Sometimes big changes come quietly.
Gladiator NXT EVOlution is just walking in like it has always been here.
Indeed, you can hardly see any difference at the first sight.
Indeed, there is little to notice.
However what is hidden from the eyes turns out to be a perfect fighting machine.
Let's look into it.
The only visible thing different is the encoder wheel.
One of the encoders is replaced with an auto-centering 3-position switch. Practice has shown that currently game developers don't provide enough support to fully open this control's potential in gaming environment. This makes having two encoders on the same controller rather a peculiarity than a necessity. At current stage having one encoder and one switch appears to be a solution more universal than two encoders.
The new control looks like an encoder but acts like a switch.
It is a standard control working in any environment - needs no setting up or configuring.
New microcontroller chip. This change is tectonic.
A new STM Arm 32-bit Cortex-M4 CPU with FPU is a game changer in too many ways.
Double the frequency of the older one, this chip affords a lot more computation capacity and better handles trigonometrical algorithms due to on-board mathematical hardware accelerators.
Imperatively important is that in a modular system such as GNX, this improvement will greatly increase the potential expansibility of the system. Future gaming may be quite demanding, and we want to be well prepared for it.
New gimbal. New gimbal. New gimbal.
Made of the same glass fiber enforced plastic but now sporting ball bearings... What?? - Yes, ball bearings on a budget joystick, but keep reading.
Adjustable dry clutches for user-tunable load. What?? - Yes, adjustable dry clutches on a budget joystick. Welcome to the world of hi end budget game controllers.
Y axis boasts a double clutch for extra stamina when working with the omni-throttle.
X axis can be blocked now. This together with the omni-throttle adapter will effectively turn your joystick into a fully functional throttle. (and into a collective, for the lovers of helicopters).
In a word, this feature boosts versatility so that one versatile joystick can be used practically across the whole gamut of gaming environments, take planes, helicopters or space crafts.
Compatibility.
Needless to say - everything is compatible and retrocompatible across the whole GNX lineup. SCG, KG12 and F-14 grips from new EVO are good on original GNX, and grips from your original GNX are good on EVO.
SEM, THQ, FSM modules are 100% compatible and switchable between original GNX and EVO.
Price and Availability.
(GNE=Gladiator Next EVO)
GNE SCG - $135
GNE SCG Premium - $165
GNE-OT SCG - $145
GNE-OT SCG Premium - $175
GNE KG12 - $120
GNE F-14 - $175
When? - sooner than you expect.
