South Park’s latest video game, Stick of Truth, brought the often controversial humor of South Park to the world of role playing games, but it was missing a certain something. Ubisoft has heard your cries, and has developed the Nosulus Rift, a special device designed to bring the unique scents of your hero’s special … power right into your nostrils.
“In South Park The Fractured but Whole you’re playing the new kid in town, the hero,” says Ubisoft senior producer Jason Schroeder in the dreamy, startup-esque video announcement. “One of your special abilities is really the power of your ass.”
The Nosulus Rift, which players can strap over their nose, releases one of two specially crafted fart smells via small burners. It connects to a PC or console via Bluetooth to deliver the aromas at precisely coordinated moments. It’s nothing short of a revelation in gaming, clearly, although its exclusively compatible with Fractured but Whole at the moment.
In the first game, players learned to use their impressive farts as a powerful weapon to blow away enemies, and in the new game, it appears that ability has only grown stronger. Clips from the game show the character using farts as a jetpack to propel them to the top of a building.
Is this all an April Fool’s joke come out of season? Not exactly. While Ubisoft won’t be selling the Nosulus Rift anywhere, it is a real, working device, and it will be at Gamescom in Cologne (yes, as in cologne) for gamers to try out.
On a more serious note, scent is an incredible tool for bringing up memories and emotions. A device that’s able to deliver them accurately and in coordination with a game’s timing could provide an amazing sense of immersion, especially when paired up with a virtual reality headset. It may just be a fart joke right now, but Ubisoft may have created something with a lot of potential.
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