Over the years, numerous different game companies have been toying with the idea of creating new and interesting ways to try and immerse gamers in brand new ways, the most recent attempts have been to do with scent as developers like Sony and Microsoft have both been dabbling in what’s best described as Smell-O-Vision, but so far Sony have now put forward a request for a patent for a potential Smell-O-Vision attachment which can be added to controllers to add to immersion.
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What other similar patents exist, and why is Sony also developing this technology?
Over the years, numerous pieces of technology have been developed by the gaming industry to help gamers become more immersed in the games they are playing; some gaming companies like Nintendo create controllers that encourage the player to act out what they want to do, like Nintendo’s famous Wii Sports.
Even though there have been numerous different gaming devices which have been created by gaming developers to try and help gamers enjoy their games more, most commonly by using senses like touch, sight and hearing, but due to these senses being the easiest to work towards in the gaming industry, many developers have ignored scent as it is one of the most complex senses to work towards in regards to gaming.
Throughout the years, developers like Sony have been working on different types of immersion for gaming using their Dual Sense Controller, as they have developed things like Haptic Feedback for the controller and 3D Audio Support for the PlayStation 5 console. Even with all of these advancements, Sony has now begun to progress further into this immersion by applying for a patent that will allow them to create a detachable accessory for the Dual Sense Controller that will be able to work with the controller to be able to determine when a scent is available and what it should smell like.
As Sony has been developing this new technology, other companies have been working on similar accessories but nothing similar to what Sony has put forward as Xbox has developed an Xbox controller that will have a scent aroma cartridge which can be used with the controller, which will activate the scent. That’s not all, as HAPTICSOL, which is a smaller company which is less known, has also been developing a Special Development Kit which can be used with VR to emit scents at certain times.
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Will Smell-O-Vision be a new trend for gaming, or will it fall flat?
So far, through what we have seen over the years with technology similar to this, it never really ends well, as gamers have gone through numerous peripheral items over the past few years that have never been used; I’m sure many gamers have a plastic Guitar hidden somewhere from an old Guitar Hero game. This just tells us that there is new technology being developed, and it could go either way, many gamers are already quite immersed in the worlds they play through their consoles, but that doesn’t mean that gamers don’t want to go deeper into those worlds.
In the past, there have been scent-based peripherals that have been developed but have been developed and advertised badly and have caused numerous issues for developers as they have put a lot of time and effort into creating these pieces of technology so they can be used. Even though Sony has applied for this patent, it can still be denied, or it can get accepted and just abandoned in the long run, which can happen at any point leaving many gamers in the constant wonder of whether they will be able to smell the grass from a game or not?
What do you think about this information? Do you want to be able to smell the game you are playing? Is Smell-O-Vision another gamig gimmick that’ll fall down the wayside? Let us know in the comments what games you do or don’t want to smell due to this new technology!
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