falcon
Games
Novint CEO Demands Falcon Haptics Controller Be On Consoles By Year-End
7:00AM Jack Loftus | We LOVED the Novint Falcon and pistol grip attachment in September, but non-PC, console-owning chaps were left out in the cold. If Novint is successful, that could all change by the end of the year. More »
Computers
Falcon Northwest Mach V: Fastest PC Yet Runs Crysis at 60FPS
3:45AM Jesus Diaz | 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. More »
Science
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 Will Hold NASA Cargo, Humans
4:30PM Gizmodo US Edition | 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. More »
Science
SpaceX Falcon Video Shows How Simple a 10-Minute Ride to Orbit Is
12:00AM Kit Eaton | 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] More »
Vehicles
SpaceX Falcon 1 Finally Gets Into Orbit, Makes History
10:25AM Jack Loftus | 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. More »
Games
Novint Falcon Controller with Gun Attachment Reviewed (Verdict: Awesome)
9:00AM Sean Fallon | 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. More »
Vehicles
SpaceX Moves Launches to Cape Canaveral, Closer to Rockets That Don’t Always Explode
6:00AM John Mahoney | 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. More »
Games
Novint Falcon Force Feedback Controller Gets Valve Support
5:40AM Jason Chen | 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] More »
Games
Crazy Novint Falcon Touch Controller Gets Official EA Support, Maybe Worth Buying
2:45AM Matt Buchanan | 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] More »
Peripherals
