Sidewinder Force Feedback Joystick 2

A new update

Microsoft's Force Feedback joystick has been a popular choice among gamers for many years, but its design is getting a bit long in the tooth. It's high time that MS updated it - the new design they showed us at Gamestock should make quite a few people happy. First of all, the power supply is now located right on the joystick unit. Not only does this mean that you plug in the device with a regular plug (and not a huge power box), but the forces are more quickly and powerfully delivered to the user.

The new Stick

Up close on the throttle

Over 100 different forces can be modeled in the joystick, so you can feel something as subtle as cobblestone road under a bike, or as hard as an 8 G turn in a fighter plane. The handle on the stick has also been reduced in size to make it friendlier for those with smaller hands (still fits well in my big paws). The designers also threw in a better hat switch and a twist handle. Add to all that a redesigned throttle that looks like a light switch (instead of a slider) and you have the second generation force feedback stick from Microsoft. After playtesting on Mechwarrior 3 and the Gunship! beta, I seemed to get stronger forces than I remembered from the original Sidewinder. The new throttle design proved to be a very nice change as well. Look for the joystick in October - it'll retail for around $100.

Bigger hat switch

Trigger

That's it for our Gamestock coverage - be sure to tune in later this week to our GDC coverage and be on the lookout for our upcoming hands-on Starlancer preview. We'll be bugging MS Games for betas of all these titles as they become available to keep you updated.