VR Treadmill Virtuix Omni to Ship to Consumers September
Customers who pre-purchased the Virtuix Omni will receive the unit in September.
After dazzling gamers nationwide for the last year, Virtuix has finally revealed the ship date for the Omni VR treadmill: this September. The cost is surprisingly cheap, a fair $499 USD, which is also the price of a new Xbox One console. Unfortunately, the Omni pricetag doesn't include the hefty shipping costs, the VR headset, and the PC game controller.
What this package does include is the shoes, the belt, and the tracking hardware and software. Customers can actually snag two Virtuix Omni and three pairs of shoes for a meaty $1,019, and an optional Omni Rack for $79, which can hold a keyboard and mouse, controllers and the Oculus Rift control box.
MORE: Feet-on with the Virtuix Omni: Full Oculus Rift Immersion
For the uninitiated, the Virtuix Omni isn't an actual moving treadmill, but instead provides a grooved, concave, low-friction surface to walk on. Special shoes that ship with the contraption have pegs on the soles that can slide into the grooves. The learning curve may take a while because you're walking slightly uphill on a stationary platform.
However, once mastered, you'll learn that this form factor is better because you can move forward in any direction. We tested the Omni treadmill during E3 2013, which also used the Oculus Rift, a Kinect sensor to track our movements, and Valve Software's Half-Life 2. Walk forward, and you walk forward in the game. Stop and turn around, and the game does the same. Pure immersive awesomeness.
"Walk, run, jump, crouch; the Omni will keep you on your feet and in motion. It's a healthier way to game — working out has never been this much fun. Our software even tracks your distance traveled and calories burned along the way," reads the Kickstarter page.
The Virtuix Omni started out as a Kickstarter project. The company scored $1,109,351 from 3,249 backers, surpassing the original $150,000 goal. Those who made pledges will receive their Virtuix Omni this summer around July. Pre-purchase customers, as previously stated, won't see theirs until September.
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Does this mean we may see the Oculus Rift in September too?
Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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r1Master If I could play something like Battlefield in a good enough quality with something like this, I would definitely buy one. To me exercise is boring, this would help... YAY.Reply -
Bondfc11 oh gawd now you will look even more like a complete retard while gaming. Count me in on the lil bus with this!Reply -
warezme Oh gawd! I saw one of these at Dell World. It is really pretty big for $499. I can imagine walking all over Skyrim on one of these, talk about a work out, getting chased by wolves. When you walk to Solitude from Riften you would be WALKING from Solitude to Riften. I would get one if I had the room.Reply -
wag09 They need to sell these at Sports Authority, not Game Stop. There is a whole new market out there with this kind of product.Reply -
gm0n3y I would want to try this out before buying it. The concept is awesome, but I can imagine it feeling very awkward. I'm definitely interested though. Can you actually run/job on it? What about crouching? Is it durable enough to withstand hours of running? Most treadmills cost far more than this.Reply -
IQ11110002 I'm tired already from watching this, Can't wait to play all you lot in multiplayer that use this. Think I may have the advantage after just 1 hour of gaming and the rest of the night will be a breeze after you have collapsed. lolReply -
Zepid I want this for DayZ Standalone. Walking simulators like that would be quite the workout.Reply