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Written by [t0rc]
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Ever wanted Force Feedback with your favorite games, but it's not
supported? Fret no more, TouchWare Gaming solves that problem by using
your sound card to generate the correct vibrations for any game.
Ever wanted Force Feedback with your favorite games, but it's not
supported? Fret no more, TouchWare Gaming solves that problem by using
your sound card to generate the correct vibrations for any game.
| *Editors Note* |
FF = Force Feedback
TWG = TouchWare Gaming (the software being reviewed) |
Immersion Corporation specializes in giving virtual things a new element to interact with, touch, as stated on their site:
"Adding the sense of touch to a digital world
Immersion is revolutionizing the way you interact with digital devices.
Typically, you use two senses when interacting with technology –
sight and hearing. Immersion's TouchSense® technology engages a third
sense – touch – to give you a more complete, intuitive experience.
Instantly, cell phones become more useful, games become more
electrifying, automobile dashboards become more intuitive, and medical
simulators become more valuable training tools. These are just a few of
the possibilities using Immersion TouchSense technology."
There aren't that many games out there that natively support Force
Feedback and even fewer devices/peripherals that do. You can go to your
local computer store and usually you have to search to find some, if
any, Force Feedback supportive hardware. So when you do, you buy the
device, go home, plug it in, and then fire up your favorite game.
Chances are, nothing will happen. No vibration. No violent quakes from
the nuke that landed next to you. Immersion Corporation addresses this
issue with their new product: TouchWare Gaming.
This software uses your sound card to enable accurate vibrations for
non-FF-native games. Play some .MP3's and if you have TWG running,
you'll feel response. By adding FF to games that don't normally support
it, you get into a increasingly realistic environment and insticts
become more valuable. Your mouse shakes like someone is coming up
behind you in a tank, you'll turn around a lot quicker if you can feel
it than if you're just hearing it.
I fired up TWG and started to test it with the old games I've collected
over the years. Of course, I had to test Quake(I,II,III) and Half-Life
(CS too). It was great, finally getting to feel whats happening in some
of the great epics. I can't wait to try this with HL² and DOOM3. You
could change the levels as you wished, to feel certain sounds more. You
want to feel the shotgun more? Turn up the low to mid levels and you
will. I've always thought sport games need vibration, especially
football and hockey. It's nice in NHL2K to be able to feel when you
make hits like these:
When you install a new device's drivers, most of the time they
automatically configure the levels of sound sensitivity and strength of
vibration that will best suit that device for most games. In the event
that it doesn't, it's not very hard to set up. I found the interface
clean and upfront. Everything is in a nice little panel and easy to
use.
As you can see, the program is pretty simple. The strength meter on the
left determines the overall intensity of the vibrations. The bars under
the Frequency Effects tab represent the sensitivity of sound levels.
Kind of like an equalizer but for vibrations. The dark gray bars above
the hollowed out blue boxes shows how much the sound is exceeding the
level of sensing you have it set to, which also controls the amount of
vibration.
If you want to have individual settings for each game or even just
high/med/low ones, you can create profiles and save them. Get the
settings just the way you like it for your favorite games, save them,
and then when you go to start them up, just pick the profile and play.
It's that simple.
Of course there are times, when you have the settings on the upper
echelon's that the FF will just feel like one giant vibration and when
that happens it's usually just a matter of lowering them. TWG supports
most devices, and here's a list from the Immersion Corporation - Gaming
website:
List Of Known Compatible TouchWare Gaming Devices*
ACT LABS Force RS Steering Wheel
Belkin N30 Nostromo Gaming Mouse
Gravis Xterminator Force Gamepad
HP/RCA Force Feedback Mouse
Kensington Orbit 3D Trackball
Logitech iFeel Mouse or iFeel MouseMan
Logitech WingMan Rumblepad
Logitech WingMan Wireless Rumblepad
Logitech WingMan Force Joystick
Logitech WingMan Strike Force 3D Joystick
Logitech WingMan Formula Force Wheel
Logitech WingMan Formula Force GP Wheel
Logitech MOMO Force Wheel
Logitech MOMO Racing Wheel
Microsoft Sidewinder Force Feedback Joystick
Microsoft Sidewinder 2 Force Feedback Joystick
Microsoft Sidewinder Force Feedback Wheel
Saitek Touch Force Optical Mouse
Saitek ST330 Rumble Joystick
Saitek Cyborg 3D Force Joystick
Saitek Cyborg 3D Rumble Joystick
Saitek P2500 Rumblepad
Saitek R440 Force Feedback Wheel
ThrustMaster/Guillemot TopShot Afterburner 2 Joystick
ThrustMaster/Guillemot Ferrari Force Feedback Wheel
ThrustMaster/Guillemot NASCAR Force GT Force Feedback Wheel
ThrustMaster/Guillemot Firestorm Dual Power Rumblepad
XFX Executioner Dual Impact Gamepad
List Of TouchWare Gaming Devices That Probably Work, But Are Still Undergoing Testing*
ThrustMaster/Guillemot F1 Force Feedback Racing Wheel
ThrustMaster/Guillemot Ferrari Force Feedback GT Wheel
ThrustMaster/Guillemot NASCAR Pro Force Feedback Wheel
List Of Gaming Devices That DO NOT Work At This Time*
Gravis Eliminator AfterShock Rumblepad
Gravis Destroyer AfterShock Rumble Joystick
Browse the TouchWare Gaming FAQ for additional information.
*This list was last updated: June 16, 2004
Below I have provided a list of the devices used to test this software.
I also included some information about the way they reacted during
testing. I have also given them a "FF Rating" which reflects the rating
of quality, strength, range, and tone of the Force Feedback that the
device emitted. If you click on a products picture, a new window will
open and you will be redirected to the manufacturers site.
Saitek Touch Force Optical Mouse
This is a good optical mouse, having very smooth movements and accurate
response. Visually the mouse looks nice, a little elongated, but nice.
It also accomodates both left and right handed individuals. As for FF,
the mouse has slightly below average ability. When compared in the same
game to the n30 from Belkin, it only picked up the real strong effects,
like a rocket exploding. And when it vibrates, even at full strength,
it doesn't feel that strong. Perhaps they made it this way to avoid
having a jumping around mouse, but isn't that what the strength slider
bar is for? FF Rating: 70% |
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Saitek P2500 Rumblepad
One of the newer gamepads supporting FF, the P2500 is well designed.
Comfortable grips, a little blue LED Saitek logo, precision analog
sticks (also pushing in for another button each), a 'shift' key to
allow more programmable functions, and changing button size to avoid
having to look at the controller make it easy to play for hours and
pick up some bragging rights. The FF response on the P2500 is crisp and
very strong, but has a little trouble sometimes defining the feel of
what should be strong/soft. This one really reminds me of a PlayStation
2 controller. FF Rating: 84% |
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Logitech Wingman Rumblepad
Theres two unique things about this gamepad: the joysticks are cupped,
to accomodate your thumbs better and there is a slider for throttle
control. The gamepad looks O.K., but no real flare. FF wise, it
performs on the verge of flawless. A great range of feel for the
different sounds, fairly strong effects and it's easy to feel the
small, minute vibrations. FF Rating: 81% |
 |
Logitech Wingman Force 3D Joystick
Clean looking, the Wingman Force 3D is a great choice. Nicely organized
buttons make it easy to perform multiple things in rapid succession. It
has a throttle control, and makes rudder turning easier by being able
to turn left/right. Though it does take up a little desk space, it's
worth it. Want a joystick that can go past 100% and threaten to knock
your hand off? This joystick has the option in the included software to
go 150% with the FF. Very well defined motions and vibrations. The
effects move the stick in all directions, making it harder to control
thus more realistic. FF Rating: 92% |
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Belkin n30 Nostromo Gaming mouse
I'm surprised this weird looking ball mouse functioned this well. Very
smooth accurate movements, rivaling those of optical mice, plus it's
unique shape and wing button on the side provide an easier resting
position for your hand and eliminating Mouse Button 3 accidentals. It
also surprised me that a mouse would have this much range and depth
with FF. It's very acute and accurate with it's vibrations. They are
easy to feel, and in some cases, hear. It doesn't get to the point
where its hard to control or will really screw up your gaming. It's
easy to see and feel why this mouse was so popular. FF Rating: 90% |
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Thrustmaster/Guillemot Firestorm Dual Power Rumblepad
Upon opening this gamepad, I noticed it wasn't very pretty. It had a
little shine, but not much. I noticed that on the underside there are
two extra buttons, like the N64 button underneath. Problem is, thats
where your finger grips the controller. Well now that theres a button
there, it causes a lot of accidentals in games. The FF works fairly
well, it has an O.K. range of effects, their strong, but the way you
hold the controller, when it vibrates, it sometimes messes up your
ability to control the gameplay. I also noted that the analog sticks
didn't always seem to be highly responsive. It wasn't very definitive
when it came to a strong jolt on what should be a soft one. FF Rating: 72% |
 |
There are a two things that I feel degrade this product slightly. I
found that the Belkin Nostromo n30 will lock up after a bit of playing,
in a constant vibration mode and then completely stop all vibrations
until you restart the game and TWG. Sometimes the Microsoft drivers are
in use rather than the ones that came with the device, and that can
cause FF not to function but TWG does notify you of that with a simple
"Cannot Find Connected TouchWare Device" or "Could Not Load Profile"
message. Upon recieving one of those messages you should proceed to
check and make sure of these two things:
.1. The device is properly connected to your computer (also, where applicable, properly connected to it's power source).
.2. The drivers that came with the device are being used as oppose to the default operating system drivers.
/*INSTALLATION NOTE */ Installing the drivers before connecting the device is highly reccommended as it will make certain that the correct drivers are installed and utilized.
If TWG came with the needed drivers for all the devices (or at least
the more popular ones) it supports that are listed on the Immersion
Corporation website or perhaps a utility that would check if the
correct/compatible drivers were being used and notify you of
errors/incorrect drivers, this product would have a greater sense of
overall completeness. However, I cannot place full responsibility on
Immersion for the rare driver issue/incompatibility as they do not
develop the drivers that come with neither the devices nor the ones
with Microsoft Windows. I'd also like to see the level of sound you can
control exercise a more detailed, "advanced" tab with very detailed
control over exactly what frequencies(KHz) are at a certain level,
where they will be ignored/cut-off for vibration purposes, etc.
I cannot ignore the fact that throughout this whole review, Immersion's
support has been superb. I have often found myself e-mailing them and
getting a response within an hour or two. They care greatly about their
products and the staff is helpful and will answer any questions you
have and help you with any problems you may come across. As consumers
we appreciate this greatly when we are having troubles.
Put simply, Immersion TouchWare Gaming is a revolutionary product. To
my knowledge, it's the only software that adds vibration to literally
any game that has sound. This is an innovative product and it's very
creative and easy to use. This really adds a new element to old
favorites and new games that don't support Force Feedback. The
interface is simple, installation quick and painless. Despite the small
error I encountered, and the suggestions I put forth, the score is a
solid 94%. TWG nears perfection, and I hope to see further updates and
additions made to it in the future. It's easy to see why they won the
2004 CES Innovations Award.
Thanks to Bob and Immersion Corporation for sponsoring this review.
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