Computer Games
CH Pro Throttle and Jane's Combat Stick
Video Games
Board/Role Playing/Card Games
CH Products Pro Throttle and Combat Stick/Jane's Stick
I have a Microsoft Sidewinder Pro, and while I think it's a great joystick for MechWarrior, it's poor as a flight sim stick because there's never been a throttle released for it. Yes, yes, it comes with a throttle on the joystick base, but 1) it's not nearly as cool as having a real throttle and 2) there's an incredible benefit to having a throttle, which is namely more buttons. Between the buttons on my joystick and the buttons on my throttle, I never take my hands off the joystick/throttle to play Fighter's Anthology, a very complicated flight sim game. It makes playing function-heavy sims much more enjoyable.
The Pro Throttle, by CH Products, supports programming, or assigning specific key presses to different buttons. These assignments can be saved as a group, which are called Programs. Below are some programs for the CH Combat Stick/Jane's Stick and the CH Pro Throttle. They're also in the new SpeedKeys Windows format. If you have these products, download these pups and have fun! Note: you must have SpeedKeys, the CH Products joystick editor, for this to work. You can get it at the CH Products page or simply download it by going to their software download page. It's at the very bottom.
After you've downloaded the file and opened it in SpeedKeys, you can see what any button is supposed to do by selecting it. I've given all the macro button descriptive names that should appear at the bottom of the SpeedKeys window.
Note: After downloading the EXE, executing it will attempt to extract the necessary files to the default directory created by SpeedKeys when it is installed. If you didn't use the default directory, please point to the SpeedKeys directory .
Also Note: You need to both download the correct file and set your joystick to the proper type in SpeedKeys. The above files are for the CH Combat Stick and Jane's Stick. When Jane's is set to work in Pro Throttle mode (set by the the recessed slider switch on the front) it will support simultaneous button presses. You must set the correct Joystick type in SpeedKeys to get the simultaneous button presses to work and, if you have it set this way, you cannot use the Combat Stick programs with the Jane's stick. Although the two sticks are very similar, the Jane's Stick is marked as such, while the Combat stick is not.
Alps Playstation Controller
When the Playstation came out, one of the things I liked best about it was the innovative Sony Playstation controllers. However, even at that time, I wished for a slightly bigger unit and a little bit longer cord. I wound up buying an ASCII controller, which I've really liked so far (the advanced one with the autofire buttons) and that was definitely an improvement. It was a good controller.
But it can't hold a candle to Alps Interactive's new controller. It's just about the coolest thing you've ever seen, way more impressive than Nintendo's controllers (which looked pretty space age until the Alps boys showed up). It's more expensive than the other controllers, but the cost is completely justified because:
 | It looks like a batarang in blue, and let's face it, batarangs always looked way cool! |
| It's much bigger than the other Playstation controllers, it feels more like you've got a steering wheel in your hand than a controller. |
| It's got rubber backing to the grips. I've tried other controllers with rubber backing, but they've always been thin or some strange material that didn't feel entirely comfortable. This feels great and is very solid. |
| The D-Pad (the four direction digital pad) is mounted in such a way that makes it extremely easy to move. The older design with the four individual buttons meant that there was space between the buttons where you couldn't put a lot of pressure on the buttons. This thing feels like a dream, it's got the same responsiveness as the N64 joystick. It makes a significant difference for me both in my reaction time on the controller and how long I can play games before my thumb gets sore. |
There's only two negatives to this controller:
| It doesn't have autofire. You may consider this a cheat, but hey, I liked it. Even so, the ASCII (which has it) almost never sees the light of day anymore. |
| My wife has smaller hands, and prefers the older PS controllers. The original PS controllers were designed for smaller hands, and the Alps is definitely designed for bigger, so your mileage may vary. |