The 'Nervegear' was a second generation of Fulldive, designed by Kayaba Akihiko and produced by Argus, whom are now both defunct. Although extremely high tech for the time, the Nervegear has become obsolete within only a few years thanks to rapid development in Fulldive technology and willingness to detach Virtual Gaming from Sword Art Online. The gear works as follows: High-density microwave transceivers induce 'fake' signals to the brain to replicate the five senses while blocking other signals sent from the brain to the rest of the body. This was done to prevent movement while the Nervegear was active, to avoid injuries to the user and anyone else within the local vicinity. However, if an operating system is programmed in a certain way, the microwaves can heavily damage the users brain. Such damage includes haemorrhages and arterial occlusion, both noted for being incredibly unhealthy for an individual. This was remarked heavily from critics of the technology, who would have been more vocal of their displeasure if they were not stuck within Sword Art Online.
After the so-called "SAO incident", the Nervegear was discontinued and was replaced nearly entirely by the AmuSphere. Many speculate the Amusphere replaced the Nervegear due to two particularly noticeable points. Firstly, the Amusphere was more aesthetically pleasing than a dark blue helmet. Secondly, it could not be programmed to fry a brain.
