Skip to main content

You don’t think you want to smell your video games, but trust us – you do

Neurogaming headsetsHave you ever been playing a game and thought to yourself, “You know what would make this game better? If I knew what my avatar smelled like.” Probably not, because that would be weird. But not only is that being actively worked on, the possibilities are very, very cool.

The inclusion of olfactory output in a game is just one possible level of immersion that is being bandied about during discussions of the future of gaming under the umbrella term “neurogaming.” While it might not be all that appealing to be able to take a deep whiff of your character that has been running and fighting for days at a time, there are certain gameplay elements that would benefit from this technology in incredible and unique ways.

Yeah, the graphics are good, but how does he smell?
Yeah, the graphics are good, but how does he smell? Image used with permission by copyright holder

Imagine playing a game as Wolverine, a character that has feral abilities and can smell scents. We’ve seen this play out in movies, including the first X-Men film where Wolvie smelled that Mystique was impersonating Jean Grey. What if you were playing a game and you caught a scent that was wrong for the person, something distinctive and unique like gunpowder instead of the expected smell of flowers? Even characters without special powers could use smells as a cue. Maybe you are lost in a dungeon when you smell fresh air pointing the way out, or you catch a scent of gas and know to get out of there quickly. The possibilities are limited only by the imagination.

Recommended Videos

The sense of smell has been linked to memory, so it could also be used for puzzles and to associate concepts. It could also go beyond gaming into things like advertising. One day you may turn on your futuristic TV equipped with olfactory output and an ad for a restaurant comes on accompanied by the smell of cooking food.

This level of technology is already around in a primitive way, and has even been used before. A few movie theaters experimented with pumping the smell of popcorn into a theater to get people hungry enough to go buy food at the concession stands. It worked at first, but eventually backfired when the theaters weren’t able to dissipate the smell fast enough and it began to make people nauseous. A minor detail.

Olfactory possibilities aside, messing with the brain to improve your gaming experience is something that people are working on now. Currently the most common neurogaming headsets monitor EEGs. This is impressive technology, but the results are limited. It is basically reading a signal from your brain, which results in a button being pushed. It’s not that impressive in isolation, but it’s a step towards a lot more.

Imagine using an EEG monitor paired with sensors that can read the pH level in your skin and react to your emotional responses. Say you are in a shooter and trying to snipe. Shooters frequently introduce a sniping mechanic where you hold a button to briefly steady your aim, and some games even have items that you can take that are like digital valium, allowing you to momentarily steady your hand. Those are all tricks though, designed to further connect you to a game mechanic. But what if the game could actually sense your level of agitation and react accordingly? The more agitated you were the more the scope would shake, encouraging you to calm yourself or maybe go find a better location.

CoD sniping
Stay calm. STAY CALM!! Image used with permission by copyright holder

That could also be used in the opposite way. If you are too relaxed, the game could increase the level of difficulty and throw more challenges at you. A survival horror game might choose your calmest moment to try to scare you, or an action game might automatically send squaddies to you if your heart rate spiked after an ambush. You might find yourself in a challenge stage where you have a time limit to defeat a certain number of enemies, and the trick would be to remain calm. 

The applications of this technology extends beyond gaming. You could play games designed to try to stress you out, and after enough repetition that could help you in the real world deal with stressful situations. The context doesn’t have to be violence, either; you could be playing Tetris, and as the blocks fall faster you receive bonuses for keeping cool.

These are just a few of the possibilities that neurogaming can offer. They may seem like science fiction, but in many cases the technology necessary to accomplish them is just an evolution of what we already have. Consider gaming audio; 20 years ago, it was essentially just background noise. Today, with a good headset, you can actually hear things like footsteps in multiplayer combat games, which increases your level of immersion and adds layers to the game. 

Technical leaps like this often require just one good execution of something that was previously just theoretical. Virtual Reality has been discussed for years, but now Oculus Rift is stealing headlines and others are actively looking to emulate them. In a few years, VR may be everywhere.

Twenty years from now, gaming may be as far removed from today’s gaming as 4K TVs are from radio. It is more than an evolution, it is a paradigm shift

Ryan Fleming
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Ryan Fleming is the Gaming and Cinema Editor for Digital Trends. He joined the DT staff in 2009 after spending time covering…
You don’t need to go Pro: the iPhone 16 can run high-end games
Eight game covers placed side by side, including Resident Evil 7 and Village, Assassin's Creed Mirage, Death Stranding Director's Cut, and Sniper Elite 4

Video games didn't get much airtime during Apple's September "It's Glowtime" event, but that doesn't mean it's out of the game just yet. Many of the company's big hardware announcements not only mean it'll continue to improve game performance, but that it's bringing those features to non-Pro models.

The only new game announced for iOS devices during the presentation was Honor of Kings: World, the open-world RPG version of the massively popular Chinese MOBA game series. It'll be coming to iPhones sometime in 2025. However, Apple claims that the iPhone 16 can run some already released AAA titles like Assassin's Creed Mirage and four of the latest Resident Evil titles, such as the Resident Evil 4 remake and Resident Evil: Village. These games were only playable previously on iPhone 15 Pro phones.

Read more
Don’t expect Grand Theft Auto 6 to launch on Xbox Game Pass
A man drives away in a boat with stolen money in Grand Theft Auto 5 art.

If you were hoping Grand Theft Auto 6 would launch day one on Xbox Game Pass, you're out of luck. Take-Two Interactive execs have been hesitant to launch the company's games on subscription services on Xbox Game Pass, and that will continue to be the case, according to the CEO's recent comments.

In an interview with Gamesindustry.biz ahead of the company's latest financial report, CEO Strauss Zelnick candidly said that while he believes the addition of the Call of Duty franchise will push players to the service for a bit, it won't affect Take-Two's release strategy.

Read more
Don’t miss this $600 price cut on an Alienware gaming laptop with RTX 4070
The Alienware m16 R2 on a table in front of a window.

If you're on the hunt for Prime Day gaming laptop deals, here's an offer that you wouldn't want to miss -- the extremely powerful and stylish Alienware m16 R2 with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 graphics card at $600 off from Dell, bringing the price for this particular configuration from $2,000 down to a more affordable $1,400. However, as with most Prime Day deals with huge savings, we expect this bargain to attract a lot of attention. It may not last until the end of the shopping holiday, so if you're interested, you should proceed with your purchase of this gaming laptop right away.

 
Why you should buy the Alienware m16 R2 gaming laptop
The Alienware m16 R2 challenges the performance of the best gaming laptops with its Intel Core Ultra 9 processor and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 graphics card, plus 16GB of RAM that our guide on how much RAM do you need says is the best place to start for gaming. With these specifications, you won't run into any issues when playing the best PC games, and you may even be prepared for the best upcoming PC games of the next few years.

Read more