Orange County Register

I had a chance to talk with some folks from Novint Technologies, a tech company that’s producing a neat gadget called the Falcon. This mouse replacement’s difficult to explain, but it tries to convey a sense of force and tactilism to the player. It’s a smaller knob or pistol grip on an array of arms that react, in real life, to in-game forces and provide resistance as the player’s avatar is hit, bumps into items or otherwise interacts with the game world.

On “Half-Life 2,” the controller provides some resistance when the player nabs a barrel with the Zero-G gun. It really feels heavy, and it’s impressive how realistic the sensation is. There’s also a recoil that varies from gun to gun. It’s fun, but a little distracting.

Where the controller really shined was with the “XLR8″ racing game. I’m not a huge racing buff, but if I ever get my own Falcon, I may become one. The roads felt right, both in how the car moved over them and in the actual bumping sensation of the controller. Unlike in the “Half-Life” demo, it wasn’t distracting, it was engrossing. The game-controller combo really sucked me in, and the learning curve — normally what keeps me away from racers — was very scalable. The responsiveness of the car, and the tactile feedback of the Falcon, were spot on. It was very impressive.

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