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Virtual recoil is the new VR. That's according to Louisiana-based Dekka Technologies, which has developed the most realistic gun recoil haptic technology for military training, and now plans to morph that system for the consumer market. "Translating this into the gaming world, we wouldn't do things that are too realistic," Kyle Monti, chief science officer at Dekka, tells Wired.co.uk. "But something like Halo, where the gun vibrates before it shoots, would be ideal. We've also got ideas for a wand, where you move the centre of gravity in a virtual space."

These interpretations are key. Because what Dekka is demoing at production company Intition's headquarters when Wired.co.uk meets them, is a big ol' realistic, rapid-fire gun.


It is, the company says, probably the most realistic representation you'll find without firing the real thing, designed to perform at an accuracy of within one millimetre. In fact, it's so realistic, the kit was held up in UK customs for a day -- before the team pointed out the electronics inside the 3D printed add-on that contains them. "Visuals for the military would typically use video capture software and they would shoot in infrared," says Monti. "But the pneumatic recoil kind of sucks and is not that accurate. We realised an electric solution would be amazing."

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That was two years ago, at the Launchpad accelerator in the US.

Now the company is in talks with defence companies to get the product into training regimes. They envisage integrating haptic feedback into everything, from the weapons to vehicle simulators.


That way, they can save the cost of petrol and never actually have to put a gun in the hand of a true amateur again.

Being rather unaccustomed to shooting a gun (and not a huge fan of them), we thought we'd give it a try. The demo we played was knocked together in a short frame of time with Oculus Rift. But once the sensor locks on and the gun stopped floating in our faces as it did at the start of the trial, the effect was alarmingly real. And really fun.

The creepy factor of using a gun made to look and feel like the real thing becomes clear when you swing round in the virtual world Dekka had designed, away from the nice targets setup in a field, to a bunch of figures walking around. First we're told they're zombies. They certainly move like them, but they have more of a look of the real mall-going human lemmings George Romero had in mind when he penned Dawn Of The Dead. The saving grace is, they're a bit more like blob people, they're totally orange, and when you shoot the slow-moving folk they burst and wither to the ground like deflated balloons.


But when companies like TrackingPoint are creating streaming apps for Google Glass that let people shoot round corners, turning amateurs into well-trained marksman in the real world, does Dekka foresee any danger with bringing that realism into gaming? "Disturbing things like that are happening in the military," says Monti. "But those types of things wouldn't have the same features the military version has. But anyway I wouldn't derive pleasure from creating those kinds of realistic sims for kids and prop guns. We want to create laser beams and virtual voltage." He points out that 32 millions people play Call of Duty, and many want more realism. Putting a stop to someone making it more real, would likely be tricky, but that's not a reason to prevent innovation in other areas.

Dekka's Martin Holly says he wants to see the game of laser tag totally remorphed using virtual reality and virtual recoil, with players turned into their own avatars and everyone able to manipulate their surroundings. "It could be an experience that's realistic but adds fantasy.

You could run along and grab a token for invisibility, things like that." It will be about personalising every moment of your gaming experience, Holly predicts, with players even able to 3D print their own recoil capsule.