AbleGamers Goes Hands on with the Peregrine Gaming Glove

One of the things I have learned over the years here at AbleGamers is that a game controller for gamers with disabilities is few and far between, not to mention expensive or half baked. So, I have taken to looking at controllers for the non-disabled community, and looked for ways to repurpose these more affordable peripherals in ways that we can use them.

That’s exactly what happened when I checked out the new Peregrine glove that one of our Facebook fans pointed out.  I immediately thought I found another one of those repurpose-able controllers. Now, I am not going to lie; from the moment this thing came out of the box I have been impressed with the Peregrine gaming gloves’ potential to the community.

The Peregrine is a glove with imbedded wires that run through the thumb and palm. The concept is simple, touch the thumb parts to the wires along the fingers and it executes a key stroke. You can also touch the finger tips to the palm to get a few more keys. In total there are 32 points on the glove that you can map to keys.

We are going to test drive this thing over the next few months and report back to the community, but we had a chance to sit down with the inventor of the Peregrine Glove, Brent Baier, and chat about it.

Mark Barlet, AbleGamers: Thank you for taking time from your busy schedule to speak to us.

Brent Baier: Not a problem, thanks for having us! It’s always nice to speak with fellow gamers about the things we love most.

AG: What were you thinking when you came up with this concept for a “controller glove”?

BB: I was thinking that it would be so bad. Just kidding, Power Glove references aside, and believe me I’ve heard enough of them, the idea for The Peregrine was an epiphany of sorts. I was finishing up my computer programming diploma and pondering the age old question of “what am I going to do after college” when the idea just struck me. I couldn’t shake it so I spent that night staying up late and sketching out concept designs for the glove. I’m a geek at heart and didn’t have too much business experience but I wondered that if I didn’t take the chance to try and create this product, take it off paper and into reality, would I regret it later?

Well, I decided not to take that chance and here we are now, ready to release the final product, a culmination of five years of work and extensive testing to bring gamers something revolutionary.

AG: AbleGamers is a site for gamers with disabilities, have you thought about how a gamer that is missing a hand may approach your technology? I know a few of my military friends who are now one-handed, what would you tell them about your glove?

BB: The Peregrine can allow a gamer with disabilities to get back into the game. Using our hands is natural, using a keyboard not so much. By utilizing muscle and nerve memory, one-handed gamers can quickly learn to use The Peregrine and play keyboard command heavy games that may have been extremely difficult to play before, such as Heroes of Newerth.

The Peregrine can greatly assist fellow gamers who may have been discouraged by traditional interfaces and open a whole new world of gaming to them.  I have seen a pro-gamer playing a fast paced RTS game using the mouse and the Peregrine with one hand, simultaneously, and it was pretty amazing.  I didn’t know our product could actually do that until I saw it in person.  I can only imagine what kind of freedom it will create for people.

AG: How many “points” are there on the glove?

BB: There are 18 Touch Points and three Activator Pads that allow for more than 30 combinations that can be mapped directly as keystrokes. The Touch Points are very durable too, we kept this in mind throughout the development because, well, we’re gamers and we’re pretty rough with our toys. The Touch Points can be calibrated too because not everyone will touch their fingers in the exact same areas, allowing even better customization and gameplay.

AG: I did not see on the site where the glove came in a right-handed model, did I miss this?

BB: At launch, we only have a model that fits the left hand. This is because the vast majority of gamers – even lefties – still use the mouse with their right hand when gaming. Obviously there are exceptions, as well as disabled gamers we’d like to reach, so we do plan to release a Peregrine for use on the right hand in the future.

AG: Does the software that comes with the glove allow for multi-key strokes in one touch?

BB: As it stands, The Peregrine is equipped to handle one mapped key command for each combination of Touch Points. Currently, there is no macro support so one Touch Point won’t handle more than one key command and we’ve done this so that the glove can be used in professional competitions, where the use of macros is prohibited.  We are looking at providing a macro-supported version in the near future.

AG: Have you given any thought to how your glove could be used outside of gaming?

BB: Definitely! Since The Peregrine can be used with any program that uses keyboard commands, which is pretty much most of them, it could be utilized with programs like Photoshop or other design programs along that line. The US military has also taken an interest in using The Peregrine for some of its applications, passing some rigorous testing on their part. Without a doubt, there is potential for use outside of the gaming spectrum. Whether or not it would be as fun though I couldn’t tell you!

AG: Will we see a console version of the glove?

BB: We hope to eventually release a console version, so be on the lookout!

AG: What do you see this technology being used for next?

BB: We already see it in tournaments and as mentioned before, we’re starting to see a practical use for it outside of the gaming arena. We’d like to see it being used for anything and everything, from just browsing sites to taking over the world.  I personally see the next step for the Peregrine as a drafting tool for the CAD / Photoshop crowd.  We already have some people using it to trigger all their shortcuts and they absolutely love it.

AG: Lasers? Where are they? With a glove this cool, the lack of random lasers is almost sacrilege.

BB: While the launch model of the peregrine doesn’t have any actual lasers, the LED light on the pod can be configured with multiple settings for when you activate TouchPoints – one of those settings just happens to be called “Pew Pew Lasers.” Ha!  Perhaps we will release a Laser Bling version in the future!

AG: Before AbleGamers contacted you, did you ever think that your project might enable some people with disabilities to get back into gaming?

BB: Yes.  When I started working on this project I tried to imagine all the ways people could use this, and when I realized that the glove could help people with disabilities and mobility impairment I got pretty excited. The thought that people will be able to interact with their applications and do things that they couldn’t do before is pretty exciting to me.  I am humbled to think that something we are working on could create a degree of freedom for someone and that’s totally awesome.  I didn’t know it would be used for gaming so soon though, so that’s pretty cool.

AG: Thank you for your time, I can’t wait to play with this thing!

BB: I’m telling you; once you switch to it you’ll be hard pressed to use a keyboard for gaming, especially for RTS and MMOs! Why be hunched over jamming buttons when you can sit back and demolish opponents single-handedly? We look forward to seeing gamers everywhere enjoying it.