Dozens of gamers stood in line for Microsoft's grove of PC test stations at last week's E3 conference in Atlanta to try out their first force-feedback joystick, the Sidewinder. Due out before Christmas for US$149.95, the Sidewinder jolted, buzzed, and jerked backward in gamers' hands while they competed in a good selection of action games, drive sims, and sports games on CD-ROM.
In addition to sight and sound, many videogames are adding feel to draw you further into their world. "In an action game, there's no way to know if you get hit from behind, unless the joystick jerks backwards," said company spokesman Richard Brundik-Lindnar during the demo.
At least one player wasn't impressed, however. Louis Rosenberg, president of the small San Jose start-up and Microsoft competitor Immersion Corporation, believes Microsoft's technology is already obsolete. He talked up the refined fidelity of effects possible with the next rev of Immersion's hardware, I-Force 2.0, and the affordable pricing of other force-feedback peripherals, like driving simulation wheels by ThrustMaster and ACT Labs. His company holds licensing deals with a dozen Microsoft competitors.
What's undeniable is that Microsoft, the leading maker of joysticks in the US, is already a year behind the force-feedback market and has had to play catch-up with this technology. CH Products has had a joystick, powered by Immersion technology, on the market since last Christmas. It's priced a little higher than the Sidewinder, at around US$170, but the feel is similar.
Microsoft uses similar methodology to create the force-feedback effects, a very sore point for Rosenberg. During a company demo, one of the employees from Redmond explained, "It takes a lot of extra processing power to create force-feedback."
Indeed, says Rosenberg. "We hold the patent on putting a force-feedback co-processor in joysticks, and we've licensed the technology to 11 manufacturers," he said. "With Microsoft's new joystick, it's like we've licensed it to a 12th who's just not paying us." The Immersion head, however, doesn't plan to sue. "We're going to play nice, because Microsoft's been supporting our technology with Direct-X," he said.
The fact that Microsoft has decided to support joysticks made with Immersion may be good news for gamers, though. The Sidewinder and force-feedback peripherals made by the Immersion partners will all be compatible with the panoply of new Windows 95 game titles with tactile effects, including flight sim iA-10 Warthog; LucasArts' Star Wars game, Shadows of the Empire; Trophy Bass 2; and a variety of football and baseball games.
More games are also on the way, with the help of two new software development kits that help programmers code force-feedback effects into games more quickly. Microsoft and Immersion showed off their competing kits, which are roughly the equivalent of clip-art collections - but instead of pictures and sounds, they provide the feelings of springs, liquids, and other textures.
While Microsoft and other joystick manufacturers battle for a superior stick, the development kits could help programmers move beyond the gaming world, a possibility not lost on graduate student Eric Paulos, who studies robotics at UC Berkeley. "Once those things get in people's hands, they'll find other uses for them having more to do with communication," Paulos said. "You might be able to send a sexual experience through email, or your boss might shove something urgent on your desk."
More on E3:
Apocalypse Wow: Gaming Goes Hollywood
20.Jun.97
Tamagotchi Moves In on the Desktop
20.Jun.97
Attracts Gamers Like Magic
20.Jun.97
Before ... Click ... After
20.Jun.97
Pac-Man Leaves Flatland
19.Jun.97
