HTC Vive costs 689 in the UK and you can pre-order it from today

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HTC Vive's US price was confirmed last week at $799 but now we've got a tag for this side of the Atlantic. The UK price point for Steams's consumer version of its VR headset is £689. There's no avoiding the fact that it's a considerable chunk of cash but this does include the full kit for body tracking and Vive's great controllers as well as the headset.

If your itching to buy, pre-orders start today at 3pm GMT for a full release on April 5. HTC has also added another game to the bundled launch titles. Google's Tilt Brush now joins Job Simulator: The 2050 Archives, and Fantastic Contraption in the line up.

What I've played of Tilt Brush proved that it's basically a version of Microsoft Paint from the future. Using the controllers you can draw anything you can imagine in a 360 degree space and then walk around it. It's incredibly intuitive, with all of your options and tools easily accessed on the haptic scroll wheel on one of the controllers. Of course I attempted to draw a full size Batman. I'd like to think if I'd had more than a few minutes, it could have been the Dark Knight that a VR Gotham deserved.

Competition wise, the £499 Oculus Rift starts shipping in March for those who were fast off the pre-order marks. The shipping date if you pre-order now guarantees you a headset in July. You can see how I felt about each of this year's headset shaped offerings, including PlayStation VR, in our virtual reality headset comparison.

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Louise Blain
Louise Blain

Louise Blain is a journalist and broadcaster specialising in gaming, technology, and entertainment. She is the presenter of BBC Radio 3’s monthly Sound of Gaming show and has a weekly consumer tech slot on BBC Radio Scotland. She can also be found on BBC Radio 4, BBC Five Live, Netflix UK's YouTube Channel, and on The Evolution of Horror podcast. As well as her work on GamesRadar, Louise writes for NME, T3, and TechRadar. When she’s not working, you can probably find her watching horror movies or playing an Assassin’s Creed game and getting distracted by Photo Mode.