GameScent is an AI-powered device which aims to make games more immersive by adding smells to your environment. More on that below.
If you’ve ever gunned down people, burned rubber on a race course or faced heavy rain in any video game and thought to yourself “this really is missing the smell of fresh blood and guts or wet clothes”, we’ve got some great news for you.
Game Scent uses AI to release a relevant scent from their device into the air, to hopefully make your gaming experience a little bit more immersive.
The device, which is a hexagonal black box, can be loaded up with different scents (obviously sold separately) and the system will then analyse the audio cues of your media to release the relevant scent. The device claims to be compatible with all gaming systems, as well as VR systems and PC gaming, even streaming platforms.
The product’s website also refers to MovieScent, implying that it could also be used for films.
IGN have posted an official announcement trailer to their Youtube channel, take a look below.
Current scents available are Gunfire, Explosion, Racing, Storm and Forest as well as a neutralizing Clean Air scent. The website also counts Blood, Ocean, Freshly Cut Grass and Sports Arena as upcoming scents.
Video game journalist and host of The Game Awards, Geoff Keighley also tweeted about the new device and claims that upcoming DLC scents include Napalm and Human Exertion. Like Robert Duvall’s Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore, we do love the smell of napalm in the mornings, but this seems a little extreme.
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Essentially, GameScent seems to be gaming’s answer to cinema’s 4DX screenings. Like 4DX screenings, GameScent tries to make your experience more unique by utilising your senses more. Smells have been proven to evoke a lot of memories and feelings, so the science of this can’t be far off.
A GameScent device is a little on the expensive side, setting you back about $150 and that’s on sale. The normal price is $180, which seems a little steep for a fancy air freshener. Just imagine playing The Last Of Us or Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 with accompanying scents of rotten flesh and whatever Venom would smell like.
