If you were like me as a kid all of those movies with virtual reality and immersive special effects were amazing. Well, it is many years late, and only now are we starting to see the kind of interaction with our computers that these Sci-Fi films were portraying in the past. The guys over a Novint have made a revolutionary leap forward in the gaming peripherals market with their latest product the Novint Falcon. This little device is by far one of the most sought-after devices that were shown at CES, now that we have our hands on one we are going to see if this whole publicity show is all hype or if this is the next generation in interactive gaming. Let’s check it out:
The packaging for the Novint Falcon is very nicely designed. It includes all the specs and features of the unit. A nice bonus is the addition of free mini games that come with the unit. There are also some great quotes from other websites and magazines that have used the Falcon and found it to be an amazing experience.
The Novint Falcon Controller is an incredibly durable design. The heavy metal base ensures a rigid feel to game play and ensures all of the forces are transferred directly to the user. The design of the Novint Falcon is very classy with sleek lines and bright LED’s which should not look mammoth and hideous on your desk.
Included with the falcon are the manuals, software, driver disks, power cable, and USB cable. Also included with the main package is the standard Novint ball grip.
Let’s check out the Pistol Grip:
Closer Look: (Pistol Grip)
The packaging for the Novint Falcon Pistol Grip is pretty simple and decently designed. One thing I found that was a point of interest is that this grip is not for sale or use in New York? I guess fake guns scare New Yorkers? It’s those real one that the thugs are sporting that are ok by regulation, yeah that makes sense, hurray for pointless policing.
The gun itself is a nice size great for most hand sizes. It is comfortable and sports all of the same buttons as the ball grip, er…orb grip er…something that doesn’t sound inappropriate.
See now from the picture below I can see exactly why New Yorkers aren’t allowed to sell or buy this grip. I can see it now some crazy hair punk running after a police officer shouting pew, pew, pew, those poor police unbeknownst to them it is just a toy. Hey you never know the big bright orange triangle might very well remind the victim on the receiving end of this scary gun, of a horrible memory of the past, of aliens that touched them inappropriately. What were the people at Novint thinking, think of the poor victims guys it should be illegal everywhere! Okay now back to reality for those of you that couldn’t fallow my ranting’s: New York Laws = Stupid!
And now for a quick break down of the games:
Closer Look: (The Games)
Here is the big list of Current games and those that are coming soon:
Earth: 2060 – The dawn of a hellish new age, the marauding Strogg, Cyborg soldiers of the evil Makron, have left the world’s major cities as abanadoned smoking ruins.
The year is 2142, and the dawn of a new Ice age has thrown the world into a panic. The soil not covered by ice can only feed a fraction of the Earth’s population
Half-Life® 2: Episode Two is the second in a trilogy of new games created by Valve that extends the award-winning and best-selling Half-Life® adventure.
In this arcade-style tank combat title, you are a commander of an M4 Sherman tank.
Specifications and Features: (Novint Falcon and pistol grip combo)
A must-have bundle for every FPS enthusiast, the Novint Falcon Pistol Grip Bundle takes gaming to the next level with our 3D Touch technology that lets you feel realistic weapon recoil and force feedback for truly immersive game play. The bundle includes:
1 award-winning Novint Falcon (black)
1 highly-anticipated Falcon Pistol Grip
Penumbra:Overture (first person action-adventure/horror)
Talon Special Ops (FPS)
All of our free downloadable FPS mods, including:
Haptics-Life 2
Haptics-Life 2 Episode One
Quake 4 HaptX mod
F.E.A.R. and F.E.A.R Combat (multiplayer)
Crysis
Prey
And your choice of one game from the following list:
The Orange Box (when available), Aquatreous, Butter Bean, Cave Brain, Cell Blast, Chicken Hunter Buck Shot, Chicken Hunter: Birds of a Feather, Chicken Hunter: Chicken a la Kart, Chicken Hunter: Fowllywood, Chicken Hunter: Raiders of the Lost Whatsit, Chicken Hunter: Retro, Chicken Hunter: The Temple of SingSong, Crystal Quest, Feelin’ It: Arcade Roller, Feelin’ It: Arctic Stud Poker Run, Feelin’ It: Virtual Pool 3, Force Fighter, Gish, Impulse Thruster, Klectit, Mo the Mole, Newton’s Monkey Math, Snowbear, The Feel of Steel, Tobbit or XLR8
Let’s get to the testing:
Testing:
In order to test the Novint Falcon I used it for several days playing a multitude of the supported games. I won’t be going into as much detail as I normally do for this testing section because most of the experience can be seen from the videos on the previous pages. I will state this for FPS’s the Novint was incredibly adaptable and had even more control then all of my gaming mice put together. The addition of the recoil made the experience all the more impressive. Just for a laugh we decided to turn the Novint recoil all the way up in halflife 2 and hop on the turret. Due to the fact that the Novint is used for both look and recoil, turning the recoil all the way up would be the equivalent to trying to hold on to the turret without a tri-pod or mount and then try to hit a target the pistol grip and the view on the screen were all over the place. For FPS Gaming I give the novint a
10/10 (for both accuracy and enjoyment.)
As for the mini games the novint performed without hiccup on everything from slingshots to golf clubs. I was so impressed with the degree of interaction the Novint provided I ended up spending hours on games I never would have bothered playing for 5 minutes with a regular mouse. For interaction and the amount of fun it provided for mini games I give the Novint Falcon a:
10/10
I love force feedback driving wheels and I was a little skeptical when Tom Novint Urged me to try XLR8. How could a ball on a stick be better then a real racing wheel? While I would say the wheel offers a little more as far as realistic handling, the Novint mad up for this with the incredible feeling of the gravel under wheel and crash response that most racing wheels emulated horribly. For racing I give the Novint a solid:
8.5/10
Let’s see the final verdict on the Novint Falcon Controller: Conclusion:
I am not afraid to say it I absolutely love the Novint Falcon Game Controller. It is by far the best game peripheral I have ever used. I believe that if more people had there hands on a Novint Falcon, casual consoles like the Wii would be a thing of the past. The level of interaction this controller offers far out weighs the Wii nunchucks on every level. If Novint branched off into the console market and found backers for 360 and ps3 games it would revolutionize the industry. Till then us PC users will continue to enjoy the benefits of Novint Gaming.
This pretty much goes without saying but it is our template: Would I recommend this product? You are damns straight I would, For $199 you get games grips and the unit it is still cheaper then a Wii and in my opinion is a lot more fun. I cannot wait to see what is in store for the future of the Novint Falcon.
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