If Ubisoft’s Eagle Flight wasn’t immersive enough, here comes the Birdly simulator by Swiss firm Somniacs. Currently on display in Ulm, Germany, the Birdly experience asks players to lie face down on what they call the “man-sized-unit.” (Stop laughing.) It looks like a modified massage table. Players strap their arms onto moving platforms they can flap like wings, and a fan provides the feel of air rushing past as they fly over the picturesque German city.
Prior the current exhibition in Ulm, Somniacs tested Birdly prototypes in New York and Bangalore, using previously available data to model their host cities. In contrast, the computer-modeled Ulm is a house-by-house recreation of the city as it stood in 1890. The highlight of the historical recreation is the house where Albert Einstein’s was born, which in actuality didn’t survive World War II.
On display until next summer, a three-minute Birdly experience costs five Euro.
