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First there was visual. We could see what was happening on the screen. Shortly after came audio, then we could hear what was happening, or at least have something to listen to while playing the games. Both of these have advanced greatly in what is a relatively short time. From one of the first games, Pong, featuring three white sticks and a ball on a black background (with “Bleep” and “Bing” noises to accompany the hitting of the ball) we can see the huge leap in standards. Games like GT3 and MGS2 have near photo-realistic graphics. Reflections in car windows and puddles, icy breath on a cold day, changing weather conditions and emotions, as well as many more, can all be portrayed accurately. Audio, also, has become so much better – sounds can be instantly recognisable without even having to look at the screen nowadays. It can be used to add atmosphere to a game as well, as demonstrated excellently by the Resident Evil series – without that spooky soundtrack the games just wouldn’t be the same.
But the thing I want to know is, when will the other three senses come into play? There’s still smell, taste, and movement left. Well, there are some advances in movement. There’s controllers such as the dual shock, which offer a rumble, and to an extent enhance the gaming experience, but they will not go down as a major step in gaming history. There is also movement in the form of input, rather than output, with devices such as controllers in the shape of a snowboard that you stand on, and the new beat ‘em up controller (which detects a part of your body moving between two sticks) and translates it into a fighting move. Unfortunately it can’t tell the difference between a punch and a kick and so it will also not go down in gaming history.
When will we be able to see real movement in the form of output? Like, for instance, the TV moving in a circular motion to position itself behind you when you do a 180° turn in Tony Hawk’s? OK, so such things would be quite difficult to make, and could cause havoc on Christmas Day when you have your first go on THPS3 with the family surrounding the TV… Not everyone would want such extravagant things, in fact, I’m not sure I would want it.
But what I do want is the taste and smell aspects, particularly the smell. Picture the scene…. it’s a Resident Evil game. To infiltrate the main Umbrella base, the main character has to go through the sewers. Immediately the most putrid and vile smell imaginable comes through the PS2. Faeces, urine, you can smell it all. Then you get out of the sewers and go into the base. Now as well as hearing the beasts coming for you, you can smell them. Zombies have the smell of rotting flesh, hunters smell like unwashed monkey reptiles and the dogs…… well we all know how bad dogs can smell.
This would enhance the game on so many levels. On a basic level, the game would be more realistic. But if smells can be outside the game, they can also be inside the game. After you’ve been in the sewer, you’re gonna whiff a bit. Then the enemies will get a stronger scent of you, they’ll be able to smell you as much as you can smell them. On another level, you’ll be able to empathise more with the characters. If they break and down and cry halfway through the game, you might normally say “Get on with it”, but after having gone through all the awful sights, sounds and smells that they have been through, you’ll understand more.
The problem is, how to do it. Well, the only thing I can come up with is capsules. Smell capsules, that come in a little plastic container (like asprin when you’ve opened the box, you know what I mean). You would slot a container into the back of your chosen console, and at the right time the console opens one of the capsules and releases said smell. The smell wouldn’t last long, as the capsules would only be small, but this would be even more realistic – after a while you don’t notice a smell as much as when it was first smelt. You get used to it.
Anyone who could come up with a way of making smells to accompany videogames (no beans involved) please do it, and do it now. The industry would be indebted to you. It would be a huge leap forward. And taste? Well, maybe taste wouldn’t be so useful……. Unless some kind of Ready Steady Cook game came out (already in the making stages no doubt…).
But the thing I want to know is, when will the other three senses come into play? There’s still smell, taste, and movement left. Well, there are some advances in movement. There’s controllers such as the dual shock, which offer a rumble, and to an extent enhance the gaming experience, but they will not go down as a major step in gaming history. There is also movement in the form of input, rather than output, with devices such as controllers in the shape of a snowboard that you stand on, and the new beat ‘em up controller (which detects a part of your body moving between two sticks) and translates it into a fighting move. Unfortunately it can’t tell the difference between a punch and a kick and so it will also not go down in gaming history.
When will we be able to see real movement in the form of output? Like, for instance, the TV moving in a circular motion to position itself behind you when you do a 180° turn in Tony Hawk’s? OK, so such things would be quite difficult to make, and could cause havoc on Christmas Day when you have your first go on THPS3 with the family surrounding the TV… Not everyone would want such extravagant things, in fact, I’m not sure I would want it.
But what I do want is the taste and smell aspects, particularly the smell. Picture the scene…. it’s a Resident Evil game. To infiltrate the main Umbrella base, the main character has to go through the sewers. Immediately the most putrid and vile smell imaginable comes through the PS2. Faeces, urine, you can smell it all. Then you get out of the sewers and go into the base. Now as well as hearing the beasts coming for you, you can smell them. Zombies have the smell of rotting flesh, hunters smell like unwashed monkey reptiles and the dogs…… well we all know how bad dogs can smell.
This would enhance the game on so many levels. On a basic level, the game would be more realistic. But if smells can be outside the game, they can also be inside the game. After you’ve been in the sewer, you’re gonna whiff a bit. Then the enemies will get a stronger scent of you, they’ll be able to smell you as much as you can smell them. On another level, you’ll be able to empathise more with the characters. If they break and down and cry halfway through the game, you might normally say “Get on with it”, but after having gone through all the awful sights, sounds and smells that they have been through, you’ll understand more.
The problem is, how to do it. Well, the only thing I can come up with is capsules. Smell capsules, that come in a little plastic container (like asprin when you’ve opened the box, you know what I mean). You would slot a container into the back of your chosen console, and at the right time the console opens one of the capsules and releases said smell. The smell wouldn’t last long, as the capsules would only be small, but this would be even more realistic – after a while you don’t notice a smell as much as when it was first smelt. You get used to it.
Anyone who could come up with a way of making smells to accompany videogames (no beans involved) please do it, and do it now. The industry would be indebted to you. It would be a huge leap forward. And taste? Well, maybe taste wouldn’t be so useful……. Unless some kind of Ready Steady Cook game came out (already in the making stages no doubt…).
Well I thought this was an interesting topic, but everyone seems to be avoiding it like the plague.
That's an interesting idea about a 'smell box' but would you dare smell it???
What if you were at Poo Mountain on Conker's BFD!!
And surely people would be worried about fires and pollution they could smell from the box.
What if you were playing a game in the middle of the night, everyone else asleep, and your parents woke up smelling burning, without realising it's you!!
But i'd still like a smell box, but shouldn't it be called a 'toilet'??
What if you were at Poo Mountain on Conker's BFD!!
And surely people would be worried about fires and pollution they could smell from the box.
What if you were playing a game in the middle of the night, everyone else asleep, and your parents woke up smelling burning, without realising it's you!!
But i'd still like a smell box, but shouldn't it be called a 'toilet'??
I know, I know, it would be expensive and difficult to create, and it wouldn't necessarily make a game better. It would make games better to an extent. But everything seems to be about realism these days, and in the quest for realism one day smell is sure to be reached. The most sought after games recently all have great realism, take MGS2 and GT3 for example. Good graphics are what people seem to want most, but MGS's sheer attention to detail is absolutely brilliant. Imagine how much more realistic it'd be with smells. Oily scents when you're in the engine room, a salty smell on the ships deck, maybe you could even smell Snake's deodorant (or lack of it) when in a locker. I'd like it anyway.
A while back a company developed a small smell creating box, I am sure it is still in development. The box mixed together various chemicals to produce common smells that could be used in games. Things like burning rubber, rotting flesh etc But would it really make games better? Ok so they would be more realistic but would that make them better? Also money appears here, how much would things like this cost (To buy then keep working, buying extra smell cartridges etc) If the price is right it would probably sell but if it isn't then could be another wasted idea.
Smell capsules - somehow I can't see it happening but you never know.
Why not collect together your own DIY smell effects.
The next time you play Resident Evil, you could surround yourself with rotting chunks of meat and bottles of stale p*ss.
You could even hang fresh meat from a height and let the blood drip slowly onto a solid surface.
And perhaps when your ingame character fires his shotgun, you could blow out candles to create the smell of used smoking gun shells.
I do it all the time.
Why not collect together your own DIY smell effects.
The next time you play Resident Evil, you could surround yourself with rotting chunks of meat and bottles of stale p*ss.
You could even hang fresh meat from a height and let the blood drip slowly onto a solid surface.
And perhaps when your ingame character fires his shotgun, you could blow out candles to create the smell of used smoking gun shells.
I do it all the time.
First there was visual. We could see what was happening on the screen. Shortly after came audio, then we could hear what was happening, or at least have something to listen to while playing the games. Both of these have advanced greatly in what is a relatively short time. From one of the first games, Pong, featuring three white sticks and a ball on a black background (with “Bleep” and “Bing” noises to accompany the hitting of the ball) we can see the huge leap in standards. Games like GT3 and MGS2 have near photo-realistic graphics. Reflections in car windows and puddles, icy breath on a cold day, changing weather conditions and emotions, as well as many more, can all be portrayed accurately. Audio, also, has become so much better – sounds can be instantly recognisable without even having to look at the screen nowadays. It can be used to add atmosphere to a game as well, as demonstrated excellently by the Resident Evil series – without that spooky soundtrack the games just wouldn’t be the same.
But the thing I want to know is, when will the other three senses come into play? There’s still smell, taste, and movement left. Well, there are some advances in movement. There’s controllers such as the dual shock, which offer a rumble, and to an extent enhance the gaming experience, but they will not go down as a major step in gaming history. There is also movement in the form of input, rather than output, with devices such as controllers in the shape of a snowboard that you stand on, and the new beat ‘em up controller (which detects a part of your body moving between two sticks) and translates it into a fighting move. Unfortunately it can’t tell the difference between a punch and a kick and so it will also not go down in gaming history.
When will we be able to see real movement in the form of output? Like, for instance, the TV moving in a circular motion to position itself behind you when you do a 180° turn in Tony Hawk’s? OK, so such things would be quite difficult to make, and could cause havoc on Christmas Day when you have your first go on THPS3 with the family surrounding the TV… Not everyone would want such extravagant things, in fact, I’m not sure I would want it.
But what I do want is the taste and smell aspects, particularly the smell. Picture the scene…. it’s a Resident Evil game. To infiltrate the main Umbrella base, the main character has to go through the sewers. Immediately the most putrid and vile smell imaginable comes through the PS2. Faeces, urine, you can smell it all. Then you get out of the sewers and go into the base. Now as well as hearing the beasts coming for you, you can smell them. Zombies have the smell of rotting flesh, hunters smell like unwashed monkey reptiles and the dogs…… well we all know how bad dogs can smell.
This would enhance the game on so many levels. On a basic level, the game would be more realistic. But if smells can be outside the game, they can also be inside the game. After you’ve been in the sewer, you’re gonna whiff a bit. Then the enemies will get a stronger scent of you, they’ll be able to smell you as much as you can smell them. On another level, you’ll be able to empathise more with the characters. If they break and down and cry halfway through the game, you might normally say “Get on with it”, but after having gone through all the awful sights, sounds and smells that they have been through, you’ll understand more.
The problem is, how to do it. Well, the only thing I can come up with is capsules. Smell capsules, that come in a little plastic container (like asprin when you’ve opened the box, you know what I mean). You would slot a container into the back of your chosen console, and at the right time the console opens one of the capsules and releases said smell. The smell wouldn’t last long, as the capsules would only be small, but this would be even more realistic – after a while you don’t notice a smell as much as when it was first smelt. You get used to it.
Anyone who could come up with a way of making smells to accompany videogames (no beans involved) please do it, and do it now. The industry would be indebted to you. It would be a huge leap forward. And taste? Well, maybe taste wouldn’t be so useful……. Unless some kind of Ready Steady Cook game came out (already in the making stages no doubt…).
But the thing I want to know is, when will the other three senses come into play? There’s still smell, taste, and movement left. Well, there are some advances in movement. There’s controllers such as the dual shock, which offer a rumble, and to an extent enhance the gaming experience, but they will not go down as a major step in gaming history. There is also movement in the form of input, rather than output, with devices such as controllers in the shape of a snowboard that you stand on, and the new beat ‘em up controller (which detects a part of your body moving between two sticks) and translates it into a fighting move. Unfortunately it can’t tell the difference between a punch and a kick and so it will also not go down in gaming history.
When will we be able to see real movement in the form of output? Like, for instance, the TV moving in a circular motion to position itself behind you when you do a 180° turn in Tony Hawk’s? OK, so such things would be quite difficult to make, and could cause havoc on Christmas Day when you have your first go on THPS3 with the family surrounding the TV… Not everyone would want such extravagant things, in fact, I’m not sure I would want it.
But what I do want is the taste and smell aspects, particularly the smell. Picture the scene…. it’s a Resident Evil game. To infiltrate the main Umbrella base, the main character has to go through the sewers. Immediately the most putrid and vile smell imaginable comes through the PS2. Faeces, urine, you can smell it all. Then you get out of the sewers and go into the base. Now as well as hearing the beasts coming for you, you can smell them. Zombies have the smell of rotting flesh, hunters smell like unwashed monkey reptiles and the dogs…… well we all know how bad dogs can smell.
This would enhance the game on so many levels. On a basic level, the game would be more realistic. But if smells can be outside the game, they can also be inside the game. After you’ve been in the sewer, you’re gonna whiff a bit. Then the enemies will get a stronger scent of you, they’ll be able to smell you as much as you can smell them. On another level, you’ll be able to empathise more with the characters. If they break and down and cry halfway through the game, you might normally say “Get on with it”, but after having gone through all the awful sights, sounds and smells that they have been through, you’ll understand more.
The problem is, how to do it. Well, the only thing I can come up with is capsules. Smell capsules, that come in a little plastic container (like asprin when you’ve opened the box, you know what I mean). You would slot a container into the back of your chosen console, and at the right time the console opens one of the capsules and releases said smell. The smell wouldn’t last long, as the capsules would only be small, but this would be even more realistic – after a while you don’t notice a smell as much as when it was first smelt. You get used to it.
Anyone who could come up with a way of making smells to accompany videogames (no beans involved) please do it, and do it now. The industry would be indebted to you. It would be a huge leap forward. And taste? Well, maybe taste wouldn’t be so useful……. Unless some kind of Ready Steady Cook game came out (already in the making stages no doubt…).