Video Game Controller That Simulates Hot & Cold Sensations

I liked the DualShock controllers on my old PS2. It added an additional degree of realism. The Tactile Gaming Vest, which lets you feel a small fraction of an bullet impact, accomplishes something similar. Now researchers at Tokyo Metropolitan University have added a different type of gaming realism: heat sensation. They’ve developed a way to suddenly chill or heat a controller so that users can sense temperature changes in virtual environments:

The temperature difference isn’t large – less than 10 degrees heating or cooling after five seconds, but the researchers involved discovered that, as with haptics, just a little sensory nudge can be enough to convince involved participants in a virtual environment that they are experiencing something like the real thing.

Link via Popular Science | Image: Tokyo Metropolitan University