Are We There Yet?

With VR inching ever closer to commercial audiences, the development community has already created a wealth of experiences that make use of the head-mounted technology. Though most of the big players have yet to bring a final product to market, the fervor of improving the experience soldiers on.

As evidenced at Toronto’s Virtual and Augment Reality showcase, which I recently covered, many developers are also seeking to vault past the blurry line between virtual and real by augmenting the visual stimuli with a host of peripherals and controllers. Harnessing more of a player’s movements should heighten the overall feeling of immersion.

The SprintR by Exis Interactive (which company has credits that include Bioshock Infinite™, Xcom™, and World of Tanks™) seeks to add more convincing sense of movement to the sensory smorgasbord. While movement with a controller allows the player to move in the way she’s facing, it also requires that the player turn her head to keep moving. By incorporating a footpad, SprintR provides a full range of movement and rotation without requiring the player to first crane her neck about.

Boots On The Ground

The pad sits under one foot, and can be used to move, walk, and run in any direction. It also requires a lot less physical activity than treadmill-type peripherals, meaning you don’t have to be in marathon runner shape to enjoy your favorite FPS for hours on end. Exis also claims that the added layer of body-based control helps to diminish the motion sickness that many VR guinea pigs report experiencing.

While no release date has been disclosed, we’ll provide updates as they become available. Keep reading IGR for all things VR.

Get more information on SprintR at Exis’ official homepage