Mindwire is a UK company based in the midlands. It was started by two Manchester University Students who met and started the dream in 2005.
Now Mindwire has released the V5 a new experience in gaming.
The Story Of The V5
"How much better would games such as Mortal Kombat or Streetfighter be if you were ELECTROCUTED each time you were hit!"
Sudenly there's something to play for. Watch your opponent squirm as you beat him to a pulp, and fear every one of your opponents blows as you know its going to do a lot more than make your little animated character full backwards...
And so it began. The Mindwire founding members spent 3-4 years developing the V5, moving from prototype to prototype, testing it on poor unsuspecting souls as they went, and each time learning and improving the idea.
Fairly soon the V5 had:
Multiple hit points on the body.
Special effects / 'feels' create electrically, which can be controlled to mimic the on-screen actions in the game (when driven by USB).
The ability to work 'dumb-dumb' from hundreds of existing games, using the force-feedback signal on the PS2, PS3, XBOX, Gamecube and PC.
It has both the 'OUCH!' element, and the more soothing replacement-for-regular-dual-shock-force-feedback elements combined.
It has settings to configure it to work with virtually any game, for example, changing the way that the power levels build up, or configuring the way that the force feedback signal is used.
A single device, instead of providing multiple hit points for 1 player, can be used in 2 player mode where each player takes 2 of the pads.
It features an additional port which allows the V5 to do some very cool things that (sorry) we are keeping a tight lid on for now.
A device that is safe: that has layers of safety features from its conceptual design through to its hardware and software, and conforms to all applicable European safety standards.
In summary, what we ended up with is a 'does everything' device. 'Expensive' - yes. (although we aim to get the price down as soon as is possible), but it works on a vast number of games on different platforms, not to mention the games that it WILL work with in the future.
The Future
Mindwire is already in development of the next evolvement of the V5. We want to take this product to the next level and beyond, and we believe the best way to do this is to ask people what they think. So, please, let us know your thoughts and suggestions. Tell us how we can make this product better for all of us!
Contact us at:
We are also seeking to work with game developers to create games which utilize the Mindwire-V5 to its full potential, including special electrical effects, accurate hit locations on the body, ability to use the native system's controls rather than a PS2 controller, and multi-player modes.
The developer SDK is available to download and provides a quick and easy way for games to be able to drive the Mindwire-V5.
