The Video Game Critic

I've been playing the new Wolfenstein on my PS4 over the past few weeks.  The game is okay but I noticed it makes me feel queasy if I play for more than an hour or so.

This is not the first time this has happened.  I recall feeling bad after playing Half Life 2 and even some of the recent Halo games.  

I've heard other people have experienced this issue and I wonder how prevalent it is.  I also wonder if getting older might cause it to be worse.

Thoughts?

I did a quick search of the Internet and it seems like I'm not the only one who gets sick by playing Half-Life 2.  I don't think I recall getting sick with Call of Duty games.  So perhaps it's the game itself??

It's a natural physical response, trying to distinguish motion from your perspective in a narrow area to a wider area outside your television. This includes movement that doesn't extend beyond well, moving virtual images on a box.

Twitching your eyes to the left and right away from the TV can exacerbate this.

It's because the PS4 graphics are so sick!

Most do not make me sick. Time Splitters 3 did. I think it depends on the game. Not sure as to why.

[QUOTE=videogamecritic]... but I noticed it makes me feel queasy if I play for more than an hour or so. This is not the first time this has happened.  I've heard other people have experienced this issue and I wonder how prevalent it is.  I also wonder if getting older might cause it to be worse.

Thoughts?[/QUOTE]

Sorry to hear that Dave.   I totally understand.  No Sega 360 for me. 

I think its a form of motion/simulator sickness, and from what I can tell, it does get worse with age.  The motion sickness is a conflict between the ear and eye and even feet, each interpreting motion.  When those signals conflict, the body thinks we ate a magic mushroom or something, and time to purge.  

As we age, our eyes just don't have the zip they used to have, and if you work on a computer, I think that will take its toll as well.   Think about spinning rides, like the Teacups...many adults who enjoyed those rides as teens now cannot tolerate the motion.   Lots of women say that after pregnancy or with birth control pills they get motion sick much more (obviously not the issue with you). 

Also, its allergy season.  The Baltimore area is really high today with ragweed.  Or you could have a sinus issue, like a cold.  If you are on antibiotics, that could be part of it too.

Whatever the cause it, you are not alone.  A 90s era study of military pilots in simulators of the day had about half getting motion sick, and for some the effect lasted for hours.   And graphics have just improved dramatically since then, making the issue worse (this was not an issue in the sprite days).   The many digital displays of today may be making the issue worse.  There are reports of this with Goggle Glass, and iOS7.  I bet we will here of this with more virtual reality goggles too.

You can view the abstract of a 2012 experiment about video game motion sickness here:
http://hfs.sagepub.com/content/50/2/322
In short, about *half* of the Xbox360 and Playstation3 gamers got motion sick in an hour.

Maybe try the standard motion sickness bits: game on an empty stomach, or slowly eating bread, taking ginger capsules, or those acupressure bands.  Also, don't think about it before hand (as if that's possible - quick, don't think about Scarlett Johansson), but otherwise your body begins to react even beforehand, like your mouth salivating at the sight of a spicy meal (or Scarlet Johansson).

If any of those work for you, let us know.

Some FPS's try to simulate the slight up-and-down and side-to-side swaying that occurs when walking (Timesplitters and Turok come to mind.)  I think that tends to make motion sickness more prevalent.  That might be why I don't care for the "bumper cam" for racing games, the world tends to pitch and sway in unnatural ways with that viewpoint.

[QUOTE=Segatarious]Most do not make me sick. Time Splitters 3 did. I think it depends on the game. Not sure as to why.[/QUOTE]It's usually due to an unsteady frame-rate. Few games are actually locked at 30fps (or 60fps with newer games). So most of the time, during normal gameplay, the frames-per-second are going to dip and waver a little bit, typically down to around 27 or 28fps and occasionally make its say back up to 30. This drop is usually not very noticable. But with some games and some programmers, there can be a much larger gap and the game could rapidly fluctuate between 22 and 28fps during much of the game. That's when you may start to feel a little uneasy and the headaches and nausea can begin to set in, because our eyes are not accustomed to that sort of unnatural, wavering sense of movement. Our eyes and minds have been trained to view and process things in a much more smooth and fluid nature. So the more unsteady the frame-rate, the more unsteady you may start to feel.

My dad has had the same problem for years when it comes to FPS games. He can't even play them anymore because it has only gotten worst.