Odd Peripherals: The Playstation Reality Vest

There are a ton of peripherals in the gaming world, which range from useful to lame to what-were-they-thinking.  A few posts ago I talked about the Steel Battalion controller, which was incredibly expensive and impractical (due to only being compatible with the Steel Battalion games), but you have to admit it had a certain amount of coolness.

While I could fill pages and pages of this blog talking about all the completely weird and pointless gaming peripherals in existence, today we are going to look at just one, the Reality Vest for the Playstation 1.

It's such an obscure accessory that very few pictures exist online.

The Reality Vest was compatible with all Playstation 1 games that made use of the Dualshock controller.  The vest is essentially a giant wearable rumble pack that jolts your whole body around whenever a monkey is beating your ass in Ape Escape.  That's reality for you eh?

So for those of us who can't afford a reclining chair with built in vibration, here's your cheaper alternative!  Seriously though, I see no point in extending the rumble function from your hands (via the Dualshock) to your chest.  Unless this thing can pick me up and toss me into a wall every time I drive off the track in Gran Turismo, it has no business being called the Reality Vest.  But I guess we now know what the vibrating exercise belt scam evolved from.

Out of curiosity, are there any weird peripherals that you have bought during your years of gaming?