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The Novint Falcon: Haptic joystick turned futuristic sex toy
I'm standing in the studio at Engadget's San Francisco headquarters, holding the remains of a pulverized, cream-filled doughnut. The pastry's sticky, off-white filling clings to the shaft of a bright pink vibrator, taped to the end of a silver, cone-shaped device with three arms that come together at a point and a horseshoe-shaped base. This disembodied robot boob is the Novint Falcon, a one-time game-changing game controller turned teledildonics legend. NSFW Warning: This story may contain links to and descriptions or images of explicit sexual acts.
CES 2009: Novint CEO wants Falcon on consoles by year's end
We're big fans of Novint's Falcon controller, which replicates the sense of touch in PC games pretty convincingly. We were even more excited after we wrapped our mitts around the new pistol grip and played a little Left 4 Dead. But we couldn't help ourselves from thinking: "Wouldn't it be great if players on PC and 360 could experience the thrill of having their gun hand pinned by a pouncing Hunter?"Apparently a dabbler in the telepathic arts, Novint CEO Tom Anderson psychically absorbed our pleas and told us he wants the device to be on consoles by the end of 2009. Apparently, console manufacturers were holding out until they could see some support from game publishers, and now that companies are piling on to the Falcon, a console version of the device is more likely. We'd be crossing our fingers, if we could get this Hunter off of us.
Joystiq E3 Hands-on: Novint's Falcon controller
You make your way down the hallway in City 17, and push open the door into the bright sunlight reflected off of concrete. A Combine soldier stands before you, so you life your semiautomatic weapon, and as you pull the trigger and fire, the gun recoils in your hand. Another Combine stands across the viaduct, and when he fires at you, you feel the bullet strike you from the left, so you turn, and feel the gun jump in your hand again as you take him out.That's the ideal experience with Novint's Falcon controller. The controller itself is about an eight inch orb that sits on your table, with a three-inch sphere sitting on the end of three arms coming off of it -- like a Soviet satellite sticking out of the globe. The idea is that you push the little sphere around to move your cursor, and the three arms provide resistance against whatever you bump up against. We got to use the controller at E3, and the verdict is that while it does provide a nice experience, the costs might be a little overwhelming for most players. More after the jump.%Gallery-27989%
Breakfast Topic: Controllers R us
The Falcon controller just looks silly, doesn't it? Everything we've heard about it so far says it's pretty underwhelming -- the feedback doesn't work quite right, the controls seem a little less intuitive than a keyboard and mouse, and in general, it just looks strange. Fortunately, I'll be able to know for myself next week -- I've already got an appointment to check out the controller (and how it plays WoW) at E3 next week.But in the meantime, until I can get my firsthand impressions of the Falcon up here, what are some other strange controllers that actually do work with WoW? We've heard a lot about the Zboard, which seems like a pretty good combination of a keyboard and a custom controller for Blizzard's MMO -- anyone used it? A lot of people have posted before that they use the Logitech G15, and that's really just a keyboard, except for the extra display and macros. I've used Switchblade to play with an Xbox 360 controller (and found it not nearly as easy as playing with a mouse and keyboard). And I know some players, multiboxers usually, will even use foot pedals to supplement keyboard and certain macros.Ever played WoW with a weird controller? Is there something out there that you swear by that's not the standard mouse and keyboard? Me, I'm perfectly happy with an Apple Keyboard and my Logitech gaming mouse -- at least until I try the Falcon next week. You never know, maybe I'll fall in love with it and decide that $190 (!) is worth it.Update: I couldn't remember the name of this one, but a lot of people in the comments (and a lot of folks before this post) have mentioned the n52 Speedpad as a good controller option.
3D touch interface for WoW due later this year
Keyboards, mice, and hand-controllers are so 2007. Get with the modern times, willya? Today we discovered that a 3D touch interface is on the horizon for WoW gamers. Using this weird robot-type gizmo, you'll be able to actually feel everything your character does in the game: casting spells, reeling from enemy attacks, feeling objects, bumping into things, and whacking ogres on the head! (I seriously want to bonk some ogres on the head with this thing. I expect it will feel somewhat hollow, like smacking a pumpkin.) The gizmo is called a Falcon game controller and it aims to replace your mouse or joystick. The Falcon is already usable with some other games, but Novint Technologies is now creating WoW drivers for the device using the LUA scripting system. You can map up to 36 actions to it for which the controller will provide feedback that you can feel in your hand and arm. You can watch a demo on the company's website, or a more hands-on demo in the video below. When the drivers are released, you can download them at Novint's website. We'll keep you up to date so you'll know when you can grab them. The Falcon controller sells for $189.99 on Novint's website. No word on what the drivers will cost, if anything.
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.
Novint adds a black Falcon, pistol grip accessory
There's no denying the coolness of the Novint Falcon haptic gaming controller, but it looks like realness factor is getting upped a notch -- the company just announced the separate availability of that pistol grip it's been demoing for a while, as well as a black version, pictured above. The pistol grip is a $20 add-on for any Falcon, while the black version will list for $199 -- still pricey, but if you're a gamer, totally worth it. Check out a video of the pistol grip in action after the break.[Via I4U News]
Novint Falcon gets reviewed: undoubtedly cool, unlikely to sell
Ever since we first got wind of this thing, we had a sneaking suspicion it just wouldn't take off regardless of how clever it was. Sadly, reviewers over at Bit-Tech tended to agree, deeming the Novint Falcon the "coolest peripheral" it had ever touched, but completely unlikely to ever gain steam in the marketplace. During the review, it was reiterated time and time again just how phenomenal the device actually is; the internal motors were able to transmit textures to one's hand almost impeccably, and it certainly enhanced certain aspects of game play once it became second nature to use. Unfortunately, all that gushing was met with the stark reality that there's no real promise that developers will ever latch on to this thing, and without guaranteed support, it's hard to recommend handing over $239. Nevertheless, we're sure more than a few of you may be willing to take the chance, and either way, the in-depth look at this curious creation is worth a read just to see what you're (potentially) missing.
Novint Falcon takes flight
We've tracked this little guy from his prototype days, through a Switched On feature, and all the way up to this January's release date announcement. Now we can finally say that the Novint Falcon -- top rate purveyor of the game-controlling, force-feedbacking, wrist-snapping, virtual-textured 3D input experience -- is officially on sale. Novint is offering the squat interface on their website for $189, bundled with a limited edition "grip", 24 mini-games and a numbered certificate of authenticity, just in case your skeptical friends don't believe you actually own a Falcon.[Thanks, Sabrina]
Switched On: Taking control to another dimension
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about the future of technology, multimedia, and digital entertainment:
