Wii Sports, eat your heart out and move over.
One of the biggest challenges to a true virtual reality game is creating a machine or something that allows you to walk or run in the game. As in, you are walking or running in real time/'reality, and it translates into movement in the game. The major stumbling block to this is either dedicating an entire room to this and then restricting the game environment to that room or using a treadmill (which means you can move in only one direction). However, we now have this:
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Kickstarter campaign for the Omni has already met and far exceeded its funding goal, and units should cost $400-500 when they go into production. The Omni is basically a shallow bowl with a frame that goes around your waist that keeps you upright and in place, and you wear special low-traction shoes to walk and run in the bowl. Obviously, you still need a controller of some kind to perform other actions such as attacking, but you can now get a full cardio workout as you explore game environments. Eventually the "gamers are out of shape couch potatoes" stereotype will be a thing of the past.
I find this very exciting. Apparently there's only a PC model right now, but it's inevitable that a console version will appear.
