Games Get Real With Tactile Tools

LOS ANGELES -- A staple of the annual Electronics Entertainment Expo are devices that promise to make game play more comfortable by replacing standard controllers and keyboards. The best actually make it more fun, and this year's crop of teeth rattling, motion-sensing, Matrix-mimicking devices even feel more real.

It's not just that you can feel the on-screen action. Some of the products that were shown in prototype in previous shows are finally here at this week's event.

None is more notable than Essential Reality's P5 glove controller. In the works for years, the P5 will finally reach store shelves in August. At $150 it's not for the casual gamer, but serious PC or console game fans will certainly want to try the futuristic-looking device. The lightweight glove of the two-piece peripheral slips over your hand and communicates with an infrared USB base that tracks your hand movements in six directions.

At launch, the glove will ship with up to three P5-optimized games in the box, although its developers say it offers basic functionality with all PC games. Essential Reality is working with game developers to retrofit older games, and plan future ones, for optimum performance with the glove on both consoles and PCs, according to a spokesperson.

The device has a geek chic look about it, but that aesthetic is pretty well shot once you start to use it. After all, it's hard to look cool when you're waving manically at your digital enemies.

Nod Your Head

Another product shown at last year's E3, and now ready to ship, is the CyMouse from Maui Innovative Peripherals. The $180 product, available through Maui's Web site, includes a lightweight headpiece and an infrared Universal Serial Bus base. You can program the unit to perform macros plus keystroke and mouse click combinations, but the CyMouse will not replace the mouse, says a company executive.

"We don't want to replace the mouse, we want to enhance it," says Jim Whitman, company founder. "Plus, you can tell this device to do whatever you want it to do."

Maui is also preparing to ship a similar product called Miracle Mouse geared toward users with disabilities. It includes specialty software that helps users with restricted mobility make better use of their PC and sells for $700.

Keyboard Killers

One advantage of PC-based games is the keyboard affords users considerably more ways to manipulate the action than a console's basic controller. But mastering all those spread-out keys can be difficult (especially for those with small hands). The $60 Space Devilfish from Idizm is designed to change that.

The unique hourglass-shaped device, scheduled for release in July, offers large keys in a palm-size configuration. Built-in wrist support, plus retractable stabilizers that let you rest it on your leg, make it relatively comfortable to use. Add to that force-feedback features and complete programmability, and you may find yourself giving your keyboard the cold shoulder the next time you sit down for some action.

Thrustmaster has its own keyboard replacement on the floor this year, too. Called the Tacticalboard, the company expects to ship it this spring with a price tag of $70.

Made up of five zones, the Tacticalboard has 13 buttons in the Action zone, 7 in the Thumb zone, and 22 on two levels in the Command zone. The fourth zone is the gel wrist rest, and the fifth is the Chatterbox zone that, with the included software, lets you talk smack to your online opponents.

The device is fully programmable. Bundled with it is software that provides game presets for 35 top-selling PC games.

Cool-Hand Dude

Finally, a Nyko product addresses a problem common with gamers who play for hours on end: sweaty palms.

The AirFlo controller has a CPU fan in the unit that delivers a perspiration-busting flow of cool air to combatant's hands. The unit's fan runs at two speeds, and it also has built-in force feedback.

The new AirFlo controller will be released in versions for all three consoles. In July, Nyko plans to ship an X-Box version priced about $39 and a Playstation 2 unit at a price of about $34. One for the Nintendo Gamecube is scheduled to ship in October for about $34. Aside from pizza breaks and the occasional hand cramp, gamers may never have to stop playing now.