Head mountable display system

A method of operation of a system comprising a head-mountable display having a frame to be mounted onto an observer's head, the frame defining one or two eye display positions which, in use, are positioned for viewing by the observer, the frame comprising one or more shutters for obscuring the observer's view of the surrounding real environment, and a display element mounted with respect to each of the eye display positions, the display element providing a virtual image of a video display of a video signal from a games machine to the observer;

• the method comprising:
• detecting the presence of an object within a detection range of the observer's head;
• in response to a detection, instructing the games machine to cause the observer's in-game motion to be brought to a halt;
• and
• controlling operation of the head mountable display so as to allow the observer to view at least a portion of the surrounding real environment in response to detection of the presence of an object within the detection range once the observer's in-game motion has been brought to a halt.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium which stores computer software thereon, the instructions, when executed by a computer, causes the computer to carry out a method of operation of a system comprising a head-mountable display having a frame to be mounted onto an observer's head, the frame defining one or two eye display positions which, in use, are positioned for viewing by the observer, the frame comprising one or more shutters for obscuring the observer's view of the surrounding real environment, and a display element mounted with respect to each of the eye display positions, the display element providing a virtual image of a video display of a video signal from a games machine to the observer;

• the method comprising:
• detecting the presence of an object within a detection range of the observer's head;
• in response to a detection, instructing the games machine to cause the observer's in-game motion to be brought to a halt;
• and
• controlling operation of the head mountable display so as to allow the observer to view at least a portion of the surrounding real environment in response to detection of the presence of an object within the detection range once the observer's in-game motion has been brought to a halt.