The HTC Vive Cosmos Elite is out today, comes with a code for Half-Life: Alyx

(Image credit: HTC)

HTC has announced that its new VR headset, the HTC Vive Cosmos Elite, will ship with Half-Life: Alyx. The headset, which officially launches worldwide today, boasts improved accuracy thanks to a shift back to using external base stations. The Vive Cosmos Elite employs a pair of 1440 x 1700 LCD panels, comes with two Vive controllers, and costs $899 (£899).

HTC is clearly excited about the renewed interest in VR brought by the release of Half-Life: Alyx—could it be VR's sought-after 'killer app?'. Yves Maître, HTC's CEO says, “With Half-Life: Alyx, we believe Valve is delivering the experience and expertise to move VR gameplay forward.” 

Alyx is our first foray into the Half-Life universe since Episode 2. It's a VR-exclusive prequel set in City 17. You can find loads of footage and more information in our Everything you need to know about Half-Life: Alyx roundup.

Anyone that buys or has already pre-ordered the HTC Vive Cosmos Elite will receive a redemption code in-box that will unlock the game when it launches on March 23. Vive's latest headset has arrived at a good time. There's currently an eight-week wait for anyone who wants to buy Valve's premium Index VR headset.

Alan Dexter

Alan has been writing about PC tech since before 3D graphics cards existed, and still vividly recalls having to fight with MS-DOS just to get games to load. He fondly remembers the killer combo of a Matrox Millenium and 3dfx Voodoo, and seeing Lara Croft in 3D for the first time. He's very glad hardware has advanced as much as it has though, and is particularly happy when putting the latest M.2 NVMe SSDs, AMD processors, and laptops through their paces. He has a long-lasting Magic: The Gathering obsession but limits this to MTG Arena these days.