Halflife2.net Review the Novint Falcon

[Hectic Glenn]

In the not too distant past, Valve added a sneaky update for most of their Source games: Adding support for the Novint Falcon. The falcon is a haptic controller replacing your mouse of joystick to give you a real hands on feel for games. Our very own Pi Mu Rho managed to get hold of one and has written a full in depth review of his experience.

...then I used the Gravity Gun. This, to me, was the most impressive feature. With every object you pick up, you can actually feel the weight of it. Light objects have barely any effect, but if you pick up something heavy - a large rock, for example - and the Falcon pushes constantly down, requiring actual physical effort on your part to hold it steady.

Be sure to read the review and check out 2 videos of Pi playing Episode 2 and Left 4 Dead with the Falcon. Novint Falcon Review.[br]

[/url]

​

 

[BlueWolf72]

When I was traveling to gaming events they were at the GDC and this booth was busy. I had fun using this. This review is very nice.

 

[Acepilotf14]

Oh my. How neato.

 

[Ennui]

Good, thorough, informative review. Pi, you should write features more often.

 

[Insano]

Nice read, it definately piqued my interest.

 

[Lizardizzle]

maybe our own little hardware review section, like a real-time website.

 

[DigiQ8]

Very informative review, Pi. I'm actually considering buying it.
The bit about the gravity gun sounds fascinating.

 

[MorganFreeman911]

Quite a good review, Pi. I agree with Ennui, you should write more of them!
EDIT: My thoughts exactly, Digi.

 

[Lucid]

Seems like a nice to toy to play with if you have the money for one.

 

[Qonfused]

I'm broke.

Fixed.

 

[Lucid]

I am.
Also $200+ for a glorified joystick is a bit steep.

 

[Krynn72]

omg spoilers wtf

 

[Chris D]

Good, thorough, informative review. Pi, you should write features more often.

I second that motion.

 

[Warped]

I'd like to get one of these at the $100 price point. i'm sure they'll drop them soon enough

 

[<RJMC>]

sooooo,you put your dick on it?

 

[Chris D]

sooooo,you put your dick on it?

Erm. No.

 

[Hades]

Thank you for the awesome review. :thumbs:

If it was cheaper I'd buy this in a heartbeat.

 

[John1986]

i've really been thinking of getting myself one of these just might do it after december with this nice review

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

This is first on my toy list when I return to campus and grab a job. Looks like a good bit of fun, little frustrations aside.

 

[Captain M4d]

If I had a lot more money, I'd definitely consider getting one. At first I thought it was another gimicky controller, but it looks like the Falcon really does add some great immersion to the game.

 

[CombineHarvester]

Yeah, but where to buy.....

I'd actually love to buy one of these today, but they aren't available in the UK, the EBay shop linked above has 0 stock, and the other links on the Novint website don't actually take me to any purchase pages....

So, who with the cash would like to import a bundle of these into the UK and make a small killing?

 

[Apocalypse89]

Damn, the videos in that review killed my mental image of Pi Mu Rho being some ancient kung fu master.

Anyway, the Falcon really looks like it adds immersion to games, so it's no surprise that people on this site(including myself) seem so interested in it. But I'm not sure about the way it seems to decrease the player's performance...I don't mind sacrificing some of that to add immersion to a singleplayer game, but it could be a problem in MP when a team depends on you. Like the review says though, maybe practice solves that problem.

I doubt I'll ever get it since I'm not exactly a hardcore gamer(and with Bahrain's paranoid government, importing something that looks too much like a gun could give me a headache), but it's definitely interesting.

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

Regarding the performance issues, it definitely improves with time. When I loaded up L4D to do that video, I played significantly better than I did the night before. Aiming is slow to start off with, but you get quicker as it becomes more "normal."

Also, after playing with the Falcon for a while, going back to playing with the mouse just feels horribly flat.

 

[Kisze]

Really liked the review, good job.

One small question though: is the pistol grip easily removable for those games where you might not use weaponry too often?

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

Yes it is - the grip just clips on and off. However, the alternate grip is a small, sphere-shaped one that is for more general use. It works in exactly the same way, though.

 

[ZoFreX]

If this supported more games I'd buy it right now! (Also if it was available more readily in the UK). As it is... I can't really justify that expense for something I will hardly ever use. But God damn I want one.

 

[Kadayi]

Nice. Is the build quality good on the grip?

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

Yes, it's very sturdy (I had no qualms about my 4-year-old running around with it.) Although it could really do with some padding on the grip itself for extended playing periods.