Les Mills is jumping into Mr. Zuckerberg’s Mixed Reality (by which I mean The Metaverse not his philosophy on life!) with the launch of the Bodycombat XR workout for the new Quest 3 headset from Meta.
The launch of the new app follows on from the success of Bodycombat VR, which came out in February 2022 and is a significant innovation in harnessing the latest features of the Quest 3 (headset) to provide a Mixed-Reality (MR) fitness mode sitting on top of the Metaverse. You could be forgiven for thinking “aren’t Apple supposed to be doing something like this?” To which the answer is yes they are *supposed* to be. But frankly as Apple are still messing about with secret developer workshops, there is a real risk that they will be left far behind.
Unless, in true former Apple fashion, when they do come to market it will be spectacular. We will see.
But back to what is in the here and now, the Mixed-Reality features allow fitness enthusiasts to combine real-life environments with their virtual training spaces by tapping their Quest 3 to move between VR and MR – the first time this has been possible in a mainstream headset. At which point again you can be forgiven for wondering how will Apple improve upon this? After all what Meta have here looks sufficiently similar to what Apple showcased.
Bodycombat training sessions range from basic to advanced and are hosted in a range of environments, including intergalactic deserts, ancient Rome and evening in a Tokyo-inspired neo city. Players earn points for effort and technique, with Newsham and Cohen providing coaching cues and motivation.
At the recent Meta Connect showcase event in the US, founder, Mark Zuckerberg, spotlighted the Les Mills launch, and apparently was quoted as saying: “People love working out in Quest, but now, if you’re doing the Bodycombat XR workout, the targets are going to come at you in your physical location – you’ll be able to see the room around you, so you’ll be a lot more comfortable moving your body.”
Interesting times. The question in my mind is whether Les Mills will also launch on Apple Vision…
