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Rumble pales in comparison to real Force Feedback. I have a FF steering wheel (Thrustmaster) and it's just incredible how much this adds to games that properly support it. Although I have to admit I haven't used it in quite some time - not enough racing games that are really to my taste and also it's too time consuming to mount that thing to my desk and connect all the cables for a quick race - and I don't have time for more.

Motion controls: Never really tried it. I'd like to try TrackIR, but for the few games that support it it's not responsible to spend that much money on it.

3D: Will probably become interesting for me once it becomes less cumbersome. Wearing glasses over glasses is not really comfortable.

EAX: I dearly miss it. EAX was an extension to DirectSound3D and died with Windows Vista. It could be emulated when you didn't have a Creative DSP.
It's obsolete insofar that is has been surpassed by OpenAL, but it sucks that older games that rely on DirectSound3D aren't able to use it any more.

I know, it was so bad, let's just get the stupid jokes out of the way. Several decades have passed since 1989 and the technology has advanced to a degree where I think it would be possible.

I guess overall I'd have to say I can play games without these features. I've never really cared for haptic feedback in game controllers with the possible exception of the G27 racing wheel where it gives more of a feeling that you're driving a real car by providing resistance and can jerk the wheel out of your hands under certain conditions. I've always wanted to use EAX or surround sound for gaming but who realistically has 4-7 speakers set up around their chair in the correct orientation etc for gaming? I suspect 0.0001% of gamers ever use more than stereo with or without a sub and for anyone who might respond "That's not true because I do.", yes it is true and you're part of the 0.0001% (if not _the_ 0.0001% <grin>). :)

I had EAX set up once just to test it, but the front speakers were quite different from the rear speakers giving a different frequency response with the rear speakers having less bass and more treble which was highly noticeable and that ended up drawing me out of the game and giving me less immersion (in either Skyrim or TW3, I forget) so you need proper speakers for it to get the proper experience for sure.

I own a variety of specialty hardware such as Saitek flightstick, throttle and rudders, Logitech G27 racing wheel/shifter/pedals, and a NaturalPoint TrackIR 4 Pro head tracker. None of these devices are strictly necessary for any game, but each one of them can greatly enhance certain specific games or types of games to a degree that the difference they provide in the games is significant and increases both the realism and immersion and the enjoyment of gameplay. It's not subtle, but is rather highly noticeable and provides a completely different gaming experience that more than justifies the cost of the hardware for my usage case anyway.

The vibrating thing in my Logitech gamepads I disable however, don't care about that and find it annoying. Also kills the batteries.

What it really boils down to though is that these types of things are optional specialty features that some users may enjoy and find beneficial while others may not care for them, and still others are indifferent.

Without. I've never really used or enabled any of the 3D positional audio or somesuch that some older games offered. Not even sure if I had audio hardware that supported it. I remember trying some 3D positional audio demo with my old Gravis Ultrasound sound card, you had to use headphones for it and even then it was meh.

EDIT: I had to google what EAX actually was, and apparently it was not (only) about 3D audio? Is it also for echo effects and such? So I don't think I have ever heard it then as Sound Blaster 16 was the last dedicated sound card I bought anyway (after that I rather used my money on kickass 3D graphics accelerators than sound cards, I guess). After that I always used any generic sound chip that happened to be integrated on the motherboard or the laptop.

Rumble has always felt gimmicky to me. I don't think I have any PC joysticks or gamepads with rumble (Logitech F310 gamepad doesn't have it at least), the most experience I have with rumble is with PS2 games, and it is gimmicky there too.

Were there even mice with rumble? I'd hate it if the mouse would rumble while playing e.g. TeamFortress 2, I'd probably switch it off instantly.

Actually EAX is about real-time sound effects (distortion) not about surround (5.1 or 7.1) sound. Footsteps echoing in a tunnel, this shrill buzz every sound creates in a metal pipe, hall effects of someone speaking in a distance in a large cathedral, muffled sound behind a door... Yeah, the driver even created a *bump* when the pointer was crossing window borders. Only saw it at some trade fair though, never owned one.

Personally, I consider rumble to be a feature that I would rather not have. I always turn it off. If a game forces its use (like Arc the Lad 2, which has the controller rumble before you get a chance to turn off the feature), I get annoyed.

I was actually disappointed in the Nintendo 3DS announcement because it felt that Nintendo was jumping on a passing fad rather than actually innovating. (It's not why I don't own one; I don't own one because of region locking and DRM.)

indispensable or superfulous? Neither. They can add to enjoyment but aren't necessary for it. People got immersed in MCGA resolutions with 8 bit sound, and many people still like low res pixel art. I usually play without sound. If the game is good, these things don't matter that much for immersion. Hell, I still remember some "graphics" in Zork 2 that I imagined in my mind.

So it's easy to do without these options, but I do think that these have an effect on immersion, and well implemented VR is likely to be able to make people feel things that flat screen games can't. (And I'm not talking about nausea. :)

The best combination of 3D and gaming I've ever seen was the 3ds.
No need for other accessories or extra gimmicks, just open it up play it. That's it. Plain and simple + you get, uh, "immersed"? Maybe not fully but that's pretty satisfactory.

Yet, as an old man (;P) I don't see myself playing with glasses, gloves and other stuff on on a daily basis. The same happens with digital books, 3D tvs and so on; I'm a manual type of dude, I like squeezing lemons and not just pressing buttons and there you go, no señor.

Game gimmicks -even though a lot more smooth these days- are too demanding. But that's just me. Maybe yonger folks and some enthusiasts will enjoy something strapped to their faces, running on treadmills, who knows.

Anyone missing "CyberSniff 2000"?

The problem with gloves, goggles etc. is that you have to put them on to play a game, kinda like preparing for the game, donning your gaming armor before you can play.

As someone mentioned, that was the reason I hardly ever used my wheel + pedals system with racing games, as I just felt it was too much effort to move away the keyboard and mouse, and secure the wheel to the desk with screws and whatnot.

Even a mere flightstick is sometimes pushing it. The reason I kept postponing playing Wing Commander Prophecy or Freespace for so long was because I didn't feel like taking out the flightstick from a closet and connecting it to the PC (laptop). Once I did it though, now it is fine, it doesn't take much effort to move the mouse mat aside a bit, and move the flightstick there, in order to play a bit of Freespace.

Heck, I even get a bit annoyed having to log into the Steam client before I can play TeamFortress 2... I guess I just want starting a game to be as effortless as possible. Same reason I'd probably end up playing games without VR goggles, unless they really make it a whole new experience.

Yeah, I mean we all (where "all == a metric shitload of us big enough to matter and crush everyone who doesn't") have wanted VR forever, but VR that comes as close to the VR in our heads (cough... holodeck... cough) for a reasonable price (hint, not $849 CAD)...

Hopefully there are a shitload of rich kids out there or this round of VR is going to be a real snorefest even if it is the hottest piece of hardware in the universe. Unless they price it at $100 USD in Russia, in which case we all live in Russia all of a sudden... :)

?

I don't really see what is wrong with it, apart that it's a bit bulky (a lot more than the stylish skimask from the KS).
If it's the price, well if it can really do the 3D as good as they say I think $600 USD is reasonable, a lot R&D went into this for something which eventually is a niche product.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbUqJm9WQdg