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!

welcome to the novint blog

Greetings to all and welcome to our new blog. There has been an incredible amount of interest in the Novint Falcon, so we've decided to create this forum to let you know about what we're up to, and as a place to discuss 3D touch, gaming, and, of course, the Falcon. If you haven't visited our web site lately (www.novint.com), take a peek at the great press we've been getting, or pick-up copies of the July issues of PC Magazine and Computer Gaming World, which both have nice articles on the Falcon. We're still basking in the success we had at E3. For a small company, hidden away in Kentia Hall, I think we had more traffic, per square feet of booth space, than some of the mega-companies in the humoungous South and West Halls. Our Half-Life2 (Haptics-Life2) mod was a big hit, converting traditional FPS players and non-players alike. We can't wait to get an audience with Valve, to show them how much 3D touch adds to the game. If there are any Valve folks out there reading this, lets talk. Winning IGN's Best of E3: Gear Award was the icing on the cake. Being recognized in a category that included the Nintendo Wii-mote, a Sony PS2, and PS3 controller, validates what we've been working towards since the start of the company. Seeing the anticipation and support of the media and game community is truly rewarding. It is amazing how excited everyone is about the Falcon, and nice to know that innovation is still recognized and appreciated. Thanks for your interest in Novint. We look forward to an ongoing dialog.