Gaming, you’ve come a long way. The industry is now more than just a controller and some buttons when it comes to experiencing a game. We’ve got motion control, hands-free waggles and VR all competing for a spot in our lives and wallets. But I’m all about the haptic feedback lately.
At E3 last week, I managed to get my hands on some hardware, and the results weren’t disastrous. For once. Over at the Immerz Inc booth, I got strapped in for some time with this wonderful piece of technology. And it has come a long way since it was first revealed way back in 2009.
Right now, it’s a comfy piece of tech. The vest itself is light and unobtrusive, and provided that your equipment has a 3.5 sound jack, it’ll work on it. Which means that this will work on anything really. I fired up some Call of Duty, and was damn surprised at how well it worked.
The acousto-haptic transducers feed pinpoint precision sound to my chest area, which expanded upon impact. It’s not a rumble pack I’m wearing, but it certainly feels like it, and in most scenarios, even better. You feel everything when you play with this piece of technology. Your footsteps, a shot to the heart and the feedback recoil of your rifle. It’s just marvellous.
There’s a Kickstarter on for the vest right now, which is sitting at $95 222 raised of the $75 000 goal at the time that this was written, with 35 days to go. I’m genuinely enamoured by this hardware, and the fact that Immerz have a working final prototype to show to backers who are interested in providing funds, speaks for itself.
Hit the Kickstarter page if you want. Because I sure as hell want to buy one of these for myself.
Last Updated: June 19, 2014
