Road to VR recently visited Hardlight VR’s downtown Seattle office to take a look at the new Mark III version of their haptic vest. During the visit, Hardlight VR revealed a dramatically lower price point of $300. This is down from the previous price of $630 for consumers and $1,100 for businesses. Now both consumers and businesses (like VR arcades) will pay the same, lower base price, but businesses will pay an additional monthly license fee of $10 (or $100 when paid yearly).
This new price point, which is even below their Kickstarter price—which raised close to $150,000 earlier this year—brings the VR accessory to a range now accessible for some consumers instead of just hardcore enthusiasts. The company’s Kickstarter video gives a good overview of the vest—though of course it can’t physically push you backwards as dramatized therein.
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Hardlight VR team members Morgan Sinko, Lucian Copeland, and John Schork | Image by Road to VR
CEO Lucian Copeland says the lower price has been achieved because the company was “able to reach the production milestones that made this possible earlier than expected.” John Schork, Hardlight’s director of partnerships, said the team also felt the desire to keep pace with recent headset price cuts from both HTC and Oculus.
The company says they’ve begun delivering their vest to Kickstarter backers, and that pre-orders at the new, lower price are expected for delivery in March and April.
Using the Mark III
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Image by Road to VR
I got the chance to try out the latest vest while at the Hardlight VR office. While I did have some help putting on the vest, they pointed out that the straps are designed so that I could put it on myself. The straps also make the vest adjustable so that one size can fit different body types.
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Image by Road to VR
With the vest on, I jumped into Sairento VR (2016) for a quick demo. Feeling vibrations emminante down my arm every time I fired a revolver was very cool and definitely made the experience better.
Hardlight has been working with the developers behind Sairento and other VR games to directly control the vest’s 16 haptic units. I got a quick walkthrough of the tools that the developers would use to create vibration patterns and was told that some developers were able to add basic haptic feedback after only one day of work.
All of the electronics on the vest are removable, making it easier to clean without fear of damaging the components. The haptic motors are also attached to a series of inner plates that are designed to provide a tighter connection between the vest and the body. Hardlight also plans to sell an optional wireless module for $100 that fits on the lower back of the vest and provides power as well.
Torso & Arm Tracking
In addition to being a haptic vest, the Mark III comes with sensors that enable position and orientation tracking for a player’s arms and torso—something which can only be roughly estimated using head and hand tracking alone.
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Source: Road to VR