A touch-enabled, or force feedback, device transfers forces to a user's hand or fingers under the direction of a computer. The ability of the device to play tactile effects depends on special hardware inside the device, in combination with software which directs what kinds of effects the device should play - not just any peripheral device will do.
Touch-enabled versions of the full gamut of computer peripherals are available for purchase at your local computer supplies store. Mice and trackballs made with Immersion TouchSense™ Technology let you touch your desktop, feel the web, and interact with your mouse-driven games like never before. If you're looking for an intense, realistic gaming experience, a force feedback gamepad, joystick, or steering wheel is probably the right choice.
View a list of touch-enabled joystick,
gamepad, and wheel products for the PC platform.
View a list of touch-enabled mouse
and trackball products for the PC platform.
View a list of touch-enabled game
controllers for the Mac platform.
View a list of touch-enabled game
controllers for the console platform.
Force feedback devices fall into several different categories, depending on what types of forces they can play, and the fidelity of these forces:
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The term full force feedback is used to refer to devices that apply sideways forces to your hand to resist your motion or give the impression of turbulence, recoil, impact, G-forces, or countless other phenomena. If the device can physically push on you, it's probably a full force feedback device. Many force feedback gaming devices fall into this category.
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The term tactile feedback is used to describe devices that play high-fidelity tactile sensations, but generally won't move or inhibit the movement of either the device or the hand holding it. A tactile feedback device can play a wide variety of distinguishable taps, textures, and vibration effects to communicate with the user and greatly enrich the computing or gaming experience. A number of pointing and gaming devices fall into this category.
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The term rumble feedback refers to devices that play low-fidelity shakes or rumbles. Rumble effects are generally turned on to correspond to high-action events in a game. This type of feedback is popular in a variety of basic game controllers, particularly gamepads.
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The developer resources we provide are made to work with the full range of force feedback devices available on the market, but some tools and samples are more appropriate for some types of devices than others.
The legend below links colored icons to their corresponding device types. These icons will appear throughout this site to let you know what tools and samples you should be using to work with the device of your choice.
Brightly-colored icons represent devices that work best with a particular tool, sample, or application. Faded icons represent devices that will also work, but may not feel as good or be able to play all effects.
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Tactile Feedback Mouse, e.g. Logitech iFeel Mouse |
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Tactile Feedback Trackball, e.g. Kensington Orbit 3D Trackball |
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Full Force Feedback Joystick, e.g. Microsoft Sidewinder Joystick |
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Full Force Feedback Gamepad, e.g. Gravis Xterminator Force
Gamepad |
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Full Force Feedback Wheel, e.g. AVB Force Feedback Steering
Wheel |
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Full Force Feedback Mouse, e.g. Logitech Wingman Force Feedback
Mouse |
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Rumble Feedback Gamepad, e.g. InterAct HammerheadFX Gamepad |
       = Sample or Application also works with these Device Types |
Force Feedback Definitions: On this webpage, as well as in many of our
developer tools and other documentation, the concept of "force
feedback" - the addition of touch information to the human-computer
interface - is referred to in a variety of ways. Immersion has developed
a broad array of force feedback device technologies which feel and
behave differently but which, ultimately, allow a user to interact
with computer software in a physical, tactile way. Different names
are used in an attempt to convey the many subtle differences in
how these devices operate. Fundamentally, these varied naming conventions,
including such words and phrases as "tactile feedback,"
"haptics," "full force feedback" "vibro-tactile,"
"rumble feedback,""touch-enabled," "touch-activated",
and many more, all refer to different flavors of a single unified
concept: the ability of a computer system, including both hardware
and software, to communicate tactile content and information to
a user across a broad range of applications. At Immersion we combine
and unify this range of functionalities under our TouchSense™
mark.
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