This week's update makes it easier than ever to challenge your friends without ever taking off your headset!
Challenge to Beat Your New Best Score! After you beat your own best score in any VirZOOM level, make sure you don't skip through the post-session summary. You can now choose to issue one challenge at a time to everyone on your friends list right from that screen, giving you 24 hours to see who comes out on top.
Be There Yourself, Or in Spirit! If you and a friend are playing in a multiplayer challenge at the same time, you'll face off head-to-head as usual – but even if you're offline, you'll see the "ghost" of everyone else who's competed in the challenge!
Where Are Challenges, Again? After someone invites you to a challenge, when you next launch VirZOOM Arcade, you'll see a message indicating that you have friend challenges waiting for you. After you select your profile, spin through workout modes – past Quick Play, Custom Workout, Hot Seat, etc. – to select "Friend Challenges." You can accept or decline challenges right from that screen! (And if you want, you can still go to My VirZOOM to accept challenges and issue new ones with more specific parameters.)
And Then What? When the challenge completes, you and your friends will all see who placed where in your activity logs on My VirZOOM – but we're open to suggestions for what happens next! What do you think is the proper award for an impromptu 24-hour car race, tank battle, or duck-feeding grudge match? Let us know at info@virzoom.com!
Additional Updates
Tank Tweaks this week include the removal of speed boost power-ups and the addition of temporary invincibility shield power-ups. As much as some adventurous souls appreciate being behind the wheel of a rocket-powered tank, sudden movement across uneven terrain isn't generally a recipe for comfort in VR. Let us know how you feel about the changes at info@virzoom.com!
Bug Fixes include a variety of small issues and also fixes for loading and graphics glitches after back-to-back matches of Winterstan multiplayer.
Manufacturing & Shipping are still on track as expected. If you've placed an order since June, your bike is part of this shipment. All packages will ship in the latter half of October, so if you're waiting for a bike, expect it to arrive in late October or early November, depending on how long shipping takes. Currently, we're only accepting new orders for the US and Canada, but we're actively working on arrangements for international distribution for 2017. Please feel free to get in touch with us directly at info@virzoom.com about commercial and bulk orders.
Questions, Comments, Concerns?
If you spot any bugs or have trouble with any features you think could be working better, don't hesitate to send them our way at support@virzoom.com. You can also always check My VirZOOM for instructions, troubleshooting tips, workout updates, and leaderboard standing. And don't forget to drop by the Forum to share your game ideas!
Star Gazing & Tank Razing
This Week's Three-Star Updates
Whether you like counting steps, flapping wings, or blowing up tanks, today's update should have something for you.
Tank: Winterstan battles now favor speeding over sniping more than ever before, whether playing single- or multiplayer. AI tanks pursue more aggressively, but make up for it by dropping goodies on destruction, including speed boosts and health packs. Watch your ammo, though – you now start with 20 shells, and have to keep moving to collect more. And if you're a die-hard tank combatant, you'll be pleased to know that your Winterstan workouts are no longer limited to 10 minutes: Keep playing as long as you can survive.
Pegasus: Keep Flying now starts as soon as you take off from the ground – and ends as soon as you touch the ground again. You really do need to keep flying. It's now easier to fly even higher, though, so you shouldn't need to hop, skip, and jump your way up onto hills and ridges.
My VirZOOM now supports integration for even more services. Sync your Fitbit account so that whenever you play anything on VirZOOM, Fitbit knows the details of your workout (because 30 minutes of flying really ought to count toward your 10,000 steps). And if you have multiple people playing VirZOOM in your household, you might also want to sync your Steam account to make sure you're recognized for your own Achievements. Make sure everyone knows who really saved a thousand horses from those stinking bandits.
On top of these new features and tweaks, keep an eye out for star ratings on each level, so you'll know for sure when last score you hit was as epic as you suspected. (You may notice a bug that makes it look like you've earned extra stars, but perhaps we can just call that a hidden surprise for people who spend extra time spinning around in the menus. Fix incoming!)
And for the future? Well, we've already demonstrated that VR on a bike can make you feel like you're riding on a horse (with or without wings), driving a car (or a tank), flying a helicopter, and paddling a kayak – how about riding a bicycle? Keep an eye out for more info soon...
When Will I Get My Bike?
Our next shipment is still on track to be shipped next month (October). That shipment covers all unfulfilled orders placed since June, with additional bikes going to retailers including Amazon, Gamestop, Target, Walmart, and others. Currently, we're only shipping orders to the US and Canada, but we're actively working on arrangements for international distribution for 2017. Please feel free to get in touch with us directly at info@virzoom.com about commercial and bulk orders.
If you're wondering how this process is going before our next email update, feel free to check the FAQ – we do keep it up to date!
Questions, Comments, Concerns?
If you spot any bugs or have trouble with any features you think could be working better, don't hesitate to send them our way at support@virzoom.com. You can also always check My VirZOOM for instructions, troubleshooting tips, workout updates, and leaderboard standing. And don't forget to drop by the Forum to share your game ideas!
Flying High, Chasing Bandits & Burning Calories
Aim High for Goals & Gems Alike
Our latest build brings a number of improvements to VirZOOM Arcade games, and a much-requested addition to the end-of-workout summary and My VirZOOM: Calorie tracking! After each workout, you'll see a chart indicating how much the Calories you just burned move you toward your weekly goal. That's set for 1500 Calories by default, but visit my.virzoom.com to adjust that to your preferences. Remember that you can also set personal information on My VirZOOM, like weight and gender, to get a better estimate on Calories burned with each workout.
Pegasus Gem Hunt sees a major update with this release, reorganizing gem placement to encourage quick combo bonuses and aerial maneuvering. You should still keep an eye on the ground for gold bars, though: Deliver them to the end of a rainbow for an extra reward!
Kayak Lotus Pond also gives you new ways to score in our latest update. We prefer to let players explore and find delightful new things for themselves in this game, but let's just say that when ducks meet up for dinner, the more the merrier…
And finally, Cowboy Jailbreak! sees an extra bit of challenge added for you capable cowpokes: The farther the bandit, the tighter the timing to lasso them perfectly. Nobody ever said catching horse rustlers was easy, but we know you can handle it!
Manufacturing & Shipping Updates
Our early-access bikes have completely sold out, but we're still on schedule for our estimated October shipment. That shipment covers all unfulfilled orders placed since June, as well as distribution through retailers including Amazon, Gamestop, Target, and Walmart. Currently, we're only shipping orders to the US and Canada, but we're actively working on arrangements for international distribution for 2017.
If you're wondering how this process is going before our next update, rest assured that we keep the FAQ up to date!
Questions, Comments, Concerns?
If you spot any bugs or have trouble with any features you think could be working better, don't hesitate to send them our way at support@virzoom.com. You can also always check My VirZOOM for instructions, troubleshooting tips, workout updates, and leaderboard standing. And don't forget to drop by the Forum to share your game ideas!
Tuning & Fixes for VirZOOM Arcade
An updated version of VirZOOM Arcade is now available for download on Steam. This week brings some subtle but important updates for overall volume tuning, performance optimizations that will be especially noticeable on lower-end machines, and miscellaneous bug fixes.
Our next update is planned for two weeks from now. If you spot any bugs or have trouble with any features you think could be working better, don't hesitate to send them our way at support@virzoom.com, and drop by our forum to share game ideas!
Upgrade Avatars & Play Other Games on VirZOOM
Welcome & Updates
We'd like to extend a special welcome to all the new visitors who've come to check out VirZOOM since our appearance on The View! For those of you who might have missed "Fall's Hottest Gadgets," please feel free to check out this clip on ABC's site. (Those of you already familiar with VirZOOM will recognize the moment that someone learns to fly a Pegasus by the excited shouting.) And if you really can't get enough VirZOOM in your TV viewing schedule, our May appearance on Chroniclegets an updated segment on today's episode.
Meanwhile, here at VirZOOM headquarters, we've been hard at work making sure that everything's all set for the upcoming PlayStation VR launch – but we haven't forgotten about all you Vive and Oculus players out there. We're still kicking around new game designs (including the much-requested bicycling game!), fixing any glitches that made their way into the wild, and making performance and optimization improvements. Our next updated build, including those fixes and optimization tweaks, will be available on Steam next week.
In the meantime, we'd like to highlight a couple other things about VirZOOM that might not be obvious even to the early adopters already pedaling away on their own bikes...
The Gamepad Emulator: Submissions Welcome!
VirZOOM is more than just a pretty bike and a single collection of games. While we design our own exercise games for VirZOOM Arcade to be fun and endlessly replayable in their own right, we've always wanted to let you work out while playing your own favorite games, whatever they may be. To that end, we offer the VirZOOM Gamepad Emulator, now available on Steam, which allows you to play other VR and PC games using your bike in place of a traditional controller.
The VZ Gamepad Emulator is still a young product, but we're eager to build on it with your help. Before you can use your VirZOOM bike with another game, the emulator needs a special configuration file to define what different inputs mean – pedal to move forward, right trigger to switch gears, and so on. And those configuration files take time to get right! We've uploaded a few ourselves so far and have more in the pipeline, allowing you to play Project Cars, Radial-G, Time Machine VR, and Eve: Valkyrie – with an alternate configuration featuring head-tracking on the way soon!
We're especially looking forward to seeing what kinds of configurations our community comes up with, both for VR games and 2D games on PC. Thinking you might want to give it a try? Drop by the VZGE Steam Forumto let folks know what you're working on. We've got a bunch of sweat-wicking VirZOOM t-shirts here we'd love to send out to top contributors!
Feature Spotlight: Avatar Upgrades
Have you been enjoying VirZOOM Arcade, but feel like your car race, helicopter ride, or Pegasus flight could use a bit more something? Do you enjoy the pleasant jingle of virtual coins well-earned, but wish you had someplace to spend them? Well, we'd love to draw your attention to a little-known feature we plan to expand upon in the future: avatar upgrades!
When you select an avatar in the main menu, you might notice that you can press both triggers for "Options." Here, you'll find a super-fast neon car, a high-flying golden Pegasus, and a chopper with multi-target homing missiles. They cost some of those hard-earned coins with each use, but you can expect to earn extra from faster laps and quicker scoring. You'll find that they also introduce different kinds of gameplay than what you're used to: When your Chopper can take out turrets with ease, River Run becomes more about dodging and long-term endurance. Check them out – and let us know what other kinds of avatar upgrades you'd like to see!
Let Us Know What You Think
Got any feedback for us? Please share! Drop me an email at jason@virzoom.com or visit this forum threadto let us know what you think! We take your input (and your game suggestions) very seriously.
Have any questions, concerns, or technical problems? Check out our manual at My VirZOOM for instructions and troubleshooting tips, or drop by the VirZOOM Forumsto ask questions of our staff and community.
Thanks for your support, and see you online!
User Bios & Moonlight Kayaking with Friends
Tell Us a Little About Yourself...
Today's VirZOOM update brings a new way to find workout buddies. Fill out your bio at virzoom.com/account to let everyone know your favorite games and when you're available! You can also search for friends by username, email, and keywords from bios at virzoom.com/friends. And remember, you can still drop by this forum thread to trade usernames the old-fashioned way (because web forums may feel a little "old-fashioned" after you spend a half hour on a Pegasus).
Kayak by Moonlight with Friends
If you've had a chance to try our Kayak avatar and its first game, Lotus Pond, you'll notice some pretty visible changes in today's release. You may have some company on the pond thanks to drop-in, drop-out multiplayer. And stick around for the whole workout to shepherd ducks by day, and search for gems by night. Let us know what you think of these updates at the Forums!
Improved Account Creation
Sometimes VirZOOM is just too much fun to keep to yourself. Now, it's possible to set up multiple users on a single bike, even under just one email address, each with its own friends, challenges, leaderboard rankings, and hookups with Strava and Pandora. Note that this means you won't be able to use your email address to log into My VirZOOM, since you could have multiple accounts associated with one address. Be sure to log in with your account name instead!
Let Us Know What You Think
Got any feedback for us? Please share! Drop me an email at jason@virzoom.com or visit this forum threadto let us know what you think! We take your input (and your game suggestions) very seriously.
Have any questions, concerns, or technical problems? Check out our manual at My VirZOOM for instructions and troubleshooting tips, or drop by the VirZOOM Forumsto ask questions of our staff and community.
Thanks for your support, and see you online!
Kayak, Friends, Challenges, and Mixed Reality!
Kayak your way through Lotus Pond
Download today's update to hop in our new KAYAK avatar and pedal (or paddle) your way around LOTUS POND! Suitable for players new to VR and anyone looking for a gentle workout, Lotus Pond offers a chance to take slow turns, befriend the local water fowl, and explore a calming environment. Drop by the forums and let us know what you think!
Introducing Friends & Challenges!
Meanwhile, at My VirZOOM, your web-based companion for VirZOOM Arcade games, we've added a bunch of features to make it easier to play and work out with other players. Invite anyone with a VirZOOM account to be your FRIEND, and schedule CHALLENGES for any VirZOOM game to coordinate workouts or hold your own tournaments. You can also filter Leaderboards to show just the players you know, and view your ACTIVITY LOG at the My VirZOOM homepage for updates on what you and your friends have been playing.
Don't know anybody else with a VirZOOM yet? You always have a friend in us. Feel free to send friend invitations to VirZOOM CTO and Co-founder Eric Malafeew (EMALAFEEW) and Community Manager Jason Tocci (JASON), and drop by this forum thread to meet other players and exchange screen names!
And finally, if you're just looking for a pick-up game, My VirZOOM now shows data for WHO'S PLAYING WHAT, and WHEN PEOPLE PLAY MOST by day of the week and time of day, so you can jump in on whatever game has the most matches going.
Show Off: Screenshots & Mixed Reality
Ever wanted to capture your most glorious Pegasus shot, or show off your tank-driving moves? Well, that's easier than ever now. Take a SCREENSHOT without removing your VR headset by pressing the up arrow and X button on your handlebar controllers!
We've also added Vive MIXED REALITY support using externalcamera.cfg, so you can show off how it really feels to round the corners of a race track or gallop after bandits. We've posted quick-and-dirty examples featuring our new Kayak Lotus Pond and our Demo on our YouTube channel, but we're looking forward to seeing what you come up with.
More to Come...
Keep an eye out on Steam: It'll soon be able to host user-submitted configurations for our PC GAMEPAD EMULATOR, allowing you to exercise with plenty more of your favorite games. And don't forget to drop by My VirZOOM for more goodies to come!
