Nerd Mentality

Adventures in Public Relations

Posted September 1st 2006 by J Edison Thomas.

There was a time when, out of desperation, I was actually put in place of N-Philes public relations. This decision was made in contrast to the facts that I am lazy, I have no experience in public relations, and I am socially dysfunctional. Nowadays the PR is handled aptly by Ben and Desiré, but every once in awhile I'm still contacted by a company that doesn't know any better and I either ignore their message or muster all my professionalism for a short reply. Recently, my inbox contained this message.

Although gaming enthusiasts are itching to play Halo 3, HoMedics helps

take the edge off the long wait with the introduction of a new gaming

accessory that allows video game fanatics to become one with their

favorite games. Simply plug in the HoMedics iCush to any gaming device

and become part of the action as your muscles vibrate in sync with the

gunshots, exploding bombs and car crashes.

The HoMedics iCush features universal audio input and high-quality

speakers that play music or video game sound with or without the

vibrating mechanism. The integrated hand-controls allow users to adjust

heat, as well as intensity, speed and location of vibration.

The HoMedics iCush will be available fall 2006 and will have a suggest

retail price of $119.95.

Although I'm not particularly itchy in my desire to play Halo 3, I appreciated the non-sequitur name dropping, so I responded that maybe they should send some artwork or details about how the chair works.

Here's what the thing looks like:

And how it works is that it rumbles when you play video games. I'm guessing you put it over a chair or something. Or maybe it is a chair. I have no idea.

HoMedics, the huge fans of random capitalization that they are, offered to send a "demo unit" of the iCush upon request, which to me sounded like a charming idea. I like rumble (who doesn't?) and a rumbling chair sounds like it might feel good regardless of how well it integrates with gameplay. Maybe make a chair that gives a Shiatsu massage when your character takes or gives damage, or is on screen at any time? I can only dream.

I'm not entirely sure what HoMedics has in mind, and I find it hard to believe they'd just toss me a $100+ holiday item in return for me writing about it (especially if they've read my writing), but even if it's a beta model and it burns my skin when I play, I'm too tempted to not give it a try now. I only hope I can find my copy of The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction by then. Either way, I'll be updating when it drops to let all you folks in Internetland know just how well the iCush helps gamers stave off Halo 3 fever. God willing, it will make the suffering somewhat more bearable.

| Comments (4) | Permalink