Las Vegas – CES in Las Vegas, the international consumer electronics fair, is always the stage for great presentations on technology that (hopefully) will soon become known to the general public. Forever, Razer used CES to show what’s new and every year the company has always enjoyed presenting an unconventional concept. Some of these have never seen the light, presented more as prototypes, while others have become real products. This seems to be the case with the new one Project Esther, presented at CES 2024 which we had the pleasure of previewing!
But let’s start in order.
What is Razer’s new Project Esther?
Razer’s Project Esther is a haptic pillow that takes advantage of the company’s Razer Sensa technology and to offer a new overwhelming degree of immersion in the world of video games. Project Esther is in fact the natural evolution of tactile technology that it bridges the boundaries between physical and virtual; a whole new way to play that immerses the player in the center of the action. Unlike traditional haptic devices that are limited to one-dimensional feedback, Project Esther truly adapts to what is happening in game and its precise location by generating tactile sensations and vibrations that vary in intensity, speed, duration and position.
The pillow is indeed equipped with 16 tactical actuators positioned optimally to offer complete coverage of the body, from back to legs as well as being adaptable, thanks to a series of adjustable straps, to any type of chair, gaming or otherwise.
Razer Sensa technology
Project Esther exploits the potential of Razer Sensa technology, capable of offering tactile and realistic sensations. This technology is able to control multiple actuators to distribute tactical sensations and vibrations in specific areas thus allowing you to perceive directionality and distance. Razer Sansa also allows you to coordinate multiple devices to deliver synchronized haptic effects by automatically converting audio to haptics in real time.
With an exceptional response time of <20 ms, Razer Sensa is optimized for incredible speed and near-instantaneous haptic activationperfectly synchronized with all audio signals.
Our preview of Project Esther
Thanks to Razer we had the opportunity to preview the potential of Project Esther directly at CES 2024 in Las Vegas. Let’s start by saying that the cushion, despite still being in the design phase, presents itself excellently with the quality and design typical of the company. At the fair there was also a version with integrated RGB lights (here on the left) which made our eyes pop!
The cushion is divided into captivating geometric shapes that embrace the part of our body that rests on the chair and provides vibrations and feedback inherent to the action taking place in the game. For this preview, we tested Project Esther with a Mortal Kombat demo, a first-person shooter, and a test specifically created for this demonstration. The Test was certainly the most engaging as it was created specifically and showed us all the potential of this project. A 360° spatial audio sequence demonstrated how Sensa technology can “translate” sounds into haptic effects to make our body feel where the sound comes from and with how much intensity.
Without too many technicalities, if it rains in the game, we may feel very light vibrations throughout our body while if we receive a shotgun blast we will feel a very strong vibration in the direction from which the shot comes. The accuracy of haptic vibrations will vary between developers of video games which, at the time you are reading this article, may have received the Interhaptics software SDK dedicated to Razer Sensa.
Project Esther preview in brief
Project Esther has everything it takes to add a new level of immersiveness to video games which in recent years has been reaching ever higher heights. During our short hands-on we received a taste of what Prohect Esther could be and we imagined ourselves playing titles like Cyberpunk 2077 or Skyrim where voices, environmental sounds and the roar of weapons or dragons are able to make our body. The idea excites us so much!
But when and if Project Esther will become a real product that you can buy, only time will tell. Would you like to have it on your gaming chair and explore a way of playing video games?
