A couple of weeks ago at the start of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles, California, 3DRudder, the company behind the virtual reality (VR) controller of the same name announced support for the Samsung Gear VR head-mounted display (HMD). Today the company has issued an apology rescinding the previous statement.
It now turns out that due to the micro USB port being different on the consumer Gear VR to the developers Innovator Edition model, the 3DRudder won’t work. The difference is to do with data, the consumer version port only supplies power to the attached mobile device, while the Innovator Edition allows both power and data.
The 3DRudder team said: “The 3DRudder feet-based VR motion controller doesn’t yet support the consumer edition of the Samsung Gear VR, contrary to what we wrote on June 14th. We just discovered the 3DRudder could not work with the consumer edition of the Samsung Gear VR.
“The reason is the Gear VR micro USB port is only for powering the attached mobile phone, not for data transmission. We had tested the 3DRudder compatibility with innovator edition units.
“Anyone owning one of those units, developers mostly, should be able to use the 3DRudder to move in games and apps. Everybody else will need to wait for the release of the wireless version of the 3DRudder. The innovator edition has a flat touch pad on the right side contrary to the one of the consumer edition that has a “plus”-shaped form.”
So Gear VR users will have to wait, but the 3DRudder VR Edition controller still supports the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive (HMDs), and can be purchased through the 3DRudder shop for €179.00 EUR / $179.00 USD, excluding any delivery fees that may apply.
VRFocus will continue its coverage of 3DRudder, reporting back with any further announcements.
