In the past, products similar to OWO vests have been released, but we have not seen any real progress that has passed the presentation stage and reaches the hands of consumers. Hardlight has been working with the developers behind Sairento and other VR games to directly control the vest's 16 haptic units. OWO is also encouraging developers to communicate via social media or email if their games are running on something other than Unity or Unreal Engine, if any issues arise, and if developers have ideas for new sensations that would work well with the vest. OWO states that the vest will be compatible with all platforms, since it connects to your system via Bluetooth.
Road to VR recently visited the Hardlight VR office in downtown Seattle to take a look at the new Mark III version of its haptic vest. The vest interprets the volume and frequencies of the sound to produce an accompanying vibration throughout the vest, allowing it to function as a general-purpose noise vest for traditional PC or console games. After demonstrating the Mark III vest, Hardlight VR founder and chief revenue officer Morgan Sinko took me to the company's engineering lab, where they soon began development on the next version of the haptic vest. Now ask them to spend part of their time and the cost of paying those people to make their game work with this vest.
The company says it has started delivering its vest to Kickstarter sponsors, and that pre-orders at the new lower price are expected to be delivered in March and April. He also mentioned the need for future versions of the vest to be compatible with his existing SDK and software produced by Hardlight partners. Haptic motors are also attached to a series of internal plates that are designed to provide a closer connection between the vest and the body. All electronic components of the vest are removable, making it easy to clean without fear of damaging the components.
This collection of sensations will make your VR experience much more exciting because they affect the way your brain reacts to different situations.
