Hey, have you ever played Halo and thought, “This would be so much better if I could smell the testes being digitally pressed to the forehead of my prone, bullet-riddled form!”
If so, then good news! Somebody’s working on just that! It’s called the GameSkunk!
So what are they thinking? That gaming could use another layer of realism:
“We thought this would take games to another level,” said [Sensory Acumen CEO Charlene] Coleman, who’s now working on deals with game developers. “They already have great sound and music.”
They’ll be demoing the unit at the Consumer Electronics Show, much to the joy of those on either side of their booth, we’re sure.
This isn’t the first time something like this has been attempted. The memorable-for-all-the-wrong-reasons movie Scent of Mystery tried this in 1960. The iSmell tried it back in 2001. So this is an idea with a long history, although not necessarily one of success.
Here’s our question: What games are they playing, exactly? What games will be enhanced by this? When playing through Far Cry 3, will the stench of burning marijuana fields, flamethrower fuel, and corpses really enhance the experience, especially if you’re going for the Heartless Pyro trophy? Will Call of Duty be immeasurably improved by the smell of cordite and the emptied bowels of your foes?
And what about the possible advertising problems? Do we really want a machine that can hose us with body spray against our will?
True, Nintendo will probably all over this, or at least a few shovelware developers for the Wii U will be all over it, but we’re a bit skeptical of the GameSkunk’s future. Still, we wish them luck, and hopefully not too much realism.