let’s look at the Best of HTC Vive 2017.

We stuck with the same voting process as last year. We created 12 categories, 3 of which are the main awards, via PollDaddy. We selected 3 titles randomly based off popularity for clickable votes and included an “Other” option and encouraged everyone to write in ANY of their favorite titles for 2017. Voting was left open for most of December 2017. As always, we thank you, the community, for contributing and voting. Without you, this would not be possible!

The 3 main categories are:

Best HTC Vive Game 2017

Best HTC Vive Experience 2017

Best HTC Vive Application 2017

The 9 sub-categories are:

Best HTC Vive Arcade Game 2017

Best HTC Vive FPS Game 2017

Best HTC Vive Multiplayer 2017

Best HTC Vive Sport Game 2017

Best HTC Vive Puzzle/RTS Game 2017

Best HTC Vive Social Experience 2017

Best HTC Vive Free Experience 2017

Best HTC Vive Accessory 2017

Best HTC Vive Youtuber 2017

Now, without further ado, the winners of the Vivey Awards 2017!

Starting off the fun with the 3 main categories, let’s get to the main event:

Best HTC Vive Game 2017

This was probably the most talked about, hyped, awaited VR release of 2017, and the votes backed that up. Even with a bit of trouble and some issues at launch, this title is still hugely popular and has given the VR community, finally, a full game to pour hundreds of hours into. Obviously, it’s a port of a flat game so it has its downsides and may not be as fully interactive as built-for-VR games, but still it’s awesome that this actually was made and we can all experience post-apocalypse Boston (where we’re based!) in VR. Best HTC Vive Game 2017: Fallout 4 VR

Fallout 4, the legendary post-apocalyptic adventure from Bethesda Game Studios and winner of more than 200 ‘Best Of’ awards, including the DICE and BAFTA Game of the Year, comes in its entirety to VR.

Fallout 4 VR available on Steam at $59.99.

Best HTC Vive Experience 2017

For our Experience category, it’s fairly open, but there was a very clear winner this year. I think we all enjoyed getting our own little virtual place to decorate and hang out in, maybe do some geocaching, plus play with all the cool Steam objects unlocked by certain games. I know I had a great time playing around with my Mr. Meeseeks in it. Best HTC Vive Experience 2017: Steam Home VR

Check out Steam Home VR now, you can enable it in your VR settings while Steam VR is on.

Best HTC Vive Application 2017

This title released with a huge splash. We were lucky enough to get access while it was still a closed beta, where there was a long line of people hoping/waiting for early access. Luckily, this came out (for free, mind you) in October and gave everyone a chance to create/direct/voice/act in their own videos. Best HTC Vive Application 2017: Mindshow

Mindshow lets you make animated movies in VR with your body and voice! Become 3D cartoon characters, act out a show, and share it with your friends!

Download Mindshow now on Steam for free and jump into the action!

 

Best HTC Vive Arcade Game 2017

For our 2nd annual Vivey Awards, we have our first back-to-back winner, this title won last year’s Vivey Awards as an early access title for Best HTC Vive Arcade Game. Now that it’s released as a full version in 2017, the full version absolutely destroyed this category, as I am sure most everyone would agree it certainly deserves the back-to-back win. Best HTC Vive Arcade Game 2017: Space Pirate Trainer

Space Pirate Trainer is the official trainer for wannabe space pirates on the HTC Vive. Pick up your blasters, put on your sneakers, and dance your way into the Space Pirate Trainer hall of fame.

Space Pirate Trainer is available on Steam at $14.99.

 

Best HTC Vive FPS Game 2017

I will admit, I was somewhat surprised to see this game taking home this award, not because I didn’t enjoy it, just because there is such great competition for this category. Also, this was a conversion, actually just an update to the base flat game, accessed by switching to the beta update channel in Steam preferences. But it’s clear, being able to play with flat gamers, and getting to live out all your heist/bank robbery scenarios, has won the crowd over. Best HTC Vive FPS Game 2017: Payday 2

PAYDAY 2 is an action-packed, four-player co-op shooter that once again lets gamers don the masks of the original PAYDAY crew – Dallas, Hoxton, Wolf and Chains – as they descend on Washington DC for an epic crime spree.

Get Payday 2 on Steam at $19.99

Best HTC Vive Multiplayer 2017

This is where I expected to see this title win, and it did, but it also won the previous category. Obviously, this title has pleased the VR masses for it to be voted as winner in both the best FPS and Best Multiplayer, though it’s hard to argue as unlike all the built-for-VR multiplayer games, this title already had a huge player base, and awesomely allows for cross play between VR and flat players, as long as they are on the beta channel. Best HTC Vive Multiplayer 2017: PayDay 2

PAYDAY 2 is an action-packed, four-player co-op shooter that once again lets gamers don the masks of the original PAYDAY crew – Dallas, Hoxton, Wolf and Chains – as they descend on Washington DC for an epic crime spree.

Get Payday 2 on Steam at $19.99

Best HTC Vive Sport Game 2017

I am very glad to see a title that is one of my daily dips, part of my nightly routine, take home an award. It’s easily one of the most polished, AAA-feeling, superbly executed active e-sports type VR games in existence. So much so that I’m not ashamed to brag about my #2 leader board place for a few of the sets in the solo mode. Best HTC Vive Sport Game 2017: Racket NX

Racket: Nx is an Arcade Space Sport. It’s a high paced, psychedelic, and competitive AF. Some say it’s like playing racquetball inside a giant pinball machine, with classic arcade game rules and styling. Not us, though. We don’t like fun.

Racket NX, $19.99 on Steam.

Best HTC Vive Puzzle/RTS Game 2017

We got a bit of feedback about combining these categories.While we realize these are mostly 2 very different categories, in VR they somewhat start to blend together when it comes to actually playing them. As there wasn’t a whole lot of (noteworthy) options for either genre on its own, and we didn’t want to add yet another category, we simply merged them. Although, for 2018 we will properly split them, thanks to your feedback (plus hopefully we’ll have more choices by then as well). This was another runaway winner, and I was pleased to see it win as it brought my wife a great deal of playtime, and finally let her experience one of the most popular puzzle games ever, VR or not. Best HTC Vive Puzzle/RTS Game 2017: Talos Principle VR

The Talos Principle VR is a virtual reality version of Croteam’s critically acclaimed first-person puzzle game in the tradition of philosophical science fiction.

Talos Principle VR on Steam available for $39.99.

Best HTC Vive Social Experience 2017

This is, essentially another back-to-back winner as the base title won a Vivey last year. Being one of the premier, most popular and free social VR experiences out there, this title gets a lot of attention. When they announced a new game mode that would put 4 players together on a quest together (think LOTR, or Stranger Things), where everyone has to work together to win, we saw a huge positive reaction from the community. Winning this year’s Best HTC Vive Social Experience 2017: RecRoom Quest

Welcome to Rec Room, the virtual reality social club where you play active games with players from all around the world. Hang out in the locker room, customize your appearance, then party up with friends new and old to play games like Paintball, Dodgeball, 3D Charades, Disc Golf and much more!

Get Rec Room for free on Steam.

Best HTC Vive Free Experience 2017

Taking home its second win of the 2017 Viveys, Best HTC Vive Free Experience 2017: SteamVR Home

 

Best HTC Vive Accessory 2017

This winner has had a somewhat mixed reception, mostly in terms of pricing. But I can easily say it has improved my daily VR usage tremendously, and I would have a hard time going back to that grungy elastic strap. Plus, the adjustable headphones are pretty awesome quality. The biggest plus is the comfort level added by far, in my opinion. Best HTC Vive Accessory 2017: HTC Vive Deluxe Audio Strap

VIVE Deluxe Audio Strap makes your virtual reality experience even better with integrated audio, comfort padding and an easy-to-use size adjustment dial.

Check it out at the HTC Vive official page.

Best HTC Vive Youtuber 2017

We include this category as the Youtubers do a great deal of work for both the community, and VR as a whole. Think of how many people have been exposed to what it’s truly like to play a VR game, thanks to the efforts of all the wonderful people generating content for their VR Youtube channels. Plus, they help give a clear picture of what to expect from a title, if you’re on the fence about making a purchase. This Youtuber in particular is so dedicated to VR, that for the Pimax Kickstarter, he bought plane tickets to fly to a convention just to try it, so he could share his findings with everyone else who was dying to try one for themselves. Best HTC Vive Youtuber 2017: SweViver

Enjoy SweViver’s videos on his Youtube channel.

And with that, we wrap up another year of amazing VR experiences and another year with a fantastic, helpful and welcoming community. Thank you to everyone who has contributed and has been involved over the last year, helping newly-anointed VR strangers on r/vive, or giving tips, favorite game lists, workarounds for bugs–the list goes on and on. You all help the devs, the players, yourselves and even the industry by being active and being a positive voice behind this awesome technology. Just think how many times we have new VR owners that post their praise and excitement to finally have VR and then find r/vive and are just blown away by all the helpful folks, all eager to share their input and help anyone who needs it.

Let’s just give everyone a giant round of applause, a pat on the back and a “hip, hip, hoorah” for all their time and efforts over the last year, for both the VR gamers, and all the VR devs. Great work, everybody! We are honored to play a role in this wonderful community.

Now let’s hurry up and get that Vive Pro out ASAP so we can all enjoy a little bump in resolution & comfort (can’t wait!) for 2018. We wish you all a healthy, happy, VR-centric 2018!

-dgtlhrt & shurl