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According to Cnet test labs, the Falcon Northwest Mach V is the fastest PC on the planet, beating the Alienware Area-51 ALX. How fast you ask? How about being the first PC ever to hit 60 frames per second running Crysis on the highest graphics preset? Yes. That fast.
Now that SpaceX has finally sent a rocket into orbit successfully, the Elon Musk-headed company is now focusing on its next goal--hauling cargo for NASA on the Falcon 9, sending people to the International Space Station with its Dragon capsule, and possibly a moon landing as well! Quite a list for a company that only recently scattered Scotty from Star Trek's ashes all over the ocean by accident.
This is the on-rocket video of SpaceX's successful Falcon 1 launch. The Earth gets smaller, the sky gets darker, the engines burn cleanly, all systems remain nominal, and 10 minutes later the little rocket that finally could is in orbit...as simply as that. Check out the jubilant cheers from the SpaceX team at about 2:40 onwards when the main engine cut-off is reached, and the first stage is jettisoned. The only moment of drama is just before secondary engine cut-off, when the rocket's video feed glitches—and then comes back. Historic stuff, and hopefully all the future Falcon launches will be this smooth. [Pointniner]
After three failed attempts, one scattering of Scotty's ashes over the Pacific Ocean, and a few mid-air explosions, the SpaceX Falcon 1 rocket has finally reached orbit. The achievement marks a major milestone for Elon Musk, whose visions of a privately-funded rocket program appeared just out of reach until today's success.
It has been almost a year since we first heard that Novint would add a pistol grip accessory to their 3D Haptic Joystick—but the update has yet to hit the market. Nonetheless, Wired got a chance to play a few FPS games with the add-on and were blown away by the level of feedback and control, saying that it completely changes the experience. Targeting was precise, and each gun used in the game takes on a different recoil intensity—which can sometimes be violent when dealing with high calibre weapons. There is also a steep learning curve with the haptic controls.
After three fiery failed test launches of its Falcon 1 rocket (the last one carrying NASA's first solar sail craft and Scotty from Star Trek's ashes), Elon Musk's SpaceX is setting up shop at a new launch site--Cape Canaveral's Space Launch Complex 40, which is just south of SLC-39A/B, from which the Space Shuttle and Apollo moon missions have headed skyward for decades. There they hope to prepare the first test of their Falcon 9 vehicle, the bigger and badder version of the Falcon 1 rocket that just can't stop going BOOM.
The long-in-development force-feedback PC game device Novint Falcon is a good idea in theory, but without actual support from games there's not a whole lot you can do with it. Good news though, since Valve just announced support with the controller for PC versions of The Orange Box, Counter-Strike: Source, the Half-Life 2 series, Team Fortress 2, Portal and Left 4 Dead. With the pistol grip accessory it'll be fine for every game, but what we really have hopes for is fiddling around with that gravity gun and feeling the force feedback with it. [Novint via Crunchgear]
I messed around with Novint's Falcon haptically endowed globe/joystick at Tokyo Game Show last year. It was neat, but not going to replace my mouse—in part because game support was lacking. Now it'll be supported in real, live games from EA: Madden NFL 08, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08, Need For Speed ProStreet, Battlefield 2 and Battlefield 2142. But! Even if you're already one of the suckers lucky souls who already owns a Falcon, it'll cost you another US$10 to patch a game to get all touchy-feely with it. FWIW, there are definitely better tactile experiences out there for 10 bucks. [Level Up]
Novint's Falcon 3D Haptic Joystick has been around for awhile now, but it has just received an upgrade in the form of a black version and an optional pistol grip accessory for FPS gaming. At US$19.99, the grip is a little more expensive than the US$4 price tag they hinted at last May, but if you are already paying US$199 for the black Falcon, what is another US$15? [Novint via i4u]
