What happened to force feedback joysticks?
- Thread starter Gimpymoo
- Start date
Funny you mention that, I was out flying in DCS last night, and one of the guys was flying a helicopter using an MS force feedback joystick.
My understanding is that MS hold the rights to the design, which is why they're not common. After all, most driving wheels use the technology.
There are however a small number of very expensive niche groups selling them. They did seem to be stupidly expensive, i.e. >£1000 for a base unit.
My understanding is that MS hold the rights to the design, which is why they're not common. After all, most driving wheels use the technology.
There are however a small number of very expensive niche groups selling them. They did seem to be stupidly expensive, i.e. >£1000 for a base unit.
Oh man I miss using joysticks! I had a sidewinder and whilst not ideal I loved it for racing games. Was amazing for playing Descent as well! Time to spend more money! 
Oh and Mechwarrior! Big stompy robots were immense fun to charge around in!
Oh and Mechwarrior! Big stompy robots were immense fun to charge around in!
Oh man I miss using joysticks! I had a sidewinder and whilst not ideal I loved it for racing games. Was amazing for playing Descent as well! Time to spend more money!
Oh and Mechwarrior! Big stompy robots were immense fun to charge around in!
I played MechWarrior 4 with a sidewinder force feedback joystick too. It was awesome with the rotate mapped to torso twist!
Apparently, Immersion Corp. are a patent troll and pretty much own the patent to Force Feedback apparently.
They seem to own multiple patents to multiple implementations to Force feedback, hence why they sued Microsoft/Sony back in 2002.
Some online say it expires in 2019 but I see no evidence of that?
They seem to own multiple patents to multiple implementations to Force feedback, hence why they sued Microsoft/Sony back in 2002.
Some online say it expires in 2019 but I see no evidence of that?
I used to do close-quarters skirmishing a lot on that desert palace map with a Thor so my Sidewinder got a lot of abuse - it's a testament to its build quality that it never broke.Oh hell yeah. Stomp, stomp, stomp, twist torso, unload SRM's, stomp, stomp, stomp!
Stomp, stomp, twist, LBX - boom, twist, stomp, stomp, lasers, LBX - boom!
It was surprisingly good for aiming with a Madcat Mk2 laser boat, almost as good as a mouse I'd say when you got used to it. I know a few guys in my clan used to play with trackballs which they swore by but nah, not my thing.
Damn, I wonder if it's even possible to play MW4 online anymore - I'd probably be crap now but I used to be pretty awesome and could probably remember most of my builds once I saw the loadout screen!
I tried MechWarrior online but it just doesn't have the same feel.
Did the same, it was awesome.
Glad to see i'm not the only one that'd given this some thought. The Sidewinder 2 was an amazing bit of kit, I always wondered why the physical response was ripped out of the modern HOTAS controllers. It's good to know that it probably wasn't the desire of the industry to let it die.
Needs to come back!! Aside from it being the total desire of any kid that grew up in the arcades of the 80's, they'd be great for VR games where HOTAS is still king. Resistant wheels are amazing in VR, a stick would be no different.
Needs to come back!! Aside from it being the total desire of any kid that grew up in the arcades of the 80's, they'd be great for VR games where HOTAS is still king. Resistant wheels are amazing in VR, a stick would be no different.
Never knew about the patent but always found it annoying that my Sidewinder FF2 doesn’t produce feedback in say BF4 in a plane or chopper.
Thankfully it still works great in FSX and Combat Flight Simulatior 2 both of which I still fly regularly.
Thankfully it still works great in FSX and Combat Flight Simulatior 2 both of which I still fly regularly.
Did I really read that people are selling them for a grand??I still have a Sidewinder force feedback 2 that I use almost daily for flying in Battlefield.
The soft touch coating on the stick has deteriorated, but has gone past the sticky stage, and the trigger button is a bit dodgy but there still life in it yet.
The soft touch coating on the stick has deteriorated, but has gone past the sticky stage, and the trigger button is a bit dodgy but there still life in it yet.
I still have both the original gameport Sidewinder FF2 and the USB version, only the usb one will work with Windows nowadays though of course. Since getting into Elite Dangerous it is getting serious use and as Firefly says they thin rubbery coating on the stick is not immune to wear. When it comes to it I plan on a transplant from my spare gameport version of the buttons stop working or the coating becomes too frayed.
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I got interested in what the patent actually is, and I found a few, but all of them expired.
https://patents.google.com/patent/US5831408A/en this one is assigned to Immersion Corp, Status: Expired - Lifetime.
https://patents.google.com/patent/US5742278A/en this one is assigned to Microsoft, Expired - Lifetime.
https://patents.google.com/patent/US20010043847 this one is assigned to Immersion Corp, Expired - Lifetime.
So, it seems like there isn't an active patent, and the one on forcefeedback joysticks is assigned to Microsoft itself
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If it's not one of those, do you have a link to it, the publication number or its classification?
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And the one for joysticks is assigned to microsoft, so I doubt that it would affect them