Cybershoes announced today that their latest wireless model, compatible with Oculus Quest and Quest 2 headsets, will be available for US customers to purchase on Amazon at a price of $349. The world’s first shoes for walking and running in virtual reality, Cybershoes translate natural foot movement into in-game VR locomotion and this weekend you’ll be able to see some of this in action with a VIP tournament featuring Cybershoes, Contractors, and some of the most prominent VR YouTube personalities.
Most anyone who’s familiar with VR gaming recognizes that it’s much more physically engaging than traditional gaming. Depending on what you’re playing, the experience can equate to a brisk walk or even an active tennis workout. This is even with much of the physicality involving the upper body.
When playing games with Cybershoes, players actively engage the feet and legs so that they’re essentially walking or running in motion-intensive VR games that previously required them to achieve movement with the joystick or other buttons on their controllers. If you think this sounds simple, it isn’t. I’ve used Cybershoes a couple of times at expo events and they definitely provide an excellent leg workout.
Oculus Quest Titles
A number of new Oculus Quest games are integrating Cybershoes as a locomotion option and with the availability of the latest wireless model on Amazon, I’m sure we’ll see more games integrate Cybershoes to increase fun and fitness possibilities for their titles.
Starting today, gamers can utilize full Cybershoes integration in one of my favorite VR games, In Death: Unchained from Superbright. Now you can walk stealthily through the castle areas or run through Purgatory with your own two feet taking you along the journey in that roguelite action bow-and-arrow shooter.
Cybershoes are also integrated with The Wizards – Dark Times, a VR spellcaster game that has received overwhelmingly positive reviews on Steam since its June 2020 release date from Carbon Studio. Cybershoes give players freedom to use their hands for the gesture-based spell-casting system while walking around the plague-ridden realm of Meloria. You can see an example of this as Soul Fox Gaming attempts a speedrun of The Wizards – Dark Times.
Gamers will have the ability to enjoy Cybershoes with other Oculus Quest titles soon, including including the roguelite dungeon crawler Ancient Dungeon when it launches into Early Access later this year. There are also some Quest ports of classic shooters that will go live via SideQuest in the next few weeks. One mod is QuestZDoom, which brings classic Doom games into VR. Cybershoes will also be integrated with RTCWQuest, a VR mod of the classic Return to Castle Wolfenstein, one of the SideQuest games most recommended to me (but I haven’t had a chance to play yet!).
There will be other Oculus Quest titles compatible with Cybershoes so stay tuned to VR Fitness Insider for related news and reviews.
VIP Tournament
You can witness the power of in-game locomotion during the VIP Tournament this weekend that will feature prominent VR personalities playing Caveman Studio’s Contractors while using their Cybershoes. A competitive military-style multiplayer shooter, Contractors is an excellent choice to feature the power of Cybershoes because players will have the ability to focus on gameplay and targeting enemies as they move around the battlefield.
“We’ve teamed up VR Master League and Caveman Studio to put on something awesome: a Contractors tournament with Cybershoes on the feet of each competitor!” said Cybershoes’ CMO Igor Mitric. “I game in VR a lot and when I have my Cybershoes on and I’m running through a match of Contractors, I can almost feel the dirt under my feet. This esports tournament is the type of thing that keeps me excited about this industry – VR content creators battling it out, VRML shoutcasting it, for everyone to join in and see. It’s going to be great and we hope you’ll tune in!”
For me, Contractors is one of my preferred VR FPS games and the three teams have some of my favorite VR people as well. It should be fun to see which of them can make the best use of their Cybershoes while simultaneously showing skill on the battlefield. I look forward to seeing if my predicted winner will prevail.
Teams
Squad 1 – Team Yellow
- Proper D – captain
- ObakeTV
- Shugghead Gaming
Squad 2 – Team Blue
- Gamertag VR – captain
- Rhys Da King
- Oculus
Squad 3 – Team Red
- Soul Fox Gaming – captain
- VR Central
- VRGamerDude
When & Where to Watch
The Cybershoes/Contractors VIP Tournament will be live streamed on Between Realities YouTube channel. Hosted by Skeeva and AlexVR, Between Realities is a virtual reality podcast presented from the philosophical gamer’s perspective.
Players will also stream on their YouTube channels, which are linked to player names above.
Viewers can join chat during the event for a chance to win their own Cybershoes and TheNightFiree of VR Master League will cast the VIP Tournament. It’s sure to be a fun event for participants and viewers alike!
Bracket, Rules, and Prizes
During the tournament, special controller binding will be used because movement with the joystick is not allowed. Of course players will be required to walk or run with their Cybershoes!
Awards will be given for Best Team ($600) and Best Runners ($400). Run distance will be measured before and after the tournament.
Connect with the Community
When you actively engage with others, you’re more likely to have a positive experience and this is true of VR communities as well. As always, we encourage you to follow the competitors on YouTube, subscribe to social media pages, and join Discord or Facebook groups for the games and experiences featured on VR Fitness Insider.
Cybershoes
Contractors VR game
Contractors VR Master League
