Soul Caliber universal arcade stick

[mattudland]

Little piece of news you folks already know about probably...  this was copied from here:

http://xbox.ign.com/articles/433/433578p1.html

To ring in the launch of Soul Calibur II for GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox on August 26 in the States, publisher Namco has teamed with peripheral maker Nuby to release an all-new arcade stick for the American audience.

Dubbed the "Universal Soul Calibur II Arcade Stick," the controller is a thick, sturdy thing to behold, and it's tattooed in original game-related art (an evil Soul Calibur sword) that's sure to appeal to franchise enthusiasts. The interesting detail about the arcade stick is that it works with all three consoles -- no extra assembly required. All gamers need do is plug the appropriate end into the console of their choice and they'll be up and running.

Nuby president Paul Chen today told IGN that the Universal Soul Calibur II Arcade Stick would be available for a retail price of just $39.99 on August 31, five days after the official launch of the three versions. Apparently the slight delay is due to some last minute changes to the artwork that appears on the controller's face.


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So I've got my money down on one the second I see it, but I'm no controller hack expert.  If anyone has some info on how we could hack the interface for "real" arcade controls and make this into a quality universal aracde stick, this could become a very cheap and potentially easy way to interface controls to all three consoles.  Much like x-arcade or whatever, but without the 100 dollar pricetag...

 - Matt

[armad1ll0]

that thing is still a plastic bodied joystick in my mind. It just doesn't have the weight and feel of a wood body stick.

Who knows what the parts will be like. The fact is that nothing beats the arcade style buttons and joystick and it doesn't look that it has that grade of parts in there.

[jakejake28]

yea, i agree with armadillo on this one: i don't think the quality of the sticks or buttons will feel good, especially to people here who have built their own controllers with happs or wico parts. tho, it is namco, so for all i know they could be so good we'll be buying these to use the buttons on our cabs

[RandyT]

Ummm.....

I think he was talking about hacking the interface to real arcade controls and not trying to utilize the cheap stuff that comes with it.  

There's a good possibility the board that runs that unit will hook right up to Happ style sticks and buttons for the console crowd.

RandyT

[mattudland]

You got it RandyT,  I think the buttons look inconcievably crappy from the picture at IGN.

But for the price, a good controller hack that works on all three consoles would be nice.

 - Matt

[BombProofPlane]

thats one of the best ideas ive ever heard but its more of a time saver than a cash saver

Con: psx controllers (with analogs) are about 9 bucks (needed to use adapters to other consoles) ps2 - xbox+ gamecube adapter only costs 19.99

Pro: if you got a cab and all 3 consoles like me you can have all of your controls connected to all your consoles simultaneosly (probably shouldn't turn em all on at once though

Pro: probably has prestripped wires inside all you gotta do is legnthen which means no soldering

anyone remember the powerramp?

Pro: encoder board might be super tiny

[armad1ll0]

the easier way is to just use a PSX encoder inside of your controls and get the adaptors.

They have them for - gamecube, USB-PC, Xbox- Saturn and Dreamcast.

What more can you ask for?

PSX encoders are about $10 or so... the adaptors range from $10-15.

It just seems easier that way than trying to hack an actual joystick to make another joystick.

[RandyT]

the easier way is to just use a PSX encoder inside of your controls and get the adaptors.

They have them for - gamecube, USB-PC, Xbox- Saturn and Dreamcast.

What more can you ask for?

It's easier to mess around with adapters rather than just have the cables plugged in all the time and turn on the system you want to use

We seem to have different definitions for the word "easy".

Also, don't forget that every level of "translation" incurrs a performance hit.  This stick most likely has circuitry that senses which machine it is talking to and switches to the proper "mode".  Meaning it is always a native controller for that system.

It just seems easier that way than trying to hack an actual joystick to make another joystick.

If you are hacking a gamepad, how different is that from hacking a joystick?  My experience tells me that it's not.   With the possible exception that the board could be larger making soldering a little easier.

RandyT

[armad1ll0]

I doubt that multiple cables will come out of the thing but instead, plug adaptors.

[RandyT]

I doubt that multiple cables will come out of the thing but instead, plug adaptors.

The article didn't mention that, but it did say:

"The interesting detail about the arcade stick is that it works with all three consoles -- no extra assembly required. All gamers need do is plug the appropriate end into the console of their choice and they'll be up and running."

This sounds an awful lot like mutiple ends, but even if it was, they'd probably be pretty short.  So you are probably right in that there could be other issues.  

RandyT

[Molloy]

They've released that stick before minus the SC branding and it's utterly woeful. Don't even consider getting it unless you're going to hack it.

[BombProofPlane]

really with the 3 console support LINK!!!?

[hyiu]

I just finished hacking a madcatz xbox pad....

the good thing about this hack is that the xbox pad is still completely intact and can still be used....

but from the bottom, there's now a couple of extra cable that sticks out....  

those cables can be plug into my joysticks....
so, for fighting games, we can use arcade sticks to play....

note: madcatz... (at least my version....) has a common ground... (including the 2 analog trigger buttons...)
I hacked the digital pad, buttons A, B, X, Y, Black, White, L, R, Select, Start.

I might hack another one for my friend....

have fun...

[BombProofPlane]

i found the old version of that stick i got it for 15 bucks when i bought soul calibur 2 (gc version btw)

its pretty big board inside there it has one xbox memory card port for xbox live and 8 points on the top of the board heres a pic of the internals

i think even at its base price at 29.99 its still a better deal than using a psx controller and an array of adapters

[hyiu]

trying to attach a pic for the first time....

this is the hack I'm talking about....  

the pad is still useable by itself....