Port Hope, Canada based ARAIG (As Real As It Gets) recently started a $900,000 Kickstarter campaign for a multi-sensory feedback exoskeleton suit that its hopes to provide "a new dimension to gaming."
"ARAIG is this portal through that glass; it is wearable technology that stimulates the senses where you, the gamer, can now feel the rain on your shoulders, the rumble of a tank, the concussion of sound and debris, where you are drowned in the sensations and sounds of your gaming world," wrote ARAIG on its Kickstarter page.
The ARAIG suit is made up of three layers; a hardware decoder, under-suit and exoskeleton. Also featured on the suit is a microphone jack and six surround sound speakers that should work with any console or game genre.
How does it work?
All users have to do is use the decoder on a gaming device (there's one for each platform from PC to current-consoles) and all data is sent wirelessly to the suit. It's also forward compatible so possible decoders for Sony's Playstation 4 or Xbox 360 can be released.
This suit just doesn't vibrate, ARAIG's STIMS sensory also can contract particular pectorals and abdominal muscles. ARAIG hopes that this will not only add to the level of immersion but, help in gameplay.
"The immersion is total; your senses are affected in real time as your character is affected in the game," ARAIG wrote. "Direction, single and multiple impact, sound, pressure, movement, etcetera, allowing for greater intuitive play, intensified autonomous action, enhanced teamwork, increased competition, and faster and more accurate decision making."
Though pledges start at $5, $299 and more earns backers the actual device. Pledging less than that gives pledgers the ability to have their name placed on ARAIG's website or give input on the development. The package will include the suit, decoder of ones platform choosing, a rechargeable battery and power cord.
If ARAIG makes its Kickstarter goal (as of press time it's at $36,298), the suits should be slated to be released next year in December.
