TN Games News - Hardware Product News

TN Games Introduces The 3RD Space ® Trigger™

TN Games — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 07:00:00

TN Games Introduces The 3RD Space ® Trigger™: Enabling 3RD Space Vest Physical 3D Functionality For Console Games.

DELIVERING THE UTMOST IN IMMERSIVE, REALISTIC GAMING.

Redmond, WA (6/14/10) — TN Games today announces a major advancement in 3D entertainment: the 3RD Space® Trigger ™, enabling use of the acclaimed 3RD Space Vest with videogame consoles. Unlike rumble or motorized force feedback devices, 3RD Space delivers actual impact forces to your body, creating a Physical 3D experience that makes you an integral part of the action for the utmost in immersive, realistic gaming entertainment. The technology will be showcased at the E3 2010 videogame tradeshow. The 3RD Space Trigger will support Vest functionality for the top action/shooter game titles playable on the Xbox 360® and PlayStation®3 computer entertainment systems and begins shipping in the US on October 30, 2010.

Visual technologies use 3D to enhance the perception of depth and the relative positions between objects and viewer. Within a broader context, a 3-dimensional relationship also exists between an individual and their environment. These spatial relationships are perceived using all of one’s senses, which each differ in their capacity to provide location based information. As it is possible to hear the effects of an event occurring beyond our range of vision, the closer we get to the source, a threshold is reached where it begins to be felt. Physical 3D develops those spatially accurate physical cues for the virtual environment that would normally be associated with what is seen happening, giving the user a unique multi-sensory, 3-dimensional experience.

“With great entertainment, there comes a point where we become lost in the story.” said TN Games’ CEO, Dr. Mark Ombrellaro. “While visual realism and motion based input control devices are steps towards make videogames more engaging, our novel hardware provides opportunities for creating even greater immersion. Our emphasis is on strengthening the player’s connection to their character. Combining the events that are seen with an interpretation of what they also should feel like, to create an actual physical affect on the player makes the game more tangible and immersive.”

TN Games has developed a modular system to advance its 3RD Space PC technology to console games. Console use requires 3 elements: the Trigger, new game driver software, and the Vest. The 3RD Space Trigger is a specialized microcomputer that seamlessly integrates information output to the TV from the game console with the game driver, creating the appropriate Physical 3D controls for the Vest. The Trigger communicates with the 3RD Space Vest either via wired USB or wirelessly. The Vest is a lightweight, wearable, pneumatic peripheral containing 8 active contact points that strike the player’s chest and back to generate a diverse range of spatially accurate impact effects. All 3RD Space Vests are compatible across all supported gaming platforms.

3RD Space immediately takes players into a 3 dimensional world, surrounded by action and the ability to experience its physical consequences. It heightens awareness and enables more strategic, accurate game play. The unique sensory experience amplifies the excitement, challenge, and fun of gaming. You’re not just an observer, but actively engaged in the story

The Console Kit (Vest with Trigger) can be pre-ordered for $189 at www.tngames.com. The 3RD Space Vest is currently available for $139. A wireless communicator for the Vest will also be available and is sold separately. The free 3RD Space videogame driver software and a comprehensive list of supported games is available at www.tngames.com.

Feel what you’ve been missing.

About TN Games

Based in Redmond, WA, TN Games is the market leader in Physical 3D impact technology. Our unique, wearable, human interface products create 3-dimensional impact, force, and environmental pressure effects for entertainment and custom applications. Our computer hardware and software systems let you feel the effects of the action you see, delivering the most intense, realistic, and immersive digital media experience.

3RD Space and TN Games are registered trademarks of TN Games. Xbox 360® is a registered trademark of the Microsoft Corp. PlayStation®3 is a registered Trademark of the Sony Corp. All other trademarks and trade names are the properties of their respective owners.

For more information, please visit www.tngames.com.

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ESC - 3rd Space Gaming Vest

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 08:00:00

3rd Space Gaming Vest Thursday, April 2

12:30pm – 1:30pm
ESC Theater
Sponsored by Microchip

Video game characters live in a three-dimensional world, but gamers have only been able to experience two dimensions...until now. The 3rdSpace® Vest from TN Games takes gameplay beyond sight and sound, creating spatial awareness of the world your characters inhabit. Unlike traditional force feedback devices that rumble or buzz, the 3rdSpace Vest gives you precise impact where it happens, as it happens. Get pounded with body slams, crushed with G-forces, and blasted with bullet fire.

Visit the Microchip Booth (#416) to test your shooting skills while dodging bullet fire and crushing explosions. Richard Nass, Editor-in-Chief, Editorial Director, Embedded Systems Design, embedded.com and the Embedded Systems Conference and Jon Perrin, Sr. Field Application Engineer, Microchip will do a live teardown on what is giving gamers the "ultimate" gaming experience.

Source: http://esc-sv09.techinsightsevents.com/product_teardown#spacevest

IGN: 3rd Space Gaming Vest Review

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 08:00:00

3rd Space Gaming Vest Review

Force feedback that truly packs a punch. But is it necessary?

by Scott Lowe

November 18, 2008 - I'm not particularly adventurous when it comes to PC gaming accessories. I'll give anything a try, but in most cases I find myself calling upon a comfortable chair, a no-frills keyboard, and a reasonably responsive mouse with accurate tracking. I can understand and appreciate the need for some to utilize more extensively featured control devices, but I prefer to keep things simple. I've seen my fair share of gaming mice, keyboards, and headsets, but really, the industry standards for these product types have long since been established and the limitations are clear. On the other hand, this isn't to say that there is no room for advancement within the standard issue PC gaming peripheral realm; there is, as we've so clearly seen with the SteelSeries World of Warfcraft MMO Gaming Mouse. If you are looking for thrills beyond the mouse, keyboard, voice communication and audio realm, the particularly intriguing peripheral work is being done by the mad scientists of the world, or in this case, medical practitioners.

I am referring, of course, to the 3rd Space Gaming Vest from TN Games, which was invented by a licensed physician, Dr. Mark Ombrellaro. The 3rd Space Gaming Vest brings a new level of physical immersion to PC gaming through the use of repurposed medical technologies. The vest uses an advanced air compression system and eight pneumatic cells, four on each side, to give players an unparalleled force-feedback experience. In other words, the 3rd Space Vest allows players to physically feel the strikes, shots, and other effects being dealt to them in-game. The eight contact points can deliver up to five pounds of force and can be customized to fire at varying rates and duration. The vest receives its cues from game drivers for a variety of AAA titles, released by TN Games. So far, the 3rd Space Gaming Vest has been adopted for the following titles:

Call of Duty 2 and Call of Duty 4
Turning Point - Fall Of Liberty
You Are Empty
Blacksite
Bioshock
Frontlines: Fuel Of War
Rainbow Six Vegas 2
Turok
Mass Effect
F.E.A.R
Prey
TimeShift
Crysis
Unreal Tournament 3
Clive Barker's Jericho
Halflife 2: Episode 1 and 2
Medal Of Honor Airborne
Enemy Territory Quake Wars
Quake 4
Doom 3
Farcry 2
Mercenaries 2
Fable
World of Warcraft

As you can see, TN Games has been quite busy gaining game support for the 3rd Space Gaming Vest. Quality title support, or lack thereof, can make or break an innovative gaming peripheral like the 3rd Space Gaming Vest. Fortunately, TN Games has pretty much all of their bases covered with a firm hold on the FPS market. Support for FPS fan-favorites like Call of Duty 4 and Crysis will certainly attract a sizable amount of attention from intermediate and hardcore gamers, but the support for World of Warcraft and Fable will definitely garner the interest of the MMORPG community.

With all of TN Games' proverbial "ducks in a row" in terms of title support, the real question becomes how does the 3rd Space Gaming Vest perform? Well, a portion of the answer comes from the product itself and the other from your own willingness to try new and unconventional gaming accessories. The product itself performs just as you would imagine, assuming of course that you don't envision gasping for breath as you cradle your stomach in searing pain. The compressors provide a significant jolt, but not to the point of any discomfort or pain. I would most readily compare the sensation to being lightly-to-moderately poked, which is impressive considering that the system relies exclusively on air-compressors. One would think that the inflation and deflation would be somewhat gradual, but in reality the points of contact come and go quite quickly. The swift punch of the compressors is what truly makes this product unique. Unlike vibrating feedback or competing technologies, the 3rd Space Gaming Vest is fast and unrelenting. Each burst falls in perfect sync with in-game effects and gunfire.

One clear cut benefit of owning and using the 3rd Space Vest is for adversarial online play in FPS titles. Instead of relying on a subtle red tinge on one side of your screen, you can actually feel what direction the shots are being fired from. By adding touch to the existing and audible and visual sensory perception in gaming, users will find that they react faster and with better accuracy. While use of the 3rd Space Gaming Vest has not yet been authorized for moderated competitive play by the various gaming leagues, it will certainly give casual competitors a serious edge.

The build of the 3rd Space Gaming Vest itself is quite sound, made from durable 600D polyester and the zippers and straps are all made of the highest quality materials. The product's price of $169.99 sounds expensive at first, but once you get a feel for the vest and the components that come with, you start to wonder how they could afford to sell it at such a low price. With durable mesh and well-stitched zippers, straps, and compartments, the 3rd Space Vest feels as if it could be used in legitimate combat situations. When it first arrived to our offices, I was tempted to wear it at all times like 50 Cent or My Chemical Romance's Gerard Way. The only thing that stopped/stops me from parading around like the badass I am, is the several feet of tubing that connects to the independent compressor. Which brings me to the other crucial aspect of the vest—its setup.

Setting up and installing the vest and its software is effortless. Simply connect the external compressor to its dedicated power supply, the vest to the compressor via the aforementioned tubing, and to your PC via USB. While this sounds like a lot of work, there are a number of ways that the design could have been more complicated. For instance, the vest could have required a dedicated AC cord of its own, in addition to the one required for the air compressor. After setting up the hardware, a simple general driver install for you PC is all that the 3rd Space Gaming Vest requires. Once the initial install is completed, all that you have to do is fire up your favorite supported title and prepare to be physically immersed. There is an automatic update feature within the 3rd Space Vest's driver that ensures that you can play freshly supported titles as the updates become available.

But despite the exceptional quality of the vest's performance and build, the value of the 3rd Space Gaming Vest really comes down to how adventurous of a FPS or WoW gamer you are. As I said, I'm not the type to use something like the 3rd Space Gaming Vest every time I play--but that's just my preference. Everything that the 3rd Space Gaming Vest could do to impress me, it did. There is little I could ask more of the 3rd Space Gaming Vest, and for the audience that is interested in immersive force feedback gaming, there is nothing currently on the market that can beat it.

IGN's Ratings for TN Games 3rd Space Gaming Vest

Rating	Description
out of 10
8.7	Performance Quick, immersive, and unrelenting bursts of force.
9.0	Build Quality We'd wear it as a tactical vest if we could.
8.8	Ease of Use Make a few connections, install the driver, and you are all set.
7.6	Value Seemingly steep, but ultimately reasonable for the quality of the build and performance.
7.3	Comfort Not exactly couch-potato caliber, but when you are getting bursts of force in your abdomen, who's going to be slouching?
8.3	OVERALL (out of 10 / not an average)

Read the full article on IGN’s site

3RD Space vest at the Microsoft booth, MIGS 2008

mark — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 08:00:00

3RD Space vest at the Microsoft booth, Montreal International Games Summit November 18-19, 2008.

The Seattle Times - Vest that feels the Action

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 07:00:00

Bellevue surgeon designs vest that lets video gamers feel the action

By Brier Dudley
Seattle Times technology columnist

I love stories about tinkerers whose offbeat gadgets go from the garage to the big time.

That may be happening to Mark Ombrellaro, a Bellevue vascular surgeon who dreamed up a vest that thumps and prods you when you're playing video games.His "3rd Space" vest won't appeal to everyone, especially since it works only with a handful of games so far.

But the success of products like "Guitar Hero," "Rock Band" and "Wii Fit" show that people are willing to pay for expensive accessories that make games more realistic.

Accessory sales grew 52 percent last year, helping the overall video-game industry grow 43 percent to $18.8 billion, according to NPD Group research.

Ombrellaro's TN Games has a way to go, but it's been making waves since the vest was shown at game-developer conferences last year and the Consumer Electronics Show in January.

That led to national distribution deals, including sales through Costco.com, which will begin Tuesday, and Target.com, which begin today. When its software is meshed with games such as "Call of Duty," players actually feel the bullets and grenades hitting their characters. So far it works with about 16 PC games, including "Crysis" and "Quake 4," plus TN's own title, "Incursion."

Coming soon is a helmet in which players can feel head shots and a racing-game vest that simulates the g-forces felt by a Formula One driver.

Yet another model was created for military training. Ombrellaro said he's close to a deal with the Canadian military for units with wireless connections and gas cylinders that can be turned up high enough to leave bruises when soldiers are "hit" during training exercises.

The standard $169 vest includes a book-size air compressor and a USB cable. The compressor fills air bladders in the vest. When you start playing, it feels a little like getting a blood-pressure check, and the air drives eight quarter-sized actuators on the front, back and sides.

Hits are pretty gentle and don't sting. They have about 5 pounds of force, the equivalent of a roll of pennies dropped from about 6 inches above your stomach, Ombrellaro said.

But that's not enough for some early users, so TN developed an upgraded compressor with about 70 percent more pressure. It will sell for around $50 extra later this year.

The top priority for the company, however, is building relationships with game developers so that the vest activation codes are built into their games. It's also pushing hard to break into the console market.

"The goal is to have this as part of the core technology with all games," Ombrellaro said.
The vest began in the early 1990s, when Ombrellaro was doing research in Texas, trying to figure out a way for doctors to remotely examine prison inmates. He thought of a vest with air-powered actuators that would press different spots on the torso.

In 1996 he moved to Bellevue to take over a surgeon's practice, then started working on the vest in earnest around 2000. It got serious after he hired a programmer who had lost a contract position at Microsoft. Then he hired an aerospace engineer laid off from Boeing, and now he employs 10 people in an office down the street from Microsoft in Redmond.

While gearing up for U.S. Food and Drug Administration trials a few years ago, they came across an open-source shooting video game and figured out how to send signals from the game to the vest.

Ombrellaro then met with people on the Xbox peripherals team. They suggested he take the vest to trade shows to get exposure and start working with game developers to get the vest control signals into their games.

TN still doesn't have a deal with Xbox, but Ombrellaro hopes to be in the console market soon.

With several big deals in the works, Ombrellaro expects to sell 50,000 units by the end of the year. Most of them appear to be ready to ship, stacked floor to ceiling in boxes in the back of TN's office.

Ombrellaro, 46, funded the business mostly himself, then raised about $3 million from angel investors. He's starting to consider venture funding, if the deals come through and he needs to scale up quickly.

If it doesn't work out, there's always his day job.

Brier Dudley's column appears Mondays. Reach him at
206-515-5687
or .

Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company

A Shot in the Gut - The Escapist

Tue, 06 May 2008 07:00:00

A Shot in the Gut

by Nathan Meunier 6 May 2008

Hardcore gamers are notoriously fickle creatures, but it's hard to imagine that anyone who can survive for days on end busting virtual caps in monsters, robots and myriad other opponents wouldn't enjoy immersing themselves even deeper into the first-person shooter experience. They thirst for any opportunity to make their preferred brand of fantastic violence even more realistic, short of jumping through the screen and personally facing off against a two-headed zombie minotaur wielding an axe made of human bones.

But this time, a 46-year-old vascular surgeon from Redmond, WA has the answer to their prayers.

When he's not scrubbing for surgery or otherwise busy with his private medical practice, Dr. Mark Ombrellaro heads up a company that's paving the way for a generation of players to experience gaming in a whole new way. In 2006, he formed TN Games - the gaming branch of Touch Networks, which he founded in 2000 - in order to launch a series of cutting-edge videogame accessories that stimulate the player's sense of touch.

The company's first product is turning more than a few heads in the industry. The 3rd Space Vest made its debut during the 2007 holiday season and is steadily building a dedicated user base. The 3rd Space Vest gives players a taste of what it's like to be punched, stabbed, shot or blown apart - without the unfortunate fatal side-effects associated with the real deal - inside their favorite first-person shooter. Using a series of strategically-placed pneumatic cells located over vital organs, the vest responds to the action on-screen by delivering a swift jab to a player's corresponding anatomy whenever he's hit. It doesn't dish out actual pain, per se, but you'll certainly feel it every time foes land a blow.

From Health to "Hell Yeah"
Oddly enough, the vest was originally designed for use in the medical field. In the early 1990s, Ombrellaro was involved in a telehealth project designed to provide healthcare to inmates in a Texas prison via a long-distance AV conferencing system. Despite the use of high-tech equipment, the assistance of an on-site nurse located in the patient's cell was required. The doctor could see and hear the patient, but they still couldn't rely on physical touch to help make his diagnosis.

"The nurse would sit with the prisoner and do the physical part, but you're still one step removed from them," says Ombrellaro. "That still remains a problem with telehealth. With a remote environment type of interaction you can see and talk to someone, but you can't do a hands-on exam."

Ombrellaro came up with the idea of using a wearable interface on the patient's side that would communicate with a tactile hand controlled by the doctor remotely. The garment would allow the physician to remotely apply pressure to the patient's body while simultaneously reading the counter resistance to assist with diagnoses, he says. A few sketch designs on the concept and several years of technological advances later, the time was right to put his idea into motion.

Ombrellaro formed a team of friends, family and engineers to work on the project, and everyone agreed the device seemed buildable and workable. He obtained the necessary patents, and the team got together after hours and on weekends to chip away at building the unit. "As we're talking about it, originally it was for healthcare," he says. "At the same time I'm telling my wife and kids, and talking to these guys, everybody uniquely said, 'Well, what about gaming?'"

It's a cool concept, but a little hard to get one's head around, he recalls. The team decided to focus first on building the medical device - the more complicated of the two ideas - to make sure it worked. Ombrellaro and his team began working on the project in 2000 and had the medical vest prototype up and running by the end of 2005. Almost immediately afterward, they began developing a gaming prototype.

"Around July of 2006 I got a phone call from one of my engineers who goes, 'You're not going to believe this ... get up here.' So I came up to the office and there's this thing that looks like a vest, but it kind of has a Borg look to it with hoses and wires added on," recalls Ombrellaro. After suiting up, he tested the Borg-like vest using an open-source FPS called Cube and was completely floored when he felt the unit respond when he was hit.

He looked around the room; everyone was laughing. "Is this what I think it is?" he asked. The signals causing the vest to react were coming from within the game.

"It was one of those moments where I just knew that this is like ... amazing. For the first few times I was playing it, I was so caught up on what this new information I was getting was that I forgot about concentrating and got killed in the game," he says. "Then I started figuring out what the cues mean and how they can help me. I began to play the game a lot faster, more aggressively and actually trying to dodge and get away from things."
It only took a short time playing with the gaming prototype for Ombrellaro to realize he had something with immense potential on his hands.

Fast forward to the present. After a soft launch in November 2007 and a full-package release earlier this year bundled with copies of TN Games' own Incursion and Activision's Call of Duty 2 for $169, the 3rd Space Vest has enjoyed healthy sales in the U.S. and abroad. Ombrellaro expects sales to continue picking up as distribution expands through newly inked arrangements with several major online retailers. Both pack-in titles were designed with the 3rd Space technology in mind, but the vest also works with a growing number of other games thanks to mods and the downloadable 3rd Space Driver software. At present, the vest driver supports Unreal Tournament 3, Crysis, Clive Barker's Jericho, Half-Life 2: Episodes One and Two, Medal of Honor: Airborne, F.E.A.R., Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, Quake 4 and Doom 3.

TN Games is working with developers to expand the number of upcoming titles that feature the integrated 3rd Space coding and other games that support use of the driver. "Our goal is to have more titles with direct integration for the deeper experience, as our company continues to add to the driver to pick up the tail end of things," he says.

Target: Anatomy
"It doesn't rumble; it gives you an impact," Ombrellaro is quick to point out about the 3rd Space Vest. The word resonates with a tone that's equally ominous and enticing.

The device looks akin to a military-style flak jacket; it's sexy in an "I'm about to get my guts pummeled" sort of way. Jungle camouflage and bright pink versions of the vest are also available for those who want to get pounded in style. Then there are the umbilical cords that power the thing. One cable runs out from the vest into your PC's USB port, and another connects the vest to an air compressor that plugs into the wall. A total of eight active pneumatic zones, four on the front and four on the back, react when information is sent to the vest from the game. The vest also differentiates between knife stabs, punches, single shots and automatic weapon fire, explosions and other impacts.

Designing the gaming version of the vest, the team put some serious thought into which areas of the body would be targeted if someone were trying to shoot you. The vest's active zones are located over the heart, lungs, kidney, liver and intestines: all the bad zones where the organs are.

Awesome.

Stuck Like A Guinea Pig
The first time I took a hit with the vest on was a jarring experience. After slipping on the device, my immediate inclination was to take one for the team as quickly as possible to see what it was like, and running head-first into the gun barrels of some pissed-off mutant cyborg warriors in Incursion seemed as good a place to start as any. They were quick to oblige.

The few initial pot shots that struck my nameless, faceless virtual self manifested physically as a forceful poke in the front and back of the lower left region of my gut (presumably to replicate the lovely feeling of the bullets entering in one direction and exiting out the other). It's an odd sensation that - under more intense gaming circumstances - could prove rather startling if you didn't expect it. Within seconds I was getting hit all over. I even tolerated being punched repeatedly by a daft beast simply because it provided a slightly different impact.

After dying a few times at the hands of my quasi-robotic adversaries, I turned my attention to a series of explosive barrels. Why hadn't I noticed them sooner? A few quick prods from my laser rifle elicited the response I was looking for: self-immolation. The screen was engulfed in a concussive, fiery explosion, and it felt like my entire body was being kneaded like dough.

The range of sensations continued to vary as I picked up additional armaments. My torso thumped from the recoil of higher caliber weaponry, and the kickback from a giant rocket launcher was extremely satisfying. But the best was firing a Gatling gun. My chest thundered mechanically as I sprayed a room's inhabitants with lead.

Re-sensitizing The Desensitized
Feedback on the 3rd Space Vest continues to be encouraging, says Ombrellaro. Everyone involved in TN Games plays videogames of one sort or another, and this made it easier to design the product around gamers' needs. "We started with what we want, and it's resonating with everybody else," he says, adding the real magic comes from watching hardcore gamers and new players alike enjoying the vest. "Everybody's been really excited about it."

Though the overall response to the vest has been positive, the product hasn't escaped criticism completely. Some say a gaming vest that simulates being shot or wounded takes things a bit too far in a time when violent games are already extremely realistic to begin with. Others feel bloody FPS games already desensitize youth enough; they're not terribly keen on the idea of a vest that makes the gameplay more lifelike.

Ombrellaro argues the gaming vest has a different effect on players.
The content of violent games is two dimensional, he says. Players are watching and listening to what they're doing on-screen, but there's a disconnect between their physical selves and the game environments. The vest changes this by re-introducing sensation into the gameplay. When a player is hit in the game, the vest will poke them as a consequence.

"It re-sensitizes you by making the reaction you get not just an artificial thing that means nothing to you. It puts a consequence back into the action," he says. The team has watched thousands of people play FPS games using the vest in different scenarios, ranging from a casual office setting to the home. "When you're watching people and actually taking a step back to observe how they react, their body is moving to avoid the action as they're getting hit.
They're behaving subconsciously while playing this game, just like they would in real life: duck and cover. Their brain is getting the message, whether the gamer consciously recognizes it or not."

On the far opposite end of the spectrum from opponents of the vest reside the masochists. Indeed, some hardcore players who've tested the vest feel the impact is not hard enough. In response, TN Games plans to offer an upgrade pack for the air compressor that will deliver a heftier blow.

Into The Future We Roam
PC gamers can gloat for the time being, but it may not be long before the 3rd Space technology makes the jump to consoles. The vest is already console-ready, according to Ombrellaro, and the product will become available once they complete a bundle deal for a console game. He notes the console version of the vest will have wireless aspects to it.

Getting blasted in the gut isn't the only unusual experience in store for gamers in the coming year. Aside from the FPS vest, TN Games is also working on vests geared toward racing games, RPGs and other genres. The vests themselves are an impressive accomplishment, but TN Games strives to release a handful of other product variations by the end of 2008. A helmet prototype is complete and planned for release later this year as part of the extreme HXT (head and extremities) line. With the prevalence of headshots in the online multiplayer FPS gaming community, clocking noggins is bound to get a lot more exciting when the victims feel it.

The vest is the core concept for the technology, and the helmet is a fun addition, but the whole idea is to build a full suit, says Ombrellaro.

"It's just a matter of what the consumer wants, how it's going to fit into the game and trying to make it complementing as possible for as reasonable a price as we can make it," he says. "We've got a few decades of fun stuff to roll out."

Nathan Meunier is a freelance contributor to The Escapist.

Stuff.tv 3rd Space™ Gaming Vest Product Review

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 07:00:00

Check out Stuff.tv review of the 3rd Space™ Gaming Vest by clicking here or on the image below

ABC 30/40 Techbits:Gaming Gagdets

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 07:00:00

ABC News 30/40 in Birmingham, AL reviews the 3rd Space™ Gaming Vest in Techbits: Gaming Gadgets

Watch the video by clicking here or on the image below

Business Week - The (Game) Doctor Is In

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 08:00:00

Physicians are helping develop gear that lets players "feel" the impact of a bullet or a fist

by Reena Jana

On a typical weekday, Dr. Mark P. Ombrellaro is scrubbed in for surgery by 8 a.m. The 46-year-old vascular surgeon runs a private practice in Bellevue, Wash. The more he operates, the more he learns about how the body responds to physical trauma. The deep knowledge he gains of human anatomy also helps him in his avocation: He builds high-tech video game accessories, which heighten the game experience by giving players the faintest sense of what it feels like to be struck by bullets or battered by fists.

Ombrellaro is on the cutting edge-literally-of the most provocative new trend in the $18 billion video game industry. Today's slickest games render in excruciating detail the sights and sounds of a battlefield or sports arena. But that's not enough for hard-core gamers addicted to the rush of ultrarealistic simulations. They want to participate in scenes with as many of their senses as possible. A technology known as haptics-virtual touch, if you will-makes that possible. By donning a vest or helmet studded with tiny computerized air pistons, gamers can feel the thwack of a punch without actually having to suffer the pain.

Medical professionals are finding a profitable niche in the virtual-touch revolution. Their long-term goal is to simulate sensations from the caress of a hand to the impact of a bat against bone. TN Games, a division of Ombrellaro's 8-year-old Redmond (Wash.) startup, TouchNetworks, brought to market one of the first haptic vests during the holiday 2007 shopping season. It sold out its first shipment, according to Ombrellaro. In December, TN Games signed an agreement with video game giant Activision (ATVI), maker of Guitar Hero and other top-selling video game franchises, which bundled the $170 accessory with the war game Call of Duty 2. TN Games plans to sell a haptic helmet, sleeves, and pant legs by the end of 2008.

Medicine's contribution to the game business isn't limited to bullet blasts. Another touch startup, Novint Technologies (NVNT) in Albuquerque, got its start designing simulation systems for Lockheed Martin (LMT), Chrysler, and Chevron (CVX). In 2003 the company started developing medical software with Dr. John Wills, an anesthesiologist who heads the critical care department at the University of New Mexico. Novint developed a simulator to train doctors in administering delicate injections, mimicking the resistance a needle encounters as it passes through flesh. Based on this software, Novint released a game controller last June called the Falcon with an unusual globe-shaped handle. The device transmits subtle pressure signals to a gamer's fingertips. In one game, The Ship, the Falcon allows players to feel what it's like to inject enemies with lethal poison.

If such grisly technology were only flowing from docs to game addicts, society might raise an eyebrow. But expertise flows from the game room to the operating room, too. Consider the latest project from BreakAway, a game startup in Hunt Valley, Md. The company creates simulations for defense contractors such as Northrop Grumman and Boeing, as well as video game software for Electronic Arts and Microsoft. Its newest endeavor, a federally funded project called Pulse, is a detailed medical training simulation. It allows doctors to practice surgical procedures. The simulation, being tested at Yale and Johns Hopkins, leans heavily on game-related incentives-trainees are rewarded by points. Adding touch to the digital hospital is "absolutely a future possibility," says Pulse Executive Producer Ed Fletcher.

But Fletcher hasn't forgotten video games. He hopes to apply what he learns in the OR to game depictions of torn tissue and flowing blood.

Jana is the Innovation Dept. editor for BusinessWeek.

Kron 4 San Fran, CA

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 08:00:00

Kron 4 in San Francisco, CA reviews the 3rd Space™ Gaming Vest