Videogaming is generally seen as a fairly sedentary experience, sat on a sofa or chair with a controller in hand. Virtual reality (VR) currently isn’t much different with head-mounted displays like Gear VR also requiring a bluetooth gamepad for some of the experiences available. But that won’t always be the case, the HTC Vive has its room scale motion tracking system, Oculus Rift has the Oculus Touch controllers in development and there are third party companies making omni-directional treadmills to further immerse players in VR. VirZOOM is one company looking to add another twist by creating a VR bike controller, and today sees its pre-orders launch on its website.
VirZOOM wants to add to the excitement of VR experiences by allowing users to pedal their way though videogames. Whether riding a horse or driving a race car, the forward momentum is provided by you, giving a workout without too much work. For the first 300 units there’s an early bird discount, pricing the controller at $199.95 USD, after that units will retail for $249.95 USD. The price includes controller, five games and a free one month subscription to VirZOOM Plus.
VirZOOM Plus includes online multiplayer functionality, data tracking for fitness: heart rate monitoring, calories, distance and updated and additional gameplay for current games and new games. After the first month VirZOOM Plus starts at $9.99/month, with volume pricing available.
VirZOOM has been to a number of events over the last year, and will be heading to more in 2016, including Virtual Reality Los Angeles (VRLA) Winter Expo in January. The controller has been designed to support the latest head-mounted displays (HMDs) such as Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and PlayStation VR.
VirZOOM Inc. was co-founded by Eric Janszen and Eric Malafeew in early 2015, Malafeew was head tech engineer for Harmonix for 15 years previously.
VRFocus will continue to follow the latest update from VirZOOM Inc., reporting back with any further announcements.
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