"Omni" Treadmill Lets You Burn Calories While Gaming

[kailus13]

This is excellent, even if it does look a little stupid.
You would also need some room in your living room, which I'm not sure I have.

 

[The Floating Nose]

Holy Crap ! This is awesome ! I always walk but i would gladly use it as some kind of "super immersive gaming device" I mean, i would only play it when there's nobody inside the house and i think i would have the feeling of not playing Skyrim but BEING IN Skyrim. I would just like to see an option where if you walk, you character walk but if you run (jogging) your character walk. It seems that on the video the guy just walks but the character runs but STILL, it's an awesome prototype so far.

 

[Innegativeion]

Whenever I had thought to myself why VR games in the future might look like(when I was a kid, before I was aware of how well machine-brain interface and signals can replicate external stimuli) , I'd always envisioned something exactly like this-an omni directional treadmill. And now we have one.

And as soon as it

supports can contract and extend for crouching and jumping, add a VR helmet, some motion controls, and a not unsubstantial list of supported games,

I'd totally buy one.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

I can't be the only one who's immediate thought is to use this with the Oculus Rift

It looks like that's what he's doing -- or if not that specific headset, another one. If you look closely, he's wearing some sort of VR headset.

OT: So it looks like someone has made a 90's style VR setup with modern equipment. I always wondered why that stuff never took off, outside of costs. I know they were expensive, but you'd think the kind of places that have lasertag and mini golf would buy them, if no-one else would.

 

[lacktheknack]

ORRRRR you could do what I do and just play Skyrim with your controller while you are on your treadmill in the basement. Might explain why I couldn't hit the broadside of a barn with my bow and arrow.

But, it has helped me lose nearly 30 lbs so far, because I can only game while on the treadmill!

Excellent idea, much cheaper. Good for you, by the way.

There needs to be a blacksmith emulator or something to work muscle strength though.

It's called "do pushups non-stop until you're done with the menus". You move the stick and press buttons with your nose.

Oh, my poor arms...

 

[Zombie_Moogle]

I can't be the only one who's immediate thought is to use this with the Oculus Rift

It looks like that's what he's doing -- or if not that specific headset, another one. If you look closely, he's wearing some sort of VR headset.

OT: So it looks like someone has made a 90's style VR setup with modern equipment. I always wondered why that stuff never took off, outside of costs. I know they were expensive, but you'd think the kind of places that have lasertag and mini golf would buy them, if no-one else would.

You inadvertently answered your own question by referring to it as "90's style"
Companies started to market the concept in the late 80's early 90's, and people were into the idea, but the technology just hadn't quite caught up to our ambition. We got the Virtual Boy, which was a start (not a great one, at that), but that was all we could really accomplish on a commercial scale. Even if you had an arcade or somewhere else that high costs would be worth it, the best we had for a while was that Beachhead game.
It wasn't just cost, so much as hardware capabilities

 

[Strazdas]

Sitting on the couch, or in front of your computer, for hours on end playing Skyrim and wolfing down cheetos is bad for your health. This is something that we, as gamers, have simply had to accept.

no, i refuse to accept that we need to eat cheetos for any reason whatsoever. you know, some gamers actually are physically active, stop being stuck in the fat nerd stereotype.

i already use treadmill watching movies so this is pointless.

 

[Ace Morologist]

That looks like a great space-saving basic treadmill (which it should totally be marketed as), but a terrible video gaming accessory. It also looks like those wheel-y deals you stick a baby in to teach him how to walk.