Novint drums up "3D Touch Rights" to sign publishers for its haptic controls

It's been the story from day one: the Novint Falcon is great and all, but without games there's just no point. That's about to change, however, as Novint has committed itself to developing Falcon integration for some big-name games, including a sizable number of EA blockbusters. Novint is buying up what it calls "3D Touch Rights" to games from the publisher, a no-risk revenue stream for the them and a license for Novint to sell games at a small profit with Falcon functionality built-in. The games will sell for $30, and you can get the haptics update for an existing game for $10. Of course, the $190-ish controller puts it all in perspective, but this is certainly a promising move for PC gamers and immersion freaks alike.

[gabe @ Apr 8th 2008 10:32AM]

sweet - Nintendo's Giro now has a brother!

[OMAC @ Apr 8th 2008 11:48AM]

I played around with a Novint Falcon at E for All last year. While I could see potential uses in some applications, for me, it was next to useless for gaming. It didn't respond as fast as a mouse and there was a maximum rate at which the cursor, crosshairs or whatever would move. Even though it was connected to a PC, it felt like I was playing on a console because of the sluggishness of the on-screen movements. The attachments are a neat idea. I played Half-Life with the gun attachment for about 15 minutes. I tried to give one of the Novint reps some feedback about it and he basically said that it is what it is and wasn't interested in hearing what I had to say. I didn't get into any settings or anything, so my comments about there being a max speed on the cursor might be wrong, it's just that the single unit I played with kind of turned me off to the whole idea.

[The Angry Intern @ Apr 8th 2008 11:56AM]

that's kinda messed up that he wouldn't listen to your feedback.....isn't that kinda the whole point of showing off your stuff at trade shows like that?

[OMAC @ Apr 8th 2008 12:02PM]

Yep, one of the reasons you show stuff at a tradeshow is to get feedback. By the time E for All came around it was already a finished product so they may not have been concerned about improving the current generation.

[Richard @ Apr 8th 2008 1:01PM]

No, those shows are not about feedback. They are all marketing and getting your brand name out there. People also swap business cards in order to try and work out sales. It's not like a big open beta, they couldn't care less about what you think of their product. Buy it or move on and stop blocking their display.

[Byzil Mystwing @ Apr 8th 2008 10:50AM]

that's one funky aspect ratio monitor

[Michael @ Apr 8th 2008 10:52AM]

Javascript link in the article is broken...

[Anthony Iacono @ Apr 8th 2008 8:48PM]

I helped with the HL2 mod, but this should be very cool. If anyone is interested in developing support for their software with the Falcon, just e-mail me [e-mail] and I will send you the information you need. Very good job on the coverage. :]

[OneLove @ Apr 8th 2008 10:52AM]

Veronica Belmont gets some force feedback. :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjAxGVH1JOM

[phanbouy @ Apr 8th 2008 1:24PM]

i'd like to give her some force feedback

did i just say that out loud?

[Hax Or @ Apr 8th 2008 10:54AM]

I've had no problem using X/Y axis of the joystick, while using the Hat controls for the Z-axis.

Remember the game Descent? With a good keyboard layout, you can strafe up/down/left/right.

The Falcon looks to be much easier, but is it worth it?

[Timerider @ Apr 8th 2008 11:13AM]

Actually at a CompUSA closing they were selling the Falcon for about $70. I thought about getting one, but realized that it was windows only. :(

[Patriks7 @ Apr 8th 2008 11:19AM]

and ur thinking of gaming on a Mac/Linux? :x

[kal326 @ Apr 8th 2008 11:35AM]

Novint Falcon is just trying to build an install base, then they plan on switching business models to supporting "3D Touch Rights" for pRon....

[Shinigami @ Apr 8th 2008 12:00PM]

As I thought, the thing is useless. How about force-feedback mouse? xD

The Angry Intern
The whole point is to get the crowd interested in the device and ready their $$$. They don't care if the device is useless or not, they just want money. Unfortunately.

[Mr. Picklesworth @ Apr 8th 2008 12:55PM]

The real WTF is that Battlefield 2142 would not even be remotely enjoyable on that monitor. DICE's collosal failure to predict the growing popularity of widescreen formats has them only supporting 4:3 ratio because of "balance" issues. Does /anyone/ use 4:3 any more?

[Hax Or @ Apr 9th 2008 2:23PM]

Are you serious? I'm glad I skipped that one.

BF2 is still good. The mods make it great.

[Ubuntu 7.10 WindowsXP @ Apr 8th 2008 2:03PM]

From the videos of it being used for games, the motion just seems to mimic a mouse, but at a 90 degree twist. Why pay that much to change the orientation of your right hand, limit your movement, and make your "mouse" less portable.

Besides....THAT THING IS HUGE for just one hand. I know gaming wheels that aren't that big.

[Michael B @ Apr 16th 2008 3:40PM]

LaughingMan - not sure what you're talking about, size-wise. I used one for a couple minutes, and if anything it's a bit small. You only grab the tiny ball, and it feels like holding a large pen.

[Juaquin @ Apr 8th 2008 3:00PM]

Not bad - I'd get one if the price was half, but glad to know they're actually getting it working with some games.

[Sevin @ Apr 8th 2008 3:20PM]

I smell a Crysis integration!

[jurm @ Apr 8th 2008 4:01PM]

If they convince blizzard to make a patch that would somehow let you have a pvp advantage when using this device, they'd sell thousands almost immediately. Of course, there would be some other less-desirable implications as well...

[Tomnovint @ Apr 9th 2008 2:23AM]

The gameplay on the games is much more than just mimic'ing the mouse - have a look at the reviews we've gotten on the Novint site in general. The Falcon represents a gaming experience and level of immersion you won't get anywhere else.

In terms of response compared to a mouse - with some tweaking to your own preferences, and even a tiny fraction of the time spent learning to use a mouse in games, I believe you will be better with a Falcon than with a mouse.

On the reception at the E for All booth, sorry if it seemed we didn't want feedback. We definitely do. Trade shows involve long hours, and we are typically swamped with people as well, so sometimes it's not easy to get everyone's input. Case in point though, I personally got some great feedback at E for All regarding the pistol grip, which contributed to its design. Another case in point, I am Novint's CEO, and scouring messages past midnight looking for people's opinions. Feedback and community are key components to our success, and if you post on Novint's message boards I guarantee your voice will be heard and that I'll personally respond.

btw, we are working on a WoW mod already ;)

thx all, tomnovint

[eggothewaffle @ Apr 10th 2008 12:31AM]

Nice to see you up and about...I wish more companies did that :]

Did you guys ever think of expanding your market to musicians? It would be fairly easy to use the Falcon as a MIDI/OSC instrument :]

[Tomnovint @ Apr 10th 2008 1:33AM]

Thanks for your thoughts eggothewaffle - is a good idea. We'll keep the concept in mind. tomnovint.

[Otto @ Apr 9th 2008 3:57AM]

Veronica Belmont is hot!!! Using the falcon would be very tiring, check out the tension on those supports.

Otto
http://www.dragonlasers.com

[Carl Kenner @ Apr 13th 2008 1:36PM]

It's not meant to just be a mouse. For one thing, it's a completely 3 dimensional input device.

You don't need to twist 90 degrees either. Because it's 3D, it is just as easy for the device to use the horizontal plane as it is to use the vertical plane.

But more importantly, this thing is about TOUCH. You can feel everything. You can grope around to your heart's content. Solid objects are completely solid. Squishy objects are squishy. Rough objects are rough. Sticky objects are sticky. And you can feel forces. You can feel when you get hit, and from where.

And of course it is not really meant for playing your existing games. It is for playing all new kinds of new games. Kinds of games that you couldn't really imagine before because they involve touching and feeling and pulling and pushing and all those things you could do in the real world but not in computers until now.