The reason for the HTC Vive delay was a "very, very big" tech breakthrough

HTC's Vive VR headset, being developed in collaboration with Valve, was supposed to be available to the public, in limited quantities, by the end of this year. Unfortunately, HTC put the brakes on that plan a couple weeks ago, saying it won't be released commercially—that is, to people other than developers—until April 2016. But there's apparently a good reason for the delay.

"We shouldn't make our users swap their systems later just so we could meet the December shipping date," Wang said.

Unfortunately, she didn't reveal anything about the exact (or even vague) nature of breakthrough—which presumably isn't Smell-O-Vision 2.0—but on the upside we won't have to wait until April to find out: The new technology will be unveiled at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show, which runs from January 6-9 in Las Vegas.

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Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.