Environmental contact
Video game concept
Tools, weapons, etc. can touch the environment instead of acting as if they were simply 2D printouts on your HUD or passing through everything as if they were air.
19
games
5platforms

WIN 2013-09-20

WIN 2010-06-08

WIN 2009-01-13

X360 2010-09-22

PS3 2009-04-07

X360 2008-11-11

WIN 2009-04-07

PS3 2009-02

WIN 2010-09-22

LIN 2015

WIN 2009-06-30

PS3 2009-06-09
The first video game about Environmental contact was released on November 11, 2008.
Electronic Arts, Vivendi Games and Ubisoft has published most of these games
See also: melee impact
Primarily for when you aren't trying to hit stuff with the weapon. As in, walking up to a wall causes the character to pull up or otherwise move the weapon/tool/whatever out of the way. For melee weapons this effectively means that the weapon does not pass through environmental objects but rather hits them and stops.
This also includes the character's hands/arms to a degree.
This is in contrast to games that used sprites for weapons and later 3D games that don't actually display the same thing for the player of their own character as some third party observer would see (often just a model of the wielded item and the character's hand, overlayed on the regular display). Games using sprites for the tools can simulate the effect almost as easily as purely 3D games can, so this is not limited to fully 3D games.
This also includes the character's hands/arms to a degree.
This is in contrast to games that used sprites for weapons and later 3D games that don't actually display the same thing for the player of their own character as some third party observer would see (often just a model of the wielded item and the character's hand, overlayed on the regular display). Games using sprites for the tools can simulate the effect almost as easily as purely 3D games can, so this is not limited to fully 3D games.