The Death of the Joystick

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Like webdev I play FPS games with a trackball and joystyick, and have since Castle Wolfenstein. I used my Panther XL until there were just too many games that would not support it, then gave it away. I still miss that pinkie button. I'd have modded it with mouse optical sensors except it had no twist. Now I use a Logitech Extreme 3D, as I like its feel the best and don't mind replacing it every couple of years. Playing with a trackball and joystick is somewhat less precise unless you're quite ambidextrous (I'm fairly so), as the trackballs are not generally as sensitive as high-end mice and your left hand does the looking and aiming, but to me it makes all the diffference in the world in fun to be divorced from the keyboard. Also, I use a mouse and digitizer puck (right hand) and keyboard (left hand) all day, so the joystick's vertical hand position and motion and the trackball's different motion really help prevent carpal tunnel symptoms. Don't know if doctors would agree, but I get moderate pain and numbness if I work for more than twelve hours or so for several days, whereas adding a couple (or four) hours of gaming doesn't add to the symptoms.
 
If nobody had noticed The x52 and x52 pro has holes so it can be screwed to the desk and belive it wont be moving no where then lol top notch stick x52 pro is worth the extra as internal components are weak on x52, this has been correct in the pro ..
 
Heh. You guys speak of all these crazy flight sticks I never knew existed. Were any of you able to successfully navigate the Death Star run in the final mission of X-Wing Alliance? I found it ridiculously difficult with my Logitech Wingman Attack 2.
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I did! It was hard and took many tries.

Side Note: My game name in every game (CSS AOE2 Q4 etc...) is Ace, because Xwing Alliance was the first game I played. Good ol Ace Azzamen was my favorite name at the young tender age of 10. [/nostalgia]
-cm
 
ahh I remember the days of playing sensible world of soccer on my amiga 500 (with added 1meg of ram!) with my trusty zipstick, now that was a game that needed a joystick.
 
I miss the "old style" joysticks that started the whole joystick craze on the PC. Not the earlier Atari style, but the one's that I believe started with the Apple IIe computers, then were accepted into the IBM relm. The short stick and few buttons make for a very good input device for certain games types still today. But, alas finding one of these is almost impossible. I'm talking about the old short stick analog style joysticks with only 2 buttons. With one of these, driving games are SO much easier to master. The infinite control provided by a joystick of this style has yet to be matched by any other control, even a wheel can't match the precision I can get with a short yoke analog stick. A slight two finger movement can take the stick from one side to the other, while still allowing the other hand to grasp tightly to allow very precise and controlled positioning of the stick. Sure, newer games have such a wealth of options, that 2 buttons are not quite enough anymore. But to me a driving game is first and formost about driving. Left, right, gas and brake are all I need IMHO.

Large flight style joysticks are very clumbsy for this purpose and really most others too. Even flying with a larger stick is often a mess. And while I do enjoy the "dual" console style controllers, you can't get much precision out of that tiny analog stick. You're lucky to get more than a handful of usefull positions out of that tiny little control. But, they are definately good for many game styles too. For games that require a very tiny amount of controller movement to represent a very tiny, but substantial change in the game, then the short yoke is just not beatable. If you haven't used one of these, and face it, most of you guys have not used a good short yoke, then you just won't understand. Even the author of this article showed with his "first joystick" being a MS sidewinder, which post dated the short yoke by quite a few years, might not understand what precise control this stick would give some types of games.

If anyone has seen a joystick like this still available, please let me know. I miss that control from years ago, and have not yet found it with the other devices available today.
 
There are some fantastic sims out there. The thing is that some of them got so good that other developers couldn't keep up. The IL2 series is an awesome WWII combat simulator. The physics and realism are WAY beyond anything that has gone before in the WWII era. LOMAC (Lock-on) is the current era fighers what IL2 is to WWII era. Of course there is the MSFS series that just gets better all the time. I do have all the Jane's combat sims, Falcon 4.0, FA-18, ect... but they don't get the play time they used to.
I think one of the problems with the flight sims is that folks lack the attention span to master a true flight simulator. There a long and steep learning curve there. It's a lot lest complicated to pick up a game controller and arcade it out with your buddies. Instant gratification. Oh well, it's their loss.

Thick8 out <S>
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Absolutely....
Not only that I use a MSFFB2 USB in XP Pro and I have no issues whatsoever ... XP64 & Vista is another story.... Everything said about Logitech is true.... they look good but they just dont last. At the moment with the departure of Sidewinder CH & Saitek are IMO the top dogs in the joystick market.. with Saitek actually getting the edge for the affordability/reliability factor.



BTW.. that Freespace BSG BTRL mod is pretty nice.... If you are a BSG fan... or just want to check out something new... check out these videos.
 
If there was an XBox-like controller I could use to play Halo for PC, I'd prefer that than using the keyboard and mouse for sure.
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You can get Xbox 360 controllers for Windows both wired and wireless.

http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/gaming/productdetails.aspx?pid=090

Really?!? Wired too?!? Thanks, I'll have to look online for one--seems nobody 'round here carries the wired ones.

I own one (wired variety) and it's great - best gamepad for the PC I've ever used. It seems pretty rugged too - it's certainly survived longer than any of my Logitech Dual Action pads ever did.
 
I have to admit that I still use (and prefer) a joystick for all non-console (read 'PC') games. I am now using the fighterstick USB from CH Products, which replaced the combatstick simply because I wanted the additional 4 position hat. Don't care for the 8 position because I tend to miss the diagonal positions and hit something I didn't want.
I use this in concert with a Kensington trackball pro to re-create the old Panther XL feel that got me into joysticks to begin with.(I still have the Panther for nostalgia).
This combo works very well for me, and I seem to do as well with it (or better) than I could with keyboard/mouse. My typing skills/fine motor function are not really adequate for that scene.
The one thing I noticed when looking into a replacement for the combatstick was that none of the sticks except CH still have the pinky button. I use this for crouching on all my games, and not having it was a real deal breaker. I don't see why it has been removed as I (at least) found it very useful...
 
You really need SOME kind of controller for arcade-style games, and anyone who thinks a gamepad is great must have an aversion to manual labor...I have bursitus in both thumbs. It doesn't hurt nor limit movement, so the only time I think about it is when I'm using a gamepad and continuously overshoot my intended movement.

Joysticks are great!
 
I'm one of the 10 people on planet Earth who plays all my FPS games on the PC with a joystick/trackball combo. The trackball is a simple Logitech marble mouse, and the joystick is manufactured by a company unmentioned in the article - AVB. I've been using the AVB Top Shot Pegasus for about seven years now and believe it beats anything I've ever tried by Logitech or Gravis. Thankfully, they still sell this joystick on their website. If the game doesn't support controllers, that's not a problem either because I use downloaded Pinnacle Profiler software which is a wonderful keyboard emulator that works great with this joystick.

I really can't imagine playing a game with a keyboard/mouse combination. And it puzzles me how no one I ever talk to has ever heard of using a joystick and trackball with a FPS. I can't ever seem to spark interest in anyone else to try such an arrangement either. So I hope I never see a day where this kind of hardware is no longer available to keep playing games.
 
I still have a working original CH Flightstick Pro. 1991 or 1992, can't remember only that I bought it just when CH released it. Only downside is that some games now require a USB based joystick so my old school joystick port based stick won't work.

However, it is just as responsive and accurate as it was new.
 
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