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All the next-gen console business is all well and good with regards to graphics and sound. And indeed some of the games taste good spread with a little jam or honey, especially PS2 DVDs. But while we see controller vibration 'paks' and hear 5.1 Dolby delightfulness we still never get games involving smell. It's the last frontier of sensory stimulation still unexplored by games developers (apart from the obvious... but that thread's for a different website!). Anyways, now that a group of techno-boffins have conceptualised a 'odour-simulator' for PCs, using 'primary smells' and 'vapour pads'(not that I actually understand the logistics) we might well get games in the future that use smell effects? I certainly hope so.
Even though it would blatantly have little practical value to gamers, I think it could be extremely amusing. Especially if there was a game with a fart smell (tee hee hee). But it could even add to the immersive nature of certain games in a real way too. The smell of gunpowder would benefit any shooting game, the smell of petrol would benefit any driving game and the smell of freshly mown grass would benfit any lawn-mowing game. This is why we must petition Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft to make sure our next-next-gen consoles come equipped with 'Smell Transformer Inhalators for Nasal Conditioning' (STINCs tm) as standard.
There could honestly be some innovative titles using a STINC for more than just novelty. If the game character was a dog, for instance, you might have to seek out certain objects by following any amplified smell until you find it (presumeably with the option to turn the smell off and use a map, if rolling in fox poo etc). It would be absurd/ridiculous/plain stupid, but that approach has always worked in video gaming, partly thanks to those zany Japanese games makers and their zany ways. It would stimulate more of those true oddities in gaming that keep our culture so enriched. Or whatever.
The main problem posed to any conventional port of a traditional video game to STINC compatability is that it would, in all likelyhood, be a bit unpleasant. Tekken 6 will excrete the smell of blood and human/monster sweat. Virtua Tennis 3 will smell of sweaty headbands and strawberries'n'cream. Resident Evil 5 will stench of rotting zombie-corpses. GTA 4 will whiff of cheap perfume, garbage and leather jackets. Jet Set Radio 3 will fume with spray paint and pollution. And worst of all, Ecco the Dolphin 4 will wreak of fish.
So, in conclusion, on balance, overall, I'm not really sure of the point I'm making. Ah well.
If only I could post a link to the big garlic burp I'm about to unleash.
http:www.stinkernet.pong/smell-e-mail/uploads/buuuuuurp.html
Even though it would blatantly have little practical value to gamers, I think it could be extremely amusing. Especially if there was a game with a fart smell (tee hee hee). But it could even add to the immersive nature of certain games in a real way too. The smell of gunpowder would benefit any shooting game, the smell of petrol would benefit any driving game and the smell of freshly mown grass would benfit any lawn-mowing game. This is why we must petition Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft to make sure our next-next-gen consoles come equipped with 'Smell Transformer Inhalators for Nasal Conditioning' (STINCs tm) as standard.
There could honestly be some innovative titles using a STINC for more than just novelty. If the game character was a dog, for instance, you might have to seek out certain objects by following any amplified smell until you find it (presumeably with the option to turn the smell off and use a map, if rolling in fox poo etc). It would be absurd/ridiculous/plain stupid, but that approach has always worked in video gaming, partly thanks to those zany Japanese games makers and their zany ways. It would stimulate more of those true oddities in gaming that keep our culture so enriched. Or whatever.
The main problem posed to any conventional port of a traditional video game to STINC compatability is that it would, in all likelyhood, be a bit unpleasant. Tekken 6 will excrete the smell of blood and human/monster sweat. Virtua Tennis 3 will smell of sweaty headbands and strawberries'n'cream. Resident Evil 5 will stench of rotting zombie-corpses. GTA 4 will whiff of cheap perfume, garbage and leather jackets. Jet Set Radio 3 will fume with spray paint and pollution. And worst of all, Ecco the Dolphin 4 will wreak of fish.
So, in conclusion, on balance, overall, I'm not really sure of the point I'm making. Ah well.
If only I could post a link to the big garlic burp I'm about to unleash.
http:www.stinkernet.pong/smell-e-mail/uploads/buuuuuurp.html
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All the next-gen console business is all well and good with regards to graphics and sound. And indeed some of the games taste good spread with a little jam or honey, especially PS2 DVDs. But while we see controller vibration 'paks' and hear 5.1 Dolby delightfulness we still never get games involving smell. It's the last frontier of sensory stimulation still unexplored by games developers (apart from the obvious... but that thread's for a different website!). Anyways, now that a group of techno-boffins have conceptualised a 'odour-simulator' for PCs, using 'primary smells' and 'vapour pads'(not that I actually understand the logistics) we might well get games in the future that use smell effects? I certainly hope so.
Even though it would blatantly have little practical value to gamers, I think it could be extremely amusing. Especially if there was a game with a fart smell (tee hee hee). But it could even add to the immersive nature of certain games in a real way too. The smell of gunpowder would benefit any shooting game, the smell of petrol would benefit any driving game and the smell of freshly mown grass would benfit any lawn-mowing game. This is why we must petition Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft to make sure our next-next-gen consoles come equipped with 'Smell Transformer Inhalators for Nasal Conditioning' (STINCs tm) as standard.
There could honestly be some innovative titles using a STINC for more than just novelty. If the game character was a dog, for instance, you might have to seek out certain objects by following any amplified smell until you find it (presumeably with the option to turn the smell off and use a map, if rolling in fox poo etc). It would be absurd/ridiculous/plain stupid, but that approach has always worked in video gaming, partly thanks to those zany Japanese games makers and their zany ways. It would stimulate more of those true oddities in gaming that keep our culture so enriched. Or whatever.
The main problem posed to any conventional port of a traditional video game to STINC compatability is that it would, in all likelyhood, be a bit unpleasant. Tekken 6 will excrete the smell of blood and human/monster sweat. Virtua Tennis 3 will smell of sweaty headbands and strawberries'n'cream. Resident Evil 5 will stench of rotting zombie-corpses. GTA 4 will whiff of cheap perfume, garbage and leather jackets. Jet Set Radio 3 will fume with spray paint and pollution. And worst of all, Ecco the Dolphin 4 will wreak of fish.
So, in conclusion, on balance, overall, I'm not really sure of the point I'm making. Ah well.
If only I could post a link to the big garlic burp I'm about to unleash.
http:www.stinkernet.pong/smell-e-mail/uploads/buuuuuurp.html
Even though it would blatantly have little practical value to gamers, I think it could be extremely amusing. Especially if there was a game with a fart smell (tee hee hee). But it could even add to the immersive nature of certain games in a real way too. The smell of gunpowder would benefit any shooting game, the smell of petrol would benefit any driving game and the smell of freshly mown grass would benfit any lawn-mowing game. This is why we must petition Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft to make sure our next-next-gen consoles come equipped with 'Smell Transformer Inhalators for Nasal Conditioning' (STINCs tm) as standard.
There could honestly be some innovative titles using a STINC for more than just novelty. If the game character was a dog, for instance, you might have to seek out certain objects by following any amplified smell until you find it (presumeably with the option to turn the smell off and use a map, if rolling in fox poo etc). It would be absurd/ridiculous/plain stupid, but that approach has always worked in video gaming, partly thanks to those zany Japanese games makers and their zany ways. It would stimulate more of those true oddities in gaming that keep our culture so enriched. Or whatever.
The main problem posed to any conventional port of a traditional video game to STINC compatability is that it would, in all likelyhood, be a bit unpleasant. Tekken 6 will excrete the smell of blood and human/monster sweat. Virtua Tennis 3 will smell of sweaty headbands and strawberries'n'cream. Resident Evil 5 will stench of rotting zombie-corpses. GTA 4 will whiff of cheap perfume, garbage and leather jackets. Jet Set Radio 3 will fume with spray paint and pollution. And worst of all, Ecco the Dolphin 4 will wreak of fish.
So, in conclusion, on balance, overall, I'm not really sure of the point I'm making. Ah well.
If only I could post a link to the big garlic burp I'm about to unleash.
http:www.stinkernet.pong/smell-e-mail/uploads/buuuuuurp.html