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Game Feedback Gets More Intense With Electrodes
ne_ol'schmoe writes "The simple feedback of a Dual Shock is passé - vomit comet simulators will soon be possible without leaving your chair, since those wacky tech-heads at NTT have come up with a way to change people's perception of balance, using electrodes that fit behind your ear. They expect to integrate it with racing and flight games to have users lean into turns, and also to simulate gravity changes for a more realistic experience. Sounds cool, but now games will have to come with barf bags, I guess."
For those of us who remember "motion sickness" in the original Doom - I guess it's just a matter of time before people get accustomed to the feelings.
I remember I needed to take hours of breaks after just half-an-hour of Doom the first couple of weeks, because of motion sickness. Far worse than "car sickness" which I used to have when I was a kid.
I grew up from "car sickness". I grew up from "motion sickness" in games. I guess it'll just take some weeks/months of playing with these electrode-things before one get used to it - and thus simply doesn't need the barf-bag.
"Rune Kristian Viken" - http://www.nwo.no - arca
In reality, if somebody's shot down in an airplane, it's okay for them to have a screaming headache and red out because they're about to freaking die. In a video game, it's nice to just watch the pretty pixels pass by before you crater.
Condemnant quod non intellegunt.
I may live in the minority on this issue, but I sort of like that concrete separation of games and reality. I don't have any interest in the feelings or lives of my various avatars; I just want to play the game. That doesn't mean though that I don't find this interesting on a sort of passive level. I don't think I am ready to have vomiting induced when I get poisoned in game though. (Actually that sounds sort of cool)
This is going to be a big deal (assuming they can get consumers to bite on it, seems like one of those things that various watchdog groups are going to get uppity about) but I suspect that it will be embraced the same way that rumble technology has been; it will eventually get included in everything, even those things in which it does not fit or seem appropriate and eventually many gamers are just going to leave it turned off.
On Wall Street they say "buy low, sell high" On the pad we say, "buy high, sell high" Isn't that somehow better?
I spent yesterday in the hospital with my mom. They thought she had a small stroke because her balance was off and she kept falling to the right. Turns out it was a condition called labyrinthitis.
Messing with your inner ear through electrical pulse could certainley have some long term effects, like swelling or neuron damage.
An artificial vertigo sensation while playing a game isn't a fair trade off for possibly days of irregular balance.
WURD!!
"Put it in the streets" ???
It's an electrode sticking behind your ear, dammit!
It needs physical contact, you need the consent of the person to have him wear it...
How could you control a crowd with such a thing?
"Please, everybody, now stick this device to your ear so we can make you dizzy" ???
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