When you’re playing a video game, rarely do you think about what your character will be smelling, but GameScent could be changing that. This will use “the power of AI” to conjure smells that will make your game time more immersive, supposedly, which is an interesting mission statement.
GameScent will have sophisticated AI that will release the correct scent that matches whatever game you're playing, though only a limited amount of scents have been announced. The Game Awards creator Geoff Keighley confirmed that there will be real smells for Gunfire, Explosions, Racing, Storm, and Forest.
If that wasn’t enough to get your interest, there are also “upgraded DLC scents” because anything related to the game industry needs its version of DLC. Fans who decide to get the DLC scents will gain access to Napalm, Human Exertion, Ocean, and Golf Course. Out of all these scenes, the Golf course is the most surprising since there aren’t a ton of golf games anymore.
AI has proven to be a controversial topic in gaming but when it comes to GameScent, this isn’t the worst use of the technology. If anything, this is one of the better uses of AI since it seems to be programmed to release scents that were chosen by humans. Let’s just hope that these scents aren’t too accurate, since we imagine something like Napalm shouldn’t be smelled by anyone.
While we did make a lot of jokes, there’s no denying that this technology is interesting and could make gaming more immersive, even if it’s one of the odder ways to do it. Based on what we’ve seen, it seems the devs are focusing more on standard games with shooting and exploration. It will be interesting to see how GameScent becomes more immersive in the future, especially when more risque games are becoming commonplace.
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There is currently no release date for the GameScent technology, though this should be an interesting release.