The Death of the Joystick

[robwright]

It's been years since a game instilled the need to buy a new joystick, and it will be several more years coming until it happens again. TwitchGuru looks at what happened to joysticks and what's available now in the market.

 

[mitch074]

You may want to try Flight Gear Flight Simulator. You can't beat that one for realism.
If you cough up the dough for the 9 maps DVDs (the game is free - as in speech) you can fly all around the world.
Hefty joystick required - very sensitive handling.

 

[MrMaestro]

I've heard many stories about Logitech joysticks, and none were all that nice. There were a couple of threads I've read on other forums about joysticks, and EVERYONE said stay away from Logitech. Apparently you're lucky if the stick lasts a few months before turning crap - stuff like dead zone getting realy big and the stick floppy. Although one guy said he loves the feel so much, he just gets a new one every few months (buy from the right store and ya get a warranty). EVERY review I have read on the Saitek X52 flight system says its totally worth the money, in fact I'm planning on buying one in about a month (gotta save up - AU$200).

 

[stemnin]

I own a Logitech joystick, a wireless rumblepad, a wireless keyboard and mouse, and the joystick has just been collecting dust, I occasionally try to use my rumblepad, or try to use it (still trying to figure out setting it up for oblivion).

I try to use my joystick, but it's such a PITA, the handle doesn't stay put in the center (keeps fidgeting, maybe it's dead zone thing)

Now you're really making me want to buy a new joystick.. I got an extra 50$ on my pay today.. damn you (trav) for writing this article!

 

[russki]

I'm surprised the article did not mention Thrustmaster Cougar - the ultimate HOTAS for combat flight sims (particularly F16 sims, as it is modeled after that fighter's controls)

 

[crichards]

I loved playing the X-Wing series with my Thrustmaster. It was by far the best joystick ever (expensive but worth it). I wish LucasArts would bring out more space flight games - I still play the X-Wing series today.

 

[belvdr]

Imagine my surprise and dismay when I found out that Microsoft was not supporting the SideWinder line on XP, and I was unable to get the software to recognize the peripheral let alone support the force feedback functionality.

What a crock! I used my SideWinder Precision Pro on XP (RTM through SP2) until my game port died. Evidently, the author isn't a very good troubleshooter because in the XP Game Controls control panel option, it specifically has "Microsoft SideWinder (Auto Detect)".

As for my next flight joystick, I'm looking at CH Products.

 

[Luscious]

I was faced with an interesting dilemma after receiving all these products: what am I going to test them with?....If no one makes the joystick games anymore, I'd just have to try out the new hardware with the old software.

Not a real flight sim guru are you? DUH!
You're obviously not TOO familiar with the flight simulator software out there for the PC, otherwise you wouldn't have said the silly thing above and instead immediately install the latest version of X-PLANE on your machine.

In case you didn't know X-PLANE also just happens to be an FAA Approved flight simulation software suitable for pilot training, meaning that it will work with just about any stick out there. The vast array of customization and configuration options within the software allow you to pretty much program the full control set for a multi-axis/multi-button joystick, as well as rudder controls, thrusters, yoke wheels, helicopter collective, and still retain the use of a keyboard/mouse.

Laminar Research and Austin Meyer have refined and advanced the flight sim genre to the most demanding levels and continue to do so, updating the software in every detail. The difference between MS Flight Simulator and X-Plane??? Microsoft gives you a GAME, X-Plane is a TRUE SIMULATOR. Anybody who knows a thing or two about flying and has used both will tell you that. And every true flight simulation fan out there will have X-Plane installed on their system, be it a PC or a Mac.

X-Plane can also break your CPU/GPU into a real sweat with all it's "options" turned up. Some would say it makes for a much more interesting benchmark than even Oblivion.

So if you think there's nothing out there to try your joystick on, I suggest you fire up X-Plane, and see what a REAL flight simulator is capable of.

 

[kanoobie]

It's been a while since I used a joystick for my PC. This topic about joysticks brings back memories of playing Jane's Combat Simulations as a kid. For me the joystick died alongside the serial game port for the PC.

 

[Anoobis]

I too miss the good ole days of space combat sims like the legendary Wing Command and X-Wing series. I still have X-Wing, Tie-Fighter, X-Wing vs Tie-Fighter, Wing Commander IV and Wing Commander: Prophecy. I tried installing WC on my machine but the system is simply too fast for it. Even with CPU limiters the game will only play for a few minutes before crashing. I've got an old K6 500 machine with a Riva TNT128 card in it. I've been thinking of pulling it out of mothballs just to play those games.

DAMN YOU PEOPLE!!! COME OUT WITH A NEW SPACE COMBAT GAME!

 

[tmeacham]

That's a shame about the Logitech sticks. Maybe I'll try to hang on to one and wear it out some, see if it's still as good. Out of the box, though, it's awesome.

What a crock! I used my SideWinder Precision Pro on XP (RTM through SP2) until my game port died. Evidently, the author isn't a very good troubleshooter because in the XP Game Controls control panel option, it specifically has "Microsoft SideWinder (Auto Detect)".

What can I tell you, belvdr. It wouldn't work on my machine and when I called Microsoft they were all, "Sidewinder!? Upgrade, Noob!" This was many years ago, of course, and my "skillz" were not honed to the blinding edge they are now, but still... Microsoft dumping on an excellent hardware line was disappointing.

Not a real flight sim guru are you? DUH!
You're obviously not TOO familiar with the flight simulator software out there for the PC, otherwise you wouldn't have said the silly thing above and instead immediately install the latest version of X-PLANE on your machine.

Does X-Plane have combat? That name rings a bell so I'll check it out. I'm not really into the take off and land sims. I prefer to shoot down stuff. Falcon 4.0 or Janes ATF would have been nice so I may still pick those back up. I also considered Longbow 2 for some copter action. I'm ashamed to say that I bought Strike Commander (with speech pack!) again. What's wrong with me.

Speaking of space combat sims, I'm currently working on an article (kind of a spinoff of this one) specifically about the great space sims so post your favorites and PM me with your fond memories.

 

[theclintstone]

I wouldn't say that joysticks are gone, they have just moved and become smaller. Most console controllers feature a small joystick designed for your thumb. Some of the pads that used to be 4 or 8 directions now support close to 360 degree movement. While this is not desireable for sentive tasks like a sim it seems to get the job done for arcade action. I have always been bothered by having to calibrate my joystick over and over.

Most users don't want to have to buy a game and then find out they need to spend more cash on a controller to make it playable. (Though guitar hero series seems to doing well, but its way more fun then any sim, and its really odd to play other games using the guitar.)

For FPS action however WASD and a Mouse are dead acurate over any game pad. Its a matter of resolution and responce.

 

[infornography42]

Travis, are you TRYING to make me cry?
I want a new Mechwarrior game sooooo much! Curse you Microsoft, curse you to heck!
I could really go for a good space combat game too. Privateer 3 would be ideal, maybe a Freelancer 2.

As for classics that I loved... lets see.
Elite II Frontier is easily my favorite, though that was less of a space combat game and more of a space business simulator with aggressive piracy. I may very well have put more hours into this game than any single other game in my life. Truly expansive.

Freelancer was great, but definitely not a flightstick space combat game. I still loved it. The story was great, the combat was fun, the mission structure was entertaining, the exploration was fantastic. Me and my friends got this one down to a fine science. We were able to skip ahead two nations in difficulty and complete the harder missions they had until we could afford a good intermediary ship, then we would fly out to pirate space and do missions there until we could get the best ships, then we would explore and shoot down aliens till we had the best weapons, and we could pull this off in one lazy afternoon.

Privateer 2 was a lot of fun, even if the second to last plot mission was next to impossible. Even strategy guides (you know, before the internet was popular) indicated that even using the most optimal strategy, it would take no small amount of luck to beat it and that the last mission was far easier. I can't attest to that because I never beat that second to the last mission. Then my discs were ruined during a move. I still have fond memories of that game.

 

[webdev511]

Joysticks are GREAT for FPS games.

I used to use a MadCatz Panther XL Joystick/trackball combo, but they stopped development on them so I switched to a CH Combat Stick Pro & Kensingtion Expert Mouse Pro.

They joystick is well described in the article and the trackball has 10 programmable buttons.

Suffice to say I don't touch my keyboard when I'm playing half life2 or CS (both of which have joystick support) and I didn't have any issues setting up the Combat Stick to emulate the directional pad in thief or deus ex.

The only games I use a keyboard / mouse combo in are MMORPG & RTS games.

 

[gm0n3y]

Privateer is definitely one of my favorite games of all time. Privateer 2 was also good. I still play Privateer (1) on my current system (its a bitch to get it to work though) occasionally. I just don't understand where the space combat genre went. Most of my favorite games from the 90s were Wing Commander and X-Wing games. I have been complaining years now about how they just don't make them anymore. The last one I played was Freelancer and that one was OK, the game just got boring pretty quickly.

 

[Ssj4Crono]

Battlefeld 2

I am a daily tomshardware reader and never bothered to register until now....

What about games like Battlefeld 2 where you can flight aircraft??? Its really a lot different when you can control a weapon with much power

 

[ThePatriot]

What do you mean the joystick is dead????
I am using the Saitek AV8R-01 for FSX and it works great.

How can you even consider to fly a flightsim without a joystick???

What a lame article.

 

[idekkers]

actually - if you want to shoot things - you need the new version of Falcon4 - AF - you can find it in http://www.lead-pursuit.com/ - this is a very stable version of F4, or you can get the last community patches for the original F4 which make it even better.
There is also lockon at http://www.lo-mac.com/

and you have to get the thrustmaster cougar!!

Ido

oh - one more thing - you can get the old version of the thrustmaster hotas - the F22 and TQS off ebay for almost nothing and it's also better then all of the ones you reviewed. ( tom - the one that made this site had a set - back in the days when it was still called sysdoc.pair.com and he used to list his system spec)

 

[Doon1]

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>

 

[Grendel_66]

I still use a joystick daily to play my evening game of Descent 3. I can play 6DOF games only w/ a good stick (10 years ago that was your best option and I got used to it), so over the last few years I went through a vast amount of joysticks in search of the one that will last and would replace my M$ SW 3D Pro.

The Logitech sticks suffer from 1. cheap potentiometers, they will got bad after anything from 1 week to 3 months and 2. cheap hat switch assembly that breaks easily. Saitek sticks have better pots & hat switches but the trigger is usually weak.

Since modern computers don't have gameports anymore and the M$ SideWinder driver has timing issues on FSBs > 100MHz I ended up building my own USB converter so I can use the M$ SW 3D Pro. Too bad nobody makes sticks like the 3DP anymore

I don't think joysticks will die out. Plenty of flight sims around and there's the one or other FPS in the works that will make using a stick appealing..

 

[DonBuc]

There is also a new type of game controller coming onto the market; one that provides tactile feedback. Here is a link to one of them; the novint falcon. http://www.novint.com/

 

[michiganfan]

I recently had a great experience digging up an old favorite.

My favorite space sim was freespace 2 (from 1999). I had a hunger for playing it a couple of weeks ago, but couldn't because I had loaned it to a friend. I took a look to see if I could find it online. I had the most wonderful surprise:

The game had gone open source, and there is a community dedicated to the game that is still developing for it.

They have updated the graphics to modern standards, created new campaigns, and even ported the original Descent: Freespace into the project.

If you are looking for a good game to play with your joystick definitely check it out.

The name of the project is:

Freespace2 SCP (source code project)

http://scp.indiegames.us/news.php

It brought a huge smile to my face.

 

[infornography42]

OOoooOoh
I'll have to download that tonight.

 

[Alpha4]

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.

 

[tmeacham]

My favorite space sim was freespace 2 (from 1999). I had a hunger for playing it a couple of weeks ago, but couldn't because I had loaned it to a friend. I took a look to see if I could find it online. I had the most wonderful surprise:

The game had gone open source, and there is a community dedicated to the game that is still developing for it.

That's a great find, and it's getting addressed in the space combat article I'm working on. There's a BSG TC demo for it called Beyond the Red Line that is shockingly good (and completely self-contained).

I also found that there are some hi-res art patches for Mechwarrior games and X-Wing Alliance. I'll discuss more of that in the article.