Will we like the Wallabies more in 3D?

 

Roar Pro

By Hobart, 22 Jul 2009 The Crowd is a Roar Pro

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 All Blacks, American Football, Bledisloe Cup, Eden Park, George Smith, Rugby Union, wallabies

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After a painful display of poor skills at Eden Park, the Wallabies are less than dear to Aussie hearts this week. Maybe the fans would be more empathetic and forgiving if they knew what the Wallabies actually feel on the field.

Well, we’re going to find out, because the experience is coming to a TV set near you.

Enter the D-Box.

The D-Box, designed by a company in Quebec, is a new technology being trialed in movie theaters in North America. It’s a seat that’s synched with the on-screen action. So, in a James Bond car chase, your seat will swivel around the curves, vibrate when things get blown up real good, and tilt toward the ceiling when his Aston Martin takes to the air.

Combined with this will be a 3-D print to actually put you on the Croisette, and chemical release of lip-smacking aromas: in the Bond Riviera movie, cafe au lait, steak pommes frites and on on.

The manufacturers hope to broaden the market by taking the technology into the home as a D-Box sofa. The matching TV program will be coming at you in 3-D, and not necessarily through glasses as the labs are hard at work on a new development which will let you watch 3-D TV with natural vision.

After TV movies produced for all the action junkies, sports will be the next biggest audience – the NFL as seen in 3-D and felt by D-Box.

So when this happens with American football, basketball, baseball and hockey, can rugby be far behind?

Now imagine that the technology’s already here. Imagine you’re using it to revisit last Saturday’s game.

You’ll be able to feel the hit that Nonu put on Barnes and not be so hard on Barnes for flinging the ball at George Smith’s head and butchering the try.

With tiny, dime-size cameras mounted on all the players, you’ll be able to see that ball looming large in 3-D and go “Arghh!” as it bounces off “your” noggin.

You’ll be able to feel the footsteps as Kaino charges down Giteau’s kick, and as all the players will be miked, hear Giteau’s surprise. “Where the (bleeped copulative verb) did he come from?”

You’ll also be able to hear Morto’s brave challenges to the ref and the ref’s response. (“Sir, McCaw’s been lying on the ball all night.” “Don’t worry about, it won’t get pregnant.”)

You’ll feel a cooling breeze on Palu’s face when Donald makes that second half break. You’ll get an interesting close up of Auckland grass as Baxter goes back to his chlorophyll diet. Even feel the pain of the ball as Burgess brutally kicks it out on the full.

At the final whistle, when you get up black and blue from the D-Box sofa, you’ll know what the Wallabies went through and regret sending that scathing post to The Roar.

The D-Box people are thinking about charging $20,000 for the sofa, and as you’ll have to buy another TV set for the no-glasses 3-D broadcast, the whole thing will be a tad expensive.

But at least we’ll be able to say, Wallabies, we feel your pain.

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