Virtual reality headsets including Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and Samsung's Gear VR have already hit the market, while Sony's PlayStation VR is on the way. VR-ready PCs have also been rolled out but the industry has kept the tech tethered. Hewlett Packard (HP) and Micro-Star International (MSI) have teamed up to develop new VR gaming PCs that strap the rig to the owner's body like a backpack.
HP has already launched several new Omen gaming rigs. Meanwhile, the VR PC backpack is still in early stages of development by the multi-national companies.
The Omen X PC Pack will reportedly weigh less than 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms), which is about the same weight of VR-ready gaming laptops. It will also provide one hour of battery life, according to Tech Crunch.
In addition, the VR PC will include a pair of fans to remove heat. A waist belt that is worn includes a pair of batteries to separately juice up the CPU and graphics card.
The PC backpack was introduced after the announcement of the MSI Backpack PC. It includes an Intel Core i7 processor and up to 32GB of memory, and graphics card.
There are a few big questions about the backpack PC. They include the price as the unit will function somewhat like a gaming console since consumers will buy the computer for VR games.
Another issue is how portable the PC system would be.
HP has plans to start testing demo units in around a month. Meanwhile, the MSI backpack will be showcased at the Computex computer expo in Taipei this year.
However, it will likely be a long time until the backpack PCs are launched. They are part of the niche market of VR, and no price points have been announced. Furthermore, VR gaming would be more convenient but the PCs would not increase how far the wearers can travel due to the headset's tracking limits.
In related news, HTC is developing the first VR game for its Vive VR headset. It will be a military shooter titled "Front Defense" and unveiled at Computex next week, according to Engadget.
Here's a PC performance test for VR experiences: