Slashdot Mirror


Thermoelectrics Could Let You Feel the Heat In Games

myshadows writes "Tech Review has an interesting article on how Tokyo Metropolitan University researchers have been able to give a sensory addition to gaming peripherals — namely, temperature. 'As the range of interactions with digital environments expands, it's logical to ask what's next: Smell-o-vision has been on the horizon for something like 50 years, but there's a dark horse stalking this race: thermoelectrics. Based on the Peltier effect, these solid-state devices are easy to incorporate into objects of reasonable size, i.e. video game controllers. In this configuration, just announced at the 2010 SIGGRAPH conference, a pair of thermoelectric surfaces on either side of a controller rapidly heat up or cool down in order to simulate appropriate conditions in a virtual environment.'"

6 of 102 comments (clear)

  1. The real use by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Games? Bring on the thermoelectric Fleshlight!

  2. For an even greater sensation... by Just_Say_Duhhh · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Try making the thermoelectrics demonstrate the thermal grill illusion and you can convince the holder that he's been burned. I touched one of these at the Museum of Science & Industry, and I still remember it decades later.

    --
    I need trepanation like I need a hole in the head.
  3. Re:Watch where you put that! by d474 · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's not the size of your joystick that counts, it's how HOT it gets!

    Truth be told, I have not yet been able to verify my hypothesis on this matter with a willing test subject.

    --
    Authority questions you. Return the favor.
  4. You will be baked by Megahard · · Score: 5, Funny

    .. and then there will be cake.

    --
    I eat only the real part of complex carbohydrates.
  5. Electric charge by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Wouldn't it be lovely if the controller could deal electric shocks? Or pretend-drown the player? "Because we can" isn't always sufficient justification.

  6. Well actually... by Grimbleton · · Score: 4, Insightful

    My system is AMD-based. I ALREADY feel the heat.