MS Sidewinder no more!

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/news/news_6031007.html Looks like Microsoft will no longer be making it's line of Sidewinder joysticks, gamepads, and wheels.

I bought 3 or 4 different sidewider controllers over the years, and they all went back to the store because they sucked. "Christopher J. Sypal" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > http://www.gamespot.com/pc/news/news_6031007.html > > Looks like Microsoft will no longer be making it's line of Sidewinder > joysticks, gamepads, and wheels. >

On Wed, 02 Jul 2003 02:45:44 GMT, "frederickson" <[email hidden]> wrote: >I bought 3 or 4 different sidewider controllers over the years, and they all >went back to the store because they sucked. I bought 3 or 4 and several years later they all work better than stuff I paid 4 times as much for did out of the box. Jason

"Jason Moyer" <[email hidden]> skrev i meddelandet news:[email hidden]... > On Wed, 02 Jul 2003 02:45:44 GMT, "frederickson" <[email hidden]> wrote: > > >I bought 3 or 4 different sidewider controllers over the years, and theyall > >went back to the store because they sucked. > > I bought 3 or 4 and several years later they all work better than > stuff I paid 4 times as much for did out of the box. > > Jason I must second that... I have 2 joysticks (one FF, one not) and a gamepad pro, and they are all a couple of years now and still works very well (not said that i love MS but their sidewinder series are god IMO) Peter

"Peter Thorwaldsson" <[email hidden]> writes:

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> "Jason Moyer" <[email hidden]> skrev i meddelandet > news:[email hidden]... > > On Wed, 02 Jul 2003 02:45:44 GMT, "frederickson" <[email hidden]> wrote: > > > > >I bought 3 or 4 different sidewider controllers over the years, and they > all > > >went back to the store because they sucked. > > > > I bought 3 or 4 and several years later they all work better than > > stuff I paid 4 times as much for did out of the box. > > > > Jason > > I must second that... I have 2 joysticks (one FF, one not) and a gamepad > pro, and they are all a couple of years now and still works very well (not > said that i love MS but their sidewinder series are god IMO)

Yeah, my MSFF is over 4 years and counting. I had to replace the plug the goes from the pedals to the wheel once though. -- Olav Malmin remove .spam when replying

Christopher J. Sypal <[email hidden]> wrote here on 02 Jul 2003: > http://www.gamespot.com/pc/news/news_6031007.html > > Looks like Microsoft will no longer be making it's line of > Sidewinder joysticks, gamepads, and wheels. From the above: "A Microsoft representative said the decision is a result of the continued decline in sales of all PC game controllers and the fact that most PC games are designed specifically to be controlled with a mouse and keyboard." Hmmm. Doesn't bode particularly well for the future of PC racing sims, then, does it? In my out-in-the-sticks neck of the woods, many shops didn't sell any PC wheel except the MS ones. Gah. -- Above address *is* valid - but snip spamtrap to get me to *read*! Support the world's oldest motorsport venue! http://www.shelsley-walsh.co.uk/future.html

"David Buttery" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > Hmmm. Doesn't bode particularly well for the future of PC racing > sims, then, does it? In my out-in-the-sticks neck of the woods, many > shops didn't sell any PC wheel except the MS ones. Gah. This has been my experience too, in the UK at least. This is one area where PC World are very good though, with a variety of products from different manufacturers and decent pricing. Malc.

You'll notice in a thread below that Tim Ferrell has the same prob w. a MS Sidewinder wheel (the new one, with the 2-tone wheel rim) and N2003 that I do: the wheel unaccountably loses FF. You have to swap drivers, recalibrate, relaunch and other nonsense to get FF back, only to find it missing the next time you go to play the game. I doubt that this is Papy's fault; their controller routines are bulletproof, the best in the industry. Typically, MS is stonewalling the complaints. "frederickson" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:sHrMa.227619$[email hidden]... > I bought 3 or 4 different sidewider controllers over the years, and theyall

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> went back to the store because they sucked. > > "Christopher J. Sypal" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:[email hidden]... > > http://www.gamespot.com/pc/news/news_6031007.html > > > > Looks like Microsoft will no longer be making it's line of Sidewinder > > joysticks, gamepads, and wheels. > > > >

frederickson wrote: > I bought 3 or 4 different sidewider controllers over the years, and they all > went back to the store because they sucked. In fact, the hardware was quite good. Not the most feature-rich, but well designed and constructed. I own a sidewinder FF joystick since '98 and a wheel since '00. Both have been through a lot of abuse (read: were used by small kids) and still perform flawlessly. The software (drivers, keymapping...) was so-so. MS support on software was abyssimal. (Thinking of MS mouse, keyboards) Hey, do I see a pattern there ? Microsoft: a very decent hardware company. Regards, Mr S.

I'm hoping for a big clearance sale at Best Buy so I can pick up a couple :) Larry "Christopher J. Sypal" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > http://www.gamespot.com/pc/news/news_6031007.html > > Looks like Microsoft will no longer be making it's line of Sidewinder > joysticks, gamepads, and wheels.

Ditto. The software was growing a beard though. -Larry "Jason Moyer" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > On Wed, 02 Jul 2003 02:45:44 GMT, "frederickson" <[email hidden]> wrote: > > >I bought 3 or 4 different sidewider controllers over the years, and theyall > >went back to the store because they sucked. > > I bought 3 or 4 and several years later they all work better than > stuff I paid 4 times as much for did out of the box. > > Jason