New Rail Gun Peripheral Wants To Turn Airsoft Guns Into Controllers

UzBrainnet's new Kickstarter project is one of the oddest peripherals I've ever seen in our march towards alternate reality. Dubbed the Rail Gun, the project is a multi-part controller that attaches to an airsoft gun, effectively turning it into a controller for the average first-person shooter. The way it is set up provides a way to fire by pulling the trigger, to move around with the joystick on the side of the gun, to change weapons with buttons opposite the joystick, to crouch and jump with buttons on the grip, and to control your aim by simply moving the gun around. depending on the speed you move at, you can even turn 180 or 360 degrees in-game. It boasts plug-and-play setup and compatibility with "almost [all] FPS games" for PC, PS4, Xbox One, and VR devices.

Supposedly, the reason UzBrainnet chose to modify airsoft guns instead of creating a whole new peripheral was so that "the user [could] feel the real recoil and gunfire noises while playing their favorite FPS game." The real question is whether or not it is worth it in the long run. Many of these devices end up being slower and/or less accurate than the mouse. There's also the fact that, at the time of this writing, the cheapest you can get one of these units is $165 via the Kickstarter, with the final price undoubtedly closing in on $200. Then you have to factor in the price of the airsoft gun you will be using.

Could you see yourself playing Counter-Strike, First Assault, Tribes: Ascend, or any other first-person shooter game with this?