I Got Shot in a Haptic Vest, and I Walked Away Happy

LOS ANGELES—In the book/movie Ready Player One (more so, the book), much of what adds to the main character's immersion in the virtual world he plays in comes from haptics. While the VR visor is the main component, at least in the book, great detail is given to the haptic suit that the character wears, which allows him to feel actual physical input translated from the digital world. This can be the caress of a romantic partner, or a shot to the gut from an enemy combatant, but the aim remains the same: Take the unreal, and make it real.

While both computationally and practically we're still a long way off from entering massive virtual worlds like the Oasis, the days of feeling what you're seeing in-game are already here. This week at E3, I had the opportunity to try out two different haptic suits that aim to bring the game into your body. One is from BHaptics, the other is from a company called Woojer.

A Rumble in the Jungle

Though the overall concepts are much the same (something happens on screen, you feel it in the haptic vest), I got two very different demos between the two products.

My first stop was with Woojer, a company out of San Jose, Calif., that was touting three different products: the Vest (yup, that's it, just "Vest"), the Vest Pro, and the Strap. Priced at $399, $599, and $199, respectively, these are some premium peripherals that, at least in the case of the two vests, cost more than the console you might plug them into.

Given those prices, I was expecting a body-shaking experience when I strapped in. And at least on feel alone, I wasn't disappointed.

I got a chance to try the Vest and the Vest Pro. (The latter rates its higher price point thanks to what the rep referred to as "7.1 surround haptics," whatever that means.) In both cases, there was plenty enough rumble to go around. Though there is a proprietary SDK that any developer can use to give the Vest specific instructions on where to rumble, every demo I was shown was a video of gameplay or a movie that used the audio bass response from that medium to distinguish how much punch to give.

Admittedly, when I got shot in Battlefield V, or when Deadpool's heart was beating in his titular movie, the Vest gave one hell of a kick. That said, I was surprised the company wasn't showing off any actual, ya know, games.

Both the Battlefield V clip and Deadpool were just video files that relied on the bass of the scene to translate touch. And even then, it wasn't specific to what I was seeing onscreen. If any bass came through (say, in the swellings of the soundtrack), the Vest shook.

When you think of haptics, and especially haptics in video games, you want something that will both increase your immersion in a game, while maybe also giving you a tactical advantage—like being able to tell from which direction you were shot in the game by feeling it positionally on the vest.

In-VR Pain: Location, Location, Location!

This is where solutions like BHaptics come in. BHaptics offers a full suite of haptic vests and straps, including one for your body, two for your wrists, two for your hands, and two for your feet. Add this to the vibrations of a VR headset, and your legs are pretty much the only part of you that won't get the dubious sensation of, say, getting shot.

For BHaptics' demo, I got suited up with the help of the BHaptics rep, and was then dropped into a paintball field where I was doing battle against someone standing next to me.

Well, "dropped in" might be an overstatement. It took some serious doing on behalf of multiple team members just to get the demo working, along with two different VR headsets. (In the course of the fumbles, we had to switch from a Vive Focus to an Oculus Go to get things functional at all.) Then, my vest didn't respond to any shots from the opposing player. Invincible me!

After about 10 minutes, the demo was finally up and running properly, and I have to say the effect, while not nearly as rumbly or as rib-shaking as the Woojer Vests, could be described as..."pretty neat." I got shot in the head; I felt my head vibrate. Shot from the back-left corner of the playing field, and I felt it on the back-left-hand side of my body.

There was only one demo on display, though (the paintball arena). But, like with Woojer, a rep from BHaptics told me the company would be making the SDK to its vest available to any developers who requested it. The BHaptics vest portion is only slightly cheaper than the Woojer gear, going for $500, and though I didn't get exact prices, the rep quoted that the full system, with every sensor, would run roughly $1,000 by the time it hits retail sometime this year.

Just Shoot Me!

While we may be a long way off from the world of Ready Player One and the Oasis, as a VR enthusiast myself, it's still cool to see companies leading the charge on making our virtual experiences feel just a little bit more like the real world. Even if—in these times troubled by too much real-world shoot-'em-up—that means getting shot feels like actually getting shot.

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