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A new game based on the upcoming film Serenity will include Immersion Corporation's VibeTonz touch feedback technology. Built by Indiagames and due for release soon by Verizon Wireless for its Get It Now service, the game - like the movie - is about a small band of galactic outcasts 500 years in the future.

When played on the VibeTonz-enabled Samsung n330 phone, the Serenity game includes touch feedback vibrations like those in console and video games. In Serenity, players purportedly feel the blast of explosions, the reverberations of gun fire, and the sensations of being hit with and without the benefit of a force field, for example.

According to Indiagames CEO Vishal Gondal, "Touch feedback offers a totally new sensory experience for mobile gamers and provides yet another feature that sets Indiagames apart from other content providers. Using this new technology in Serenity fits our strategy of providing games that are fun to play and that have instant name recognition based on major motion picture and television titles."

The Serenity movie is the film directorial debut of Joss Whedon, co-writer of Toy Story and producer of the television drama Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It is based on a cancelled TV show Firefly.

Good Vibrations
Samsung unveiled the SCH-n330, the first phone for the American market with a tactile sensory dimension, back in April. With the SCH-n330, key sounds are accompanied by simple touch sensations that confirm each key press. If a call is dropped, a ramp-down touch sensation informs users, so they know to stop talking.

There are also special VibeTonz touch sensations incorporated into power on and off, enabling people to confirm these actions—even in situations where viewing or hearing is difficult. The SCH-n330 comes with 15 preloaded VibeTonz ringers (bells and melodies) that can be used for identifying individual callers. These enhanced ringers include touch sensations synchronized to the melody, beat, and dynamics of music.


Samsung SCH-n330 from Verizon

As we mentioned, Immersion’s VibeTonz System extends tactile feedback way beyond the capabilities of your typical vibrating cell phone. With it, an application developer (ala Indiagames) can independently control both vibration strength and frequency for what the company calls high-fidelity touch sensations.

So with VibeTonz, mobile games (like Serenity) can deliver orchestrated touch sensations. The developer enables touch sensitively through the VibeTonz System SDK and a composition tool that addresses a handset-embedded haptic player, which tells the phone when an how much to vibrate.

To create this level of control manufacturers must replace the usual "on/off" pager motor in a phone with Immersion's hardware and control software.

In related news, Immersion has announced that Sprint Nextel is offering a new Samsung phone, the VibeTonz-enabled VI-A820. The carrier currently has approximately 44 million subscribers, and the VI-A820 supports its PCS Ready Link that supplies quick walkie-talkie style communication.
                             VI-A820

For more on VibeTonz, see Samsung Phones Incorporate Tactile Dimension.