I tried a VR backpack PC for the HTC Vive and it was pretty cool

VR backpacks are officially a thing. 

HP, MSI and Zotac all announced VR backpacks, which are basically just battery-powered gaming laptops, with shoulder straps this year. And at IFA 2016, I finally got to try one for myself from XMG.

The difference with the German computer maker's "Walker VR Backpack" is that it's the first one that's actually shipping this year. Everyone else's VR backpacks are still concepts with no concrete pricing or launch dates.

The first thing I noticed before putting the Walker on was how dorky it looked. As if wearing the HTC Vive and holding two wand-like controllers in my hands wasn't silly looking, wearing a VR backpack, which at best is still a mess of dangling wires, makes you look like a "geeky version of RoboCop" according to my colleague, Stan Schroeder. Read more...