This is most likely old news by now, however, since I’ve always been “late” to these sort of things and never one to sift through 100’s + pages of forums (though I did look back a few days before posting); but according to Madcatz’s Gameshark site, many of the varieties of TE and TE:S sticks that were once listed as “out of stock”, are now being listed as “coming soon”. So does this mean that there will be a second coming for these items? And if so, anyone have any clue as to when that may be?.. or am I just reading too much into an ancient webpage? I already have a TE:S black for the PS3. This craziness with PSN has convinced me to convert to the 360.
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Stores just don’t generally stock joysticks because they’ve been a harder sell. To convince most people to switch to a controller that is literally the size of a system on top of costing up to half what a PS3 retails for is not going to be an easy sell.
I have seen several varieties of Hori and Mad Catz joysticks in stores and excepting the crowd of people who regularly play and buy fighting games most people will be happy enough with joypads.
Those of us with credit cards and gift cards go online to get joysticks because of the 20-33% off deals. You’re just never going to see a new joystick at GameStop (unless they’re doing liquidation) for $100. It’s going to be MSRP. Right now, the cheapest arcade-quality joystick is the HRAP V3 SA/SX and it’s still $130. (Just saw those locally now not that it does me any good… Bought my V3 SA last year online for $100, free shipping. No need to pay full price in-store now. The V3 SA is next to the still-$150 Mad Catz TE Round 1’s that haven’t sold because the store will not mark them down.)
Unless it’s a TE or HRAP SA/SX, most of the under-$100 joysticks are either used or made with knock-off parts that break by the end of a month.
The only reason I would think joysticks are coming back to game stores is probably because of Street Fighter IV: AE, the recently released Mortal Kombat, and maybe the 1 or 2 more possible fighters out by the end of the year. GameStop must have finally burned off a lot of the Mad Catz TE’s because for ages it was very possible to get those joysticks locally. All you had to do was a trace online and then call up the local stores that had them to confirm they were in inventory…
P.S. – If you honestly think switching to another game system put out by a company notorious for security leaks in ITS line of OS’s is a smarter deal, that’s your decision. Both systems are about the same except power-wise and graphically for the most part except for the historical meltdown problems in the X-system and greater difficulty of controller compatibility with the 360. You simply cannot use as many older controllers with that console and have to go through more contortions to make non-MS licensed controllers compatible with it. There’s a great online business of selling $70-$80 adaptors to use non-MS licensed devices on the 360…
There have been attacks on BOTH XBL and PSN. The difference is PSN was down longer and was reported more widely. It’s gradually coming back up as we speak. Problems with MS product is nothing new to report about…
The problems I’ve heard with XBL have to do with automatic billing of credit cards for continued XBL service. If you don’t keep up with your credit card payments, you will still get socked with continuation of service if you don’t want it… and you most likely will not get that money back. The gamer I talked to uses a prepaid card to pay for the XBL service which is what most people who are smart are doing. PSN users are in the process of switching to or already have switched to prepaid cards on PSN. The prepaid card makes sure that people don’t get access to your bank account and can only charge or steal a very limited amount of money if you’re smart and think ahead of time.
You cannot take the word of any major game console company at this point that their service is fool-proof. Sony, MS, and Nintendo are still relatively new at online service and content downloading. They have always been willing to take anybody’s money and there’s always been a high level of corporate arrogance at all three companies.
… why did you write a wall?
And what did this contribute? More people ought to read George’s posts. They’d learn something.
While George’s post is a good read, it doesn’t answer the OP since he’s asking about Madcatz’s own [online] store, not a brick-and-mortar place.
Quote: “So does this mean that there will be a second coming for these items? And if so, anyone have any clue as to when that may be?.. or am I just reading too much into an ancient webpage? I already have a TE:S black for the PS3. This craziness with PSN has convinced me to convert to the 360.”
MarkMan confirmed that they were looking at making another production run of the TE:S sticks, so it looks like this is certainly the second coming.
So that you could be a dick to someone you don’t know… :arazz:
My mean post of the day…
I got my MvC2 Xbox TE at a gamestop new for 79 bucks 
But having worked a summer at EB a decade ago, I totally agree that 99% of the time specialty controllers just end up sitting around due to a very high MSRP.
QFT - I don’t leave them my card details because I don’t want to pay more money for a service that I can get cheaper online. £39.99 from XBox.com, or £32.99 from Amazon.co.uk.
I do the same with the pre-paid points too, for just the same reason.
More Street Fighter SE sticks, thats what we (I) need!
I was watching one on ebay that ended at £85 with postage! Considering you can get a brawlstick for £50 new it shows people are willing to pay a lot of money for an inferior stick just so they don’t have to look at that shit wrestling ‘art’.
Thanks! I appreciate you just “straight-up” anwsering the question. 
So far as the off-subject material;
I “get” what GeorgeC was trying to convey. However, my decision wasn’t open for debate. And to purchase multiple gaming consoles or even utilize the same games on differing consoles is certainly nothing new. I hadn’t expected to explain myself further than the original post, but since it has been brought up - I do not intend on completely abandoning my PS3 entirely. At this point, I have invested far too much capitol (monetary and social) into the console, software, peripherals, subscriptions and friends to just simply “let it all go”. To do so would pretty much be idiotic on my part. My choice in going the route of a 360 is just me broadening my horizons. Though, I am still disgusted to the point that my further devotion to the PS3 and PSN will be slowed to a crawl at best. I expected more and they failed - simple as that. If Sony wants to kiss my arse and convince me otherwise, then who is to say that down the road, I could change my mind again. As far as my choice and preferences towards the Madcatz TE:S - it’s an awesome device. And coming from a 40 year-old man who has, since the mid 80’s, been playing exclusively on Il/Happ components, switching over to Sanwa, this past year, was a real feat, on my part. So far as using Madcatz over the offerings by Hori and other manufacturers… hey - the Madcatz stuff is just superior, in my opinion, and looks better to. B)
I also read that same post somewhere, i forget where, that the second batch of TE S were coming and that also the next set of sticks they are makig were going to be limited to 200 each if I remember correctly.
If Xbox Live gets hacked, what system will you switch to then? Not saying it necessarily will, but you should be prepared if your policy is to not play on systems if the network gets hacked.
Yeah. More TE ‘S’ FightSticks soon. I’ll reveal the date when I can.
I’m pretty sure GeorgeC misread GameSHARK as Game STOP. Keep that in mind and reread his post - it all makes sense.
Cool. Any chance of more SE sticks?
i hope this is happens soon. i just been burn by a forum member here and keep getting out bid on ebay, not may te-s pop up at a good price. i might as well wait for a new one.
any update on the next batch of xbox TE S sticks markman?
The T.E. and HRAPS aren’t sub $100 sticks new. A full complement of Sanwa Denshi parts alone cost about 44 bucks. Factor in the PCB with case and it’s pretty easy to see why these accessories are so expensive. I’m betting $100 is very much the bare minimum needed to break even, especially once you factor in the licensing deals.
Also I’m thinking that the goal isn’t to convince a large number of players to buy the sticks, so much as these sticks are really a sort of niche product meant to appeal to the more dedicated fanbase. That’s why we see a more “limited edition” joysticks with themes based around every conceivable franchise: You tap into the hardcore collector’s market and grab at niche markets with a product optimized to their wants. A Street Fighter IV branded stick isn’t as appealing to Blazblue fans as a Blazblue branded stick. I think this is a primary reason the market was able to last so long after the Round 1 sticks, which would’ve tapped into most of the diehard arcade fans with “real arcade parts.”
I really rather hate to do it but excuse me while I mention the Other O.S. scandal again. That much alone is justification enough for the customer to abandon the company in a fit of rage, without factoring in the reason for it: A “more secure online experience”. You don’t see the other companies removing features from their products to achieve that goal, which makes their failings at least a bit more acceptable. At least they’re giving back to the customer now. Moreover if relative newness to the market is a concern, we can also factor in that Microsoft should have less of it, because they started the xBox live services last generation, while the other two companies only really followed suit with this current generation. You’d have to be a fool to think any security system was without fault but it’s very possible that Microsoft’s prior experience may give them a better grip on it.
I’ve heard the PS3’s master key was cracked too. Can we have Linux back now that it doesn’t matter anymore? No? Sony must really hate their customers… I won’t be using them for my next generation needs, should I ever have any. Their security fails even with the implementation of stricter marshal law…
I mean, what else is there for a disgruntled customer to do but move to a competitor?
GameShark Store seems to be taking pre-orders now for the second release of the two original (black and white versions) TE:S arcade controllers. XBox 360 version only. June 17th is the posted release date.
Perhaps a good idea to pre-order since you can also use the coupon DADGRAD20 to save 20% and knock the cost down $30.00USD.
http://store.gameshark.com/listCategoriesAndProducts.asp?idCategory=336