We have all our own preconceptions of VR (virtual reality), and how it is related to video games. Many of us think of the very large machine that you step into, while you place an overly enormous contraption on your head and wave your hands around like a raving lunatic. Movies and amusement parks have convinced us that any VR related gaming device would not be feasible for the common person’s home at a reasonable price or in a small space such as a living room. Thankfully the good folks at 3001AD and their wireless Trimersion Head Mounted Display (HMD) and gun controller are making that unlikely concept an actual reality.

The Trimersion is designed mainly for first person shooter games and keeps the gamer’s interests in mind. With the future of FPS games up in the air, the Trimersion peripheral is here to breathe some life into the genre and give it a much needed kick in the pants. The gun controller attaches to the HMD via a cable and the two connects to your PlayStation 2, Xbox or PC using a wireless base station that sits on your Television or monitor. The headset fits snuggly onto your head, over your ears and eyes and as you move your head around, up and down, side to side, the head tracking component within the unit controls the crosshair on the screen just as a mouse would. The headset features two small LCD screens which make it feel as though you are looking at a 35 inch screen from a seven foot distance. The headset can be tightened and loosed by an adjustable knob located at the rear of the device and sits firmly in place without you needing to worry about it slipping around as you play. The version of the HMD we were shown was quite lightweight and were told that it would be slimmed down even more before it was to be available to the public. The Headset features a set of stereo speakers headphones that comfortably fit over your ears to block out any outside surrounding noise and no intrusive ear buds to cause discomfort after extended times of playing.

The gun itself looks like your typical light gun, although it features a series of ABXY buttons on both sides of the gun and D-pads at the end of the barrel and the rear of the gun to use for your movement. Dark grey molding with red buttons, it features a longer barrel than a pistol does, with a hand grip at the end which makes it feel more of a sawed off shotgun of sorts. The placement for both hands and the ease of the trigger make the gun controller feel quite comfortable and natural in your hands. Able to be used both left and right handed, the player uses the D-pad to move through the game with their thumb while their other hand is positioned comfortably at the barrel of the gun where the buttons lay, which can effortlessly be pressed with your finger tips and can be mapped out and customized for however the player wants them to be set up. With the entire system weighing in at barely over two pounds and with the 4AA batteries that run the entire Trimersion unit housed inside the gun, it really doesn’t add much to the already light weight feel, so holding it up for long stretches of intense gaming shouldn’t be a problem.

The HMD and gun controller connect to either your console or PC (no next generation systems are currently compatible with the product but that is going to change within the near future) by means of a wireless base station. The base station has an external power supply for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions, where as the PC version will connect directly through a USB port to get its juice. The base station accepts both VGA and NTSC video signals that it sends to the HMD so the unit can be used on multi-platforms discarding the decision that some would need to make on which system they would want to use the Trimersion for. With the entire system weighing in at barely over two pounds and with the ease of plug and play and no drivers needed to install, the set up of the unit is simple and will have you in the game in no time. Already compatible with numerous FPS games like Halo, DOOM and FEAR, having a limited number of games that the device is compatible with is non-existent. With a relatively low price point compared to similar products at $395, the Trimersion could become a major hit with many gamers when the product is released later this fall. - Jeff McAllister.