FIRM REALLY LETS THE FORCE BE WITH PLAYERS.

Byline: Catalina Ortiz Associated Press 

Louis Rosenberg wants computer-game players to get physical - really physical, as in BIFF! WHAM! and POW!

His Silicon Valley start-up company, Immersion Corp., has come up with technology that lets ``commandos'' reel from every weapon's recoil and ``pilots'' struggle against every G at their personal computers.

Its version of force-feedback - a feature once limited to costly military and commercial flight simulators or arcade games - is being built into joysticks for the PC user.

The sense of touch adds a new dimension, one as valuable as advanced visuals and sound, Rosenberg said.

``We can simulate liquid. We can simulate friction. We can simulate gravity. We can simulate springs,'' he said. ``If you turn it off, you've lost so much information.''

Immersion is the first company to have its force-feedback technology appear in a consumer product. The company's I-Force technology appears in PC joysticks that CH Products of Vista has sold since December.

``I know that, for me, it adds a lot more realism and feedback to the flight simulator,'' said Richard Ordway, a pilot who reviews flight-simulation and air-combat games for a magazine, Strategy Plus.

Seven other companies, including Logitech Inc., plan to have a variety of devices with I-Force on the market in coming months, including joysticks and steering wheels for PCs, sticks for the Sony Playstation and more arcade equipment.

So far, more than a dozen software companies have produced 30 titles compatible with I-Force. Fifty more titles are in the works.

Meanwhile, other companies - including software titan Microsoft Corp. - are working on different force-feedback technology and devices. But Immersion hopes its early start will help it set an industry standard.

``If everyone uses it, game developers only have to develop (programs) once,'' Rosenberg said. ``If someone writes a game to work with a Logitech joystick, it will still work with a CH wheel. It makes it very convenient for programmers.''

Industry analysts say adding the tactile element is only natural as personal computers become increasingly popular for playing games. Companies seek to make those games as realistic and absorbing as possible.

``I think the objective is to provide an experience akin to arcade systems,'' said Omid Rahmat, an analyst with Jon Peddie Associates in Tiburon, Calif. ``It's part of the evolution of the industry.''

Greg Stearns, chief executive of CH Products, said he expects systems like his Force FX joystick, which uses Immersion technology, to be the wave of the future.

But don't expect that to be the immediate future.

The special joysticks now sell for about $170, far above the $30 to $40 charged for a basic model and even more than high-end sticks without force-feedback.

Stearns said he expects the price for the force-feedback sticks to fall to $100 in a few years.

``If we can get it there, we think the average gamer will buy it,'' he said.

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Photo

Photo: Louis Rosenberg, president of Immersion Corp. of San Jose, shows joysticks and a steering wheel with force-feedback computer technology.

Associated Press