We can’t tell you what multimillion-dollar video gaming idea Greg Merril ’87 is working on. It’s top secret and is still being perfected, but suffice it to say, it was a hit among students in Business Lecturer Joe Carter’s “Entrepreneurship” class.

“Raise your hand if you think this product has legs,” Merril asked, and every hand in the room hit the sky in unison.

Merril, the winner of Maryland’s Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2007 Award, revealed his business plan to the group in order to get their thoughts and ideas. After all, they are his target audience.

InterAction Laboratories, which Merril founded in 2002, develops hardware devices that simulate the resistance and mass of virtual objects in video games, military simulations and other digital content. It created, for example, an exercise device that gives you a workout while you play video games.

His previous startup company, HT Medical Systems, Inc., invented computer simulations for medical personnel practicing for surgery and other procedures. Merril started the company out of his parents’ basement two weeks after graduating from McDaniel, because, he says, he was afraid that his so-so grades would keep him from getting hired.

Thirteen years later, he led HT Medical Systems through a $42 million merger with Immersion Corp.

Now, excitement is building for his newest concept, as students offered advice on how to improve and market it. Or, as one student put it: “I think you should invite us all out to test the product, and we’ll really let you know what we think.”