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Even cheaper are :

http://www.saitekusa.com/usa/prod/eclispekey.htm

I've had one for about 2 years and it's been pretty good to me.

Saitek FTW.

As well as looking really cool, it's also a really high quality input device. I mostly use it for flight simulators; the difference between it and my previous Logitech Wingman was like night and day.

The most notable difference is that the X52 uses optoelectronic position sensors. These are stunningly accurate, never jitter, and provide perfectly linear response.

...the Saitek P880 with two more shoulder buttons. And vibration.

Dunno about you guys, but said P880 is the only controller I use (my old Sidewinder gamepad and joystick both catch dust now).

Duck Hunt on the NES, right? Nope -- it's an Atari arcade game called Qwak! Okay, maybe Nintendo did a little bit of stealing here, but that was how the business worked back in the day

TFA put that in the side column, first page, as if companies don't steal now...

Totally useless for anyone left handed? check

I'm annoyed at the bias as well. Being left-handed (and in the apparent minority of lefties who actually mouse with my left - most lefties I know have given up, mouse with their right and wonder why they suck at 1st person shooters), there are two input devices that I've found to be particularly friendly to lefties:

(1) The Logitech Marble Mouse (which is actually a trackball) is a symetrical design which works identically for left or right-handed use. I actually have four of these: two of the old 2-button design, two of the new 4-button design - 1 at work, 2 on my computers at home and 1 for my Apple notebook. They're about $20:

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/products/details /US/EN,CRID=2150,CONTENTID=5003

It's the best pointing device I have ever used, in some ways a little basic. It's low on flash but extremely functional, easy to clean and I've had 100% reliability from mine in the six I've owned one. I'd still own mine even if I was right-handed. (Clue: I didn't bother with Logitech's software on Windows - it seemed excessive, but had to install it on my Mac to swap the buttons.)

(2) The Saitek Cyborg joystick line - I have a Cyborg 3D for flying aircraft in games like Battlefield 2. Their Cyborg models all screw apart (with the included tool) to be converted for left or right handed use. It's amazingly brilliant, I have 2 of them (1 at home, 1 at work). (And the Cyborg 3D has been replaced by the Cyborg EVO line - it's still a fairly similar design though and is about $30):

http://www.saitekusa.com/usa/prod/pcgc.asp

Again though, I avoided the software they include with it. Standard Windows XP drivers -> good to go.

I 3 good, cheap, southpaw friendly input devices...

I, too, am a Razer user, ever since the original Boomslang; currently using a Diamondback. Darned fine products.

Schwab

saitek has a great keyboard that does this. Minus the radio--but it does have volume controls...

"there is no input device for your own body"
huhhuhhuh.
I would tend to disagree ;)

I agree that the mouse takes you out of the game. I don't like one hand mouse and one hand keyboard.
(Granted, the Nostromo Speedpad n52 eliminates that, but I use mine more for Photoshop, music and video work).

I picked up Freelancer when it first came out and was so dissappointed by the lack of joystick support. Upon reading various message boards, I discovered viscious arguments about joystick/mouse gaming. I would say the game was -fun-, but I want fun AND realism.

I'm a joystick gamer; space combat sims being my lasting love (I suck at air flight - the whole gravity, fall down go boom thing - except for the original Gunship by Microprose). With my Saitek X45 and a good space combat sim, I'm in some semblance of gamer heaven. I NEVER have to touch the keyboard when playing.

Granted, any control system is completely arbitrary. They are designs that suited whatever team that designed them, and thus became the norm in that particular arena. A joystick feels natural to me for flight because it's what I was raised with, with regard to space/flight sims. A mouse does NOT feel natural to me.

Ultimately, what I want is a complete seperation of ship control and viewport control. I'm going to try Freelook soon and try to configure that to control view only (only in a game that allows smooth and continuous view changes)

But now I'm babbling :)

Is there anything open out there? Does someone have to reverse-engineer the protocol to get it to work?

Exactly. Because *no one* makes steering wheel/pedal controls for consoles.

Yes, I'm also a fan of Saitek pads.

I have the P2500, which is identical to to P880 except it has rumble.
Of course, rumble isn't supported in most emulators of older systems, but it works great for N64 emulation and most recent PC games.

Or there's the P3000. Same design , plus it's wireless. Downsides are the price, batteries, and no rumble.

(not advertising, just a satisfied customer)

Yes, I'm also a fan of Saitek pads.

I have the P2500, which is identical to to P880 except it has rumble.
Of course, rumble isn't supported in most emulators of older systems, but it works great for N64 emulation and most recent PC games.

Or there's the P3000. Same design , plus it's wireless. Downsides are the price, batteries, and no rumble.

(not advertising, just a satisfied customer)

I picked up a Saitek P880 at Circuit City for $19.99 about 2 weeks ago since my new PC doesn't have a gamepad port, making my old reliable Sidewinder useless. It spat out a $10 rebate at the register. (Not sure if it still will, but the terms on the rebate say it must be mailed in by 1/31.)

It's a bit light in weight compared to a PS2 pad, but for what I've played on it so far, it's definitely good for the price. I haven't even installed the optional customization software, and it works great with MAME and ZSNES.
The only thing about it I don't like is that it only has 2 trigger buttons instead of 4, like on the PS2.

It is superior over the Playstation pad for a number of reasons:

• The PSX's D-pad is stiff and rigid, not suitable for fighting games. Diagonal movement is cumbersome to achieve. This gamepad has a fully rotatable D-pad
• 6 right-side buttons on this gamepad, as opposed to 4 on the PSX's. This is handy when you are playing Capcom arcade fighters, or Sega Genesis games that require 6 buttons.

There are a few odd quirks with this pad - the shoulder buttons are far too big; a second set of shoulder buttons could have fit easily. It's a good pad and it's not too expensive ($20). It's also USB-only.

So buy one.

But I gotcha. Not nearly the selection a PC has. I remember back in the good old days you could buy all kinds of wacky controllers for consoles. Powerglove, anyone?

The Belkin Nostromo is a keypad with throttle wheel and D-pad all designed to sit under your left hand.

Or, for a joystick, the Saitek Cyborg Evo is a completely ambidexterous joystick. With the use of thumbscrews, you can adjust a huge amount, even down to the tilt of the top buttons so they're tilted for left handed, not right handed orientation.

I find that for people with large hands, most game pads are just too small. There are a few "large" sized ones out there, but they usually arn't very good. I'll take my X36 or X45 over a game pad anyday. :) However I still say to each their own....is MS thinks that people want to give up OPTIONS on their controlers and all use the same thing, they should go to CompUSA or BESTBUY and look at the large number of different controllers avaliable!

HOTAS systems you can buy vary very widely in price. You can opt for the budget-conscious ($80) Saitek X-45 to the $300 Thrustmaster Cougar that is an exac replica of the throttle and stick found in the real-world Block 52 F-16C.

The early popular analog joysticks from Thrustmaster were largely based off commercial designs (e.g. - F16, F15, etc). They used it as a selling point, being identical in feel to the "real thing".

They also cost >$100 when basic joysticks were running $10. The throttle was another $100 or two.

Nowadays some of the better joysticks aren't based off real fighter jock ones, but they're also way cheaper ($79 for the X45, about $30-40 for a combo joystick/throttle with numerous buttons and hats). Thrustmaster has also come down in price, because the market has expanded, plus competition has forced lower prices.

Who first invented the force feedback style controllers? I think Nintendo was the first to popularize them, but as this thread shows popularize != invented.

The P8000 is essentially a programmable computer keyboard that allows you to assign any command to any button - making it a truly unique peripheral that enables users to play games, surf the net and use application software with much greater ease. This device can be used on your lap or desktop - which makes all your web-browsing, office and gaming needs incredibly easy and lots more fun.

I had one of the first generations of these, and loved it loved it loved it. 35 programmable keys (they were the little bubble-wrap type deals, which had some of the tactile feedback everybody's talking about), each key could be programmed for up to 4 functions using a simple latched-shift system... It even had a gamepad-style 8-way hat.

One of the truly nifty features was that it didn't require a driver to be installed - it perfectly emulated a keyboard, repeat rates and all. Configurations could be programmed in via a driver, but for folks who wanted to take their PC Dash around, there was a very cool barcode scanner built in. When you printed out a layout to cover the buttons with, a barcode would go on the page. Plug the dash in, swipe the barcode, and you were off.

The PC Dash 2 is not quite as cool, and I think it took a step backward, but it was USB... the first gen used a PS/2 passthrough. Still, I have very fond memories.

Yea verily, Saitek doth make some of the swiftiest peripherals on the planet. The X-36 throttle is possibly the perfect interface for flight games.

Meanwhile...

Since the Touchscreen can display new screens for each game automatically, I suggest taking it a step further and make it totally dynamic throughout the application. Instead of one screen that stays static for the entire game (requiring you to either make tiny little icons to cover the retinue of commands, or forego commands in favor of bigger icons), give the option for the user to create drill-down style menus which temporarily replace unrelated controls. Press the Inventory button, all the related inventory controls pop up. Press the Weapons button... well, you get the idea. This wouldn't be much good in fast-paced games, but for those of us who prefer our games a little slower-paced, it would truly rock. For the folks who are thinking of dynamic LCARS control panels, there you have it.

Tatsujin
Visit Unclebear.com for all your roleplaying needs that don't involve leather.

Saitek has another, very similar thing that appears to have more things you can press (so it must be better!) at http://www.saitekusa.com/gm2/info1.htm. The site says it requires Windows, but it doesn't specify how it actually works (From what I quickly saw, no mention of USB, so I'd imagine it plus in between keyboard..but still requires their software).

Not exactly sure how comfortable either one would feel, and I would probley never get used to it. But that's just me.