This Device Makes Video Game “Pain” Real

How realistic do you want your video game to be? Would you ever want to feel what it’s like to be shot — or some lesser level of pain that signifies you’ve been shot?

Researchers the at University of Electro-Communications in Chofu City, Tokyo, have created a rudimentary device that can help simulate pain in video games.

Watch how it works:

Basically, the device takes advantage of a phenomenon called a phantom sensation, which happens when two points are touched at the same time making the space in between “feel” something. As the researcher in the video says:

At our lab we thought of stimulating the palm and back of a hand at the same time, so that it feels as if an object is going through your hand.”
. . .
In our demonstration, a black ball falls from the top of the screen and when that black ball falls through the hand on the screen, it activates the vibrators.”
. . .
We think it can be used when players in a fighting game are stabbed or something like that, a player can be given a stronger shock, or in a first person shooter, the body can be vibrated to simulate a feeling of being shot.”

[H/T Dig Info TV via Engadget]