Kotaku Australia » joystick

The Joystick Is BACK, Yo

Luke Plunkett — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 07:30:00 +0000

How we miss the humble joystick! Definitely our preferred control method, at least when it comes to X-Wing. Sadly, the peripheral has been on the wane in recent years…until Mad Catz went mad at CES.

They’ve announced not one, but two new joysticks. The first is called the Saitek Aviator Flight Stick, and is targeted at the Xbox 360 and PS3 (though it’ll also work on the PC). Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. just got a lot more appealing. The second is more to our snooty, refined and Wing Commander-seasoned tastes, however, and is called the Cyborg X.

It’s for the PC. And looks like it’ll murder you the second you touch it. Looks like it’s not only time to dust off the office copy of Falcon 4.0, it’s also time to start praying this signals a return to fashion for what is still seen by many as an unfashionable input device.

The Saitek is due this month, and will cost US$40. The Cyborg, meanwhile, is listed only as appearing in “Q1 2009″, and will set you back US$50.

Classic Atari Joystick Goes USB

Stuart Houghton — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 20:20:00 +0000

The standard Atari joystick was not designed for comfort. Or for gaming, really, if we are being honest. Retro cool aside, looking at it now it resembles something you would expect to find on a Soyuz mission control console.

It is strange to think that there is now an entire generation of gamers who never had to suffer the pain/thrill of holding on to one of these during a marathon gaming session. But now, thanks to retrogaming pushers Legacy – you may remember them from the Atari Flashback 2 – the Classic USB Joystick Controller can wreck current-gen wrists as well.

Ideal for MAME usage, this should work out of the box on Windows, OS X and Linux ‘puters. Your tendons may not thank you, but for just $US14.99 semi-authentic 1970s gameplay can be yours.

Man’s Necessities: Air, Water, and USB Atari 2600 Joysticks [Gizmodo]

Palm Sweat Begone! MetalStrike Joystick With Built-In AC

Stuart Houghton — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 23:20:00 +0000

The MetalStrike from Genius is a Joystick With Built-In Air Conditioning.

Yeah, I’m just going to leave that one hanging for a bit.

I sometimes wonder if when future generations talk about our era and the decades-long financial and environmental apocalypse that it produced, they will mention stuff like this as indicators that our civilization was not just in decline but stick-a-fork-in-em done.

Anyway, if hot hands is such a problem for you that you think you can justify the purchase of one of these you should know that it features “Three levels (off/1/2) of air control to keep your hand cool plus feel the effects of flying”. It also comes with vibration, force-feedback and 13 programmable buttons.

Hang on – Isn’t that actually two levels plus ‘off’? Hmm.

Hand-cooling joystick for sweaty flight-simmers [Boing Boing Gadgets]

Remembering The Joystick

Luke Plunkett — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 14:20:00 +0000

Man, what happened to the joystick? One minute, it’s the only way to play (or at least fly), the next, they’re gathering dust up the back of your local games store, under the shelf where they keep LCD screen cleaners and novelty disc trays. Where’d it all go wrong? A cute piece on MSN UK asks that very question, taking the view that, like Sam Neil argues in Jurassic Park, the joystick never really went away. It just evolved, in this case not into birds, but into the thumbsticks featuring across all of today’s consoles. Which is a nice thought, but when I look at my dear old friend pictured above, and then at a control pad, it’s just not the same. Excuse me….*sniff*
Whatever happened to the joystick [MSN, via Slashdot]