LGR Oddware - Novint Falcon Haptic Controller from 2007

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  • čas přidán 7. 07. 2024
  • Checking out the 2007 Novint Technologies Falcon on LGR Oddware! A combination of haptics and force feedback providing up to 2 pounds of force for everything from recoil, to impacts, to caressing balls. A fascinating input device that never got the userbase it arguably deserved.
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    ● Background music licensed from:
    www.epidemicsound.com
    00:00 An Oddware Introduction
    00:33 The Novint Falcon
    01:45 Novint Technologies
    03:48 What happened
    06:22 Controller and grips
    09:54 Setup and testing
    11:39 Ball demo
    15:28 Bundled minigames
    24:49 F-Gen Manager
    28:09 Half-Life 2
    31:58 Portal
    34:14 Scripts & Crysis 2
    36:32 Mouse passthrough
    38:11 It deserved better
    #LGR #retro #gaming #controller #oddware
  • Věda a technologie

Komentáře • 1,7K

  • @sunderark
    @sunderark Před 2 dny +1450

    I was like "oh man they made this thing work with newer games too" and then I remembered Portal was also from 2007.

    • @Gafnitify
      @Gafnitify Před 2 dny +94

      Just to make you happy it takes just a couple more years before it is 20 years old.

    • @BurritoVampire
      @BurritoVampire Před 2 dny +57

      Queue the Matt Damon aging GIF.

    • @Rutgerman95
      @Rutgerman95 Před 2 dny +110

      I recently realized there's just as much time between now and the release of Half-Life 2, as there is between Half-Life 2 and the release of Duck Hunt for the NES

    • @monkeyman767
      @monkeyman767 Před 2 dny +70

      ​@@Rutgerman95 You stop that right now

    • @baconpantsable
      @baconpantsable Před 2 dny

      You read this fact and all you hear is the spicy salsa music over the radio

  • @alfthai
    @alfthai Před 2 dny +402

    This device actually looks perfect for Surgeon Simulator

    • @DrCorndog1
      @DrCorndog1 Před 2 dny +137

      Especially with the gun attachment.

    • @zymosan99
      @zymosan99 Před 2 dny +11

      buy a real surgical one for it!

    • @AniRaptor2001
      @AniRaptor2001 Před 2 dny +35

      In college back around '07 I was on a team that was developing a very similar software as a project, using this thing as the input device. That application is what it was truly made for.

    • @axallotofquestionsMusic
      @axallotofquestionsMusic Před 54 minutami

      A old age telephone operator simulator 😂

  • @aaronbosen6743
    @aaronbosen6743 Před 2 dny +302

    Another really weird but interesting bit of the history of the Novint Falcon is that it was actually the first hardware device you could buy via the steam store, and that Novint regularly tried to give them away as prizes as part of various game tournament events and that Valve actually has continued to make minute compatability updates for it in various games over the years, with the most recent of those updates happening in January of 2024. That's right. There's apparently still people actively using these things and people on Valve making them play a little better in their games.

    • @LGR
      @LGR  Před 2 dny +90

      That’s awesome, I didn’t come across that!

    • @neuronoc.7343
      @neuronoc.7343 Před 21 hodinou +20

      Honestly, Gaben could just buy the abysmal stocks of Novint and just... Make official steam equivalents of the Falcon.

    • @niaschim
      @niaschim Před 8 hodinami +1

      I want one...

    • @niaschim
      @niaschim Před 8 hodinami

      ...they should sell then integrated into desk cabinets, maybe for rich people even rotating flight simulator style cabinets🤩

    • @MildMisanthropeMaybeMassive
      @MildMisanthropeMaybeMassive Před hodinou

      @@neuronoc.7343Imagine haptic gloves for VR using this tech.

  • @larrymantic2635
    @larrymantic2635 Před 2 dny +344

    You know you’ve made a bad bowling game when your bowling ball gains sentience and exits its digital confinement.

    • @praeamble
      @praeamble Před dnem +7

      Or the greatest bowling game of all time.

    • @absalomdraconis
      @absalomdraconis Před dnem +2

      Portal 3 when? "Oh. Hello again Chelle. Could you go fetch me a pin from that pin straightener machine? It seems to have malfunctioned because of a former test participant."

    • @JackWse
      @JackWse Před dnem

      They do that in real life too.. like seriously they just up and go through the window for like no reason.. there's not even windows in the alley..

  • @PXAbstraction
    @PXAbstraction Před 2 dny +1114

    I love how in their launcher, there's a spot to just click and get their current stock price. That design decision didn't age well.

  • @takochiba9151
    @takochiba9151 Před 2 dny +141

    "The Falcon is the predator of the mouse". That is so stupid and I love it.

    • @blakksheep736
      @blakksheep736 Před dnem +6

      Such confidence.

    • @omarsabeur9039
      @omarsabeur9039 Před 9 hodinami +2

      Gun companies have been doing this lately , the CZ Skorpion has a competitor called the B&T Grasshopper Mouse ... Which is a mouse that eats scorpions lol.

    • @GTChucker86
      @GTChucker86 Před 9 hodinami +2

      Same as the guy who marketed and led the production of the Chevy Camaro.
      "Camaro is an animal that eats Mustangs"

    • @shawndavis7249
      @shawndavis7249 Před 26 minutami

      "I love the Falcon. It's so bad."

  • @megan_alnico
    @megan_alnico Před 2 dny +126

    This thing would be fantastic for a surgeon simulator VR game.
    " You can really feel that liver!"

    • @stevethepocket
      @stevethepocket Před 2 dny +16

      From what I've read, professional-grade training tools for surgeons was indeed one of the things that this got used for.

  • @Vostok7
    @Vostok7 Před 2 dny +72

    Cons: "Dude, you're considering spending $190 on a game controller"
    Flight sim fans: "Yeah, haha, that's crazy..."

    • @CherryPixelBun
      @CherryPixelBun Před 9 hodinami +2

      Fighting Game Players: "Haha yeah imagine paying like $200-300 on a controller haha"

  • @deliriumzer0
    @deliriumzer0 Před 2 dny +271

    HOLY CRAP this is a blast from my past personally! I worked for Novint briefly in about 2007-2008 or so? Half-Life 2 was genuinely so fun with this thing, I was really spoiled by it. It definitely needed a few more cycles of testing & adjustment but it really added so much to the gameplay experience. The texture demo (with the orb that changes material) was mind-blowing on its own, nevermind how much more fun shooters were with the proper kick from firing & impact from enemies. I wish Novint had had just a TINY bit more success, just enough for development to lead to something more usable, because the haptic precision was really something special. Combine these haptics with the feel of the Wii, you get something incredible tbh. (From what I could feel in 1-2-Switch, Nintendo has some incredible haptics in the Switch that have gone massively underutilized, but still nothing as bonkers as what was in the Falcon).
    It's really no joke that to be sold on it you had to try it, because it was hard to get anyone to check it out at the mall kiosk where I worked, but everyone who tried it was really enthusiastic about it... shame the price & its physical size were both just too much for how little game support it had. The fact that I had to re-calibrate the particular test Falcon I had EVERY TIME I used it? Hard to make me enthusiastic about selling it. (The later models were less problematic in this regard, but it tickled me to see you complain about the calibration because boy was that a common issue lol)
    (In the end I was fired from Novint because I essentially gave up trying to sell devices at that kiosk and just socialized with other people working at that mall. Actually selling the thing successfully would have involved being dishonest and I just can't do that lol. I work in user experience now, so now I can help improve products rather than sugar-coating them, which is much more for me I think! Honestly I wish I'd been able to do user testing for them back then & get EXACTLY the sort of feedback you're giving in this video, it might have genuinely helped so much.)

    • @MadMinstrel
      @MadMinstrel Před 2 dny +29

      Rather than just doing games, I wish you had gotten the Pixologic, Pilgway or Blender guys to support this for sculpting. That would have been something artists would legitimately pay for.

    • @michaelkolano8686
      @michaelkolano8686 Před dnem +3

      I feel like this device would honestly just be useful as an input for 3D drafting and modeling for amateurs or even small buisnesses.

    • @monad_tcp
      @monad_tcp Před 20 hodinami +3

      those things must be really hard in PID control to program, no wonder game devs can't easily figure it out, like just buying a library and plugging it in.

    • @sovo1212
      @sovo1212 Před 19 hodinami +2

      WDYM "being dishonest"? From what I seen, the device works great as it is, as long as you play a first person shooter. Those horrible minigames were a mistake, clearly, because it makes no sense to use the Falcon for these kind of games to begin with, let alone how terribly they were coded. But I can see it could have been successful, had it been marketed as a device for FPS games only, same as racing wheels are exclusively for... racing games. Today it could be great for 3DOF VR as well.

    • @tomlouie2855
      @tomlouie2855 Před hodinou

      Thanks for sharing, and your sense of integrity!

  • @Zarnubius
    @Zarnubius Před 2 dny +376

    bro completely sold me on a 20 year old piece of obscure hardware, I love that HL2 has always been the medium for groundbreaking hardware. The first proto-VR controls, 3D and haptic tech all used HL2 as a showcase. What a wonderful game and wonderful time. We had no idea how good we had it.

    • @jr2904
      @jr2904 Před 2 dny +11

      It's only 17 years, it has not been 20 years since I graduated from highschool lol

    • @user-bm1zk9qj6p
      @user-bm1zk9qj6p Před 2 dny +21

      And HL2 on VR is fucking great too

    • @ravenclause
      @ravenclause Před 2 dny

      the force feedback jostick is some 30 years old

    • @No_True_Scotsman
      @No_True_Scotsman Před 2 dny +8

      Remeber when there were big budget single player games 😭

    • @Trashboat4444
      @Trashboat4444 Před 2 dny +14

      ​@@No_True_Scotsman Have you been living under a rock? There has been a bunch of big single player games in recent times.

  • @ShiningRosarium
    @ShiningRosarium Před 2 dny +62

    I think this would've been a better thing to sell to a big theme park or arcade as a novelty than a "at home" kinda deal

    • @LGR
      @LGR  Před 2 dny +35

      Definitely could see some use cases in an amusement center setting

    • @rommix0
      @rommix0 Před 2 dny +6

      @@LGR Well... It was most definitely "amusing" to watch

    • @Zanpaa
      @Zanpaa Před 2 dny +6

      Oh true! Definitely would play half an hour of shooting games at an arcade with this.

    • @Alfred-Neuman
      @Alfred-Neuman Před dnem +5

      If it came with a fake silicone mouth accessory I'd be interested in buying one.

    • @cubeflinger
      @cubeflinger Před dnem +1

      Super monkey ball

  • @craigunderhill3415
    @craigunderhill3415 Před dnem +58

    Hey! I used to work with one of these: Bit of a story time.
    I worked for a Cyberpsycology lab, and we used all sorts of tech to help people with their phobias, conditions, etc, and I spoke with Novint about what we do, and they were stoked to send us a free Falcon to use.
    We used this thing to help people who have certain phobias when it came to textures, or even just touching physical objects (like say a Snake or Spider). From what I recall it worked really well for that purpose. Novint was awesome for sending us a device to use for medical purposes that were just starting to get off the ground.

  • @danieltulk9311
    @danieltulk9311 Před 3 dny +622

    Giggity intro.

    • @getyerspn
      @getyerspn Před 3 dny +11

      Ha I had exactly the same reaction 👍

    • @testshietchannel
      @testshietchannel Před 3 dny +23

      Who else but Quagmire? 🤷

    • @pedazodeboludo
      @pedazodeboludo Před 2 dny

      It’s a “personal massager” folks 😊

    • @dan_loeb
      @dan_loeb Před 2 dny +24

      definitely remember seeing threads online about people buying these second hand in the mid-late 2010's and making custom "end plates" and code for these to drive them like that.

    • @klax001
      @klax001 Před 2 dny +21

      Maybe they could have saved their company if someone had come up with a fleshlight attachment for it 😂

  • @claycook9475
    @claycook9475 Před 2 dny +49

    Penumbra came with my Falcon, it's a first person survival horror game by the makers of Amnesia. It's mostly pitch black and you have to use the Falcon to feel around in the darkness to find things and figure out what you're touching. Was super cool and one of the best haptic experiences outside of FPS games.

    • @alexio1942
      @alexio1942 Před 2 dny +2

      i played the entire penumbra series and i cant imagine how much harder it would've been , combat was not the best even for mouse.....those damn hounds

    • @H1bbe
      @H1bbe Před 2 dny +12

      You wouldn't happen to still have the files would you? I would love to add it to the preservation bundle. I contacted frictional a few years ago, but they weren't able to give me the files because of a third party.

  • @SeanHH1986
    @SeanHH1986 Před 2 dny +13

    its insane how long youve been showcasing cool stuff and all these years later, theres still something as crazy and unique as this

    • @LGR
      @LGR  Před 2 dny +10

      Right? The well of oddities is practically bottomless!

  • @lupinzar
    @lupinzar Před 2 dny +9

    A few minutes into this video I remarked "I bet this was a high-end product for serious applications cost reduced to a game controller." Poor Novint learned the hard way that for consumer hardware you also have to have killer software and support to be successful.

  • @OriginalPiMan
    @OriginalPiMan Před 2 dny +205

    The falcon/mouse analogy goes several steps further than they originally considered.
    A falcon is more exciting to look at, but there are far fewer out in the wild and they are far more expensive to acquire for yourself.
    And this particular falcon is extinct in the wild and almost so in captivity.

    • @AgentTasmania
      @AgentTasmania Před 2 dny +6

      Also falcons are generally associated more with air to air predation

  • @Ev1lHaX0r
    @Ev1lHaX0r Před 2 dny +60

    I laughed for five minutes after the bowling ball exited.
    Thank you.

    • @bewilderbeestie
      @bewilderbeestie Před 2 dny +2

      I _think_ a physics glitch caused it to bounce sideways and then it fell off the collision mesh. The game then softlocked waiting for it to reach the bowling pins, except the ball was accelerating straight down at 1g.

    • @colonthree
      @colonthree Před 23 hodinami +2

      @@bewilderbeestie This is why you have cutoff-checks to ensure the physics objects are within bounds.
      This is one of the simplest things to implement with a simple box collider/trigger surrounding the playable area...

  • @alexanderthomas2660
    @alexanderthomas2660 Před 2 dny +61

    No big surprise that Valve was the only company putting actual effort in making this work so well with their game, down to all the smallest details.

    • @Nereosis16
      @Nereosis16 Před 2 dny +6

      Until they turned to shit. Half life alyx is awesome but that's all for the last decade. Seriously, it goes Portal 2 - Alyx with only shit inbetween. Valve is dead.

    • @WildBeret
      @WildBeret Před 2 dny +1

      @@Nereosis16 fu them they the made a game for VR only , it's a joke it is like making game for smarpthones only

    • @Nereosis16
      @Nereosis16 Před 2 dny +18

      @@WildBeret if you ever get to play it you will see why it's VR only. It's a masterpiece.

    • @obeseperson
      @obeseperson Před 2 dny

      @@WildBeretthey do make games for smartphones only, numbnuts

    • @Zanpaa
      @Zanpaa Před 2 dny +1

      ​@@Nereosis16they "turned to shit" by making a "masterpiece"? Get your story straight.

  • @wutzerface77
    @wutzerface77 Před 2 dny +5

    “Anyways our ‘toy’ is working perfectly” i love the careful choice of words

  • @WarriorTier
    @WarriorTier Před 3 dny +276

    I had one of these and regret selling it to this day! It was so far ahead of its time and the feedback was insane. HL2 and Crysis were so fun on it. Only issue… after heavy use, your right shoulder starts to hurt like crazy. Novint Falcon for life 🤙

    • @GreenBlueWalkthrough
      @GreenBlueWalkthrough Před 3 dny +16

      Yeah I remember seeing the option for it in Battlefeild 2 always wondered what is was.

    • @volvo09
      @volvo09 Před 2 dny +28

      I was sitting here thinking what a terrible device with no real use case.... Then when he fired up HL2 and Portal I was shocked at how cool that feedback must feel in a supported game!

    • @afti03
      @afti03 Před 2 dny +12

      I could definitely see how your right shoulder would be totally exhausted after holding it like that

    • @modsandendsGG-3883
      @modsandendsGG-3883 Před 2 dny +15

      I still have mine and it's the main drawback. A mouse is way more ergonomic. This is a workout to use. You have to hold your arm up the whole time and then you're not only moving your whole arm to aim, but you're also fighting the force feedback. But that's the whole point, so you get the amazing force feedback experience, but you also get an arm workout, haha.

    • @modsandendsGG-3883
      @modsandendsGG-3883 Před 2 dny +13

      @@volvo09 They made a huge mistake marketing it as a mouse replacement. It had one amazing use case, fps games. Maybe some other games could have been made specifically for it, like a point and click adventure with lots of weird stuff you could "feel", but that seems like an expensive pipe dream.

  • @jasonjackson216
    @jasonjackson216 Před 2 dny +58

    The screen swooping into full screen was a very cool subtle effect. Really enjoyed that. Thanks LGR :)

    • @falllenshadow
      @falllenshadow Před 2 dny +1

      Very nice very clean

    • @redpup112
      @redpup112 Před 2 dny +1

      Yeah, I think he always does that when there needs to be a transition from camera to video capture, but I didn't notice it until your comment.

  • @mode7games
    @mode7games Před 2 dny +36

    Awesome video! We were lucky enough to get to work with Novint on a few projects in around 2007. They were absolutely lovely people who took a chance on us as a young inexperienced company - I'll be forever grateful to them for that. The Falcon was a unique thing and always got comments from people who walked into our office! If any Novint folks come across this video then I hope you're all doing well.

  • @fen4554
    @fen4554 Před 2 dny +14

    32:51 I think this is the most joy I've seen you get out of an Oddware. Almost like something briefly lived up to the hype in our minds when we see stuff like this in PCGamer and just dream.

    • @georgetazberik6834
      @georgetazberik6834 Před 2 dny +3

      That's because the hardware was shockingly good, it's just the implementation was lacking. It needs well made software to take full advantage of it AND it needs a better mounting solution.

  • @shaider1982
    @shaider1982 Před 2 dny +95

    The journalist from gamespot went full Beavis and Butthead whem asked where this device will be most useful for🤣 seriously, being able to feel feel fur is quite amazing.

    • @Volsung24
      @Volsung24 Před 2 dny +17

      I mean it was the 2000s kinda par for the course with gaming journalism.

    • @k0lpA
      @k0lpA Před dnem +3

      I thought one of the demos would have fur.. probably would have been furry balls though

    • @MarkDell
      @MarkDell Před 12 hodinami

      That was Tor Thorson. He was an absolute legend and sadly died 3 years ago

  • @Zayfod
    @Zayfod Před 2 dny +210

    to paraphrase, "If I had a penny for every time a CAD input device got reworked into a gaming controller, I'd have tuppence; which isn't much, but it's weird that it happened twice."

    • @h8GW
      @h8GW Před 2 dny

      It's enough to feed those flying rats

    • @NeoTechni
      @NeoTechni Před 2 dny +3

      what's the other one?

    • @Zayfod
      @Zayfod Před 2 dny +16

      @@NeoTechni the SpaceOrb

    • @Aeduo
      @Aeduo Před 2 dny +9

      But they're always intentionally bad because they need to make something that people will actually buy but just useless enough not to compete with their professional product with ultra-wide margins. Although this looks mostly OK, but suffers all of the usual problems. Poor drivers/software, no public SDK or code or documentation and nobody ends up using it.

    • @CycahhaCepreebha
      @CycahhaCepreebha Před 2 dny +2

      I use my SpaceMouse for games like Elite Dangerous, and that basically just works out of the box. You have to either set the joystick axis manually or copy a config someone else made off a forum, but it works wonderfully when you do.
      Got the idea from The Expanse, in the TV series they use a spacemouse as the control stick in the cockpit.

  • @davidmorin2818
    @davidmorin2818 Před 2 dny +11

    Didn't expect to see a live bear on LGR

  • @GarnetCrow
    @GarnetCrow Před 2 dny +35

    Clint has a red dot, knows how to grip a pistol and can make a comparison of force to something like a .32 pistol. I think Clint has other hobbies, that I'd be interested in seeing.

    • @toastrytoaster
      @toastrytoaster Před dnem +12

      Putting the G in LGR. Clint is packing, he has to protect all that hardware from the retro perverts.

    • @equinoxe3d
      @equinoxe3d Před 11 hodinami +1

      And he has bears attacking his bird feeders, gotta scare them off somehow

    • @obi1998
      @obi1998 Před 6 hodinami +5

      Sometimes you regret what you find about them though. Like out the 8-Bit-Guy's gun videos mocking gun violence victims.

    • @xenotiic8356
      @xenotiic8356 Před 6 hodinami +1

      @@obi1998 Excuse me WHAT? Where the hell are these videos???

  • @davidromeroblaya7920
    @davidromeroblaya7920 Před 2 dny +81

    Watching Clint leading a feudal host at gunpoint is hilarious.

  • @metacob
    @metacob Před 2 dny +88

    This kept happening all through the 90s and 00s: Someone comes up with a weird peripheral device that's interesting enough to make it into some news shows and magazines. Some early adopter types buy it. The device, at best, works okay with the supplied demo software and maybe one or two games whose developers agreed to add support for it, however it's an afterthought at best. And that's it. If it's a really good idea, the technology gets bought and integrated into something that has nothing to do with the PC enthusiast market.

    • @slicknicdwyer
      @slicknicdwyer Před 2 dny +10

      I mean, that never really stopped happening. That stupid GameScent device only came out a few months ago

    • @QWERTYCommander
      @QWERTYCommander Před 2 dny +2

      And if they get popular enough for a cult following then they live on with aftermarket mods.

    • @whatr0
      @whatr0 Před dnem +2

      I'm getting flashbacks to the Razer Wii knockoff motion controllers

    • @Ozzianman
      @Ozzianman Před dnem

      ​@@slicknicdwyerThe idea has been reused? I remember reading about something like that in the late 2000s.

  • @WolfCoder
    @WolfCoder Před 2 dny +7

    Now that you're doing Oddware on a device I actually had to use in motion planning research at work, I can tell how much effort you put into researching the background of your Oddware videos. It's very impressive! Keep up the good work. We used it for consumer-grade (it doesn't cost 20,000+USD) interactive molecular docking simulations on a business-tier laptop and demoed it at a few places.

  • @user-nj7lg4sy4d
    @user-nj7lg4sy4d Před 2 dny +3

    The nostalgia i felt when you opened the tutorial software almost made me cry it was so intense. That 2000's "we know youre in a dark room" vibe. God i miss it man, everything today is so bright and mood-less.

  • @mrpoepoe
    @mrpoepoe Před 3 dny +33

    Netscape dad hat goes hard

  • @Jezee213
    @Jezee213 Před 2 dny +86

    It's like they designed the product around the ball demo. It's such a specific use case.

    • @leftyfourguns
      @leftyfourguns Před 2 dny +29

      You can see in the beginning of the video what this tech is for. Medical and engineering industries. They just attempted to adapt it to the video game market

    • @internettoon
      @internettoon Před 2 dny +6

      its like the power glove all over again

    • @brulsmurf
      @brulsmurf Před 2 dny +10

      you can feel textures. i can only think of nsfw usecases

    • @Jezee213
      @Jezee213 Před 2 dny

      @@brulsmurf YUP!

    • @Jezee213
      @Jezee213 Před 2 dny

      @@leftyfourguns True, good point. it looks very enterprise!

  • @ParallelSyntax
    @ParallelSyntax Před 2 dny +3

    Damn rare to see Clint outright losing it . The last time I remember he was this much in hysterics was an ancient Train Simulator gameplay video.

  • @BloopsyBloop
    @BloopsyBloop Před dnem +4

    These kinds of Oddware videos are the best, someone really went to great lengths of effort to make this thing and maybe in some universe it took off. Here we are still stuck with our dinky mice, when we could have the FALCON

  • @TheLexikitty
    @TheLexikitty Před 2 dny +91

    I swear I saw Jamie from Mythbusters using something like this in his office for 3d modeling.

    • @DasGanon
      @DasGanon Před 2 dny +16

      I remember that! It wasn't Jamie but it was one of the M5 employees who was using it to model Kari's behind for the mold for the airplane toilet suction one. It was basically one of the pilots.

    • @vladyslavsmirnov1875
      @vladyslavsmirnov1875 Před 2 dny +4

      I recall a pen-like device they used to model a butt for the "sucked to an airplane toilet" myth, is that the one you were referring to?

    • @DustyGamma
      @DustyGamma Před 2 dny +5

      Oh hi Lexi! What're you doing here at this computer hardware related video? Sarcasm!

    • @chinsta00
      @chinsta00 Před 2 dny +8

      Good memory! It was being sucked into the airplane toilet seat myth. They took a 3D scan of Kari Byron's bum, then Kari used the 3D mouse to build up the size of her bum for making a rubber casting mold.
      Probably used by Jamie in another episode, but I remember Kari's bum well!

    • @jorgeroman2058
      @jorgeroman2058 Před 2 dny +5

      I think there's a lot of these kind of weird input devices in ealy CGI, like the dinosaur input device from Jurassik Park

  • @ashtonsretrocomputerroom
    @ashtonsretrocomputerroom Před 2 dny +94

    When those basketballs were flying everywhere all I could think of is “BOMBARDMENT!”

  • @KarlBaron
    @KarlBaron Před 2 dny +3

    At my university one of the labs had one of pen-style controllers you show in the beginning. That demo has always stuck around with me - squishing the rubber ball and writing on different kinds of paper/plastic felt so amazingly realistic.

  • @Hafk
    @Hafk Před 2 dny +5

    Instant classic lgr episode here.

  • @mopspear
    @mopspear Před 3 dny +67

    We had a haptics lab in my university in 2007. We were shown a similar device that allowed you to practice giving someone a needle in a 3D arm on the nearby monitor. As you pushed down, you felt the resistance of the imaginary arm. I tried quickly moving the needle in a stabbing motion and made a joke about it being an "OJ Simpson simulator" but no one laughed.

    • @paladinkhan
      @paladinkhan Před 2 dny +13

      Damn they all thought you were out of your mind bro, sometimes i say autistic shit and realize "maybe that wasnt the right way to put that, or maybe i shouldnt have expressed that thought at all"
      It is an oj sim though. Also am autistic so i can say that

    • @BigMcLargeChungus
      @BigMcLargeChungus Před 2 dny

      It is a good joke though.

    • @cal2127
      @cal2127 Před 2 dny

      bunch of tight asses

    • @GANONdork123
      @GANONdork123 Před 2 dny +12

      At the very least, Norm MacDonald probably would have gotten a laugh out of it.

    • @Broken_robot1986
      @Broken_robot1986 Před 2 dny +2

      ​@@GANONdork123Norm would have knocked it out of the park.

  • @Anamnesis
    @Anamnesis Před 2 dny +42

    Had one of these back in the day to experiment with on Source games. Interesting idea, but also a prime example of “be careful what you wish for” . Even though it added an interesting tactile experience for shooters, it made games like HL2 significantly more difficult even on easy mode, because the ability to have precise mouse-like accuracy was almost nonexistent.

    • @waverazor
      @waverazor Před 2 dny +9

      I played doom 3 on it, and it was extremely immersive.. I don't think I can even play doom 3 without my no vint.. Imagine no vint + vr headset

  • @Bwethhh
    @Bwethhh Před 2 dny +3

    This is why I love this channel. I have no idea what this is and when I saw the thumbnail my jaw actually dropped in shock, and in awe

  • @pip5528
    @pip5528 Před 2 dny +3

    Clint has such a contagious laugh. That bowling ball really did ascend to a higher plane of existence!

  • @aner_bda
    @aner_bda Před 2 dny +13

    Man, this thing SCREAMS 00s computer tech.

  • @TheDarkestPhoenix
    @TheDarkestPhoenix Před 2 dny +31

    This feels like it might have been a few years too early. VR would be pretty neat with this.

    • @Cooe.
      @Cooe. Před 2 dny +6

      Wrong. It would be TERRIBLE for VR as its action is confined to a TINY position of 3D space on a desk. 🤷 A 6DOF VR controller with high end LIM haptics like Meta's Touch Pro controllers is a better VR control solution than something like this in basically every way imaginable. What you lose in force feedback you gain in proper wide area 6DOF maneuverability (unlike the MINISCULE like 6" area of 6DOF control a Novint Falcon provides).

    • @childofcascadia
      @childofcascadia Před 2 dny +12

      @Cooe
      Calm down.

    • @GoldSrc_
      @GoldSrc_ Před 10 hodinami

      @@Cooe. You haven't seen those hentai VR games it seems lol.

    • @Cooe.
      @Cooe. Před 10 hodinami

      @@GoldSrc_ Those games would still be infinitely better with some kind of 6DOF haptic gloves than anything like this. This must be stationary on a desk w/ very limited range of motion technology simply doesn't make sense for VR. 🤷

  • @BullsEye3333
    @BullsEye3333 Před 2 dny +3

    23:39 Clint wins the world record for the best reaction to getting a strike.

  • @piltdownfilms
    @piltdownfilms Před 2 dny +5

    Totally had the "Weapon of Choice" thought at the same time you did.

  • @Thomas1984.
    @Thomas1984. Před 3 dny +220

    I bet my mother would love this device. She would use it in all sort of ways.
    No more dishwashing by hand!

    • @Nobody-Nowhere
      @Nobody-Nowhere Před 3 dny +1

      Freud would be interest hearing more about your fantasies concerning your mother.

    • @Keirnoth
      @Keirnoth Před 3 dny +51

      There's a "your mom" joke here somewhere...

    • @cannabiscomet4410
      @cannabiscomet4410 Před 3 dny +12

      ways.....:)

    • @DE-GEN-ART
      @DE-GEN-ART Před 3 dny +19

      no more wrist cramps while masterbaiting

    • @TheObsesedAnimeFreaks
      @TheObsesedAnimeFreaks Před 3 dny +8

      i mean... if you attached a T product to it.... you could use it too. lol.

  • @javascript546
    @javascript546 Před 2 dny +29

    OH MAN I REMEMBER THESE! I’m so glad you’re doing a review. Teenage me was furious he couldn’t afford one.

  • @jakematchey4376
    @jakematchey4376 Před 2 dny +7

    Never would have suspected a guy reviewing retro computer accessories might be mauled by a bear at some point.

    • @rommix0
      @rommix0 Před 2 dny +3

      It's better not to think about it. I would rather not mama bear maul our favorite reviewer.

  • @MuscarV2
    @MuscarV2 Před 2 dny +3

    I was so interested in this back then, it seemed incredible and I was so sure stuff like this would become the norm in a few years time. I did try one some time ago and I still think it's pretty cool, would be cool to see this brought back with all the new possibilities we have now.

  • @Conradlovesjoy
    @Conradlovesjoy Před 2 dny +35

    I like the transition from monitor view to capture view! Nice touch!

  • @nakit_muusilla
    @nakit_muusilla Před 3 dny +74

    That actually looks usable, unlike so many other oddware things

    • @mysticmarble94
      @mysticmarble94 Před 2 dny +4

      Seeing your comment during
      the mini-games section
      had me like 👁👄👁

    • @octane613
      @octane613 Před 2 dny +6

      It was a genuinely really good piece of hardware for the time. It came out during the 08 recession, and wasn't marketed well at all.

  • @DanTycoon
    @DanTycoon Před 2 dny +2

    I had one of these and played a bit of left 4 dead with it. I remember the cursor being forcibly shoved either up or down when you got pounced on by a hunter, and being thrown left and right with every slash. It was so strong you couldn’t move your game camera up to look at anything around you, just waiting to be saved by your teammates while you have this trashing machine sitting on your desk.
    Good memories, haha. I wasn’t fortunate enough to have the gun grip though. The default ball grip made playing shooters even more tiring because fire was not in a good spot.

  • @samuelmarak2327
    @samuelmarak2327 Před 8 hodinami +1

    it crazy to believe that i have watched you for 7 years now. i have my second job and remember your earlier videos like cozy childhood videos.

  • @MaxDunk
    @MaxDunk Před 2 dny +23

    This is one of those devices that lives or dies on it's implementation, and Valve did it masterfully with HL2.
    Knew these existed, but never knew how cool the HL2 implementation was.

    • @liquidchato
      @liquidchato Před 2 dny

      Man I replayed half life 2 so many times, but playing half life 2 with the novint falcoln was something else

    • @t9h3m
      @t9h3m Před 2 dny

      Feels really analogous to VR in general. Incredibly impressive demos, obvious wealth of potential, but very very few games/apps that properly utilize it.

  • @flexarnn
    @flexarnn Před 2 dny +9

    I was at a gameconvention in Sweden ages ago where there was a booth where they had VR podracing game using two of these for the controlls.

  • @Darxide23
    @Darxide23 Před 2 dny +5

    The plague of 90s and 00s Oddware is that some great ideas were come up with, but nobody knew how to use them. Just some of the spitball ideas at the end of this video were probably beyond what devs 15 and 20 years ago were thinking about. Those minigames are a prime example. They had no idea how to properly utilize this thing. Force feedback in a shooter is cool and all, but an exploration game where feeling an object in realtime could help you solve a puzzle is a prime use case for this thing. Imagine a VR game where you could feel the texture of an object you were holding. That's not something we're even close to emulating right now and if this thing could somehow, someway be incorporated into a VR setup, how great could things be? (I know, it's probably far too bulky to ever work, it's just a thought experiment.)

  • @remakeyourself
    @remakeyourself Před 2 dny +2

    You really had me in the first half, man. I followed this thing like CRAZY back in the day - There was a huge belief that the "Nintendo Revolution" would use some sort of input like this for a while. So glad someone made a great video about how this worked. Thanks and thanks to the person who let you make a video with theirs!

  • @brandonbarnes2580
    @brandonbarnes2580 Před 3 dny +18

    [chuckle of immaturity]

  • @darthsidren7794
    @darthsidren7794 Před 2 dny +12

    Billiards would of been a good mini game.

  • @MrYancakes
    @MrYancakes Před dnem +1

    Love hearing when you get legitimately excited about things, it's a delight to experience it vicariously.

  • @f.k.b.16
    @f.k.b.16 Před dnem +2

    This thing is miles ahead of what I was expecting. It would be awesome in an arcade.

  • @ed.puckett
    @ed.puckett Před 2 dny +5

    your delight is infectious!

  • @Danferplus
    @Danferplus Před 2 dny +20

    I hope that one day LGR will review the "UNION REALITY HEAD MASTER" one of the most obscure and strange PC gaming controllers ever, which used the same technology as the wiimote years before the wiimote

    • @tiagobelo4965
      @tiagobelo4965 Před 2 dny +2

      Seems like a plug-and-play version of stuff like trackIR, neat!

    • @Metal_Maxine
      @Metal_Maxine Před 2 dny +3

      That looks like a one-way ticket to neck injury.

    • @stevethepocket
      @stevethepocket Před 2 dny +4

      That's a heck of a combination of words to name it.

  • @TheTrueFool
    @TheTrueFool Před dnem +2

    I always really appreciate the historical aspects of these videos. LGR Tech Tales light.

  • @splatter_proto
    @splatter_proto Před 10 hodinami +2

    Wow this brought back some memories! I had the pleasure of playing the ball demo and HL2 at Gen Con in the late aughts, it really is a cool piece of tech. I distinctly remember the molasses/sandpaper part of the ball demo. It's a real shame the tech never took off, it'd pair so well with VR today.

  • @Volothos
    @Volothos Před 2 dny +6

    I remember this! Arma, Crysis, and so many other games went so far as to explicitly add support for this neat little tool.
    I remember really wanting one, but could never find one in my area :C

  • @Logovanni
    @Logovanni Před 3 dny +39

    Hell yeah. I have one of these. Bought it in 2013. I have the ball and the pistol grip. The haptic feedback really blew me away with Half-Life 2. I was in college at the time and I brought it to my microcomputer maintenance class and showed it off. The recoil impulse would change with different weapons, picking up different objects felt like you were holding something with relatively similar substance. The grip is modeled after a Walther P99. That is why it is so comfortable.
    One thing that was really interesting was doing 3D modeling. I think 3DS max supported it and it was really intuitive to use.

  • @SaltyFrenchFries
    @SaltyFrenchFries Před 2 dny +3

    I was reminded of a bit in Freeman's Mind where Gordon first uses the gravity gun launch and it was such an amusing reaction as he felt like he got punched in the gut. I was sad not to see the gravity gun tested in the video but it was funny how the portal gun had such strong recoil.

  • @somefreshbread
    @somefreshbread Před 2 dny +3

    My guy: that transition at 11:53 ruled.

  • @seamussmurf3866
    @seamussmurf3866 Před 2 dny +14

    I had one of these! This was the next best thing to VR back in the day. Great for 3D modeling and sculpting too!

  • @valliantsteed
    @valliantsteed Před 2 dny +12

    Hey Clint, play Infra with this, it's based on portal 2's version of the source engine. It is a first person adeventure game from 2015/16 made by finnish developers. It's theme is urbax, abandones places, tech-y puzzles and cold war cloak and dagger stuff.

  • @gkf411
    @gkf411 Před 2 dny +2

    24:04 "I mean that in the most disrespectful way possible." LOL

  • @mylifematter
    @mylifematter Před 14 hodinami +1

    I still got 2 of these sitting at home, collecting dust. Hope this video brings a revival to the device.

  • @penaeskoesiin
    @penaeskoesiin Před 2 dny +5

    Amnesia with this and vr would have been *chef's kiss*

  • @mingzhezhang2992
    @mingzhezhang2992 Před 2 dny +8

    "If you wanna touch some other balls, you can do that. There are a lot of balls!" lol. No comment.

  • @Shadow50001
    @Shadow50001 Před 2 dny +6

    Glad this finally got its moment to shine. I'm surprised the mouse pad didn't work better for you but I suppose I always had it on a grippier desk. Never thought to tape it down lol.

    • @LGR
      @LGR  Před 2 dny +4

      Yeah I was surprised how much it moved around honestly, ideally I'd have just had it bumped right up against the monitor or something. Thanks again for sending this over for me to check out, it's a shockingly fun device!

  • @ImeanFFS
    @ImeanFFS Před 2 dny +1

    40+ minute video on this? I love you man!

  • @anumeon
    @anumeon Před 3 dny +22

    Sometimes, the first few seconds of a video are enough to grab your full attention. This is certainly one of those tímes.. :D

    • @anumeon
      @anumeon Před 3 dny

      I remember when LTT did a video with this thing. It was hilarious

    • @Evilbunk15
      @Evilbunk15 Před 2 dny +4

      I sat my coffee down and opened youtube and immediately said What the hell is that.

    • @TomJacobW
      @TomJacobW Před 2 dny +1

      Sucked me right -off- in!

    • @childofcascadia
      @childofcascadia Před 2 dny +1

      @TomJacobW
      Oh god i died thanks.
      🤣🤣

  • @KS-xo3oh
    @KS-xo3oh Před 2 dny +8

    4:19 Tell us what you’d use it for.
    NO. 😂😂😂😂

  • @benraymond4435
    @benraymond4435 Před 2 dny +1

    21:03 They most def did, I had the exact thought in my head right as you were saying it. I even paused here to process for a moment haha!

  • @ihatemax206
    @ihatemax206 Před 3 dny +35

    I respect the amount of research you do for these videos, you uncover so much depth for such odd items.

    • @shocktnc
      @shocktnc Před 2 dny +1

      Totally agree, I love how much depth he gets into.

  • @Joker22593
    @Joker22593 Před 2 dny +38

    This seems like something the Counterstrike players would want, since all the guns have specific recoil patterns that you have to stabilize against.

    • @dan_loeb
      @dan_loeb Před 2 dny +17

      generally esports players are very against force feedback in any shape or form. even something as small as having controller vibration is enough to potentially alter your muscle memory.

    • @tiagobelo4965
      @tiagobelo4965 Před 2 dny +10

      ​@@dan_loebonly exception being racing (and probably flight) sim folks, FFB really helps when your control isn't absolute

    • @Zarnubius
      @Zarnubius Před 2 dny +3

      @@dan_loeb >completely ignores simracing.

    • @dan_loeb
      @dan_loeb Před 2 dny +5

      ​@@Zarnubius apologies, I'm not into simracing so I didn't realize it was an esport.

    • @Zarnubius
      @Zarnubius Před 2 dny +5

      @@dan_loeb I dont blame you, it gets overlooked a lot and most people dont even know its a thing, but one of the best esports in existence! max verstappen (literally one of the most prolific f1 drivers and current champion) is huge into simracing. one of the few "esports" with genuine crossover into a "real sport".

  • @RetroPC
    @RetroPC Před 20 hodinami

    This is easily one of the coolest pieces of oddware I've ever seen on this channel. So glad you got to review one of these! I didn't even know they existed until right now. 🤯

  • @smugshrug
    @smugshrug Před 2 dny +15

    seeing the controller bounce when you dropped the companion cube was pretty cool.

  • @justxkyle
    @justxkyle Před 2 dny +5

    the laugh-to-cough combo will never not make me laugh-to-cough.

  • @mariofuentes3429
    @mariofuentes3429 Před dnem +1

    I hope you never stop making content ❤

  • @gowerski
    @gowerski Před dnem

    video was slick as butter Clint

  • @tbdaemon
    @tbdaemon Před 2 dny +6

    I think this is the first time I've seen Cliff let slip his firearms interest in an LGR video.

    • @cal2127
      @cal2127 Před 2 dny +1

      hes from the south. its burned into us here

    • @tbdaemon
      @tbdaemon Před 2 dny +1

      @@cal2127 I thought he was from NC. Wait, is NC part of "the South"? I dunno, I'm not an American.

    • @jr2904
      @jr2904 Před 2 dny +1

      ​@@tbdaemon yes, it is part of the south east

    • @vasheal
      @vasheal Před dnem

      ​@@cal2127not everyone.

  • @MusicFromAnotherTime
    @MusicFromAnotherTime Před 2 dny +5

    Holy crap I remember seeing this thing demoed at Micro Center back in the day and couldn't believe what I was seeing.

  • @ShinoSarna
    @ShinoSarna Před dnem +1

    It was ahead of its time. This would be killer for sitting in VR

  • @RaVirrTheTrader
    @RaVirrTheTrader Před 2 dny +2

    This is the most 2007-looking thing I've ever seen

  • @clamsauce6239
    @clamsauce6239 Před 2 dny +18

    I have one of these! I won it in a trivia contest run by the company - the one time retaining a bunch of otherwise-useless video game knowledge has done me any good. Sorry to say that I played with it for about a week before putting it away and it's just been collecting dust on a shelf since. As cool as it is, it's just not practical and I found using it for extended periods really strained my hand and arm.

  • @joesatchton212
    @joesatchton212 Před 3 dny +4

    That's got to be one of the greatest Oddware video intros ever. Hell, maybe even greatest video intro ever overall. ROFLMAO. Bravo Clint!

  • @Graylord88
    @Graylord88 Před 2 dny

    I was a 3d modeling student back when 3d sculpting started becoming a ting, and I distinctly remember drooling over similar devices, not for gaming, but for sculpting.

  • @liquidchato
    @liquidchato Před 2 dny +1

    I had this thing, it was absolutely awesome

  • @almightyk11
    @almightyk11 Před 2 dny +15

    As someone with aspergers, the idea of a mouse feedback that moves where I move rather than just a registered pointer really intrigues me.
    Something I really enjoyed using was the LEAP Motion device, a hand motion trackers with very accurate detection

  • @Decenium
    @Decenium Před 2 dny +4

    I remember this thing, I also remember seeing it used as a prop in atleast 1 movie