05/13/96 THIS JOYSTICK IS A REAL HEAD-TURNER

THIS JOYSTICK IS A REAL HEAD-TURNER

DON'T BELIEVE IT WHEN FRIENDS TELL YOU THEY bought a multimedia PC to help the kids with their schoolwork. According to market researcher Link Resources Inc., 75% of all home PCs are used to play games. Logitech Inc., the Fremont (Calif.) maker of computer mice and other pointing devices, is hoping to cash in on the home-PC game craze.
On May 16, at the game-industry's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles, it plans to unveil what it calls the ultimate in joysticks. The $99 Wingman Warrior is designed specifically for hot 3-D computer games such as Id Software's popular Doom. In those first-person-perspective games, players often have to master difficult keystrokes to change the viewpoint while using a joystick to control movement. Wingman Warrior's so-called SpinControl knob makes it easier to play those games by mimicking natural head-turning: Turn the knob left, and the viewpoint changes as if the player had turned his or her head to look left.
EDITED BY PAUL M. ENG