Videogames Become Smellier Through New Accessory

Tom Goldman

Crying on the inside.
Aug 17, 2009
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Videogames Become Smellier Through New Accessory



The smells of gaming are coming to your home through an upcoming product called the ScentScape.

The Scent Sciences Corporation is currently working on a product called the ScentScape which will release the smells of videogaming into the air. When plugged into a gaming device, it'll use its internal scent wells to make gamers think they're actually in a game, through their noses.

No games have been officially confirmed for the ScentScape, but for what it's worth an image of the machine shows an association with Cataclysm [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000H96C9M/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_2?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B000067FDW&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1T36FDPXCX5KJZ4XNHX9], and the salty air of the beaches where the Murlocs reside.

The ScentScape has been demonstrated on the PC but SSC told MCV it'll also be compatible with other "major formats." It works through USB, and uses 20 scent wells contained in a cartridge that can apparently be swapped out between games. Users will also be able to attach scents to their home videos.

Development kits are being shipped out this month and SSC plans to launch the ScentScape by the end of 2011. It'll cost $70 in North America with cartridges priced at around $24. SSC also says it has a "next-gen product" that will presumably improve on the device within a year.

My initial reaction, and yours, is probably: Do we really need to smell what we're playing? Maybe it would be cool to be riding through a forest on horseback in a game and actually smell the trees and nearby flowers, or be warned that a monster is near by its smell, but it seems like that would get pretty old quickly. I just hope it's not compatible with the Abe's Oddysee remake [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/107396-Oddworld-Creator-Reviving-Abes-Oddysee].

Source: MCV [http://www.scentsciences.com/products.html]

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Erana

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Feb 28, 2008
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Well, smell DOES have a strong effect on our brain, and along with TV glasses, it could be a pretty neat experience to go running in a forest and SMELL the forest.
Because that's what I do in video games: Smell trees.

Except that most games are filled with big, sweaty men.

Do Not Want.
 

z3rostr1fe

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Aug 14, 2009
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Oh God... Hopefully, they don't put up scents for games with excessive exudates, excrements, and other foul-smelling things! Ugh... >.>
 

Drummie666

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Jan 1, 2011
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Very interesting... I suppose that this makes the "I can't smell a thing" joke from MGS3 obsolete.
 

LavaLampBamboo

King of Okay
Jun 27, 2008
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What with 3D, surround sound and motion sensing already things, I guess they just have to start going for other senses... Next up, sixth sense peripherals (yes I know there are more than six senses, just go with it =)
 

Sennz0r

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May 25, 2008
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This would not work out well for a game like The Darkness. NY subway stations, anyone?
 

AstylahAthrys

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Apr 7, 2010
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I'm trying to think of a game I'd want to smell. Cooking Mama, maybe? I really don't want to be able to smell medieval fantasy towns (that most likely smell like shit. Literally) and alien blood and sweat.

I don't see this taking off so well.
 

hutchy27

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Jan 7, 2011
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"Omfg this Scent Scape is so total awesome!"
*Now Entering Sewers*
"Turn it off! Hurry, turn the effing thing off!"

I could imagine that happening.
 

Captain Booyah

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Apr 19, 2010
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It's fine and good advertising Pine Fresh and Salty Beach Air, but good Lord, imagine playing Silent Hill. 'Bring the smells of Decay, Rotting Flesh and Monster Rape straight to your home!' DO NOT WANT.

Then there's AssCreed, being historical, thus meaning 'Everything smells of shit and is covered with lice', and GTA, that industrial city smell...I could go on all day.
 

Daemascus

WAAAAAAAAAGHHH!!!!
Mar 6, 2010
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Remeber, if you s can smell the good, you can smell the bad... Do you really want to smell, say, zombies?
 
Mar 30, 2010
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Maybe this thing could finally slow the endless march of zombie related games, as I don't think it would take too long for most people to get sick of the smell of decaying flesh and fecal matter! Actually I doubt if it would ever really take off, stupid zombie suggestions aside. I don't want my frontroom to smell of cordite every time I play MW2, and as for the stink of burnt rubber and a ruined clutch after playing Gran Turismo...
 

C95J

I plan to live forever.
Apr 10, 2010
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This could really prove effective for people who really like to get immersed in games, and it looks like it could work (if they do it right).

Some smells might not be very pleasant though... which might lead to a house which smells of a mixture of pine trees and rotting flesh.
 

ZeroMachine

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Oct 11, 2008
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SomeBritishDude said:
So, what would happen in Mass Effect 2 if you probed Uranus?
"Really, Commander? Probing Uranus..."

Player: *Sniff* *Death from noxious fumes*

Worse, though: Conker's Bad Fur Day. I believe there's an entire mountain made of leavings.


Now, in theory, this could raise the immersion in a game to an unprecedented level. Smell is the one sense that movies, games, and books cannot truly speak to. But the thing is, you play, say, Call of Duty, and you're mostly going to be smelling smoke, burnt flesh, and blood, so it may not always be an outright fun sort of immersion.