The cost of many common materials is way higher than it was when the Virtua Stick High Grade was released. That’s over a half-decade ago at least now.
Is your food bill the same, or haven’t you noticed it’s gone up, too?
The Mad Catz TE’s were more expensive when introduced in 2009 but there was a market that ate them up and people were willing to pay inflated prices for them. I’d never seen anything like that for “luxury” controller items before but there was a pent up demand that wasn’t met by what Mad Catz was able to manufacture and Hori was basically MIA in the American market at the time.
The US has, with the exception of fads like Guitar Hero and Dance Dance Revolution, never been as consistentally videogame peripheral-crazy as Japan. I still look on an import gamesite regularly and I still get amazed by all the product that’s released in Japan but never makes it internationally! Most people here are satisfied with their gamepads and unless they get into driving games, flight games, or fighters seriously, they’re never going to need anything but their standard console gamepads.
That’s the way supply-and-demand works. Fortunately, you didn’t have to wait even a year to see the joystick prices come back down to reality and it was easy in late 2009 and well into 2011 and 2012 to get the “pro-line” joysticks from both Mad Catz and Hori at very good 35-40% off price reductions.
I definitely noticed a change last year. The premium, licensed artwork joystick supply dried up for both MC and Hori by fall 2013 and you can’t get anything BUT the generics from either company now for PS3 and 360. (The Fighting Edge is definitely NOT a generic fightstick but I doubt it’s ever going to sell as much as the regular HRAP’s.) I definitely didn’t see great sales on PS3 or 360 joysticks last Christmas for sure… and there wasn’t a TE or VS FightStick to be had without paying at least a small premium ($30-$50 more on top of MSRP) where I noticed them listed as “Unopened, New”.
We’re in the middle of transition between consoles with little in the way of what I’d call killer apps – certainly not fighting games, at least – on both the PS4 and XBox One. Prices will get better (lower, in this case!) on joystick controllers when more quality software is actually available on the new consoles! The fighting game revolution on this past generation really didn’t hit until 2009 – over 2 and 3 years AFTER the 360 (2005) and PS3 (2006) consoles hit market.
I still wonder if Ultra SF IV is really going to ignite interest on the new consoles even if the upgrade IS released on the PS4 and XBox One… I know what happened with constant SF upgrades in the arcades and home consoles in the 1990s. The upgrades still happened regularly but interest dwindled and NONE of the sequels ever equalled the sales of the original SF2 back in 1991 (arcade) and 1992 (SNES). MK and Tekken did spark and retain interest in the arcade and home fighters, yes, but we’ve seen those series decline over the years, too, and they just don’t seem to have the pull on as many people as SF2 did once and evidently still did when SF IV was released.
its to counter the myth that DIY is cheaper. I didn’t pad any numbers, those are actual retail prices for those parts taken from Focus Attack and Paradise Arcade. And the $55 case is the basic tek case from Art Hobbies.
having this stick built would cost you even more if you get a custom stick builder to make it. b15 name was mentioned only because hes the one guy I know who count match or exceed the case design and keep all the functionality.
Yes I know Mad Catz buys there materials and parts cheaper than custom stick builders, but they still got to make there profit margin to stay in business.
I have to agree here, it would be much more expensive to build a case similar to this madcatz TE2. With the Tek case from art, you still aren’t getting the features of the TE2.
Will I buy one? Probably not, but mainly because I don’t see myself playing many fighting games on the XB1 (sorry, I think KI is pretty bad). If they released something similar for PS4 when GGXrd comes out, I would have no problem buying one.
As Darksakul has stated, the only other sticks in the market with the same features as the TE 2 also goes for $200. We might as well accept that any stick with this level of customizeability is most likely going to cost that much. At least at this point in time.
Also, another thing to consider is that a new form factor also comes with additional costs for product dev and tooling. So it has to pay for that as well, on top of material cost and license fees.
^ I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. Shenmue is one of my favorite games.
Also, yeah, not many people consider factors into making a stick/project. They only care about out of pocket/their experience. I don’t fault them, but I don’t expect them to understand why things are the way they are either.
not sure if it will come in pics Mark but its around the front part above the button to open the stick, all along the edge where it closes at the top the plastic is noticeably different and smoother, not sure if its the way its supposed to be.
Let me guess, that where you rest your hands when you play?
That isn’t discoloration. That is normal wear and tear. Maybe some of your skins natural oils on the plastic as well.
ASB plastics is quite durable but it is subject to being worn down from constant touch.
I dont rest my hands there at all, my hands rest on the plexi, this is practically the front of the stick not not the top, also my wrists are not wide enough to encompass the whole base of the stick to cause the discoloring from left to right completely
If you were to rest you’re wrists on that downward grade your wrists would be bent downwards while you play, so no its quite hard or near impossible to rest you’re wrists on anything but the top side of the stick, not the downward grade going to the middle
Markman - just out of curiosity will this have the option to connect a chat headset? I know you mentioned that the voice chat licensing wasn’t available to 3rd parties at launch which is why the KI TE2 doesn’t have it.
That’s how it is supposed to be. We can’t pull texture along edges. So it will noticeably be different alongside edges as that’s where the plastic heat pull ends.
That’s the thing that kills me. People don’t try to add up the cost (of known parts) they just cry about their perceived price guesstimate, which no offense… most people are wrong when it comes to breaking things down.
I look at it that way, i feel $200 is a more than fair price, for me to import two Sanwa button and a balltop from Arcadeshock will cost me $55 shipped to Australia.
Its the cost of convenience and someone professionally building it. Id challenge someone to go build one for that price themselves and see if it comes out any better, You should build something in the vain of the Fighting Edge Mark, that thing looks so nice.
Thanks any way for confirming Mark, i saw this on a few pics in google so i began to think it was normal.
Yes, by telling where i lay my wrists etc when in fact my wrists or forearms do not lay anywhere near there, if you own this stick you would see just how hard it would be to actually have them lay on that area.
Even though i told him it wasn’t that he insisted.
