A garage in Sydney suburb Paddington is currently developing the future of limitless gaming- the world’s first gaming system based on the user’s strength and resistance.
Combining a virtual reality headset and hand-held controllers featuring body tracking sensors, The Realm System turns physical gaming into a battle of force and power.
The Realm’s founders this week launched a Kickstarter campaign in hopes of raising $160,000 to help fund the project, offering curious gamers an $US199 Oculus Rift-compatible developer kit with six self-created games, including Boxing, Tennis, Wood Chop and Zombie Sushi(!).
By adding resistance into the motion sensor gaming equation, co-founder Matt Long believes Realm can make physical gaming “more immersive than just waving your arms”.
“Everything you do in the real world has a level of resistance to it, whether that’s picking up a cup of tea or swinging a bat or throwing a ball,” Long told News Corp.
“What this can do is measure a person’s three-dimensional force, all your angularity of movement, and your energy expenditure in real time. We think this is an evolutionary step in gaming.”
The element of combing fitness and battling the rising tide of child obesity into the project was a key part of the Realm’s development.
“Our vision for the technology is to improve the health and fitness of children while having fun playing screen-based games,” Long told Forbes.
“I still want my kids running about playing outside as well, but we need to acknowledge the fact that screen-based games are here to stay and if there’s a way to add a fitness benefit to that screen time then that’s got to be a good thing.”
Originally developed at Teeside University in the UK, the Realm System will be fully compatible with Oculus Rift, a 2014 $2 billion Facebook acquisition.
Visit the official website for more information on The Realm System.
Photo: Kickstarter.
