The future of gaming.

[Red Dragon]

Enter
The Giant Hamster Ball

[Denmo]

Re: The future of gaming.

I can see it being nothing more than an arcade attraction. Way too bulky for home application.

Hearing him talk about exercising with it is humorous though~

[marcus]

Re: The future of gaming.

it will never gain popularity because it means neckbeards who play unreal tournament 2007 at quake con for 32 hours straight will actually have to move something other than their index finger.

let's see fatal1ty pull off his ridiculously precise movements when it comes down to basic functions of the human body

[Duel]

Re: The future of gaming.

It's for scrub players.

[Wavelength]

Re: The future of gaming.

It's a cool piece of tech, and would be VERY cool if combined with motion sensors for simple actions like Ducking, but I don't see it being very marketable (which is really a shame, because to walk through a game like World of Warcraft with this would be pretty unreal).

I can't imagine the thing being comfortable to walk on for long periods of time. And while I've never been in an Atlasphere or any other giant hamster ball, I bet it's probably a little dangerous to change directions while you're moving and you have a virtual reality thing on your head...

...Speaking of which, even if computers can "create 3-D virtual reality environments perfectly" like they claim, it has got to be very, very disorienting (anyone remember Virtual Boy?)--ESPECIALLY when you're actually moving your body at the rate of light exercise.

It won't ever see Home Use, and I don't even seeing it becoming an arcade fixture. Way too many moving (read: breakable) parts involved, extreme learning curve except for the simplest of games (because can't look at whatever controller you're using! It would need to be second nature to avoid a major FAIL), and too much possibility for liability.

I do hope this becomes a reality, I'd actually love to try it out with a simple, kinetic game (resembling something like Super Monkey Ball, Pac Man, even NFL Blitz). But if it DOES become a reality, it'll only be seen at high-tech centers, and only with high cost and high supervision.