The "aha" moment for me, as an outsider to this industry, is using a special shoe to reduce friction and increase lateral stability versus only focusing on developing a 3D treadmill itself.
Source: Urban combat training, FDF.
I define strafing ( in games ) as running sideways at the same speed as running forward ( as in most shooters ) , which is not done in real life.
That's fine and good. But in games, I strafe all the damn time. If you're playing some kind of FPS game and you aren't strafing you're going to get your ass beat thoroughly.
I also strafe all the time in games that have spiral staircases. Much faster that way.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-8eVcN2z3k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msci440q18s
Think about it. How do you accomodate movement along multiple axis simultaneously using treadmill technology in a compact, affordable, game-room-sized package?
Other than the obvious reason as they say, no moving parts(min 4 motors, moving belts etc) How would this work? How would one get coverage on a cone shaped walking zone, sounds to me like an engineering nightmare?