By Evan Ackerman

Part of the reason that I like playing games is that my character can get beat up in a million different ways and die over and over and I get to just sit here and drink Mountain Dew and eat Cheetos and push buttons. But I guess some people want a more immersive experience, and want to be able to feel more than an ego sting when their character takes a shotgun blast in the chest. We’re familiar with one gadget that tries to make the gaming experience a bit more realistic, the 3rd Space Vest, and the Immerz KOR-fx, uh, chestphones aim to do the same kind of thing, except with sound instead of air pressure.

The way the KOR-fx works is through the magical mystery of “acousto-haptic technology.” Really, all it seems to be is some bass amplifiers that rest on your chest and pump low frequency sound directly into your body cavity, letting you feel the bass effects without having to turn your speakers way up, since headphones don’t produce that same visceral low-end effect. It means you can game quietly without feeling like it’s quiet. Sounds like a great accessory, right? Well, it would be, if it wasn’t supposed to cost $250 or more. I mean, for that amount of money I’d rather just turn my speakers up and make my neighbors suffer… If they want to buy me a set of these, that’s up to them.

[ Immerz ] VIA [ CNET ]