Don’t worry about my dog Gracie, she got walked IRL yesterday and I did not put her in VR. Honestly it would be a waste. A dog’s limited ability to discern color would certainly make them incapable of appreciating the luminous OLED screens in the PSVR2. Also, that’s a lot of money to spend on a dog.
The comic is true in that I am exercising a lot now and I’m doing it in a couple specific games. I went ahead and streamed my routine the other morning so you could see how it works.
I like to start with about 30 minutes of Pistol Whip which is a musical shooting game. You can see me play it in the VOD right here! You don’t have to be good at rhythm games to play this but you’ll probably find yourself hitting the beat without even trying. Just like Gloria Estafan warned back in 1987, “the rhythm is gonna get you!” I have no sense of what others call “the beat” but while playing this game, something ancient in my body occasionally awakens and I find myself nailing strings of perfect shots.
I follow this up with 30 minutes of Synth Riders which has quickly become one of my favorite VR titles. You can watch me play this one right here. This game has you using your hands to hit notes and “grind” rails. The result is something like those kids at raves who get hopped up on goofballs and wave glow sticks around. I don’t know if that’s still a thing but it was when I was young. Anyway, instead of licking a frog to travel through 3D neon music scapes, you can just grab Synth Riders!
I enter these workouts in my fitness app as “Dance” just because they don’t have an option for “Cyberverse Beat Rider ''. This is what a workout looks like to my watch once I am done.
If you want to get sweaty in VR I recommend getting a good headband and putting a fan in the room. Also have some wipes handy to clean the headset and controllers afterwards. I barely notice I’m even exercising and a lot of mornings I end up playing longer than an hour just because I’m having so much fun. I’m not trying to get in shape or anything but I do hope it cancels out some of the Oreos I eat.
-Gabe Out
