VR fitness platform YUR is levelling up at-home workouts during COVID-19 isolation with the launch of a virtual watch in several Oculus Quest games and on PC.
The YUR.watch, as it’s called, is a new interface that mimics a real-life smartwatch, attached to the user’s wrist. It counts the calories you burn off while playing games. It also keeps track of a heart rate estimate calculated on your height and weight, and it’ll count the number of squats you do over a play session. Once you’ve signed in, you’ll be able to keep track of your daily targets and rise through a levelling system to unlock new tiers of watches.
Previously YUR integration on Quest came by way of SideQuest, which gave you a floating menu in-game. But the watch is being natively integrated into Quest apps via updates. I tried it out with Synth Riders, which you can see in the video below.
After a quick play around, the watch seems like a pretty fantastic addition for any VR gamers that want to keep fit. Being able to track progress persistently across multiple games is a huge advantage, and the interface can be summoned and disregarded with a flick of a wrist. There’s no physical interaction, which is a shame given that it could allow for great UI control, but understandable given you don’t want it to interfere with gameplay.
Right now the watch is officially integrated into Sairento VR, Racket: Nx and Synth Riders, with support for the excellent OhShape arriving tomorrow. We’d definitely like to see it get added into more Quest games in the future. On PC, though, the watch can be more easily integrated into games, as evidenced by this excellent Half-Life: Alyx GIF.
Will you be using YUR.watch to keep fit in VR while you stay indoors? Let us know in the comments below.
