E3 Blog - Where your ass should be
July 17th, 2008, 5:33 pm by Steve Steinberg
(No Ratings Yet) 
The life of a game journalist isn’t always the luxurious perk-fest you may imagine it to be. Remember that beautiful March day that you spent wandering around enjoying the first hints of spring? Me, too — I was stuck at my desk reviewing the lame PSP version of MLB 2K8. That said, there are some cool things that I get to do that you, unfortunately, don’t get to do. I’ve already played the first next-gen Silent Hill, for example. Another was to experience the things that D-Box Technologies is doing. Lots of stuff got bumped down a notch on the list of “Coolest Things Ever” after I spent some time in its gaming and movie chairs.
There have been special seats designed for gamers for a while — and usually it’s just a cushy chair with a sub-woofer jammed under your ass. The D-Box seats are based on “Motion Code” technology that uses small motors to tilt, twist, shake, and rock your chair depending on what’s happening on-screen. As a racing cockpit, it threw me immediately into the action and made hitting the wall at 200 mph almost as traumatic as if I’d done it in real life. More surprisingly is how well it fared in a shooter. In a demo I got to experience, the recoil of the rifle caused a realistic jolt that would force you to regain your bearings and re-aim between each shot. You wouldn’t be able to just fire away at a locked-on target as if your weapon had as much kickback as a squirt gun.
Just as cool was the way it worked as a theater seat. You’re physically bumped and jostled by what’s going on in the movie. It adds an entire new sensory experience to film viewing. Currently, the commercial version of the chair goes for around $14,000, but the company is rolling out home versions — which will still blow you away — that’ll start at $3,500. It’s not cheap, but if you have the dough, it’s the ultimate way to do your gaming. Check out d-box.com for more info.
