Today is a special day, folks. Today is a day where we find out that one of those things we’ve always dreamed about but never actually thought was possible is revealed to be a reality.
That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, Smell-O-Vision is here! We’ve all heard of it, and all wished it were real: movies, TV shows, video games, and more that allow you to smell various settings or things you’re seeing on the screen. Such a thing would make home entertainment more immersive and interactive than it’s ever been before, and has the potential to be an endlessly amusing sensory experience if done correctly.
At the recent Consumer Electronics Show (which featured some jaw-dropping new technologies that are fast on their way to every day usage) a product called the ScentScape was presented by creator Scent Sciences. The device is synchronized with whatever you’re watching or playing and at certain points throughout, a specific scent is triggered and sent out to nearby nostrils.
The machine will hold a cartridge that contains twenty basic scents at the moment, ranging from cinnamon and pine trees in a forest to the ocean, flowers, or smoke. And with how many accurate scents we see being pulled off by places like Yankee Candle, it’s safe to assume the possibilities are endless. These cartridges will be available in standard packs or “media specific,” which is assumed to mean that scents will be customized to a certain movie or game, and are said to last around 200 hours each. How long it really last will depend on you, however, as you will have a “volume” option if you’d like the scent to be weaker or stronger.
At the moment, it looks like the first attempt at making this the next big thing will be in realms of PC video games, but there is full intentions of it working with all gaming platforms and eventually movies, TV, and so on. They even have another program on the way called the Scent Editor where you can customize your own personal home movies with certain smells, adding another layer of nostalgia to your fondest memories.
This brings us to the speculation that World of Warcraft will be the first to step up and try this out. While completely unconfirmed, there are images (as seen above) of the product toting the marks of WoW. So might you MMO fanatics be the first to be able to run through a field of flowers and smell as your Mage would, or the bonfire at a campsite? Time will tell.
The ScentScape is set to be released later on this year, and will retail for $69.99. Surely by then we’ll have much more information on how it works, what’s offered, and what games and movies will be compatible.
If done right and the smells are accurate enough, it could help to create a 4D experience right in your own homes, so the idea is quite intriguing on its own. But is this something that excites you, or is it just another novelty?
[Source: via 1UP]
I wonder how well this is gonna work… Can it also reproduce the smell of a greasy car workshop or a dampy sewer? And how will it perform when watching a gory zombie film? :P Another thing I’m sceptical about… this probably won’t be like those backlights on your flatscreen TV; changing atmosphere (literally) lighting fast every time the film changes atmosphere. So especially when you’re in a large room, smells are going to fade in/fade out ultra slow. Unless they have invented some way to quickly “erase” the previous smell, the effect of a fresh forest smell is gonna be somewhat diminished by the lingering stench of the sewers in the previous scene. (I’m trying to think of the kind of film where this would be the case, but hey you get my point.)
Comment by RagingR2 — February 23, 2011 @ 9:19 am
I’m thinking they’ll have to space them out, and they won’t be aiming to have every smell in every movie.
I’d be fine not knowing how the sewer smells, but that might just be me.
Comment by Anonymous — February 23, 2011 @ 4:40 pm