But force feedback isn't going to stay confined to games for very long.
The results were almost too predictable: As of this spring Microsoft had nearly 90% of the force feedback joystick market.
Rather, Immersion leverages its patents, engineering skills and ties to the academic research community to develop both force feedback hardware and software.
Soon after CH Products released the first consumer-level force feedback joystick, Microsoft came out with its own version: the SideWinder Force Feedback Pro.
What is new is that force feedback devices are finally becoming cheap enough--and PCs powerful enough--to make an impact in the consumer market.
The wheel has a very different feel from the G27 we've been using of late, a bit more resistance and force feedback effect.
ENGADGET: Fanatec Porsche GT2 wheel and Clubsport pedals review
Which would probably be Okay with the new kinder and gentler Microsoft if force feedback was going to stay confined to the videogame space.
Today researchers are building force feedback surgical instruments for use in simulating--and eventually performing--minimally invasive surgical procedures like angioplasty or laparoscopic gall bladder removals.
Force feedback mice aren't just nifty gizmos, they are actually useful.
It's a cool idea -- you can sit in a seat that moves and reacts to the game as force feedback does with a joystick.
At about the same time, the nuclear industry started using force feedback devices to help workers manipulate hazardous, radioactive materials with slave arms through thick, leaded glass.
This is force feedback, or the art of simulating physical forces in devices ranging from mice and joysticks to surgical instruments and even knobs on stereo receivers.
But there is a distinction between kinds of haptics, like force feedback where device pushes back against you, and cheaper vibration haptics which turn up in mobiles.
Logitech, the world's largest mousemaker, is also a significant Immersion Corp. investor, and probably--although nothing has yet been announced--will release the first commercial force feedback mouse sometime next year.
For iRacing we found ourselves adding a little bit of what the company calls "drift, " which actually uses the force feedback motors to help you turn the wheel faster.
ENGADGET: Fanatec Porsche GT2 wheel and Clubsport pedals review
Immersion currently has about a dozen licensees, including CH Products, which released the first consumer force feedback joystick in 1996, the British firm Leda Media Products and publicly traded Logitech International (LOGIY).
The PR1, for instance, had a motor from an Aura Interactor embedded on the back, but Luckey found the force feedback too painful, and didn't carry the tweak over to future models.
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The patent also describes responses to touch input, including both visual and force feedback cues, and it offers a whole range of possible applications beyond the independent claims, including an aircraft cockpit or vehicle display.
ENGADGET: Apple secures multitouch-related patent dating back to 1995 from inventor
AutoCAD and page layout programs require manipulation of a lot of images and the slight jolt of a force feedback mouse hitting an edge or the pop of it falling into a point is a major improvement over squinting at a tiny line on a 21-inch monitor.
Thankfully there is a suite of configurable parameters that can be changed on the wheel itself, things like total force feedback effect, the linearity of motion of the wheel, the number of degrees of rotation you'd like on offer (up to 900), and about a half-dozen other minutia.
ENGADGET: Fanatec Porsche GT2 wheel and Clubsport pedals review
We already have force-feedback steering wheels, guitar-shaped controllers and pressure-sensitive dance pads.
The developments are reportedly right in line with the US government's Vehicle Infrastructure Integration (VII) Initiative, and we're sure officials are mighty proud of the E-Flare, which provides optical and acoustic warnings coupled with a force-feedback gas pedal, and E-Horn, which accepts incoming warning signals from emergency vehicles and alerts the driver via (presumably distracting) in-cabin lights and sounds.
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The LMIC interagency partners have also worked towards four specific goals, informed by the work of the Childhood Obesity Task Force and the feedback received through meetings with tribal leaders and organizations.
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Instead, the new structure blocked feedback from the sales force to product designers.
"When emotions become the dominant force and the quality of the ideas are taking a backseat, then feedback is given the wrong way, " he says.
The UNESCO-Microsoft Task Force on Higher Education and ICT will analyze the findings and recommendations of the WCHE, in addition to feedback from global higher education experts and stakeholders, to identify key initiatives that will promote more effective use of ICT in post-secondary teaching, learning and research.
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