Novint Falcon Gets a New Look

22 March 2006

Novint Technologies unveiled a new industrial design for the Novint Falcon, a revolutionary interface device that makes high-fidelity interactive 3D touch possible and practical for consumer computing for the first time. Novint is pioneering a new category of 3D touch products for the consumer market and will introduce the Falcon to the $35 billion(1) global game industry in 2007. The Novint Falcon lets users feel weight, shape, texture, dimension, dynamics, 3D motion and force effects when playing touch-enabled games. In the past, the price of 3D touch (haptic) hardware has made it impractical for consumer use, but the Novint Falcon, which performs comparably to commercial devices that cost thousands of dollars, is designed to retail for under $100 in mass market volumes.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060321/SFTU065 )

Sporting a sleek new industrial design, the Novint Falcon, like all true 3D touch controllers is, in essence, a robot. Users hold the Falcon through an "end effector," or handle, which can come in many shapes and forms. The new design includes a quick disconnect feature which lets players change handles for specific uses or types of game play. Using the Novint Falcon, players experience realistic 3D touch sensations and haptic effects that are far superior to existing 2D rumble or force feedback devices. The Falcon also overcomes key limitations of the computer mouse. A mouse moves forward and backward and left and right, but the Falcon also moves up and down. This additional freedom, coupled with the Falcon's high-fidelity interactive touch feedback, lets you play more naturally and intuitively.

Try and imagine your life without a sense of touch. Video games have added increasingly sophisticated graphics and sound, but none have incorporated realistic touch. The Falcon lets players feel a character's actions instead of controlling a game through mouse clicks or meters. Players feel the weight of a basketball as they shoot it towards a hoop -- the momentum and impact as they swing a golf club and strike a ball -- the recoil of a weapon -- or the characteristics of virtual objects and environments - adding a new level of realism to interactions.

Novint's founder and CEO Tom Anderson said, "The Novint Falcon represents an exceptional marriage of technology and design that adds a powerful new dimension to gaming. Our haptic technology is so realistic that a surgeon can use it to practice a medical procedure before ever touching a live patient. Now, with our introduction of an affordable hardware solution, games can also benefit from the addition of 3D touch. As the market reaches a saturation point, players are demanding more than just incremental improvements in graphics or game play. I believe the industry needs an innovation like this to take things to the next level, and to put the 'Wow!' factor back in games. Consider how the addition of sound changed motion pictures. I believe our technology will fundamentally change gaming and Novint is committed to leading the way in the development of next generation products for gaming and other consumer applications."

Walter Aviles, Novint's CTO said: "The outstanding efforts of our internal team, including our Hardware General Manager, Jack Harrod, and our partners, Lunar Design and Force Dimension, helped us to break the technical, aesthetic and cost barriers to produce a great 3D touch device for consumers." Novint worked closely with Lunar Design, which spearheaded the industrial design efforts for the Falcon. Lunar is an award-winning firm that has worked with Apple Computer, Google, Hewlett-Packard and others to create iconic new products and successful brands experienced by millions of people around the globe. Jeff Smith, Lunar Design's CEO and a key member of the design team, said: "Novint looked to Lunar to create a remarkable experience for this device -- a controller that puts the feel of the action right in the hands of a computer gamer. The Falcon not only represents a significant milestone for Novint, but for computing in general ". Novint also licensed key portions of the technology used in the Falcon from Force Dimension, a leading Swiss developer of high-end haptic devices. Francois Conti, VP of operations at Force Dimension said: "We strongly believe that the Novint Falcon will bring to the entertainment world the benefits that high-end haptic devices have made available to the robotics and medical industry."

Novint will bundle an original collection of touch-enabled games with the Falcon, which demonstrate the power of the technology in a variety of genres. Novint also plans to license its patented technology to game developers and publishers, giving them a valuable product differentiator that can be seamlessly and cost-effectively added to new or existing content. The Novint Falcon connects to PC platforms through a USB port. Novint is demonstrating the Falcon at the Game Developer's Conference in San Jose, California at booth 1448, March 22-24th.

About Novint Technologies

Novint, a leading developer of commercial touch applications, is pioneering a new category of 3D touch products for the consumer market. Founded in 2000 and based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Novint develops, markets, and licenses technology that adds high-fidelity interactive 3D touch to computing.

About Lunar Design: http://www.lunardesign.com

About Force Dimension: http://www.forcedimension.com

This document contains "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties, as well as assumptions that, if they never materialize or prove incorrect, could cause the results of Novint Technologies, Inc. to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

(1) 60 Minutes: "Cyber Athlete 'Fatal1ty'" January 22, 2006

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