Why is that remarkable? Well, mostly because I suck at flight sims to a degree perhaps never before seen in the history of mankind. Unless the purpose of the sim is to nose over and drive my craft into the deck, I'm sure to lose in a big way and in record time. Assuming I manage to stay aloft for any brief time, I invariably read my radar wrong and end up heading full-throttle in the opposite direction from the bandits. I'm a menace to my squadron and certain doom for my wingman. I'm a fiery ball of death just looking for an excuse to ignite.
So why, then, would I want to subject myself and my virtual squadron to such a hellish and pointless experiment?
Because this may be one of the coolest frickin things I've ever seen
So many buttons and switches and lights and a LED display! I'm all aquiver just looking at it. Such a shame that I have absolutely, unequivically no reason at all to own such a device.
Sadly, I suck just as badly at those. I tried one of the Wing Commander games once because they seemed royally cool. I'm pretty sure I remember winning the Kilrathi Medal of Freedom or somesuch for my service to their people.
It's a great stick. I own and am working on a review for it for Gamers with Jobs. It's solid, seems pretty durable, and very comfortable. I personally love the thing. I use it all the time for Jumpgate, Starshatter, Pacific Fighters, and even Tie Fighter in DOSBox. If you're low on money, the X-45 is also a good stick as well, cheaper than the X-52, but it doesn't have the pretty LCD and what not.
Freezer-TPF- wrote:Very cool. What exactly would you do with the MFD? Would the game have to specifically support that?
From the few reviews I've read (I just went to Amazon and looked it up), it's mostly just eye candy. It displays the time, the profile you're using, and it'll tell you what the button you pressed is doing (If you have some sort of custom profile running).
Freezer-TPF- wrote:Very cool. What exactly would you do with the MFD? Would the game have to specifically support that?
The MFD has a clock with three time zones (to use in sims like FS2004 to show your current time and your "destination" time, as well as GMT), a stopwatch, and if you have a profile loaded, it shows the name of the profile, what mode you're in, and the name of the command you just issued. It's kinda kitchy, but neat none-the-less.
Please tell me that's not a clear plastic tab on top of the joystick that's supposed to "safe" the button underneath. The X45 had one of those and its just so annoying to have to flip up the tab just so I can press that button. I've since permanently taped it in the "up" position so I don't have to deal with it anymore.
Looks like an '80s design study how sticks will look in 3rd Millenium. Those tape recorder button in front! The cubic design of ancient Atari joysticks and Coleco Consoles! The massive usage of blue LEDs (is that already post neo, or pre retro?) combined with a cheap brushed aluminium look meant seriously!
A mixture of vision and incredible uglyness. Only parents can love such a child!
raydude wrote:Please tell me that's not a clear plastic tab on top of the joystick that's supposed to "safe" the button underneath. The X45 had one of those and its just so annoying to have to flip up the tab just so I can press that button. I've since permanently taped it in the "up" position so I don't have to deal with it anymore.
Sorry, that's exactly what it is. It's a lot better than the one on the X36/45, much sturdier, not as flimsy.
raydude wrote:Please tell me that's not a clear plastic tab on top of the joystick that's supposed to "safe" the button underneath. The X45 had one of those and its just so annoying to have to flip up the tab just so I can press that button. I've since permanently taped it in the "up" position so I don't have to deal with it anymore.
Sorry, that's exactly what it is. It's a lot better than the one on the X36/45, much sturdier, not as flimsy.
I like my X45. And I like this new model. But that tab is useless. Useless, useless, useless. Its great the first few times when you want to pretend you're in Top Gun. "I've got a lock" (flip tab up) "Firing!"
But after the first 3 times of flipping it up to fire, it becomes annoying.
(my reaction to the display)