First ever FPS simulator built by The Gadget Show

This is the worlds first FPS simulator, One that acutally shoots back. The popular tv show The Gadget Show uilt what costs £500,000(€572,098.31). The entire device tracks your movements with an omni-directional treadmill to allow you to walk any direction. There is also tracking sensors on you to tell you if you crouched or jumping and simulates them in game. The gun is loaded with sensors to align with the in game gun.

The game which happens to be Battlefield 3.  What makes this even more realistic is that when you are shot in game, You actually get shot by paintball guns which are spread around the screen. So there is an extra incentive to use cover. Check out the video below and make sure to tune into channel 5 in the UK on the 24th at 8:00pm to see this thing in action

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQR49JGySTM

The episode has finally aired, Below is the clip you have been all waiting to see and it is fantastic. Check it out below to see it for yourself

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eg8Bh5iI2WY

[EXPAND Press Release]Battlefield 3 taken into the next dimension by UK technology programme, “The Gadget Show”

Unique simulator provides the ultimate immersive experience for First Person Shooter (FPS) fans

Birmingham, UK (17th October 2011) – Battlefield 3, one of the most highly anticipated games of 2011 is yet to hit the shelves, but UK technology programme The Gadget Show, gained exclusive access to a pre-release level and hand-built a simulator to play it.

As part of a challenge for the new series of the show, presenters Jason Bradbury and Suzi Perry brought together a team of design experts and an amazing array of technology worth £500,000 ($650,000) to build this one-off creation.

Centred on the world’s first, portable omni-directional treadmill (designed by Swedish company MSE Weibull) the simulator lets you control the movements of a Battlefield 3 character with your own body. Other key technology employed includes: 12 paintball markers that allow the player, in real time, to feel the enemy gunfire experienced in the game; a wireless gun system; ambient LED lighting; and an Xbox Kinect camera hack.

The idea for the simulator came in July this year when The Gadget Show realised that graphically-sophisticated games are held back only by the way many of us play them – sat in front of 1 static monitor.

By projecting the game inside a 360-degree, 4 metre high and 9 metre wide video dome (provided by Igloo Vision) the gamers’ experience is made as visceral and immersive as possible.

Ten infra-red motion tracking cameras continually monitor the real-time movements of the gamer on the omni-directional treadmill. This data is sent to the PC running Battlefield 3 to control the speed and direction of the in-game character.

The same cameras also track the direction in which the gamer points their wireless gun. Using this information the simulator can rotate the 180-degree projected gaming image around the dome to keep the gamer immersed in the action.

The immersive experience is completed by a pixel-mapped, ambient LED lighting system used to flood the dome with colours direct from the game; and a bespoke Kinect camera hack makes it possible for jumping and crouching in the dome to be replicated in the game.[/EXPAND]

Craig O'Sullivan

Creator of Geektech.ie Passionate about Technology and always looking for that next cool gadget or app

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