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An open letter to Sony / Microsoft: save our arcade sticks!

Castef

Castef

Banned
So, Sony and Microsoft, you don't want to make old joypads compatible with PlayStation 4 and Xbox One?

Ok.

I'm cool with this.

Go on. I'll buy new joypads.

Yet... make the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 arcade sticks compatible with the new consoles, please.

An arcade stick is usually a very personal piece of hardware, sometimes customized for the owner. Usually also an EXPENSIVE peripheral.

It would be very nice to be able to use them on the new consoles.

Deal?
 
Arcade sticks aren't a very sustainable source of income. If it means keeping companies moderately profitable, I have no qualms with buying an arcade stick for a generation that only has one fighting game announced for it.
 
I still have 3 sticks (2 PS3, 1 Xbox 360) in great condition, two of them tournament edition. I would love to be able to use any of them for next gen fighters, but at the very least I will still get use out of them on current gen games.
 
SmokyDave said:
Form an alliance with the Expensive Steering Wheel Owners Club.

Sadly, I think your plea will fall on deaf ears.
Click to expand...


And the "We are listening!" thingie? :(

listen.jpg
 
Mad Catz already said there wont be any support.

Honestly I'd give up hope. It's in both Sony/MS and the accessory makers themselves best interests to squeeze more money out of people. The consumers get thrown under the bus and the actual game developers get fucked over too.

Best case scenario is some other company making a USB to USB adapter just to screw this whole thing over. But then that probably gets disabled through firmware updates or some other crazy shenanigans.
 
Yeah, I've been beating this drum for a while as well. I don't expect good results, but here's to hoping I guess. I would have expected Sony to support this (at least with the HID stuff) but after hearing that they are locking out MadCatz PS3 sticks I'm now much less sure about that.

I can actually see making this kinda work for all sides though. Just make an expensive licensed converter, that way most folks will just buy a new pad (why buy a $45 converter when you can get a new $50 pad) but the converter would still allow expensive sticks to be moved from one system to the next. And to make MadCatz happy, let them make the converter, it would probably cost like $5 to make (just a USB plug and a simple PCB) so they could get really good profit margins on it (selling a small converter with $5 worth of parts for $45 versus selling an arcade stick with $80 worth of parts for $120).
 
My Tatsunoko Wii fight stick still worked in Tekken Tag Tournament 2 on the Wii U... I really don't understand no backwards compatibility even for controllers/peripherals on PS4/Xbone...
 
There really should be no reason why they wouldn't work on next-gen consoles. I think it's just the manufacturers and mad catz wanting more money.
 
People don't just buy new sticks often. You buy one and it works, you just keep using it. So when PS4/X1 comes out, it's in the best interest of madcatz or any others to not support old sticks and sell new ones...

pretty obvious.
 
Robot Pants said:
There really should be no reason why they wouldn't work on next-gen consoles. I think it's just the manufacturers and mad catz wanting more money.
Click to expand...

I don't know if it really is that (I hope not), but you're absolutely right, USB is pretty much the biggest hardware standardization there is so I can't imagine why they couldn't make it work.
 
It wouldn't surprise me if the conversation went like this:

Sony: We can make all USB devices compatible with PS4 if you want
Accessory companies: Please don't
 
It's in Microsoft/Sony's interest to sell more licences, and accessories manufacturers' to make you buy everything again.
Me? I'm just glad my Pulse Headset will work. If Driving Force GT and other wheels/sticks/pads work I'll take it as an nice extra.
 
You should probably wait until the systems are out before throwing away your old sticks (particularly PS3 sticks).

Until I see a video of a PS3 stick plugged into a PS4, with no feedback at all (directional and buttons) I will be skeptical of anything mad catz/hori/qanba etc have to say.
 
I'm speaking as a relative fight stick neophyte here but I was under the impression the FGC would happily buy new sticks for the PS4 due to the apparent lack of input lag on Sony's next console.

Wouldn't you still encounter that same input lag if you were to use a PS3 stick on the PS4?
 
Deku Tree said:
I'm ok with no Compatibilty for old arcade sticks on new consoles. These companies gotta make money to keep making sticks.
Click to expand...

I'd rather companies made money by making exciting new products that people want rather than taking their already perfect existing products and purposefully breaking them so you have to buy replacements.
 
yeah, I'm going to be honest here. I'll lean towards whatever next gen console can use my current arcade stick (if any). I have a modded MC Cthulhu Mad Catz TE-s stick, which means I can use it on NES, SNES, Genesis, Saturn, Dreamcast, og Xbox, PS1, PS2, 360, PS3, PC... you name it..

I would hate to have to buy another one to use on next gen consoles. If none of them support it, then I might just hope that all of the major fighting games come to PC..
 
It's such BS. It's not like peripherals aren't compatible with my PC everytime I upgrade hardware, and I don't think PC peripheral makers are going bankrupt left and right.
 
I simply won't buy another Mad Catz product again. Sorry, but this is some anti-consumer bullshit and I won't support it.

As for Sony/MS...well I simply won't be buying any fighting games for consoles this gen. I'll keep using my TE on my PC.

joe1138 said:
I'm speaking as a relative fight stick neophyte here but I was under the impression the FGC would happily buy new sticks for the PS4 due to the apparent lack of input lag on Sony's next console.

Wouldn't you still encounter that same input lag if you were to use a PS3 stick on the PS4?
Click to expand...

The input lag is a matter of GPU/CPU processing, not actually the input device.
 
hairypeckpeck said:
best case scenario, we can use ps3 sticks on ps4 but the "share" features will be lacking.
Click to expand...

Honestly, I'd be fine with that. I totally passed on Mad Catz' Evo sale simply because I know (for now) the PS3 sticks aren't going to be compatible with the PS4 or future consoles. It's a standard USB plug, it shouldn't be removed from the hardware ID lists Sony/MS has, FFS.
 
Have you really spent that much time personalizing your stick? I've had friends with sticks from the PS1 era and all you have to do is switch out the board. The sticks you're talking about are already super customizable and a PCB switch to the newest controller isn't the hardest thing to do.

Its the same reason you see tons of people at fighting tournaments plugging their sticks into PS2s, PS3s, 360s, and DCs. There are already tons of way to go cross platform with your stick.
 
Since I'm switching over to Playstation, I've already accepted the fact that my 360 fight stick is going to be collecting dust on a shelf.........the thing cost me 200 bucks when it first came out (SF4 TE stick)
 
Why not apply a paid firmware upgrade for next gen games that use arcade sticks...nothing too much but enough for both consumer and business to be happy without shelling your soul for a new arcade stick
 
I don't have much hope, but it would be great indeed to have some kind of backward compatibility for sticks. It's not really about the price, but I must have at least 5 arcade sticks piling up in my cupboards, it's getting annoying.
 
Ps4 may allow you to use your sticks, but i know MadCatz specifically is not going to let you use their ps3 sticks on the ps4. There's a least a chance with the playstation. I've plugged a lot of periphs into the ps3, always usprised how many worked. i've plugged Sega saturn usb's into my PS3 and they worked!
 
maniac-kun said:
Another good thing about PC gaming: Your arcade sticks will work for a long time. (But you dont get to many arcade games)
Click to expand...
Heh, I've been using the same flight stick since 1999.

krae_man said:
It wouldn't surprise me if the conversation went like this:

Sony: We can make all USB devices compatible with PS4 if you want
Accessory companies: Please don't
Click to expand...
I don't think this is far from the truth.

You should address the letter to accessory companies.
 
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