So Vinny's story of buying a flight stick this past weekend got me thinking of my misadventures with crappy game peripherals. In my case it was a joystick as well. So back for the 1997 Christmas season, what I really wanted was a nice new shiny joystick. My friend (whom I'd recently moved away from) was big into the Janes games. He got all of them from his Dad (a defense contractor of some sort) as part of his dad's job. He had all the Jane's books in his room and everything. I think his dream was to become an apache pilot, but at the time he was big into the Jane's Anthology game. And by osmosis, so was I. Except I didn't own the Jane's Anthology game. And except I didn't own a joystick. I did what any preteen boy would do, I asked my mom and my dad for a joystick and Jane's Anthology for Christmas. Now, on this point there's some contention in my memories. Because I ended up with a flight sim and a joystick, but not Jane's Anthology. I'm not sure how this happened exactly, but here's what I recall. So my request for a joystick was granted and I was granted the ability to help choose. For whatever reason, the Microsoft Sidewinder was a huge 'of course I want that one' for me. I don't know how, but it was sidewinder or bust. And for reasons now beyond me, the brand new, most expensive, sidewinder force feedback model was what I wanted. if you go look up the sidewinder line, look at the "Force Feedback Pro." I think what I wanted was the Precision Pro features but the 'force feedback' option was just too tempting. So I was to get a Force Feedback Pro that Christmas. Of course, this required a game, and my requested game was Jane's Anthology. Now here's where the memory does its thing. I remember wanting the Janes game, but what I got was Joint Strike Fighter instead. I think I remember my dad telling me something like "well son, the joystick was much more expensive than the regular precision pro, and JSF is the only game I could find that supports your joystick, so I got that instead, hopes its ok!" Of course, it was mostly ok. The game itself was fine. My computer was a bit crappy to run it well, but I liked the game. What made it particularly awesome was not only were you the pilot, you were the mission planner. Each 'scenario' had an endgame, but you were given a tactical map with which to plan missions and then you would go on one. That was pretty damn awesome. I sucked at it though, and still suck at flight sims in general.
So here's where the story fits my title: This was still in the windows 95 days. A few years later, the computer I was using got upgraded to windows 98. For whatever reason, JSF was not compatible with windows 98. And thus, it became useless. Also, my sidewinder used a game port (I think serial port?) and that quickly became useless too. So figure, $50/$60 game (?) and $150 joystick, useful for about 8 months. Now here's your part- share your long and involved 'Game peripheral you have owned that was useless/expensive" story. Maybe you'll help Vinny get over his "have to have the right peripheral for the game" problem!
Edit: because of my own post I've done some research and found an xp compatible version (hopefully runs on 7) and bought a used copy...
I have a Novint Falcon that I got a few years back. It's still in its box. I just haven't had the damn time to even try it out, so it's not because it's useless or anything (I mean it could be, I just don't know yet).
@WanderingBear: That's ok. I a) did not ever sell my force feedback Pro and b) don't know where it is. I think I found a dumpster. You're still sitting on 'value' @SlasherMan: You win the truly useless because you haven't used it prize.
I collect video game stuff, so none of my peripherals are really useless. However, here is a short list of things I own that have limited value outside of collecting:
I was always a big sucker for gimmicks in my salad days, but my biggest waste to time and effort was this Logitech rumble/force feedback mouse I bought back in 99. As an optical mouse it was fine, but the build in vibrator only worked with games I didn't play, and I never actually used the feature outside of the pack in tech demo software it came with.
I collect video game stuff, so none of my peripherals are really useless. However, here is a short list of things I own that have limited value outside of collecting:
Steel Battalion
Rock Revolution w/ Drum Kit
360 HD-DVD drive
5 DDR mats
Kinect (so far)
An original Simon
A tiny desktop Galaga machine
Madcatz Gametrak
Can I have your disposable income? I promise, I'll use it on good things.
Well, what have I bought that's useless? Hmm...
I had an Eyetoy when I got my PS2. Damned thing turned me off of motion control forever. My parents were like "See? Isn't it awesome that you don't need a controller anymore?" as my skateboard dude kept going right while I was trying to stand up straight so the motherfucker would go straight.
"No, mom, it doesn't work right".
"You're just not very good at it yet. You need practice."
"I've been playing it for two hours and it isn't picking up what I do at all..."
I soon grew to hate that thing. But other than that, I can't remember much that I had that was useless.
The only one of those things that I spent any meaningful amount of money on was Steel Battalion, which I purchased to celebrate my 1000th game. The next most expensive was the HD-DVD Drive which I spent a mind-boggling 20 dollars on (plus another 15 bucks for a copy of Tokyo Drift).
I don't have much money, but I am on a constant hung for cheap games and paraphernalia.
I loved that thing. Totally reminded me of all the batshit crazy japanese stuff for the Dreamcast. One good example, I've got an adapter that allows you to use a PSX controller for a dreamcast because one of my friends refused to ever use the DC controller claiming it was uncomfortable.
I loved that thing. Totally reminded me of all the batshit crazy japanese stuff for the Dreamcast. One good example, I've got an adapter that allows you to use a PSX controller for a dreamcast because one of my friends refused to ever use the DC controller claiming it was uncomfortable.
Don't get me wrong, that thing looks totally badass and I don't regret wasting that money on it. It's just not good for actually playing games.
Also, the PlayStation did not have VMUs! Your friend is CRAZY!
As much as I hate to say it, outside of launch week I've only ever used my Kinect for Forza 4 headtracking. So that was pretty expensive and relatively useless. It's fine though, don't really regret it. I mean to grab some other kinect games soon though. Gunslinger looks aight.
@MooseyMcMan: I continue to want one of those very badly.
How much are you willing to pay? No, I kid, I'm too much of a...I don't want to say hoarder, because that's such a negative word, but I don't sell stuff.
@MooseyMcMan: I continue to want one of those very badly.
How much are you willing to pay? No, I kid, I'm too much of a...I don't want to say hoarder, because that's such a negative word, but I don't sell stuff.
Street Fighter themed 360 controller (one with no thumbsticks), so many games have had issues with it & the d-pad isn't that much better than the standard controllers.
My Playstation Move controller. It's been well over a year since I last used it. Doesn't really bother me though, it came bundled with my PS3 so it wasn't that expensive.
SNES Mouse - got it with Mario Paint. Pretty fun game at the time when I was a kid, but other than that game, I didn't really use it for anything else.
My friend (whom I'd recently moved away from) was big into the Janes games.
I love the Jane's games! USAF and WWII Fighters won't work in Windows 7... which really bums me out. I need to set up a XP partition or something.
@VinceNotVance said:
My dad bought the Menacer for the Genesis which was barely supported. I think we bought the Activator & returned it for the Menacer instead. Bummer. I also own Tony Hawk Shred! But I paid $10 for the game w/the board so it wasn't like it cost me much of anything.
I had the Menacer too... sans the receiver. Some dude my dad worked with gave me a box full of games and all the Menacer stuff except the receiver.
@zombiepenguin9: Yeah they were kinda awesome. I've ordered the xp-compatible JSF because I kinda dug how that game worked. We'll see what beasts that awakens.
My mother purchased a set of plastic sports peripherals that snap around the Wiimote when she bought a Nintendo Wii. She didn't realize they literally didn't do anything, and was quite incensed when she found out the truth. I think she was able to get her money back though.
Kinect with the Kinect Zoom hoping it would work fine in my tiny bedroom. NOPE. So now I am just using it for voice recognition for Netflix ha. But honestly, I was hoping Kinect would have a lot more to offer by now. I can't really complain though since I got it for next to nothing.
Guh huh. Sorry, I had to let out a chuckle at this. I'm sorry for your purchase.
What about Sony's $100 HDD add-on for the PS2? Ya' know, the one that was only ever fully utilized by Final Fantasy XI? Stupidest game-related purchase of my life - excluding Rogue Warrior.
Guh huh. Sorry, I had to let out a chuckle at this. I'm sorry for your purchase.
What about Sony's $100 HDD add-on for the PS2? Ya' know, the one that was only ever fully utilized by Final Fantasy XI? Stupidest game-related purchase of my life - excluding Rogue Warrior.
Aw, I remember that! I thought it would have been so cool. Thank God I had no money.
Guitar hero 3 guitar bundle. I bought during Black Friday the year it came out. It was on sell for $80 dollars and came bundled with two guitar controllers. I got caught up with the novelty of the game and had fun playing it for a couple months. I couldn't finish the Slash boss battle and stopped playing it. It has been collecting dust tucked away in the closet ever since. The purchase was more of an impulse buy and in retrospect was a bad idea on my part.
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