JB0

Not so sure about that. While the Logitech Wheel is the best I've tried (with almost no dead zone and a 900 degree turning radius), none of them have enough force feedback to truly recreate the feeling of driving car. And since I'm already used to the standard controller, switching to a wheel or stick causes a drastic reduction in skill for me. The turning radius chased me away shortly after looking at it(casually, since like I said, no PS2... ). Of course, all I really want a wheel for is Roadblasters, so realism isn't exactly an issue so much as matching the arcade wheel, which had a much smaller turning radius. I'm thinking 180, but even that may be a bit much. ... Oh yeah. And no play. Play is evil(and what's primarily wrong with my current wheel, which is cheap garbage).

I know a few other people that liked the original 'Box controller, but I just never saw it. It was too big... like holding a loaf of bread with two analog sticks poking out. The d-pad was one of the worst ever (at least the S has a cross on the circle), and while the white/black button placement might have been better (and that's debateable... I got used to having them near the bottom real fast), the X/Y/B/A buttons were clustered way too close together. I remember playing DoA3 and constantly had the problem of pushing the wrong buttons. The demo units I played, the size was never an issue to me. On the other hand, everything on the device felt in the "wrong" place. The button slant especially gave me hell. It was like they intended it to be held sideways with the way the button set slanted almost straight up.

Actually, regular US copyright law gives you backup rights. The DMCA is explciitly designed to take those rights away. ... But as no one enforces most of the DMCA, it doesn't matter.

Why dream? Microsoft made it. Sidewinder Strategic Commander.

Occasionally a special comes up that breaks him loose.

Just to add to the flames... But why use a pad to play a shooter when a mouse/keyboard combo offers the best precision movements? Let's see... I've already thrown all my gas on, but I think I've got a jar of kerosene around here... A. Trackballs are infinitely better than mice. B. Keyboards suck. C. I'd much rather play a 2D shooter than a first-person one. My optimum FPS setup would be something like ... this and this. What I'd change if I owned a factory... Replace the d-pad on the Nostromo SpeedPad with something more resembling a mouse touchpad, simulating an analog stick. With ridges running along the cardinal directions for tactile feedback. If you saw a TurboTouch pad, you have the appearance down(But not the functionality. The tech is WAY better than it was back then, thank goodness...). Also plausable is an NES Max-style d-pad, with pots on the slider. Either way... thumb on the center, no motion. Slide it forward a little, you scoot forward a little. Out some more, we're walking. Slide to the edge of the pad, full-out run. The genre is well overdue for a little analog motion.

They actually gave an explanation!! Yah. Recent story arc involving genetically engineered humans. Klingons captured some, attempted to apply the enhancements to klingons. Met with limited success, in that it made them supermen, but also killed them. And was carried through the klingon equivalent of a cold. Our stars fixed things. The klingons don't get super powers, but don't die. And are stuck with the human-ish faces of Kirk's era.

Nice collection... Odyssey 1 or 2? I've currently got at least one of each of the following: Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Vectrex, INTV, NES, SNES+Super GameBoy, Genesis+SegaCD+Power Base Converter, PS1, GameCube, DreamCast, Atari 800XL, TI 99/4a(worst controllers ever), GameBoy, GameBoy Color, GameBoy Advance non-SP, NeoGeo Pocket Color, and of course, IBM PCs in both modern and legacy box flavors. And likely something I missed. I do that disturbingly often. I really don't want to count my games. I've been putting off a proper indexing for far too long, and I intend to keep doing it. I know I have over a hundred 2600 carts alone, though I admit that pr'ly a third of those are duplicates(it shames me to admit, but I have 3 Superman carts). And yes, I know my collection is lagging somewhat. Haven't had the funds to expand it greatly for a while. Aside from the obvious PS2, XBox, and DS, I need to add a Saturn at least. I've had too much fun with them to keep ignoring it. Also drooling over a PCEngine setup. And knowing how I am, I'll likely wind up with a Jaguar, 7800, and God knows what else when all's said and done. *thinks* Man, I haven't put my SNES pad through it's paces in a while. I remember it being pretty good, though. I WAS getting some accidental up/down motion on my last Super Metroid run. But I think I was just sloppy. *shrugs* I do admit to being amazingly picky sometimes. But with few exceptions(RAD being my shining example of near-perfection), I find the DualShock as just annoying. I'd move select, start, black, and white. Only real gripes is they ride too low for my tastes. Give me enough time with an XBox, and I might form a strong pro/con on the d-pad. A few minute sat a demo kiosk doesn't leave much of an impression, especially when the only games I've seen show up on demo disks that it's much good for are Metal Slug and SNK VS Capcom. I've been told it has a pretty darn good one, by someone who I consider rather well-versed in the subject. I KNOW it can't be worse than the one in the 'Cube and GBA, though that doesn't say much. Original Genesis pad will always win points in my book for putting pause in a readily-accessible spot. Why no one ELSE ever figured this out is beyond me. And for the enclosure size. I like the size of the pad. I LIKE 6 face buttons, personally. I've never been a big fan of the diamond layout, except for my period as a die-hard Nintendo fanboy when I was much younger.

I think a fight was involved.

I don't know since I can't read Kanji, but do they list Megazone 23 on the Japanese side of their site?. And, this is what I meant by Yamato going global. http://www.yamato-toys.com Their site used to be yamato-toys.co.jp, which now has a redirect to the new Yamato-Toys.Com. They also changed from the .co.jp URL to the .com URL at least a year ago as well. Common guys, get with the program here Graham Wait... you're telling me Yamato has a WEBSITE now?

First try. 908.9 meters. Latest personal high: 6273.50m

*sighs* I need one of those for PN3. 'Cube's d-pad sucks. ... Except PN3 needs the analog stick too.

I like the VB, poor screen refresh aside. Comfort I've already said my piece on. Memorizable... The PS is the ONLY system where I have to look at the controller when button labels are mentioned, because Sony had to be diffrent and use random shapes instead of something reasonable. Not that Nintendo's backwards labels were the best thing ever, but I could at least remember them. They could've at LEAST used logical shapes, like ^, V, <, and >. I don't hit the wrong button on ANYTHING due to controller design. Except the DualShock's L3 and R3. ... Though my experience with the original XBox pad did leave me with a rather sour taste. Thumb hit the right analog stick every time I went for the A button, which was just too dang close to the stick.

The Advantage is nice for a cheap joystick. Nowhere near arcade-grade(heck, the stick isn't even microswitched), but nice for the price point. But comparing it to a DualShock is like comparing apples to Apples. It's over a decade old, and totally lacking in ... well, buttons mainly. You can't play a PS game with it, and that's the main problem. Now THIS... http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-m-70-5w3.html ... is unfair on the other end. But the subject of joysticks is a lot more subjective. I think something like the above is an optimum solution, though it can't play anything needing analog sticks. I don't think it even supports analog buttons(if it did, I wouldn't pay near that for it). But it's a good layout, with good parts.

Would you care to clarify what was "flawed and outdated" about the dual shock design? I've used just about every 1st party game controler and found them to be all garbage compared to Sony's design. Microsoft's are either too big or have the buttons in akward positions, it hurts to hold the Dreamcast controler after about an hour and the D pad has a habit of biting into your thumb, the Gamecube, is by far the worst, too damn small. Sony didn't need to redesign their controler, it was fine as is. I agree with everything you said except the GC controller. I think the size is a perfect middle ground so that female gamers (like myself) don't have to struggle holding it like I did the XB and DC controllers. Those made my hands hurt nect to the N64's analog surface. The GC's controller flaw is the button design from the location of the X and Y buttons, the size of the A button to the stupidly placed Z trigger. Thank goodness for controller port converters. Sega Saturn controllers were the best IMO. Itnerestingly enough... I compared earlier. The 'Cube pad is slightly BIGGER than a DualShock. Personally, I like the 'Cube button layout. For properly-mated games. It won't win any awards for fighting game controller of the year, obviously. but there's no way I'd play Metroid Prime with anything else. For the record... Z is stupidly placed because it wasn't an original design feature. They realized they were short a button for Smash Brothers and wedged another in.

PSX was never an official system name. The origins are hard to trace, but it SEEMS to stem from a typo in an early magazine article about Sony's upcoming new video game system. It was accidentally dubbed PSX in the preview, and it stuck.

PS1/2 and DC controllers are the only ones that do not make my hand and fingers hurt after hours of continuous use. Maybe they just didn't give any consideration to people raised on NES/SNES pads. I hate the NES pads, too. The original bricks, anyways. The "dogbone" pads are okay. SNES is iffy, but livable. I'll take a 3-button Genesis pad over either of them any day, though(too bad the 6-button is so much smaller). If anyhting, I was raised on 99/4a joysticks. And those are an abomination like you've never felt. I wouldn't wish them upon anyone. Nice case, but the sticks are stiff, mushy, and unresponsive. And Dreamcast? I'd really hate to see your hands if that monstrosity is a comfortable pad(I love my DC anyways). ... On the other hand, I'm one of perhaps a dozen people that likes the 5200 sticks(when they work). So perhaps I'm not one to talk about odd controller preferences...

So you're waiting for the Starscream Binaltech? Or even an equivalent to GERWALK, save the original Jetfire. WE WANT MORE TRIPLE-CHANGERS HASBRO!

Respectfully, I have to disagree. It's a kludgy upgrade to an SNES pad that was originally done with JUST enough changes to make it look like it was new, while not infringing on whatever intellectual property claims Nintendo had on their pad(there are historical reasons for this). The extra shoulder buttons are there SOLELY so that the pad looked like an upgrade over the SNES, and have been largely ignored by developers. No consideration was ever given to ergonomics, and it is painfully obvious to any seasoned gamer. And pressure-sensitivity is THE most moronic feature I've EVER seen. ESPECIALLY to a full byte of accuracy. There simply isn't enough travel room for anything approaching accurate control past off, on, and mashed down(I WILL grant 3 states). And this is coming from someone familiar with the Power Glove, U-Force, idiotic rocking platforms for directional control, the TurboTouch 360s, and the Game Handler(which was a joystick that had no base, used mercury switches to track motion, and could glitch games by spewing unreasonable data at them). Oh, and the millions of 3rd-party pads with slo-mo buttons. When I say a feature is idiotic, I speak from experience.

I see nothing wrong with the first four points though the mode and select button have been fairly useless. Personaly I like the button lay out, with four face buttons all four buttons are decently sized and all underneath your thumb, the same goes for the four triggers. I absolutly hated the long pull on the Dreamcast and xbox. I also hated how the xbox had six face buttons, meanting two buttons wern't already under your thumb. Maybe it's been fixed with the Dual Shock 2(I think they softened it up a fair bit), but Sony's PS1 d-pads are the ONLY gaming device to EVER give me a blister. I despise twin trigger buttons. I've never gotten along with them. The long pull on DC, GC, and XBox triggers... depends on what you're doing. If you're getting analog input, it kicks ass(pressure sensitivity can bite me). But if you're using them as digital buttons... worthless. 4 face buttons being all underneath my thumb? How come every time I need to hit more than 2 at once I've got an index finger on the button pad next to my thumb? Anyways, I prefer having 6. Lets me get something out of sliding left as well as sliding right. I've never thought of shoulder buttons as primary action keys, nor have most developers. They just aren't in a good position for the task. And the Dual Shock design has always given me a sore left thumb after any real play time with analog control. ... And now that I'm ranting... the Dual Shock handles are akwardly sized. Too small to serve as comfortable handrests, too large to ignore. The perfect digital pad was the Saturn pad. This is uncontested among serious gamers. Even at my most nitpicky, the only real change I would make is moving the start button to above the action keys, like the Genesis 3-button pad was. Pause should be instant access. While more debated, I say the perfect analog pad was the Saturn analog pad(AKA the Nights controller). Not that either is a substitute for a good joystick when the situation calls for one. Unfortunately, the contest for worst pad ever is a lot hotter.

Would you care to clarify what was "flawed and outdated" about the dual shock design? Fanged d-pad. 4 face, 4 shoulder button layout. Analog thumbsticks way too low. D-pad in primary left thumb location instead of thumbstick. The existence of the select button. The existence of the mode button.

Actually, the dark opressive personality is present in all their divisions. That's why the Net Yaroze was so bastardized from it's original concept of making a full PS1 dev kit available to consumers. It's also why they actively put graphics abouve gameplay in their game approval process. By most counts, publishers have extreme trouble getting licenses for 2D game releases in the US at all, regardless of game quality. Based on the shelves, they can only get the linceses as bargain releases and bundle deals. I would be happier if Sony had stayed out of the video game market totally. I think they've been nothing but trouble for the industry, and to hell with the sales numbers that say otherwise.

It's been ages since I've heard Robotech. I remember the title sequence was catchy... And Minmay only had one song</mild_exageration>.

Ah-ha... so then they must be COOLNESS emitters! Therefore proving the YF-19 is an inherently bad plane, since no other mech in the series needs them.

The PSX was doomed, if not from day one then when they started ripping features out to appease other divisions.