A new peripheral for PlayStation 4 is now available to pre-order. The PlayStation VR 3dRudder works alongside a PSVR and enables players to use their feet as a means of movement. The “foot motion controller” will be supported by more than 25 PSVR games, such as Ultrawings VR, Bow to Blood, and Blind.
The PlayStation VR 3dRudder can now be pre-ordered for a starting price of $119 (£119). The foot controller is an officially licensed PlayStation product and is created by a company of the same name as the product, 3dRudder. The product provides a circular base for you to place your feet. The rounded bottom of the foot controller enables you to tilt the device and, in turn, it will translate your movement to character movement on-screen. The 3dRudder is intuitive enough to consider the speed at which you are moving as well as all of the available angles. The product appears simple to set up, merely requiring to be connected to your PlayStation 4 via a USB cable.
3dRudder co-founder Valerio Bonora spoke of their eureka moment in coming up with the foot motion controller:
“I was sat at my computer using my hands to zoom in and out and rotate the structure over and over while designing it. My wrists were aching, and I thought: ‘this all would be much more efficient if I could move around in my project with my feet, and keep my hands focused on designing’. That’s how I started drawing the first concept of the foot motion controller.”
A version of the rudder is already available for PC and works with Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and some other VR hardware. On PC, the product is also able to work with Xbox games via the Xbox Adaptive controller.
PlayStation appears to have placed additional focus on virtual reality over recent months. The recent PlayStation State of Play event was dominated by the announcement of new VR titles, from No Man’s Sky VR to Iron Man VR. However, the event was not well-received overall. We provided a comprehensive preview on the upcoming titles coming to the PSVR title.
