Dance your way into the metaverse (quietly) with these new VR gadgets

Whether you want to believe Mark Zuckerberg or not, the metaverse is coming.

However, his company Meta – formerly Facebook – doesn’t have a monopoly on the tech required to step into this brave new world.

And that tech doesn’t just stop at headsets.

As Zuckerberg showed off to great fanfare (and hilarity) last year, legs will be big in the metaverse. Enter full-body tracking systems. 

Shiftall, a Panasonic brand, unveiled its HaritoraX Wireless body tracking system at this week’s CES in Las Vegas. Using four bands – one around your chest, hips and each leg – the system works with all SteamVR-compatible headsets, allowing all metaverse users or VTubers to walk, run or dance their way into the digital universe. 

The company also showed off its MuTalk, effectively a large, plastic facemask crossed with a speaker that dulls the user’s voice so it can’t be heard by those around them in reality, while the bluetooth microphone transmits their voice to the metaverse.

And while both simultaneously in reality and metaverse, the new FlipVR handset enables users to fold away the controls to grab real-world objects, while PebbleFeel, a small device strapped to the base of the neck, brings hot and cold sensations between 9C and 42C. Prices for both are to be confirmed.

It all starts with the headset however, with the latest iteration of Shiftall’s MeganeX also unveiled in Vegas. SteamVR compatible, it is expected to go on sale in April or May this year – but at $1,699 (£1,432), it won’t go too far in helping the revolution.

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