King Kong and nausea

Last night, I installed a demo of "King Kong", the new game that came out with the movie. It's basically a 3D shooter where the monsters are dinosaurs.

After installing it, I played it for a while, and actually found it to be a bit scary, with very atmospheric music, believable dialogue and nasty dinosaurs with big teeth. Let's say the immersion factor was well and truly there. I don't think I've ever actually felt a bit frightened playing a computer game before!

However, after about twenty minutes of spinning the camera around at all angles, up down and sideways, I suddenly started to feel quite dizzy and had to stop playing. Then I started to feel not only dizzy but nauseous and had to go lie down for an hour, with images of a crazily teetering King Kong gameworld spinning through my head.

This is not the first time I've experienced dizziness and nausea playing a 360 degree first person shooter like this, although it was probably the worst. I'm wondering, do other people get this dizziness and/or nausea from this type of game sometimes? Or is this a comparitively rare experience for gamers? Just curious.

There used to be a green shaded helicopter game (apache?) with flying in canyons that got me quite sick.

It has to do with your tolerance for flashing colours and your distance to your screen. Peronlly I don't get it with shooter but puzle games like Mah jong tetris Dr. Matio or puzzle league make me see spots in my periferal vision, and get a headache.

I've never experienced it (developed a tolerance, I guess), but my father used to get nauseous watching me play Road Rash 64.

Oh, and the bittie gets sick to her stomach watching me shoot zombies in Land of the Dead: Road to Fiddler's Green.

If i play games in the dark i get headaches. Oddly enough, i don't get headaches if i'm using the computer for other things while i'm in the dark. Weird...

I've had headaches with games before, it seems to be very game dependant.

I got nauseous the night after I had played quake for the first time (like being really drunk, without the stomach trouble) but that was the only time I've had it that badly.

Generally I believe it's usually due to frame rate and response rate, if the view lags behind the mouse movement I tend to quit before the headache starts...

Hmmm, sounds like most folks haven't really experienced what I was describing. I must admit I'm a bit suprised, I thought at least someone else would have experienced it.

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Originally Posted by Lars53

It has to do with your tolerance for flashing colours and your distance to your screen.

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That's a different phenomenon Lars. I've experienced that too, but what I was trying to describe is the feeling you get like from being on the big dipper or something. It's a sort of loss of the sense of balance, leading to dizziness and nausea. I've only ever got it playing 360 degree 3D games.

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Originally Posted by currywurry

If i play games in the dark i get headaches.

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I think I was playing in semi-darkness when I experienced this, which probably magnified the phenomenon. Also, we are currently experiencing a heat wave, my flat is sweltering, and in retrospect I think this may have at least accentuated the phenomenon. Sadly I will probably have trouble going back to Kong now, I only have to think of it and my stomach starts to churn again!

Anyhow, enough of that. Has anyone actually bought the game, and if so how do you like it?

I had a friend that always got the motion sickness effect from playing 3D shooters... His eyes say he is moving but his inner ear says he is not...

Personally I get it the other way, like in the back of a car when you can;t see out. Not so bad now but it was awful as a child...

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Originally Posted by Bob the Insane

I had a friend that always got the motion sickness effect from playing 3D shooters... His eyes say he is moving but his inner ear says he is not...

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Yeah, exactly! I am not alone *phew* ~;p

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Originally Posted by Bob the Insane

Personally I get it the other way, like in the back of a car when you can;t see out. Not so bad now but it was awful as a child...

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Yeah, I used to get that too occasionally as a kid on long family trips.

I been playing video games since I was a kid and when people mention things about nausea from video games it reminds me of all the epileptic warnings I've read over the years. Hence, anyone who gets this should see a doctor ASAP and tell him about it IMO. Better safe than sorry.

For me personally, I've never touched the King Kong demo or game because they'd give me nausea for a different reason: they have Starforce in them.