Ultimate Battlefield 3 Simulator (Virtual Reality)

          Recently, a UK television show - The Gadget Show, built an amazing Battlefield 3 simulator that is a perfect example of virtual reality. This simulator has all seven aspects of virtual reality discussed in class:   simulation, interaction, artificiality, immersion, telepresence, full-body immersion, and network communication. Human-computer interaction is utilized in the form of a gun and motion tracking. This simulator is situated in a dome-like tent where the game can be projected in 360 degrees around the tent and follows where the gun is pointed. To move, an omni-directional treadmill lets you physically walk around and translates that movement to the game. Ambient lighting surrounds the top of the tent and reacts to elements in the game such as lighting, gunfire, explosions, etc. What makes this rig over-the-top are the paintball gun turrents that shoot at you in accordance with enemy fire in the game; full-body immersion at its finest. This simulator takes gaming to the next level and creates an experience like no other, putting emphasis into the word "virtual reality." This rig simulates being a soldier in battle, lets you interact by using your movements and a gun to control the player, is artificial in reality despite it's lifelike representation, the tent along with the huge moving screen, treadmill, lighting, and paintball guns give a sense of immersion, we see telepresence in the sense of the person controlling the player in battle, our body is fully immersed in the experience, and network communication brings the whole process together.

          Below is the video of the build and test of the simulator, a really cool and awe-inspring process.

          EDIT (12/7/11): Now that I own this game, this video makes more sense and seems more intriguing than before. Even without ever trying this simulation, I can imagine how intense it really it is. Battlefield 3 is credited for great sound effects and I cannot agree more with this statement. Explosions sound almost weirdly real and snipers trying to pick you off couldn't be more nerve-racking with bullets sounding like they're whizzing pass your head. When a tank fires a shell at you, you don't only just hear the noise of the explosion, but the noise of a deafening boom where the sound is so loud that it becomes distorted and your vision is affected....that is Battlefield 3. Playing this already exciting game in a fully-immersed dome could be the closest thing we can get to fighting in a real war. Actually being physically shot by a gun would spark intense adrenaline when playing a first-person shooter war simulator and being able to aim with a gun as you would in real life takes it to the next level.