The 3DRudder wants to be the next big thing in gaming and design
Would you be interested in playing a game where movement, camera control or whatever action the game lets you do is controlled just by moving your feet? If your answer is yes, then you have to take a look at the 3DRudder.
It may not look like it, but the 3DRudder can support up to 130 kilograms of weight.
It's pretty safe to say that nobody's heard of 3D Rudder. After all The 3DRudder is 3D Rudder's first project. Yes, that sentence wasn't a mistake. The company is called 3D Rudder and their product is called The 3DRudder. It's a bit confusing, we know but bear with us.
Now technically, rudders aren't exactly new to the PC crowd. Hardcore flight simulation fans have been using them to fly the unfriendly skies for years, with offerings from Thrustmaster and Logitech. What 3D Rudder is trying to do is trying to make the rudder mainstream by making it compatible with a wider variety of software, from design tools to games.
While most rudders use pedals like those found in vehicles, The 3DRudder is different. It's more like a weighing machine physically and is one compact piece of hardware instead of separate pieces of plastic (or metal) like conventional pedals. Despite its compact nature, The 3DRudder can pitch, rotate, roll and (most impressively) be pushed up and down, like individual pedals. It's just 37 cm in diameter, 8 cm tall and weighs less than 2kg.
The 3DRudder will be on display at CES 2015, so expect impressions from us when we get hands on (or feet on) with it next year.
The target audience for The 3DRudder seems to be design professionals and gamers, although 3D Rudder claims that The 3DRudder can be used by anybody given a bit of adjustment time. The 3DRudder is supposedly fully compatible with PC games but 3DRudder is also integrating The 3DRudder support into the Unreal and Unity engines so that developers could potentially develop special features that take advantage of The 3DRudder.
Like the Omni, The 3DRudder seems to want to take something we're used to (in this case controlling camera movement in design software and games) and give us an alternative way of doing it. if you're sold on the premise and want your very own version of The 3DRudder, it's currently up for crowdfunding on Indiegogo. The campaign's just started and if you're interested in pledging, you can get pledge US$110 for The 3DRudder as part of the Early Bird tier (though it only has a limited number of pledges). The normal price to get The 3DRudder will be US$130, although there are higher tiers that come with more of the machines.
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