(Las Vegas) Getting shot or stung by bees doesn’t draw crowds, but the ability to physically feel those sensations appeals to video game enthusiasts.
At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the Las Vegas tech show that ends on Sunday, the gaming industry showcased accessories that let gamers take their adventures beyond the screen.
The bHaptics haptic (sensation feedback) jacket, connected to the virtual reality (VR) headset, reproduces the actions that take place in the game world. The haptic gloves, on the other hand, add the sense of touch.
“People can smell the bullets, but also the wind, the rain or even the bees”, assures Kiuk Gwak, a representative of the South Korean company.
Razer, for its part, presented a cushion supposed to allow players “to feel everything that is happening behind them, and thus place them in the heart of the action”.
The company specializing in hardware for video games ensures that “Project Carol” is the first cushion with its multichannel and haptic materials.
Razer will also release a handheld console dubbed Edge in the US in late January for $400.
Like Dell and Acer, the company takes advantage above all of the CES to highlight high-performance laptops, with very high definition screens and powerful electronic chips, designed especially for video games.
Player on board
“Video games with hyper-realistic images need extremely advanced graphics cards,” said Scott Herkelman, vice president of semiconductor manufacturer AMD.
Its competitor Nvidia was also present, to announce that its video game service via cloud computing, GeForce Now, would be accessible in vehicles for the first time, thanks to an alliance with Hyundai, BYD and Polestar.
“Thanks to cloud computing and mobile internet, passengers will no longer be bored between music, movies and video games in the car,” Nvidia said in a press release, noting that the driver could not play only when his vehicle is parked.
Other consumer electronics giants, South Koreans LG and Samsung, have brought out bespoke screens for gamers, with curves to improve the feeling of immersion in the game.
virtual casino
Clover Gaming, a young Dominican company, has designed a virtual casino with slot machines, roulette and betting on horse races, like in Las Vegas, but in the metaverse.
The “CloverLand” platform plans to use the blockchain and cryptocurrencies, Eilla Lefebvre, director of development, told AFP.
“We came to CES because we use these recent technologies,” she added. “And we want to understand what people like and don’t like, to make sure we’re going in the right direction.”
Companies in the video game sector increasingly see the show as an asset in their strategy to attract and keep players.
“We’re talking about Web3 and metaverse, and it’s all going to start with video games,” notes Jeff Netzer of PlayStudios, a Las Vegas company whose mobile games reward consumers with vouchers for meals, vacations hotel or helicopter tours.
According to him, the CES makes it possible in particular to identify “which devices will become essential” to the industry.