Big noise was made across social, digital and print media this week as buzz surrounding the launch of the latest in the Fallout gaming series reached fever pitch.
With what was arguably the biggest launch in gaming history, the hotly anticipated release has defied the transient nature of digital culture, with the majority of fans holding out for the latest version since 2008’s seminal Fallout 3. Set in a post-apocalyptic world still suffering the effects of nuclear fallout, the game will no doubt take over the lives of Britain’s gaming elite for the foreseeable future as players engross themselves in the challenges of surviving the desolate and barren landscape.
At Sarum Hydraulics, the launch set us thinking about what could be around the corner for the next generation of gaming obsessives. The impending release of Oculus Rift, the virtual reality gaming sensation promises to open up a new frontier for gamers. With its groundbreaking 3D head-gear the world could see major gaming platforms offering their users a fully immersive gaming experience as soon as early 2016. Factor in the development of Touch technology and the sky quickly appears to be the limit, with gamers everywhere hoping not only to play, but also to touch, feel, see and indeed exist in virtual gaming realities.
Fallout 4 got gamers attention last week.
But will gamers be pushing to be jolted around like a flight simulator for the ultimate experience? Why settle for fighting the baddies in 3D when you can feel them shooting at the gunship and barely escaping with your life? After all, feeling the game experience is a big step up from simply seeing it.
Can clever hydraulics ride to the rescue? Yes, we all know flight simulators with their array of double acting cylinders and servo valves, but these are complex and expensive systems. Could this ever be translated into a chair or flat floor panel for the home? Well, probably not very simply, with damning factors ranging from the simple (noise) to the complex (size).
This is potentially a big product, but has to be something new and clever. We can’t see pneumatics doing it and imagine that electrical actuation can’t be fast enough. Hydraulics would have to be so small, quiet and slick that nobody even realises what is inside the case. That is probably wishful thinking. Piezo actuators? Maybe, but not as we know them now.
In the mean time, the Sarum crew can get back in front of their monitors, whether it is playing Fallout or designing innovative manual hydraulics.
Look at what we do on https://sarum-hydraulics.co.uk
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