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I knew it would be a giant failure solely based on the fact that it was a console space sim.

No Man's Sky isn't a space sim. You spend most of your time on planetary surfaces, not in your ship cockpit. Not only that, but ship combat isn't common.

Space sim has evolved beyond the capacity of stagnant console controllers, and the whole fanbase is housed on the PC. Flight Stick + Keyboard is the way to go.

They have? I'm not so sure of that, considering that THIS is a PSone controller:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

The PS2 has these:
https://s.hswstatic.com/gif/ps...

Which you can plug this Hori Flight Stick 2 into:

http://www.ign.com/articles/20...

You might be thinking that it looks like a Saitek x45...that's because it IS a rebadged Saitek x45.

The PS3 has these USB ports:

https://assets.pcmag.com/media...

Which you can plug this into:

http://www.thrustmaster.com/en...

or this for that matter:

http://www.saitek.com/uk/prod-...

And play this (disc only):

https://store.playstation.com/...

or this:

https://store.playstation.com/...

You might be thinking that the latter reminds you of War Thunder...that's because it IS basically the test for War Thunder, and releasing it paid for War Thunder's development. So console owners were basically the Alpha Testers for War Thunder.

PS4's have these:

ps://media.psu.com/media/articles/image/ps4_usb_hard_drive.png

Which you can plug this into:

http://www.thrustmaster.com/en...

And play:

Elite Dangerous
https://store.playstation.com/...

or this:

Eve Valkyrie Warzone
https://store.playstation.com/...

or this:

War Thunder
https://store.playstation.com/...

with the latter you could also plug in this:

http://www.thrustmaster.com/en...

or this:

http://www.saitek.com/uk/prod-...

or any other HOTAS. Yes, there are PS4 owners playing War Thunder with Warthogs and Rhino's.

I knew it would be a giant failure solely based on the fact that it was a console space sim.

No Man's Sky isn't a space sim. You spend most of your time on planetary surfaces, not in your ship cockpit. Not only that, but ship combat isn't common.

Space sim has evolved beyond the capacity of stagnant console controllers, and the whole fanbase is housed on the PC. Flight Stick + Keyboard is the way to go.

They have? I'm not so sure of that, considering that THIS is a PSone controller:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

The PS2 has these:
https://s.hswstatic.com/gif/ps...

Which you can plug this Hori Flight Stick 2 into:

http://www.ign.com/articles/20...

You might be thinking that it looks like a Saitek x45...that's because it IS a rebadged Saitek x45.

The PS3 has these USB ports:

https://assets.pcmag.com/media...

Which you can plug this into:

http://www.thrustmaster.com/en...

or this for that matter:

http://www.saitek.com/uk/prod-...

And play this (disc only):

https://store.playstation.com/...

or this:

https://store.playstation.com/...

You might be thinking that the latter reminds you of War Thunder...that's because it IS basically the test for War Thunder, and releasing it paid for War Thunder's development. So console owners were basically the Alpha Testers for War Thunder.

PS4's have these:

ps://media.psu.com/media/articles/image/ps4_usb_hard_drive.png

Which you can plug this into:

http://www.thrustmaster.com/en...

And play:

Elite Dangerous
https://store.playstation.com/...

or this:

Eve Valkyrie Warzone
https://store.playstation.com/...

or this:

War Thunder
https://store.playstation.com/...

with the latter you could also plug in this:

http://www.thrustmaster.com/en...

or this:

http://www.saitek.com/uk/prod-...

or any other HOTAS. Yes, there are PS4 owners playing War Thunder with Warthogs and Rhino's.

I knew it would be a giant failure solely based on the fact that it was a console space sim.

No Man's Sky isn't a space sim. You spend most of your time on planetary surfaces, not in your ship cockpit. Not only that, but ship combat isn't common.

Space sim has evolved beyond the capacity of stagnant console controllers, and the whole fanbase is housed on the PC. Flight Stick + Keyboard is the way to go.

They have? I'm not so sure of that, considering that THIS is a PSone controller:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

The PS2 has these:
https://s.hswstatic.com/gif/ps...

Which you can plug this Hori Flight Stick 2 into:

http://www.ign.com/articles/20...

You might be thinking that it looks like a Saitek x45...that's because it IS a rebadged Saitek x45.

The PS3 has these USB ports:

https://assets.pcmag.com/media...

Which you can plug this into:

http://www.thrustmaster.com/en...

or this for that matter:

http://www.saitek.com/uk/prod-...

And play this (disc only):

https://store.playstation.com/...

or this:

https://store.playstation.com/...

You might be thinking that the latter reminds you of War Thunder...that's because it IS basically the test for War Thunder, and releasing it paid for War Thunder's development. So console owners were basically the Alpha Testers for War Thunder.

PS4's have these:

ps://media.psu.com/media/articles/image/ps4_usb_hard_drive.png

Which you can plug this into:

http://www.thrustmaster.com/en...

And play:

Elite Dangerous
https://store.playstation.com/...

or this:

Eve Valkyrie Warzone
https://store.playstation.com/...

or this:

War Thunder
https://store.playstation.com/...

with the latter you could also plug in this:

http://www.thrustmaster.com/en...

or this:

http://www.saitek.com/uk/prod-...

or any other HOTAS. Yes, there are PS4 owners playing War Thunder with Warthogs and Rhino's.

These days, thatbarely keeps the lights on at a small company.

The average price for a VR game on Steam is around $25, so these games are selling less than 10k units. So the top 30 games have sold maybe 400-500k units total.

Considering well under half-million headsets have have been sold (was 150k back in September, just after supply issues had been resolved) Let's say during the holiday rush they doubled that to 300k Vive units shipped.

That's a pretty pathetic attach rate, which means either (1) the games are terrible, or (2) the hardcore Adrenalin junkies are buying it for their simulation game of choice (cars, space combat, or sports), and nothing else.

If those estimates ae correct, the it looks like the attach rate for paid games on Steam VR is between 2-3. Those are Wii-level numbers! Don't expect any serious effort from anyone besides Valve with sell-through that bda.

Cause really, the hardcore simulation lovers assume the rest of the world loved a hardcore simulation, no matter the discomfort, or cost. These are the type of people who will drop a five hundred easy dollars on custom pedals or controllers for their favorite simulated distraction:

https://arstechnica.com/gadget...
http://www.thrustmaster.com/pr...

That's a gamepad, or joypad. He wants a joystick. Like this.

Why go retro when you can just buy a nice one in Germany without the hassle of import taxes and high delivery costs? Just go buy it on amazon and you'll have two for the price of one of the retro ones.

Wake me up when consoles attain these:

1. Games on consoles are fully modable
2. Standard USB peripherals are usable
3. Decent games like X3: The Reunion are available

Ah, you fail to know about the awesomeness of the Thrustmaster Hotas Cougar, it's an exact replica of the flight controls on the F-16
http://www.thrustmaster.com/product.aspx?ProductID=11&PlatformID=5

I don't know about you, but I don't know anyone who spends anything close to $140 for accessories. These types of numbers are just about worthless because they clump the console-centric with the PC gamer with the gizmo nut.

Actually, PC gamers can go significantly past that for accessories, particularly for flight simulators and air-combat games, without going to the 'gizmo nut' range. The Thrustmaster HOTAS Cougar stick/throttle package runs about $300, to which can be added a number of different aftermarket modifications, such as replacing the gimbals and potentiometers with strain sensors so the stick works like the real F-16 stick (my upgrade was a custom-machined set of gimbal replacements and Hall sensors replacing the potentiometers, which ran about $500 total). A set of good rudder pedals alone can list for $150 (and for the truly gonzo flight-sim addict, you can get rudder pedals that duplicate F-16 rudder pedals -- at ten times the cost). If you want to get a more accurate simulation with multiengine aircraft, you can get throttle quadrants that let you control all four engines on a simulated 747 or B-17 individually, with a list price of $200. So you can easily run over $500 with just a stick, throttle, and rudder setup, without going into any of the various MFD-like button pads. And this doesn't even touch on the people who build cockpits for their flight simulator or air-combat software. The 'gizmo nuts' are the ones who go off and build complete jetliner cockpits for their flight sims, and their investment can run into tens of thousands of dollars in hardware and time.

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

In fact, when coupled with this joystick you can actually program the pedals to mimic both keyboard and mouse movements.

Who needs a keyboard? :-)

And yes... I do have that setup myself. Yes I am a sorry person.

That's funny, i don't even own a Gamecube, but I do own just such a caddy, which i got free at a promotional event thrown by Nintendo. It's round, only slightly wider than a game disc, less than two inches thick, with 24 pockets (12 double-sided sleeves). And it's Nintendo branded. Don't know if they're for sale, but here's a third-party solution which i'm sure works just as well.

It's not a router but, as I'm an avid gamer, I bought one of these a while back. Belkin has now firmly established that it won't provide trustworthy firmware/driver software, not just for their routers, but for any product.

Even though I don't use the Belkin Speedpad anymore (I've since migrated to this), I'll be yanking it out of my machine when I get home tonight.

Absolutely inexcusable.

Schwab

I own them both, and wish there were more coming. They have a very old-school feel and gameplay, but the gorgeous looks of modern games.

Mutant Storm will make you go and buy a dual-stick joystick, like the Thrustmaster Firestorm. It's a lot more fun than Crimsonland. Much more action, and it always shoots where you point, just like Robotrom -- no separate fire-button action needed.

... I can build a Thrustmaster HOTAS/Cougar into it. And then I need the thing to pitch, yaw, and roll based on the movements of my stick, throttle and pedals. Of course none of this has to do with work, but it would make for one hell of a PC Gaming/Piloting experience. :)

B) Microsoft has mandated (or pushed for industry comittees to mandate) lots of PC hardware standards. They "invented" mouse scroll wheels, funny keys on the keyboard, etc. yet somehow Logitech manages to stay in business. Standards for hardware compatibility are good for users.

C) GameSpy won't dry up and blow away just because Microsoft introduces a metching service. Direct3D hasn't killed OpenGL. DirectPlay hasn't made all developers stop writing their own net code - because DirectPlay sucks. If Microsoft's matchmaker is less crappy than GameSpy, then they have a problem. Fair warning to GameSpy.

D) "One controller, for all games" - That's you talking, not Microsoft. There can't be one controller for all types of games. They're just talking about a standard layout for gamepads. And if people don't like it, Logitech will offer different products. After all, how's Microsoft going to stop me from plugging a huge fricking machine into my USB port if I want to?

I guess that controllers for FPS might come as a combo of this and a mouse. I haven't tried it, but it does look comfortable...

Now everything that's missing is that the game can be used with a "snowboard controller" such as the playstation one or the the xbox one

Sure, they're not usb yet, but that is a smaller problem...

Great to see a snowboard game for Linux. I am very excited.

This is nearly as good as my Thrustmaster Firestorm Wireless gamepad... except that the Firestorm has an extra four axes and nine buttons (or nineteen with shift-button mapping). Probably cheaper too, and I can't see myself playing GTA3 with just a mouse. ;-)

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.

in case you were wondering, much like I was, John Romero's very attractive GF is the famous Killcreek (who i always thought was a dude). Her real name is Stevie Case. Here's an interesting interview with her.

For the same reason that people build cockpits like this for flight simulators -- having a controller where all of the controls actually look and feel like they're part of a control panel for whatever it is that they're supposed to be operating in the simulation. There are companies that sell mockup cockpit shells or cockpit interiors to enhance the feeling of actually flying a plane. The extent to which people will go to replicate genuine controls for their computer can boggle the mind; some people spend literally thousands of dollars buying hardware. And it's not just flight simulations; there are cockpits for racing sims available, too.

No matter how flashy you make the graphics, the person playing the game still has to control their plane, character, car, mech, or whatever in the game. And using a two-button joystick and a keyboard to play the game doesn't help them feel as if they're really there in the game; that's why you see all of the steering-wheel and aircraft joysticks on the market. The controller for Steel Battalions is a special-purpose game controller; it's designed to work well with just that one game. There are other controllers, like the Thrustmaster Cougar, that take a more general approach -- a controller that is fantastically programmable to allow the user to customize their controller to suit whatever game they happen to be playing.

Although I've never actually had one in my hands, I honestly think the controllers of the Xbox are going to be horrible !
It comes short on many features in my opinion :

4 Analog buttons are just not enough and I feel all uncomfortable just by pondering how I'm gonna fit that Xbox monstrocity in my hand ;-)
And the left analog joystick should be in one line with the left one, especially if you're gonna play something like quake3.

Just look at the picture and start to wonder how in earth you're gonna cope with the 'thing'

And when there are perfect examples of how 6 trigger buttons ( and the 4 normal buttons plus 2 buttons incorporated in the analog joysticks) can be fitted on a gamepad without needing a second index finger, it's really a shame the Microsoft guys are gonna put such a bad ( but funky ) designed pad on the Xbox.
It's okay for MAME to have only 4 buttons , but imagine trying to play Xwingalliance with the 'thing' ;-)

Check out this gamepad. In my opinion the best gamepaddesign available ( for its cheap pricetag compared to available MS pads )
You get 12 programmable buttons (which means that almost any free finger could be on a button in an instant), forcefeedback, and a very good design.
It's basic design was copied from the PS gamepad , but it sits much better in your hand than that one.

This fall, they're releasing the Cougar HOTAS. (No nerds, that's Hands On Throttle And Stick, not, well nevermind.) :-)

They're awesome. All metal, digital and fully programmable (as usual). I'm the proud owner of a F22, F16 TQS and Elite Rudder Pedals. The setup rocks, but is showing it's age. (No USB etc.) Preorders are possible now.

Check it out here, it's a beauty: HOTAS - Far Beyond Reality

to my days in junior high / high school with my ThrustMaster Throttle (a human heart shaped apparatus that had 6 buttons, 3 shift modes and of course, the whole thing rocked forward and backward as a throttle) playing the whole of the Wing Commander series and its derivatives. I think Thrustmaster has a new version of that old thing.