A CES 2016 Innovation Awards winner, this technology- the 3dRudder, will bring a new level to virtual reality gaming. TechnoMark first tested this out at CES 2016, and 3dRudder was good enough to send us one to review for a fair and unbiased review.

The black and red platform itself is very nicely put together- very good quality. There is ample room for most feet- unless you are one of those basketball players who have to special order their shoes. It weighs close to 4 lbs, but is still easy to store and carry. The box it comes in has a handle, so you could take it to a friend’s house to game.

Setup is pretty simple and straight-forward. Once the  Dashboard is downloaded and installed, you simply follow the straightforward instructions given on the screen to get started.

Airboard Arena is the demo that comes programmed into the Dashboard. The demo teaches you how to move using the 3dRudder. You can move forward, backward, side to side. A twisting motion will allow you to turn yourself around, and then there’s a stepping motion you perform that will allow you to elevate.

There are some other cool features the the 3dRudder can perform- like acting as a mouse for your computer. In fact, I think this product would be great for people with limited use of their hands or people with no hands.

Okay, this is TechnoMark, and I’ll take over from here. I tried it out for the HTC Vive, and it is really an interesting experience. I don’t know if you can even tell what the 3DRudder does from just looking at this, but it enables freedom of movement in VR games.

Yes, you know how you can move your head around on the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, PlayStation 4, and more? Well, movement of your feet is now possible as you lean forward on this disc to move forward, and then left and right for those motions. There are some intricacies in the movement, but this varies per game.

In all honesty, this could easily become the standard for those who wish to play VR while sitting, but what if I want to stand up? Perhaps there is some device that hasn’t been invented for that.

Since I’m not a super VR junkie, I thought I might link to another blogger who wrote in great detail about issues he had with the Oculus Rift. Skarredghost did an excellent hands-on review. He mentioned that the 3dRudder slides some on hardwood floors. It seems to work best on carpet.

If the 3dRudder sounds good to you, you can buy it for about $140 on the 3dRudder site, or $130 on Amazon.com.