My SE died after about 6 hours of use. When I first opened the box the A button was not responding, so I employed the hyper-technical “pick up the stick and shake it” technique which cured that problem (QC is off the charts here). After 6 hours my stick stopped registering any Left input (standard left and both diagonals). I immediately returned it and ordered a HRAP EX.
While the stick may be easily mod-able, Mad Catz has an ethical and legal responsibility to put out a product that works regardless of what after-market modifications people may choose to void their warranty to implement. Given the state of the global economy and the price of these sticks, one would have hoped MC would put more time into QA or at the very least, Capcom would choose a manufacturer that could properly represent their license.
I agree, Mad Catz needs to release an official statement regarding the defects and that if you tried to repair your stick your warranty will not be voided.
You must remember, I already have had 40+ hours of gameplay clocked on this thing, and if the only flaw I’ve noticed is that if I HOLD THE BUTTON DOWN for greater than 4 seconds, then I have to tap it to get it to pop it back up. No phantom input, or anything else. No stick sticking. No grinding noises from washer on PCB.
Honestly, it’s a great product. I’ve enjoyed it so far.
Gah, I’m ticked off. I ordered my SE through Barnes & Noble/Gamestop since the retailer said it had the stick in stock on the 11th. I received an email yesterday about it being delayed, and then I started seeing all the complaints in this thread. I was overjoyed since my order was delayed, and went to cancel the order. Wouldn’t let me cancel online although the email told me I could. I called Gamestop that I wanted to cancel my order and that I couldn’t online. The rep tells me that I couldn’t cancel my order since “even though it was delayed, [mine] somehow got through.” It’s apparently packed, but the order hasn’t been processed since I checked my bank account online, but they won’t let me cancel the order. However, I can return the stick to a store. Lies, lies… burned $3 dollars… which I could have spent on a… OBSF-30. XD
LordofUltima, that video was hilarious, but there are some comments you made in that video that I feel like commenting on.
The first thing I wanted to comment on was the whole screw stripping ordeal. That actually has happened to me as well with Sanwas. Those small screws are very difficult to take out without stripping.
Secondly, you did the right thing by ordering from Lizard Lick. Chad, the owner, is a great person and he sends stuff out very fast. You should expect to see that stuff very soon.
Hopefully things start to work out for you, and I hope you do get SF4.
I can definitely understand your stress with madcatz though. I have a couple of custom sticks which both use madcatz pcbs. One PCB I ordered directly from madcatz actually blew out my computer USB ports, and eventually friend my motherboard. I had to build a new computer. I opened up the controller to find that the ground on the wire was loose.
I had a feeling the Standard Edition sticks would come less than perfect. Can’t trust those fake me out Sanwa parts. Even the TE stick is having PCB or other malfunctions so no surprise this is occurring as well. My friend just bought a TE stick and his feels great to play on and didn’t seem to have any cosmetic issues so here’s hoping all my TE sticks are the same.
About 300 games in such a short timespan for such an inconsequential problem (who holds mk down for more than 4 seconds?) for something I’m fixing by getting full sanwas when I do my artmod.
Honestly, I understand you’re frustrated with the fact that you got a problem product (as it is with most mass produced items, there are problem products) but calling me a complacent consumer is bullshit. I’m not your enemy here, I merely have a working arcade stick. Not everyone got a metal grinding piece of shit for theirs, and I’m slowly trying to correct the mindset that every one of these that got sent out is garbage, because I know 3 out 3 my fight club bought work perfectly.
Go take your wrath out on Madcatz, buy some sanwas, or shut up.
Now I’m really worried, and just about screws… Is there anyway that I can make sure that I won’t break anything when I try to unscrew them? Any particualr type of screwdriver or anything? Man, this is total bullshit… If it ends up breaking I’ll just return it and get some other stick…
on one hand, my stick currently has no problems beyond that weird HDR thing (which given the actual timing may just be HDR’s fault) but this thread scares the shit outta me.
on the other hand, if it does die on me i could just try my hand at cracking it open and modding it back together, but i never modded anything before: so is this thing as terribly easy to fix as they say or not?
and on the third hand, i could just return it now and mail order up a hrap (for the 360), but if that dies, it would be even HARDER to fix than the supposedly easy MC stick, right?
damn why can’t they make controllers like MS Gameport Sidewiders anymore. Mine has been working fine since 1995.
Dunno if this has been said but I feel bad for Markman.
Here’s a highly respected person on the subject, putting his reputation on the line with Madcatz who “gauranteed” greatly improved quality… and essentially getting screwed.
Now, I’m a relatively new registered poster on SRK, but I’ve been reading tons with what this community offers and have learned a great deal. It was here that I learned the difference of a bad stick and a great one, and even wanted to make my own. And when Markman vouched for these sticks, it was a must have.
They were probably great sticks to play with when they only made a few and QC could focus on just a few sticks. But when massive production came around… something went wrong.
It’s not MM’s fault MC screwed up, so lets make sure we’re not directing any anger toward him. I’m sure he’s feeling the pain. He does have some responsibility to help us out since he’s working with MC, but I have faith he’s gonna do what he can.
I’m still keeping my pre-order of 2 TE’s in hopes the quality of those remain intact. But cancelled my 3 SE’s and grabbing extra Hrap3’s for PS3/360 (I have two 360s and a PS3… I’m crazy that way).
And thanks to this forum for all the great information!
Well, the majority of the people who are pissed off here ARE taking their wrath out on Madcatz… but your original post defended MC, which is understandable why some people didn’t take your response very well.
The people who are mad, are those who got a bad stick and may be without one for SF4 launch. They have plenty of reason to be mad. You can’t change their mind on that because yours is working fine. It’s great that yours is working great and it gives hope to those still waiting for those.
But with Markman acknowledging the issue, and many stores seeing returns for the issue, it’s being fair that everyone knows this issue seems to be pretty common.
And I dunno about you, but if I bought a new PS3 controller and any of the buttons seem weird after 40hrs play, it’s getting returned/exchanged and I ain’t calling that a quality product. Maybe after 1yr I get problems I’ll understand… but 40hrs is nothing regardless of the games you’ve played.
The solution shouldn’t be to spend more money just to get a stick working like it should.
I’m not flaming on you, but you have to understand people are pissed for good reason. You ask to be fair, but it’s not fair to many many people who have lost money on this issue.
Actually, it IS his fault. He is part of the design team, who do you think made the blue prints for the workers to put together? It IS his fault that he did not thoroughly test his own product after all the promoting he’s been doing.
I’m gonna try to get the TE since those are using Sanwa parts so they have a less chance of screwing up. I just hope MadCatz’s PCB and wires won’t crap out.
LOL, I don’t even have a SE…I’m merely responding to the many folks here that are recommending people to just repair their stick by replacing parts, just like what you’re going to do with your button issue. And you DON’T have a working stick, you just live with the fact that because you won’t use the button in a certain way that it’s fine. Also, what makes this issue even worse is the fact that Mad Catz (and/or MarkMan) promised a quality product which apparently didn’t happen. A inconsequential problem to you might not be to another person. What if someone uses that button for auto-fire and held down that button? A WORKING product is one that fuctions without ANY issues, inconsequential or not…
I do have 2 HRAP3’s…and have used both for way more than 40 hours each…not a single issue on either…
