VirZoom: New Gamification Startup Gets Physical!

VirZoom Combines Virtual Reality and Fitness Technology

Gamification is about to get… “Physical, physical!”

 Ok, it may not be getting Olivia Newton-John physical, but one gamification startup will help you get sweaty enough to keep that New Year’s resolution and shed a few pounds by scoring points in the world of Virtual Reality (VR), that is the Virtual Reality world of Fitness.

VirZoom, a tech startup out of Cambridge, Massachusetts, has combined new VR headset technology with the old-fashioned tech of a stationary bike to created a unique gaming platform that requires you to provide the pedaling power necessary to conquer it’s three games… Pegasus, Stampede! and Go Fast Car.

Correspondent Ethan Gilsdorf recently noted in the Boston Globe that, “Ideally, the VR technology, complete with auditory and visual feedback, will fool the unsuspecting couch potato,” so that according to VirZoom’s CTO Eric Malafeew, ”the bike melts away.” And hopefully, the pounds melt away too.

VirZoom’s headset is being developed to work with Oculus Rift, PlayStation VR, and HTC Vive VR making it easy to work with either your personal computer or Sony PlayStation 4. Simply plug-in your dongle, launch the app, climb onboard the VirZoom foldable bike and pedal away through it’s animated worlds. Your physical fitness will be challenged by multiple levels which run three to 15 minutes long and can be played as a solo workout or in a more competitive, multiplayer mode.

This new trend of VR Fitness could be poised to finally conquer the monotony of treadmills, as well as providing the gaming incentive needed to keep those New Year’s resolutions.

Credit image: Wikipedia