Virtual reality has made some big strides on the visual front in recent years and managed to free the headset from anchor-like cables, but there has still been something missing. A Korean company is betting that physical interaction might bridge that gap.
Ahead of CES 2021, bHaptics has introduced a range of wireless haptic vests that will provide physical feedback from VR and gaming content. Prices start at $299 and vests work with the company’s haptic sleeves, face cushions, and hand and foot devices, creating a whole-body effect for gaming enthusiasts.
The Tactsuit X16 ($299) offers 16 different vibration points, while the Tactsuit X40 ($499) comes with 40 vibration points. The company says the vests are currently compatible with more than 50 titles on SteamVR and Oculus Quest, including Onward and Pavlov. Other games are in the works.
The vests weigh 3.3 pounds and are one-size-fits-all. They utilize a Lithium-ion battery that the company says will last up to 18 hours on a five-hour charge.
Both vests connect to systems via Bluetooth, meaning they’re not tied exclusively to VR devices. A patent-pending audio-to-haptic software device will let users “feel” feedback when listening to music, watching movies or playing a game on any platform. Users can also create their own settings for different types of content.
A full-body haptic setup won’t come cheap, though. Beyond the vests, which ship Feb. 8, you’ll shell out $149 for a haptic face cushion with six vibration points, $249 for arm sleeves with six vibration points per arm, and another $250 each for hands and feet devices, with three vibration points per appendage.
“We are thrilled to showcase the new TactSuit X series at CES 2021 and look forward to building partnerships with content developers so that we can provide a wider range of TactSuit-compatible content to our users,” said Kiuk Gwak, CEO of bHaptics. “The TactSuit X series will become the first consumer-ready haptic display in the history of human-computer interface.”
The Call of Duty franchise has held a special place in my heart ever since I played my first Black Ops game back in 2010. That game's campaign was something else, with twists and turns that culminated in a mind-blowing finale. We can all admit that compared to those older campaigns, the recent CODs have been lackluster at best, and a complete and utter disappointment at worst. The reboot of Modern Warfare did give me some hope, as the first two installments were actually quite good, but the third game left such a bad taste in my mouth that I wasn’t exactly expecting much from Modern Warfare 4.
After recently finishing the campaign, I can say that this installment is nothing like the recent releases and instead feels closer to the franchise’s roots. For the first time in a long while, the campaign comes across as well-crafted rather than rushed to hit a release date. It arrives three years after MW3, and you can see exactly where all that time went. It seems the studio finally made listening to player feedback a priority.
Epic Games has just announced the 2026 Epic AI MegaJam, which is looking to see how much game development can be squeezed into a very short window. This is running from November 12 through November 15.
Participants can work alone or in teams of up to five people, build in Unreal Engine or Unreal Editor for Fortnite, and bring along “as many AI agents as you want.” Epic explicitly encourages coding agents, AI-generated assets, audio tools, writing tools, and other AI systems. The official event page literally says "Vibe your way to $50k.”
It’s turning into a pretty good time to be a Monster Hunter fan who plays on a phone. Capcom has confirmed that Monster Hunter Outlanders will launch on Android and iOS on October 29, giving the series a new mobile-first game just as Monster Hunter Rise is also preparing to make the jump to smartphones through Netflix.
Outlanders is being developed by Tencent subsidiary TiMi Studio Group under license and supervision from Capcom. Unlike Rise, which appears to be the full console and PC game adapted for mobile, Outlanders is a free-to-play survival hunting game made specifically for phones.