Ask yourself this question; what does your computer have to provide you to make games totally immersive? Well, of course, you need a state-of-the-art graphics card to give your games life-like 2D and 3D images. And sound? The sound cards of today allow such high quality sound that you can pinpoint your opponents in multiplayer games just by the virtual 'thud' of their footsteps. Force feedback joysticks, steering wheels, and rumble chairs provide the sense of touch from games. But what about taste and smell? Today's games don't provide much in game substances to taste. However, if you could smell your surroundings, everything about the game would be much more vivid and memorable. How could your computer provide this experience for you? It will probably come through a product made by DigiScents.
DigiScents, a company based out of Oakland, CA, has developed a product it calls iSmell, which is actually a "scent delivery device." This sleek-looking, Aladdin lamp-like device hooks up to your computer's USB port. The device contains a number of oils, that when directed by software programmed just for iSmell, will vaporize in certain patterns, providing the desired smell by the computer. Every smell will be made up of different combinations that are controlled by small files that contain the smell's chemical makeup and its place in the scent spectrum. There may be multiple versions of iSmell depending on the how much you're willing to spend and how many scents you want emitted from your computer. Mind you, not every scent will be digitized in a game. DigiScents' PR director David Libby says, "We don't want to have a game contain so many scents that it overwhelms the player."
Games are not the only focus of DigiScents; they're also going online with various companies from all sorts of industries. Food retailers and florists are only some of the many business that could benefit by allowing potential customers to have a whiff of their product.
Hopefully iSmell proves to be more than a gimmick product. If it can give gamers a more complete experience it will have served its purpose and belongs in the marketplace. However, if it is just one more device that takes up space on a desktop, there might not be any more attempts at anything like this. It sounds exciting and groundbreaking. If they pull it off, we'll be one step closer to a lifelike computer simulation.
Go To Page: 1 2
| Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: | View all related messages |
For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Sean Weiser's Computer Gaming News topic, please visit the Discussions page.