Channel 5's The Gadget Show created a new gaming simulator that combines a jaw-dropping number of sensors and inputs for a highly realistic experience. The cost of the hardware alone was more than $650,000.
All the action went down in an Igloo Vision projection dome, which is a 360-degree display area housed in a steel frame enclosure. Navigating around terrain and obstacles seems intuitive, thanks to an omni-directional treadmill. To really make things feel real, the simulator ditches a traditional controller or keyboard and instead requires a gun with sensory inputs that moves the display according to the direction of the barrel.
An Xbox Kinect camera hack tracks players while 800 LEDs add to a sense of depth with ambient lighting. The real kicker is the 12 paintball guns tuned to incoming enemy fire, meaning that when you get hit, you really get hit.
