The JDome: An Immersive Gameplay Experience

John Biggs

Biggs is the East Coast Editor of TechCrunch. Biggs has written for the New York Times, InSync, USA Weekend, Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, Money and a number of other outlets on technology and wristwatches. He is the former editor-in-chief of Gizmodo.com and lives in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. You can Tweet him here and G+ him here. Email him directly at... → Learn More

Wednesday, June 8th, 2011

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When I look at this odd, immersive screen, called the jDone, I’m reminded of Coleridge’s epic poem:

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately jDome decree:
Where guns roared out, soldiers ran
Through caverns measureless to man
In a boot of Battlefield 3.

The J-Dome costs $1,200 and sets up in a few minutes. It fits in a package about as big as a pack ‘n’ play playpen for kids and works with any projector, creating a nearly immersive gaming experience by adding peripheral vision effects to otherwise 2D games.

The effect, in short, is mesmerizing if a little intense. Both Matt and I felt a little sick playing an FPS simply because the screen is overarching and completely immersive. Things move on either side of your head and you find yourself looking around more simply because the screen is so big.

Because it costs $1,200 plus whatever the projector costs it is hard to recommend this to the average gamer. However, if you’re serious about your FPSes, this thing is on par with a flight simulator yoke or car gaming seat in terms of value for the money. It will help you enjoy your games considerably more and, even if it looks kind of goofy, it’s quite cool.

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