Welcome to the arcade-at-home dream world of the the Pyramat S2000 Sound Rocker (£150 from Debenhams) – a rocking chair with built-in surround sound and bass (pictured) – about as far removed from granny’s rocking chair as is conceptually possible. And SPOnG’s new must-get gaming peripheral.
Read on for Adam’s full, frank and at times farcical account of why we think you should invest in this funny looking bit of gaming kit.
Before I go on to try to describe why I really don’t want to return this little beauty to the PR company that’s loaned it out to us, let’s just be clear that when it turned up on my doorstep for a recent play-test, I was somewhat sceptical, to say the least. At that point there was no way I entertained the thought that in a matter of weeks I would have so much love for this hugely impractical and kiddy-looking gaming chair-with-nobs-on, but I’m sold. I’m sold to the point of consistently telling my more cynical mates down the pub that, “you just need to try it, then you’ll understand” and also to the point of dreaming about excuses for not having to send it back!
Firstly it looks, well, a bit silly. It’s clearly designed to fit well in a 14 year-old boy’s bedroom, not in the lovingly ordered and carefully designed lounge of newly-married, metropolitan chap like me. On this front, my initial suspicions were confirmed when the wife first clapped eyes on the chair.
“Oh, no! Not in here! There is a limit!”, she cried.
“But darling, it’s The Pyramat S2000 Sound Rocker gaming chair!” I meekly responded, though strangely there was no flash of recognition across her face. My wife truly is a philistine when it comes to understanding the nuances of gaming chairs. I tried a different tack.
“It’s meant to revolutionise the whole experience of playing videogames, I have to test it out to write a review about it…”
Later that evening, having relocated both myself and ‘that thing’ to the spare bedroom, I sat down to play the game I’d been saving myself for since Christmas last year, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. As I sank into both chair and a blissful, fantasy world, the strange sensation of physically feeling Zelda’s fairly bassy orchestral score via the 5.5-inch subwoofer situated near the small of my back was not entirely unpleasant. I dread to think what would happen to my internal organs if I was playing your typical EA Sports title with a bass-boosted hip-hop soundtrack! In fact, I know what would happen. I’d turn the game and/or sound off and listen to some nice relaxing jazz instead. Or just plug my iPod into the chair and turn the in-game soundtrack (which, by the way, rules) off.
I digress. Going back to the S2000 - as Zelda has been the main game with which I tried out and gradually fallen in love with the thing, you will have to bear with me if I seem to be making too many references to that (awesome) game. Although as many of you will also still be currently playing Twilight Princess or at least have a working knowledge of the Zelda universe, then you will get a good idea of how the chair works or, on the odd occasion, why it doesn’t.
After the initial shock of ‘feeling’ the sound through your back and upper legs you soon begin to settle into the game, enjoying the ambient soundscape that’s formed around you. Then, the minute you step onto your in-game horse and start galloping around, the immediate benefit of the Pyramat becomes clear. The feeling of riding a horse becomes much more heightened due to the slight vibrations from the chair’s in-built subwoofer. Thus the verisimilitude (to use a trendy long word) is vastly improved which basically means that the quality of the gaming experience to appear to be real is notably enhanced through playing on the Pyramat.