An OmniWear Arc Necklace for Wearable Gaming Feedback

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Wearable device startup OmniWear suggests a wearable device to give gamers a touch-based edge over opponents-- the Arc, a necklace that vibrates when opponents are in the vicinity.

OmniWear ArcOf course, the addition of haptic feedback is nothing new in game accessories, what with vibration motors being a standard in joypads and controllers. However the majority of games use haptics to simply make impacts feel "real" or add intensity to specific sequences, other than giving actual information to the gamer.

OmniWear claims the Arc provides 360-degree location tracking through 8 vibration motors placed around it. This, if an enemy approaches from behind, the motor at the back should start buzzing, and the buzzing gets more intense the closer the enemy is. To do so the necklace pairs with an OmniWear mobile app via Bluetooth, and in turn the app keeps track of what is taking place in the game.

“With the Arc, you can offload some of this visual information to an untapped sensory channel: your sense of touch," the company adds. "This communicates information in a minimally-invasive way that doesn’t further burden your eyes or ears. Gaming while wearing the Arc is like having a wingman who watches the radar for you and warns you of incoming threats.”

On launch the Arc should be compatible with Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and League of Legends, and developers will be able to integrate support for their games through an Arc SDK. It is currently available on a preorder basis via Kickstarter, with shipments estimated to kick off from September 2017.

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