The Patent Pending Cobra is a hand-held racing controller.
Imagine taking the ergonomic design of the Logitech WingMan Extreme joystick and applying that to a standard RC controller and then giving it a USB turbo-charge.
The Cobra is designed for the person who likes playing racing games but doesn't want the expense and hassle of the full-scale desk-mount racing simulators.
The Cobra is a two-handed controller. The right hand controls the steering wheel and the left hand grips the device and activates the gas/brake rocker pedal. Both controls are dual-injection molded (rubber over plastic) to provide a great grip. There are two 4-way hats and one fire button for a total of 9 buttons. It is light-weight and designed for comfortable usage for hours at a time.
FPgaming is currently in negotiations with potential manufacturing and distribution partners for PC and Console products. If you are interested in licensing Cobra or other FPgaming designs, please contact FPgaming's CEO, James Barnes (james@fpgaming.com).
"I’d
rather drive with a Cobra than any other controller!"
Glyn Anderson
Accolade Director of Technology
"Cobra
is definitely cool! I like the new approach. It is much less
cumbersome than other controllers. And, Cobra is remarkably easy
to learn how to use."
Dave Salvator
Computer Gaming World Technical Editor
Steveo at The Assassin Zone interviews James Barnes about the Cobra.
Steveo: I hear that you have some info for everyone at the Assassin Zone about the new FPgaming product. Since we are talking about it I assume the patents are set and it's yours ?
James: Yes, the legal stuff is all squared away. More importantly, I promised to get back as soon as we had something to worth sharing and this one definitely qualifies.
Steveo: So what can you tell us about the newest FPgaming product, is it similar to the Assassin 3D or Panther XL ? Can you describe it to us ?
James: Cobra (our project name), is a hand-held racing controller. Imagine taking the ergonomic design of the Logitech WingMan Extreme joystick and applying that to a standard RC controller and then giving it a USB turbo-charge. Cobra is designed for the person who likes playing racing games but doesn't want the expense and hassle of the full-scale desk-mount racing simulators.
Steveo: What are the design features of the new product ?
James: Well, first, Cobra just looks cool! You've never seen anything like it. Cobra is a two-handed controller. The right hand controls the steering wheel and the left hand grips the device and activates the gas/brake rocker pedal. Both controls are dual-injection molded (rubber over plastic) to provide a great grip. There are two 4-way hats and one fire button for a total of 9 buttons. It is light-weight and designed for comfortable usage for hours at a time. Lastly, Cobra has a USB digital connection to the
computer providing extreme precision and wicked-fast response.
Steveo: The Cobra sounds very cool ! I spent about 5 years racing RC cars here in Wisconsin (1/12 scale carpet and 1/10 scale oval dirt/carpet cars) and I know first hand how easy a Radio-Control-Pistol grip type controller is to use. How did you get the Idea for the Cobra ?? Any RC racers at FPgaming ??
James: I can see we're going to have to put you on the beta list. :-) The idea itself came from hating the hassle of the full-sized PC racing equipment and wanting something simpler and better. The RC controllers looked intriguing, but we didn't like having to push the index finger to brake. So, we designed a rocker that you grip with your whole hand. Also, the RC controllers have very little human-factors design incorporated into them. We positioned all the controls so that Cobra is comfortable for hours and hours. RC racers? Absolutely, though, Vince is the biggest one. He has a Penske PC19 Indy Car. Personally, I'm an RC racer with esoteric tastes -- like chasing cats and crashing into other RC cars.
Steveo: The PC driving sim market is getting very big, Even Microsoft has a Indy Car racing sim on the market right now, Papyrus has had great success with it's Indy car I and II and Nascar I and II. I bet their are a lot of people out there who would love to do racing games if they could go with a compact (easy to find room on desk) controller that will be easy to use and still be able to cut seconds off of lap times for even the most hardcore sim racer.
James: That's exactly our belief, also. It's hard to predict the future, but I'm willing to bet everything on this one.
Steveo: What kinds of things will the user be able to do with the 9 extra buttons ?
James: Well, that depends on the game. Up-shifting and down-shifting are typical. Some games have features like firing weapons, punching, kicking, changing map views, looking out side windows, etc. And, it is inevitable that as the genre matures, there will be even more features.
Steveo: Lets talk about the USB or Universal Serial Bus. The USB is twice as fast as a parallel port, can support up to 114 devices with hubs or even daisy chained together, and is true plug and play making it the port of choice for PC gaming in the future. But Win95 won't do USB right now, when will USB be supported by Microsoft and the hardware manufacturers ? (Steveo pretends he doesn't know answer)
James: USB is supported right now if you have a newer version of Windows 95 (with the appropriate hardware). But, I don't think it will really take off until Windows 98 starts shipping and the corporations make the transition. My guess is that the conversion to USB is going to take quite a while. But, it will be worth it. Just imagine -- no parallel port, no com port, no keyboard port, no video port, no gameport. The PC will one day technically surpass the original Macintosh.
We, also, have a standard gameport version of Cobra for those people that won't have USB. The analog version doesn't have the same digital precision, but that should make it a bit less expensive. That said, it is still more precise than these analog wheels.
Steveo: Well Window98 is right around the corner so that will be no problem, Think we can talk Bill into adding USB support to Win NT 5.0 ?
James: Until NT supports virtual device drivers (VXDs), we are stuck. Microsoft is having a hard time thinking of NT as a gaming platform.
Steveo: Do you have any information about when the Cobra will be on the market and what the retail price could be ?
James: We are allying right now with a manufacturing and distribution partner. I would expect to see Cobra shipping either this summer or fall. Look for it to be priced around $49.95.
Steveo: Well James it looks like you have yourself another winner with the Cobra, thanks for talking with me and good luck getting the Cobra through beta testing and into the market!
James: My pleasure, Steveo, and thank you. Do you know anyone who wants to set up a racing clan? :-)
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This page was last updated 06/13/04