Happy Halloween, Community!

Production Update

Virtuix has exciting news to share: all final, remaining production molds of the Omni are scheduled to be ready for test shots this coming month! Barring any unforeseen hiccups, we plan to ship the first, early units of the Omni in December, and a first batch of 50 “Pathfinder” units in January. While we’d love to produce and ship thousands of Omnis as soon as possible, it’s important that we ramp up our production cautiously to ensure the quality of each unit we ship. We will communicate a complete production schedule soon, so that you will know exactly when to expect your Omni. See below for the latest photos from our manufacturing facility in China:

ATX VR

Once again Virtuix will be attending our local developer meetup at VR Austin, only this time we’re bringing the Omni with us!

Virtuix looks forward to showing the community that the most popular videogame genres are playable in VR without making any compromises to immersion or navigation. Active VR experiences like first-person shooters or exploration games require a locomotion platform to eliminate motion sickness and enable a comfortable, safe, and uncompromised gaming experience without the need for novel navigation schemes. As costs come down, we believe tomorrow’s VR treadmill and HMD will go together like today’s keyboard and mouse.

If you’ll be in the area on the 18^th of November and would like to come along, check on availability here and hit the RSVP button:  http://www.meetup.com/VRAustin/

Visitors to our booth will get to try the Omni (if the queue permits) and receive an ATX VR T-shirt!

TRAVR

Our own VR game universe, ‘TRAVR’ has entered the final stage of development. We are polishing the user experience of our various games, and can’t wait for you to step into the boots of the organisation’s newest agent! Look out for new demo videos of TRAVR in the near future.

Virtuix Team

As we get ready to start shipping the Omni, we’d like to introduce a few members of our team in each update. Hard to believe, but Virtuix has grown to a team of 30 people that are working hard to realize our vision of natural locomotion in VR. And this all started with our Kickstarter campaign and your support!

Nick – Lead Artist (forum name: Kippernicus)

Hi everyone, I’m Nick. As the lead artist at Virtuix, I’m responsible for creating the majority of the visual components for our TRAVR games; modeling, texturing and animating are just a few of the things I do on a day-to-day basis. As we’re starting to wrap up our TRAVR artwork, I’d like to tell you what a pleasure it’s been working on this project for you. Look out for more art details popping up in the next few updates! 

Kelly – Community Manager (forum name: KellCam_Virtuix)

Kelly is the Community Manager at Virtuix. If you’ve e-mailed us, chances are high that you’ve received a reply from him. He joined us this past June, bringing with him a decade of experience running gaming website communities.

Hi all, I’m Kelly. My first VR experience was with the Virtual Boy (I still have it at home), and I’ve been fascinated with VR ever since. The Omni is a dream finally realized and I’m honored to take part in it.

Lorenzo – Marketing and Communications Manager (forum name: ModMan)

Lorenzo, who formerly worked at Machinima, joined the team shortly after backing the Omni on Kickstarter. If you tweet anything @VirtuixOmni, he’ll see it!

Hi guys, I’m Lorenzo. I handle all our tradeshows and social media planning along with Kelly. I’m excited to help bring us a step closer to our VR future. My hardest time was having to take a break while I recovered from my car accident a few months ago. I’m pleased to say that I’ve made a quick recovery and am able to walk unaided again! 

VR Industry Developments

• TGN made a video that shows 5 reasons to be excited for the Virtuix Omni.
• VR firm 8i raised a $13.5MM series A round to develop the human side of virtual reality.
• Emergent VR raised $2.2MM to build a mobile platform for capturing and sharing 360º memories.
• Google’s Cardboard app has crossed 15 million downloads and is now available in more than 100 countries.
• Google Street view now works with Google Cardboard and lets you enter virtual reality.
• GameStop CEO Paul Raines bets on virtual reality and wants GameStop stores to become the destination for VR.
• Mattel has started shipping its VR View-Master for $29.99.

Community, thank you for your continued belief and support, and as always please join us on our Forums if you’d like to discuss this update or anything VR related: http://forum.virtuix.com

Best regards,

Jan and the Virtuix Team