Check Out the Falcon on ExpoTV's Buzz Cast

Not too long ago, the Novint Team took over New York City for DigitalLife. The team from Expo TV stopped by Novint's booth to try out the Falcon. Check out our feature on ExpoTV.

Game Preview: Impulse Thruster!

We mentioned earlier this week that we’re going to let you all know about some of the exciting games that we have coming up. The first game we’re excited to tell you about is Impulse Thruster. This game is an expanded full version of the Newton’s Monkey Business minigame.

In this full version first-person arcade-style shooter, you will use your sense of touch to pilot your speeder across 50 complete stages of multi-level madness filled with rewards and hazards. To win each challenge, you will need to grab power-ups and gems, use your rocket boost to blast from one platform to another, avoid pitfalls, and destroy the swarms of enemies in your path. With the Novint Falcon at your command, you’ll feel every impact, boost, jolt, and blast. And the Falcon’s 3D movement makes precise aiming and split-second steering a breeze.

You can download this exciting game for a cool $24.95 from N VeNT. Let us know which games you’d like to see in our lineup below!

Falcon Games

One of the most common questions that we get from our Falcon Friends is, what’s the status with games? We have an entire team of Novint employees that are working on our game lineup, so that you, our friends, can play as many games with the Falcon as possible. We’ve already got an extensive game line-up with over 30 titles that we expect to release by the end of 2007.

On average, we’ve been adding about one game a week to our line-up. We’re working with some really exciting companies (some that we’ve announced and some that are still top secret) and we’re working on some great titles. So keep checking back over the next couple of weeks, we’ll be giving some previews of our upcoming games .

Let's Be Friends

Just a reminder to everyone that the Falcon is online! Don't forget to stop by and check out our MySpace page



and Facebook page.




We appreciate our Falcon Friends! Do you want to be one of our Top Friends? Leave a comment below or on our page and we just might add you to our Top 8!

Falcons in the Wild!

Thanksgiving is almost here and many of you probably have a very important bird on your mind… the turkey. But we don’t want you to forget about another important bird… THE FALCON! The Falcon is out in the wild now, and you can see them at a number of retail stores nationwide.

Check out this picture of the Falcon at J&R Music World / Computer World.

And here’s a picture of the Falcon at a CompUSA.

You can stop by any of the following retailers to check out the Falcon: CompUSA, J&R Music World/Computer World, Fry’s Electronics. Or, if you’re flying for the holiday, be sure to check out the Falcon in the current issue of Sky Mall. And don't forget to check us out online at www.tigerdirect.com, www.gogamer.com, and of course, www.novintfalcon.com.

Have you seen the Falcon in the wild? Let us know! Even better, email us a picture of you trying out the Falcon in the wild (pr@novint.com) and we just may post it on our Blog or MySpace page! Have a great Thanksgiving!

more swoop pics

Some pictures of our great Swoop Tour staff and previews of the Scions and tents.

swoop tour gets ready to fly

A preview of our Swoop Tour Scions and our giant truck that will be traveling the country bringing Falcons to the masses. The team is ready and setting out for Kent State University for the opening event on 8/27/07. Other upcoming dates include:
8/29 - Bowling Green State University, Ohio
8/31 - Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix, Belle Isle, MI
8/31 - Chrysler Arts, Beats & Eats, Pontiac, MI
9/01 - University of Michigan opening football game, Ann Arbor, MI
9/02 - Michigan State Fair, Detroit, MI

Our Swoop microsite (www.falconswooptour.com) launches on Aug. 27th with lots of tour info. If we're Swooping in to your town, come check us out.

here comes SWOOP

You read it here first. Tomorrow we're announcing a major 12-week, 30+ city tour that will launch on August 27th at Kent State University in Ohio. Travelling with two large demo tents, and two custom lime green Scions, the Falcon Swoop Tour will introduce 3D touch gaming to the masses at events in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, New York, Washington, California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. Stopping at college campuses, retailers, gaming, sports and music events, Swoop will give people a first hand experience with the Falcon and feature game contests and great giveaways, including cool stuff from our partners 180 Energy Drink (www.180.com) and Skinit (www.skinit.com/falcon).

On August 27th we'll also be launching a special Falcon Swoop Tour microsite (www.falconswooptour.com) with tour information, media, and news from the road. If we're not stopping in your city, you can still join the fun virtually and even enter to win one of all the prizes we'll be distributing on the tour.

If we're going to be in your town, tell us where to stop along the way! Our Scions can zip to almost any location, bringing six Falcon demo stations and lots of fun. So, stay tuned...lots of exciting news to come.

a view of the nest

We took a couple of quick pictures of the "flock" before it left the nest. We're sad to see them go, but we know they'll be in good hands - enjoy!

first falcons take flight

Today represents a momentous occasion for Novint. The very first Falcons begin shipping in our Limited Edition Bundle. It is gratifying bringing a first-of-a-kind product like this to market.

Since its inception, Novint’s objective has been to bring affordable high-fidelity 3D touch to consumer computing. The successful launch of the Falcon achieves this goal thanks to the incredible efforts of our internal team, great partners, investors, and countless other supporters who have assisted us along the way.

The Falcon controller and our touch-enabled games are, we believe, truly unlike anything available in gaming. This August, we plan to launch a major national tour to let people experience the difference first hand. We’re also updating our website to include more product information, video and community, so that you can keep up to date on Falcon news, events and announcements.

Thank you for your continued interest in Novint. If you’re one of the lucky people who preordered the Limited Edition Bundle for shipment beginning June 18th, congratulations, your product is on its way. If you haven’t ordered yours yet, we’re extending our special $189 pricing and free standard shipping for a limited time. As always, we welcome your comments.

novint falcon local launch party on june 18th in albuquerque, nm

Novint is having a local get-together at the Ninja Monkey Gaming Center in Albuquerque on June 18th, from 7pm to midnight.

Be the first to experience the award-winning Novint Falcon and our launch titles, Newton’s Monkey Business and the Feelin' It Sports Pack. And if you’re in the competitive mood, you can also check out the Falcon's Half-Life 2 mod and play in mini-tournaments on the new system for prizes. We'll be giving away t-shirts, Novint 1GB memory sticks and other swag throughout the night, so come by and see what all the media buzz has been about.

Novint would like to thank Sue Vorenberg and her Q-T3CH blog, and of course the folks at Ninja Monkey for helping us out with this event.

WHAT: Novint Falcon Local Launch Party

WHEN: Monday, June 18, 7pm – midnight

WHERE: the Ninja Monkey Gaming Center at the Northeast Corner of Paseo Del Norte and Wyoming behind the Whattaburger -- 505-217-2160

initial preorder shipment sold out! (and other stuff)

Our initial shipment of Limited Edition Novint Falcons has sold out. Our next shipment will arrive July 23rd so, if you missed the first round, reserve your bundle today to get the special preorder pricing before they're gone.

All of the Novint elves (not to be confused with those cookie guys) are working around the clock getting ready for launch. We just returned from New York where we demoed the Falcon to members of the press, who continue to be wowed by the technology. Popular Mechanics is featuring a great video of the Falcon on their homepage (www.popularmechanics.com) and have named it their Gadget of the Week, suggesting that it "...could be Wii 2.0". We expect more press in the coming weeks and months, so keep your search engines honed in, or check the News section of our website.

Speaking of the website, we'll be launching a redesigned site soon, which will include a lot of great new features. We're also participating in a variety of events that will let (you) people experience the Falcon firsthand. September 27-30 we will be exhibiting at DigitalLife (www.digitallife.com) at Javits Center in New York (booth 1515). October 18-21 we'll be at the Los Angeles Convention Center at E for All (www.eforallexpo) in booth 502. We're planning a lot more events, and will keep you up to date on when and where we'll be. If there are events in your city that you think we should try and attend, please let us know. Stay tuned and keep posting.

the new novint falcon box

Greetings Falcon Fans! We wanted to share images of our great new Falcon packaging with you. We're busy preparing for launch, but plan to post here much more regularly, so please keep checking back. We'd also like to hear what you'd like to talk about.

game developers conference 07

the Falcon was a hit at this year's GDC

If you're a game developer interested in developing games for the Novint Falcon and you want to learn more about how simple it can be, check out the slides from Tom and Bill Anderson's presentation at GDC here. If you have questions, please feel free to contact us here.

the falcon flock grows

fresh off the line

Walt with the latest hatchlings

introducing the very first novint falcon

Born: February 6th, 2007
Dongguan, China
5 lbs. 8 oz.

We are incredibly proud to announce the 'birth' of the first Novint Falcon from the VTech factory in Dongguan, China. Novint's CTO, Walt Aviles, was present for the hatching and reports that the baby is beautiful and already kicking.

countdown to launch

It seems like we’re flying at light speed these days. We had a very successful CES. The booth was packed and the Novint Falcon dropped lots of jaws (as always), despite our location in a back corner of the Sands. The press continues to give us high marks. CNET put Veronica Belmont’s video demo of the Falcon on their front page, listing us a one of the best things at CES (please check it out on our home page if you haven’t seen it). Many people told us we were the most exciting thing they saw at the show. We were even named to the list of Top 5 Coolest Gadgets at CES by TechEBlog.

Our preorder website has launched and demand for the Limited Edition Falcon is also keeping us busy. After working out a few kinks in the system, it is now operating at full capacity. We’re incredibly proud and excited about achieving this milestone and appreciate all the interest and support we’ve received from you.

Novint is exhibiting at the Game Developer’s Conference in San Francisco in March, and will also be holding a special session for developers Thursday, March 8th which will provide an overview on how to develop games and mods for the Falcon. We’ll also be releasing details on our Developer Program and SDK in the next few weeks, which is something many of you have been waiting for. While we can’t let the cat out of the bag just yet, we think everyone will be happy with the news.

We’re adding new games to our roster and expect to have a bunch of great content at launch, with even more to come out after launch. It is difficult to describe the concept of touch in computing without trying it directly. Words really never quite convey how powerful it is. Our new videos help, we think, but at the end of the day: touching is believing. To that end, we’re planning lots of hands-on events for our launch, so people can experience the WOW we know the technology delivers. We’ll be announcing more details on this soon, but in the meantime, if you want to lobby for an event in your town, let us know.

With only five months to launch, we’ve got a lot of stuff going on, so check this site for lots of new announcements in the coming months. The big push through GDC will be on software and games, and we have quite a few announcements and press releases to make between now and March 5th, so check the site and blog often through that time.

starting the new year with a bang

Novint is planning some big announcements next week at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), and our blog readers are getting an exclusive sneak peak of what’s to come. While at the show, we plan to announce the Falcon’s final pricing and launch date, details on some of our launch titles, as well as some other surprises. Keep an eye out for these announcements in a press release going out on January 6th.

As we look forward to an exciting 2007, we can also look back at an extremely eventful and successful 2006. Our company went public (trading on the OTC:BB under NVNT) and continued to assemble a great team and build a fun work environment. On the technology side of things, the Falcon got a slick new look, we added a quick-disconnect feature to the Falcon’s handle for easy swapping between different grips, we incorporated many new games to the list of titles set to be available at launch, and we announced that VTech will manufacture the Novint Falcon.

We also won awards from several prestigious sources in the gaming and consumer electronics world in anticipation of our launch. The Falcon won the “IGN Best of E3: Gear” award in a category that included the Wii remote. The Falcon was one of three finalists in the “IGN Best of E3: Hardware/Peripheral” award, alongside the PS3 console and the Wii controller. The Falcon was a Gamespot Finalist for “E306 Editor’s Choice Award: Best Hardware,” again as one of three finalists alongside the PS3 and the Wii. Recently, Novint was also named “Innovations 2007 Design and Engineering Awards Honoree” by the Consumer Electronics Association.

As part of the Innovations Award honor, the Novint Falcon will be highlighted at the 2007 International CES, which runs January 8-11, 2007 in Las Vegas, Nevada, at Innovations Plus at the Sands, which showcases the hottest technologies in the consumer electronics industry. It will also be featured at Novint’s booth 72924 in the new CES Gaming TechZone in the Sands Expo. We’re honored to be invited to show off the Falcon in such a prominent venue—it’s a great way to start off the new year.

As we move forward, much of our focus will be on preparing for launch, and we want your help in getting ready. Tell your family about the Falcon. Tell your friends about the Falcon. Tell strangers about the Falcon. The more Falcons we sell, the more we can expand with many more great games and software.

We also want your help in setting some of our direction. We want to hear what Novint Falcon games folks are anticipating most, what software and genres they most want to see that we are missing, and what games you would most like to see expanded with additional levels and gameplay. We still have some flexibility before launch, and a lot of flexibility for titles to come out soon after launch – we want to give you what you want. Let us know what you want to see available for launch, and of course feel free to write about anything else you want to discuss on our blog. 2007 should be an exciting year for Novint!

the games we play

There has been a lot of discussion lately about whether games are becoming too complex and inaccessible, especially for people outside the core gamer demographic. Some people feel that games shouldn’t require hours of commitment and high-levels of skill to play. Nintendo has opted to develop content to appeal to people outside what is typically considered the average gamer demo, and has been successful with titles like Brain Age, which has sold over 4 million units to date worldwide. With the growing success of casual games, and products like Guitar Hero and EyeToy, even Microsoft seems to be rethinking their strategy, offering up broader content, like Viva Pinata, and “smaller games” through Xbox Live Arcade. Of course, with only 20% of all game releases accounting for 80% of revenues, and development budgets rising to new heights every year, who wouldn’t want to court the audience of gamers and potential gamers who want to play, but may be intimidated by the investment of time and money many AAA titles require?

What do you think? Do you think games have gotten too complex? What game(s) are you currently playing? What platform(s) are you playing on? How many hours, on average, do you play each week? What kind of player do you consider yourself: hardcore, core, casual, or something else? Is there something, in particular, that makes you want to purchase a new game or game product?

There also seems to be a sea change occurring with regard to how games are distributed. An increasing number of products are being offered for sale as digital downloads. Do you downloaded games? How do you feel about downloading versus purchasing from either a traditional brick and mortar store, or an online store? So many questions… Tell us what you think.

changing the game

Greetings Falcon fans! It has been a busy month and you can expect lots of exciting news in the weeks to come. If you haven't checked out our recent press, visit the News section of our website to view recent articles from BusinessWeek, and additional post-E3 press raves.

For those of you who follow the game industry news, there has been a lot of discussion lately on the state of the business. Analysts and pundits alike are debating the merits of Sony's PS3 strategy, and many are questioning where the next real innovation in gaming is going to come from. What do you think? Bored with the current offerings? Can't wait to break-open the piggy bank for a PS3?

Of course, our response is to introduce people to the Falcon and the concept of touch in games. Whether you're a hardcore FPS player, or like more casual games, 3D touch adds a whole new dimension to your experience, and presents tremendous new creative and business opportunities. Everyone who got the chance to try the Falcon at E3, or at another event, may already see the potential, but we still have lots of work to do to get more developers to integrate our technology into their games. Novint will be at CES in January and at GDC (Game Developer Conference) in March, to continue evangelizing 3D touch. In the meantime, we'd love to hear what games you think would make cool haptic titles. We’d also like to enlist those of you who’ve tried the Falcon to tell people about it. I know some of you have already posted your thoughts on blogs or in response to reviews. Thanks. We really want to bring something new to gaming, and we can’t do it without your support. We've been truly amazed and gratified by the incredible enthusiasm and support we've received so far and want to keep hearing what you think. If you're a developer, or know one, or if your name is Gabe Newell or John Carmack :-), talk to us about titles you have or are working on (games@novint.com). Keep posting!