USER NEWS: TECHNOLOGY ENLIVENS FEEL FOR GAMERS.Computer games, until recently, connected with players through only two of the human senses - sight and sound. No more. Brace yourself for a new technology called ``force feedback.'' It adds a third sense - touch - to greatly increase the ``you are there'' sensation. The idea is simple: A game controller, such as a joystick (hardware, games) joystick - A device consisting of a hand held stick that pivots about one end and transmits its angle in two dimensions to a computer. Joysticks are often used to control games, and usually have one or more push-buttons whose state can also be read by the computer. or steering The process whereby builders, brokers, and rental property managers induce purchasers or lessees of real property to buy land or rent premises in neighborhoods composed of persons of the same race. wheel, attached to your personal computer actually responds to what's happening on screen. When you fire a gun, for example, a force-feedback joystick kicks back in your hand; with a force-feedback steering wheel, you have to wrestle when making a high-speed high-speed adj. 1. Operated or designed for operation at high speed: a high-speed food processor. 2. Taking place at high speed: a high-speed chase. 3. turn. Force feedback has been on the radar screen of game developers for several years, but is only becoming a high-profile product this fall, largely thanks to the behemoth behemoth (bē`hĭmŏth, bĭhē`–) [Heb.,=plural of beast], large, fanciful primeval monster, like Leviathan, evoking the hippopotamus mentioned in the Book of Job. Microsoft Corp. Earlier this month Microsoft introduced its first force-feedback game controller - a $149 joystick called the SideWinder sidewinder, common name for a rattlesnake, Crotalus cerastes, found in the deserts of the SW United States. This 2-ft (60-cm), pale yellow and pink snake is named for its curious method of locomotion. Force Feedback Pro. By the middle of next year, expect up to a dozen force-feedback joysticks and steering wheels to be on the market from all the major manufacturers of game controllers, including Advanced Gravis, CH Products, Logitech and Thrustmaster. Indeed, CH Products is the true pioneer of force feedback. It brought the first product to market in November 1996 - the Force FX joystick, which now sells for about $99. For more information on the Force FX, call CH Products at (800) 624-5804 or visit the company's Web site: www.chproducts.com. For more information on the SideWinder, call Microsoft at (800) 426-9400 or visit the company's Web site: www.microsoft.com/sidewinder/. ?13- Mike Langberg San Jose Mercury News The San Jose Mercury News is the major daily newspaper in San Jose, California and Silicon Valley. The paper is owned by MediaNews Group. Its headquarters and printing plant are located in North San Jose next to the Nimitz Freeway (Interstate 880). |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion