VR treadmill maker KatVR will return to Kickstarter for its next device, the Kat Walk C 2.
A new crowd-funding campaign for the device launches at 7am PT on May 14, with early bird orders starting at $698 (without shipping). The original Kat Walk raised over $1 million on the platform in 2020. As with other treadmills, the device consists of a dish that players stand on with a special pair of shoes and a harness they then strap themselves into. You can then lean forward and run to simulato walking in VR. Check out a trailer for the C 2 below.
Kat Walk C 2 Announced
The C 2 promises several new additions and improvements over its predecessor, including support for a wider array of movements like strafing and kneeling down and improved tracking of your feet’s movements. The device will also be compatible with the Quest platform as well as previously supported headsets like PSVR and PC kits. KatVR also says it’s throwing in improved shoes that will make it easier to walk on the dish.
Once the first early bird tier is gone there will be two more limited tiers increasing the price by $100 each time. The unlimited tier will offer the device for $998.
KatVR will also be offering a further upgraded version of the device called the Kat Walk C 2+ that includes haptic feedback with ‘Vibrate-On-Touch Step Simulation’ and compatibility with controller to offer more moments of haptic feedback. The C 2+ is available as a $200 upgrade to whatever tier you’ve pledged (so $898 for the first early bird tier or $1199 one all early bird tiers are gone).
Kat VR, the China-based company behind the original Kat Walk VR treadmill Kickstarter in 2015, has concluded its latest crowdfunding campaign, this time bringing a consumer-focused VR treadmill ‘Kat Walk C’ to market.
Update (August 3rd, 2020): The Kickstarter for KAT Walk C has successfully concluded with a whopping $1.66 million in funding. Less than 24 hours after its launch back in late June, the project successfully broke through the $1 million mark, pushing it well over its initial $100,000 goal.
This astounding result puts Kat Walk C as the platform’s most-funded non-headset peripheral designed explicitly for VR.
In an update, the company says the device is well on its way to be produced, as manufacturing lines are now established. There are still plenty of stretch goals to fulfill, including an overhead cabling pulley system, a dedicated game, haptic feedback modules for the device’s base, and more, which should keep Kat VR busy in the months to come.
The first units are said to arrive in October 2020; considering the company has been producing its VR treadmills for over 5 years now, it’s not an impossible task to reach, although we’ll be following updates closely to see whether Kat VR will be able to make this ambitious shipping schedule.
Original Article (June 19th, 2020): The campaign is slated to begin at 10 AM ET (local time here) on Sunday, and will end on July 30th. Kat VR hopes to reach at least $100,000 with its campaign.
Kat Walk C will be offered via multiple quantity-limited tiers, with the earliest supporters getting a chance to reserve their own at what the company calls “a significant discount.”
It’s not clear what the final MSRP will be after the Kickstarter is said and done, however Kat VR has consistently made their crowdfunded hardware cheaper to backers.
Check out the tiers below:
Super KATer Extra Early Bird: $699 + Delivery (Limited Quantity)
Extra Early-Bird: $799 + Delivery (Limited Quantity)
Early-Bird: $899 + Delivery (Limited Quantity)
Special Kickstarter Offer: $999 + Delivery (Unlimited Quantity)
Additionally, the company says it’s going to offer discounts for backers looking to buy multiple units, which will include discounts on delivery costs.
The first units of Kat Walk C are expected to ship to backers in early October, Kat VR says.
Kat VR says the device acts as an “independent controller”, allowing it to work with any SteamVR game with free locomotion on major VR headsets such as Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Pimax, and Windows VR. The device is also said to be compatible with Oculus Quest via Link, and with PSVR via an additional adapter.
Like all of the company’s VR treadmills, Kat Walk C incorporates a low-friction parabola and slippy user-worn footwear, giving you a slick surface that simulates walking to some degree.
We’ve had a chance to go hands-on with its bigger brother back at Gamescom 2017. Although VR treadmills have gotten better throughout the years, they still don’t offer a natural walking experience, as the user needs to adapt to the low-friction surface and the demands of pulling themselves opposite to the rear-mounted stabilizer bar.
That said, there’s really no other device class in town that approximates walking in VR—let alone one for consumers—so we’re interested to see how Kat Walk C fares before offering any further opinion.
KAT VR has been a specialist in the virtual reality (VR) locomotion space for several years now, launching its first Kickstarter campaign in 2015 for the rather large Kat Walk omnidirectional treadmill. Last year saw the company step into the consumer space with the KAT Loco and soon it’ll start another crowd-funding campaign for a compact treadmill called KAT Walk C.
The new treadmill KAT VR is working on is a more compact adaption of its larger models, providing 360-degrees of natural locomotion without taking up a massive amount of floor space at a price that’s not too OTT.
KAT Walk C offers 0.69m2 of walking space, used in conjunction with specialised shoes and a harness system to keep players safely in one place. The body adaptive harness allows for walking, running, crouching and other motions VR players need to fully immerse themselves in a digital environment without the worry of roomscale space. “We’re equipping the harness with a multi-layer reverse-tightening system that not only helps you get securely fastened but also improves the harness contiguity to your body,” notes the company in a press release.
The surface of the base and the footwear have been designed so that users can walk with a natural gait, the shoes even have multiple levels of friction depending on how experienced someone is using an omnidirectional treadmill.
KAT VR expects to launch a crowd-funding Kickstarter later this month where backers will be able to secure a KAT Walk C for the Early Bird price of $699 USD. The company hasn’t yet revealed how much its planning to raise, what the standard price will be or if successful when it expects to make the product available.
KAT Walk C will support most major headsets such as Oculus Rift S, Oculus Quest (via Oculus Link), HTC Vive, Pimax, Windows Mixed Reality and PlayStation VR (via an additional adapter). When it comes to videogame compatibility KAT Walk C will reportedly support all those with free locomotion on SteamVR and PlayStation Store.
The treadmill will also come supplied with KAT Gateway. This is KAT Walk C’s control panel, accessed either on desktop or in VR, so users can adjust the treadmills parameters to suit their requirements.
As further details on the KAT Walk C Kickstarter are released, VRFocus will let you know.
Covering the immersive Out-of-Home entertainment scene for VRFocus, in his latest Virtual Arena column, industry specialist Kevin Williams reports on a multitude of brand new commercial entertainment platforms, new eSports offerings and London VR site openings that caught his eye traversing the international XR entertainment scene.
The frantic nature of VR in the commercial entertainment scene continued to gain momentum, with several new platforms launching and facilities opening internationally. While in London, a number of these new developments were on display.
First off was the International Casino Exhibition (ICE), the gaming and gambling industries largest European convention filling the London ExCel centre. While in previous years, virtual reality (VR) had played a larger part in the gaming show, it was much harder to find this year. But one big showing was the Vbet platform, developed in conjunction with BetConnect. Called ‘Vbet Boxing Game’, two-players in their own ring spared with each other using the Oculus Quest headset. A VR attraction that will be deployed in casinos as an audience draw.
Image credit: Vbet
Another major show for VR at the casino event was on the Gaming Malta booth – a local operator of an eSports racing simulator centre presented their race-rig’s – using the ImSim racing seat, with the latest iRacing content, able to be experienced on the Oculus Rift headset. The ability to offer intense VR entertainment is also supported by the audience appeal of this kind of installation.
The explosion in eSports was a major component of the ICE gaming and gambling trade conference, with a vast dedicated arena streaming live. VR is playing its part in defining the eSports business. Recently SpringboardVR, one of the leading distributors and service suppliers of game content for VR arcades, announced they had teamed up with the Virtual Athletics League (VAL) launching the “Pistol Whip VR Tournament”, supported by Oculus and iBUYPOWER. It’ll feature across SpringboardVR’s 500 connected locations for the second round. With the final streamed live on Twitch and Facebook there will be a prize pool of $10,000 up for grabs.
Concerning the London area, the deployment of Location-Based Entertainment (LBE) VR facilities across the international market has continued to gain mentum. And Just down the road from the major gaming exhibition, the UK capital welcomed its latest slew of new VR venues hoping to drive the sector.
First off and the massive entertainment venue that is The O2 arena has already included a VR element, in partnership with the venues’ Hollywood Bowl placement, BANDAI NAMCO Amusement Europe had installed Europe’s first “VR ZONE Portal London”. Based on the Japanese parents dedicated VR installation concept, the first UK installation has been revitalized – along with the Mario Kart Arcade GP VR (£7.99 p/p) set-up, the brand new experience ‘Godzilla VR’ (£4.99 p/p) saw the use of two unique motion cockpits.
Godzilla VR – VR Zone Portal London. Image credit: KWP
The uniquely created Godzilla VR was launched in Japan last year, and this was the first chance we had to play the Western version of the game – an on-rails helicopter simulator experience, with the player only interacting in high adrenaline moments blasting the movie monster with missiles and cannons, as Godzilla levels city-blocks and skyscrapers. The game proved a fun, but short, experience – more a ride with some shooting elements, reflected in its lower price to play.
Hollywood Bowl is not the only VR entertainment installation at the O2 arena, with the adjacent opening of a VR cluster by IMMOTION – the company operating its popular Thrill Coaster, the ‘VR Cinema Pod’ extreme-ride experienced themed around the capital city (as well as a library of other ride scenarios). Next was the new inclusion of their own racing sim area for four of their ‘VR Multi-Racers’.
Immotion – Thrill Coaster. Image Credit: KWP
The IMMOTION experience included a VR Gaming Arena, based on the popular Raw Data videogame. This was a unique tethered version of the title, developed in partnership with originator of the game Survios. One of the many consumer VR game developers that are pivoting into creating a commercial entertainment presence. IMMOTION was charging a standard pass (£6 p/p), as well as variety (£20 p/p), and premium pass (£30 p/p), for game time duration on the assembled systems.
England saw the opening of its latest VR ZONE Portal and the third installation of Mario Kart Arcade GP VR in Europe. BANDAI NAMCO’s operation division runs the well-known Namco Funscape, located on London’s South Bank. This multi-level amusement venue has added a compact VR ZONE Portal Westminster that houses the four-player racer based on the popular Nintendo franchise (£7.95 p/p).
Mario Kart VR. Image Credit: KWP
But Funscape has also added third-party VR amusement pieces to their mix, away from the VR ZONE Portal. The venue had three of the most popular VR amusement platforms, (as we touched on in our Entertainment, Attractions and Gaming (EAG) expo coverage last month). The London site including a VRsenal Beat Saber Arcade machine, and the two-rider Virtual Rabbid’s The Wild Ride (LAI Games), all front-and-centre. Funscape had also installed two version of the Xtrematic ‘Extreme-Machine’ – a standing VR ride experience, using an innovative standing motion platform.
It was also interesting to see other new London based VR arcades jumping into the mix – while visiting London’s Shepherds Bush area, we had a chance to briefly pop into the new Electric Dreams – VR arcade. Located in a retail unit, the operation, along with a KATVR Omni direction treadmill system, runs two VR multiplayer enclosures using the three-player, wireless, free-roam, HTC Vive system as well as a franchise of the ‘Arkave VR’ platform from YDX. The operation charging a sliding scale for duration of play, (starting at £7 p/p, for 10-minutes). This latest operation reflecting that there are many other venues currently in the works to populate this scene.
Line-up of Beat Saber Arcade cabinets put through their paces at Korean VR Festival
Other VR developments taking place recently, included the holding of the Japan Amusement Expo 2020 (JAEPO) the trade event for the territories amusement and gaming sector. On display for the first time on the amusement giant SEGA Interactive’s booth was the SKONEC Entertainment ‘Beat Saber Arcade’ machine. This is the Asian variant of the popular VR music videogame being presented to Japanese trade. It was interesting to see the reaction to the VR machine, attracting attention. Looking to challenge the plethora of traditional music rhythm titles that dominate the Japanese market, (as well as on the international amusement gaming scene).
This concludes our whirlwind reporting from the LBE VR scene. Next month will see major developments as the action moves to the USA and several momentous location openings and major trade conferences that will offer a taste of the evolving future of this scene.
Exit Reality is a specialist in location-based entertainment (LBE) for virtual reality (VR) centres. Last month the company announced a new partnership with Neurogaming on a new multiplayer solution called X Arc. Now, it’s been revealed that Exit Reality will be providing three of its VR cubes for a new attraction opening in California, Hero Hangout.
Hero Hangout is a new VR centre set to open in San Mateo next week, with Exit Reality’s X Pods offering guests a variety of experiences (20 in total), from fending off flying robots in Space Pirate Trainer to facing a fear of heights with Richie’s Plank Experience.
The venture is the brainchild of venture capitalist, Tim Draper, allowing the general public to see and experience what VR is all about. Exit Reality isn’t the only company providing tech, with omnidirectional treadmill manufacturer KatVR providing units and Talon Simulations bringing its racing/flight/rollercoaster simulator.
In addition to all the VR experiences on offer, traditional arcade games like Ms. Pacman, Street Fighter, Rampage and more will also be available.
“With Tim’s support and guidance, the Hero Hangout was created and is run by Daniel Wiegand an entrepreneur and Draper University Alumni from the Spring 2016 Class,” states the company. “Our goal and vision is to enable the general public the ability to experience, learn, and get their hands dirty with these latest technologies through a state of the art Virtual Reality Arcade. We hope to delight our customers by providing them with the latest and greatest technologies at a low pay per minute cost.”
Hero Hangout will open on Thursday 29th November. Opening hours are from 12pm to 8pm, with pricing coming in two forms, $50 USD per hour, giving access to all of Exit Reality’s HTC Vive stations or $60 per hour for all station access. For those interested, due to the finite number of VR stations its worth booking a time slot via the Hero Hangout website.
As further LBE locations are announced, VRFocus will keep you updated.
KatVR, the China-based company behind the 2015 Kickstarter-funded KAT Walk VR treadmill, announced last month that a new mini-version of the low-friction VR treadmill would be hitting Kickstarter soon, and that above all it would be “affordable.” Today the company published pre-order prices on the Kat VR website, and it’s unfortunately a bitter pill to swallow: with the lowest early bird discount of 50%, the minimum price is $1500.
A Kat VR spokesperson took to Reddit last week to address consumer concerns, saying “[o]ur target audience is for consumer-use, the price will be fitting,” and that the Kickstarter would roll out “soon” and the Mini would be “affordable.”
Now, the company has published a pre-order price list on their website. Each successive week during the pre-order period sees a price hike between $200-$500:
image courtesy Kat VR
We’ve reached out to Kat VR to clarify what that means to prospective Kickstarters, as below the price list is a pre-order contact form. At the time of this writing, the company’s Kickstarter is still MIA.
Kat Walk Mini is designed to be smaller and lighter than the 2015-era Kat Walk, and features a number of design changes including a new laser sensor array for lower latency and more responsive foot tracking, a redesigned guide bar system that pivots in place as you turn your body to face the desired direction, and a “high strain shock-absorbing material” in the treadmill’s base. Using low-friction shoes, the system allows you to simulate walking, and even sit down, according to the new informational video linked below. Kat Walk Mini is aiming to support SteamVR-compatible headsets including Vive and Rift, and also PSVR.
The original Kat Walk, a much larger unit, originally ranged between $400-$650 for early bird Kickstarters, although the MSRP is likely much more expensive than that (price available by inquiry only). If Kickstarters aren’t seeing a similar price break when the campaign goes live, then it’s safe to say the company is classing itself out of its target market.
Despite completing a successful Kickstarter back in August 2015, there still aren’t many Kat Walk VR treadmills outside of Asia, let alone the premium version specially built for out-of-home facilities like theme parks, malls, and cruise ships. The short reason: it’s just too damn heavy, and shipping it from the manufacturing plant in China isn’t easy. Acting as the sole distributor for Germany, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg, the Netherland-based reseller Virtuo VR took to this year’s Gamescom to show off their flagship product, the Kat Walk Premium VR Treadmill and Kat PC Control Station combo, a hefty all-in-one commercial unit built with high traffic, as well as a high price (€11,900) in mind. As a note, both the smaller consumer version and the commercial version sans computer retail for significantly less.
I was greeted by Virtuo VR founder and owner Ali Cakan, an ex-military member turned tech distributor looking for the next big thing. Cakan opened two of the heavy-duty treadmills to the Gamescom-going public, along with a few motion platforms playing racing games tossed in for good measure. Clearly, the impressive-looking Kat Walk treadmills were the crowd favorite, as a long line snaked around the booth populated with German teenagers sitting on boxes and fold-out chairs awaiting their turn for what promised to be a unique experience.
Slipping a pair of webbed rubber booties over my shoes, the bottoms studded with a hard, but very slick plastic, I was instructed to lift myself up using a safety bar positioned overhead. Cakan instantly read my hesitation, and did a one-handed pull up on the bar. “It’s totally safe. See?” He then slipped on a Bluetooth-connected inertial measurement unit (IMU) to each rubber bootie that would register a step forward whenever I swung my leg. Getting into the dish-shaped walking area, I could feel the low friction surface as I wiggled my feet around as I waited to start.
Strapping in with a WWE championship-sized safety belt and two thick leg straps, I donned the Vive headset and was given my two motion controllers. An attendant dialed up a shooting game using the unit’s built-in computer with a touch screen monitor. Taking me through the menu, which was entirely in Chinese, I was plopped in a low rent version of CS:GO—a bit like the game below.
Moving wasn’t easy, certainly not as easy as walking normally. Because the footprint of the parabolic walking surface isn’t that large, you have to do a sort of baby half-step to get anywhere. Overshoot your mark, and you’ll slip out of the smooth surface of the parabola and hit the edge, something that left me feeling a bit wary after the first time I did it. The vertical stabilization bar and strap system kept me from going anywhere though, and thankfully caught me from falling flat on my ass. The bar, which stays behind you the entire time, doesn’t get in the way of natural hand movements either, so you can swing the gun around without worrying about knocking into support beams or containment rings like on Virtuix Omni or Cyberith Virtualizer.
Predictably, the stability of the unit is rock solid. After having both seen Cakan yank down on the horizontal beam and having nearly fallen on my ass were it not for the support bar, there’s no doubt in mind as to the safety of the device.
Walking away from the 10-minute experience, I felt like I just didn’t do it right, and that I would need more practice to nail down the strange half-step gait. It was also much more laborious than I though it would be, which I suppose you can chalk up somewhat to the rubber booties. The treadmill ships with dedicated shoes as well that have a small roller in the heels that are supposed to reduce friction and make walking easier—maybe not more natural, but easier. For the sake of keeping the line moving though, the small pile of different-sized shoes was left untouched as Gamescom-goers slipped in an out of the booties for the sake of brevity. I can see the addition of the shoes making it a less tiring experience.
Walking accuracy was also an issue. In real life, we don’t always line up our legs and body exactly to face the direction we want to go, and unfortunately this is all Kat Walk understands, i.e. no strafing or any other movement that isn’t directly forward or backwards. So if you want to walk around an object, you have to sort of box your way around it in a way that doesn’t really feel natural, leaving you with the clear suspicion that you’re trying your darndest to control a device to get where you want to go, and not really going there with your own two feet.
In the end, the learning curve may scare away a lot of first-timers from returning, leaving them with the impression that VR treadmills just aren’t for them, which is a shame, because Kat VR’s build quality is excellent, and I think a few more sessions would prove that all you need is a little perseverance to nail down what essentially is an entirely different type of controller.
Cast your mind back to the middle of 2015 and you may remember a Kickstarter campaign by Chinese startup KatVR, looking to raise $100,000 USD for its omni-directional treadmill KAT Walk. It was ultimately successful, achieving just under $150,000. This week KatVR has updated its Facebook page, revealing that shipments have already begun to backers from China.
In the update the KatVR team state: “The KAT Walk has now started shipping to backers across China, so we thought we’d show you a video we received from one of the new owners, putting the product through its paces! As you can see, the KAT Walk allows for full 360 degree unrestricted movement at all speeds and heights. Of course, this movement needs to be translated into the game, and we’ll soon be releasing gameplay videos showing the KAT Walk in action with one of our own games, created by our very own development studio. New Kickstarter update coming soon, international shipping still estimated to begin in the middle of next month and lots more announcements to come in 2017!”
This will be good news for all KAT Walk backers who have been waiting for quite a while now. Originally the treadmill had an estimated delivery date of April 2016, but as can happen with Kickstarter projects this date slipped further and further.
Delays have become a common problem for omni-directional treadmill campaigns, but some have fared worse than others. Last month for example Virtuix, the company behind the Virtuix Omni announced that all customers outside of the US wouldn’t be getting their order due to shipping issues. And then there’s Cyberith with its Virtualizer treadmill, which ran a campaign way back in 2014 and still hasn’t yet seen the light of day, with its Kickstarter page featuring very sporadic updates.
VRFocus will continue its coverage of omni-directional treadmills, reporting back with any new updates.
Concerning the London area, the deployment of Location-Based Entertainment (LBE) VR facilities across the international market has continued to gain mentum. And Just down the road from the major gaming exhibition, the UK capital welcomed its latest slew of new VR venues hoping to drive the sector.
