Reviews// SlouchPod Interactive XT

SlouchPod : okay, the ‘–Pod’ suffix has become something of a modern shorthand to denote ‘now’ products that are cool, trendy and generally futuristic, but the word “Slouch” isn’t one you expect to find it hanging off. But branding is always a tricky issue – who would have thought a band called ‘Beatles’ would have been a success? So, this new product, from a furniture manufacturer with no previous games industry profile, has to be taken for what it is and not what it’s called.

The SlouchPod Interactive XT, to give it its full title, is without a doubt the daddy of all gaming chairs. Although it’s actually a beanbag, it’s shaped like a chair with a back, and contains a speaker each side of the head-rest (taking care of treble and mid-range), plus a sub-woofer inside, somewhere around the small of your back. It’s designed to be hooked up to any console, laptop or MP3 player (and even has a little pocket to contain said player).

It’s a very well made (and made in Britain, too!) piece of kit: with a nice and tactile, super-tough leather-effect finish and a sturdy carrying handle, so it ought to be able to cope with the abuse it’s bound to receive from gamers. Mind you, it ought to be well-made given the whopping £299 it would cost you to buy one (that’s the downside of the “Made in Britain” tag). Still, now we’ve established that it’s designed to satisfy the gamer who has everything, exactly what satisfaction do you get for your money?

The most immediately obvious thing is a very loud noise. Plug it into your console (it comes with a box-full of adaptors to make sure that the console it won’t interface with hasn’t yet been invented), whack up the volume, and you’ll immediately elicit complaints from nearby workmates, neighbours or family members. This baby is seriously loud. Sound quality is pretty decent, too, although not quite up to hi-fi-separates standards. If you were being picky, you’d say that treble and midrange, when cranked up, can get a bit strained and tinny, although the bass is exemplary: there’s one knob, marked ‘Bass’, which alters the bass-treble balance.

Clearly, the SlouchPod is designed to live in individual family members’ rooms, or games rooms that are separate from the main family room. Its ability to dominate the airwaves will lead to major ructions in rooms where playing games is merely one of many activities taking place.

It’s definitely a more impressive item if you sit on it rather than observe someone else doing so. Naturally, since it’s filled with polystyrene beans, it moulds itself to your body shape without any fuss, and it can accommodate small kids and tall adults alike. But the best aspect of the SlouchPod is the way that it really immerses you in whatever you’re playing. The two speakers either side of your head give a pretty decent directional sound effect (although it’s not, of course, Dolby 5.1), and the subwoofer gives a force-feedback effect in the small of your back whenever any sort of bass transient takes place.

Sit on a SlouchPod in a darkened room, and the atmospherics of whatever game you’re playing will be heightened dramatically. It really does seem to place you right in the middle of whatever game you’re playing.

Overall, it’s very well made and practical – a wipe-clean surface is an essential for a game-specific chair - and it should be able to stand a considerable amount of abuse.

It comes in six colours (including lurid fuschia pink), so ought to be able to mesh with your interior décor. But whether its admirable construction and its immersive qualities are enough to justify that wallet-scaring price-tag remain to be seen – it really is an item for those who are distinctly flush. Still, if you can afford a SlouchPod, it won’t disappoint you.