Capcom Fighting pads, a look back....and towards Street Figter IV

With the recent news of Madcatz announcing that they will be making the controller to this years sequel to the classic Street fighter series, Street Fighter IV, I thought its time to look back at all the official capcom fighting pads and sticks that have come out through the ages, with most quite rare and have become collectors items in their own right....

With the lauch of Street fighter 2 on the Super Ninendo, Capcom decided to create dedicated controllers for it, and were probably the first of the many fighting pads to come out.

The Soldier Pad from Capcom, though quite an odd shape, was designed specifically for fighting games, this particualar one also came out on the 3DO with the release of Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo several years later!

Although not that popular, this was a japan only release (like most of the branded controllers) and currently the last time capcom released a controller they designed themselves!

A few years had passed and with the range of pads and sticks increasing capcom started to licence out its brand names to top pad makers,

with nubytech bringing out a range for the street fighters 15Th anniversary
.
But capcom didn't just licence it out for Street Fighter, with capcom vs snk and darkstalkers both having fighting pads made for them. With darkstalkers licenced pad being probably the best fighting pads, the Sega Saturn pad for Playstation 2! This highly limited addition again was only released in japan (as usual and plays just like the saturn original, which of course was home to many 2d fighters).Finally the Dreamcast had its own licenced pad from Ascii, for the game Capcom vs Snk, with two versions, plus the standard, black, blue and grey, these pads again trying to match the classic saturn pad feel, and where pretty decent pads for fighting games, and had the advantage over the bulky Dreamcast pad.

So what can Madcatz do for Street Fighter IV? Well theres a bigger market for fighting pads then there use to be, with soul calibur sticks and other fighting pads, they need something that a hardcore fighting fan can use for long periods without it failing on them, or causing nasty aches and pains like some pads and sticks do!

Madcatz themselves know this, and are aiming to supprise, "You have never, ever seen accessories like these from Mad Catz. They will BLOW YOU AWAY and certain to make any and every Street Fighter fan very happy indeed. trust me, you'll be impressed..."

We'll see more news in a couple of months!

Hack Guitar Hero DS into a guitar controller

[Eric Ruckman] sent us this awesome Guitar Hero hack. He wanted to get a more "true to the series" game play out of his DS when playing Guitar Hero: On Tour. If you've seen the adapter that comes with it, you'll understand his desires. He found a wireless PS2 Guitar Hero controller on EBay to hack.

He's cut a hole in the controller and removed all the guts. In the picture above the DS fits in the hole to allow strumming in the correct position. The controller buttons are connected to the DS by wiring into the adapter. He's added an FM transmitter to the controller so he can play the sound through his home sound system.
Source hackaday

Old videogame patents

Insert credit posted this on videogame patents on the net:
Frank was browsing around the google patent archives, and happened upon a few game patents. Then I started poking around, and found a few more. It's really worth browsing through in full...poking at 'related patents' is particularly rewarding. You can find tons of stuff that didn't come out, or didn't come out as initially devised. They've all got illustrations, which helps flesh things out. I'll highlight a few of the interesting things I found for you here.

Nintendo:
early NES cartridge
unreleased official Nintendo adaptor for Famicom games(!!)
another NES cart revision
ROB patent with early robot designs. Submitted by Gunpey Yokoi himself.
unreleased keyboard housing patent from Nintendo of America!
early Powerglove patent, with rudimentary Powerglove design...quite different! You have to view the whole document to see the glove or anything interesting.
This isn't Nintendo officially, but is related to the NES. It's a button presser that you roll on the ground, and then it presses A and B for you, alternately. Extremely lame.

Sega:
crazy toy in which you drive a real toy car, mounted on the front of television, on a video track.
Sega VR Helmet from 1992
VMU. Hooray!

Fairchild:
Channel F cart

Konami:
portable arcade looking thing
handheld console - both of the above seem to be LCD systems though, sadly.

Game.com
Game.com patent from Tiger. There are a few more, if you're interested.

Tomy:
Tomy handheld console - seems to be LCD again. 1991.

Supervision:
If you don't know what Supervision is, it's a Chinese GB clone...very odd one at that. See here.
Supervision patent one
Supervision patent two
That Supervision ultimately looked like this.

Sony:
The Pocketstation changed a lot from its initial design:
Pocketstation rev 1
rev 2
rev 3
rev 4
rev 5

As you can see, I was mostly looking at older handhelds and related stuff. There's plenty more to see if you look at the console side, peripherals...there's tons of wacky game lore for you to find.
Source insertcredit

Sony To Set Compatibility Standards For PS3 Music Games

Michael Shorrock, Sony's director of third-party relations, announced on the Playstation blog that he's been working with the major music game developers (i.e. Rock Band's Harmonix, Guitar Hero's Activision, and others) to ensure basic compatibility for peripherals between the games. Joystiq has a compatibility matrix that shows which devices work with which games. "...Rock Band 2's guitar and drum set will work with Guitar Hero: World Tour and with Rock Revolution. Conversely, Rock Revolution's drum set will work with both Guitar Hero: World Tour and Rock Band 2. In addition, Guitar Hero: World Tour and Rock Band 2 will both support the SingStar microphones. We're still working hard to ensure compatibility between the Guitar Hero and Rock Band titles currently on the market, and we hope to have an announcement on that shortly."

Source Slashdot

PS style 360 controller

The guys at the ben heck forums have been busy this past few weeks with this PS style xbox 360 controller.

I figured I may as well cross this one off the list as well. Probably cheese off a few 360 fanboys in the process, but thats ok just as many ps3 ones will like it, so you see it all balances out!

It still needs a paint job but the creator hasnt got the patience for it, due to bad paint jobs in the past however, so for now this looks like the final version.

For the full info on the construction go here.

Real wood guitar controller

Not content with the plastic miniature guitar you’re forced to use when you pretend rock out? Well, if you’re a PS2 or 3 owner with an extra $180 lying around, you can pick up this new wooden guitar that works with Rock Band and all of the Guitar Hero games.

Dubbed the Starpex and created by Peak Products, this third-party peripheral is the first ever full-sized fake guitar for use with consoles. Somehow, that isn’t a huge surprise. Let’s take a look at the features in a nice bulleted format:

Instrument-quality, high-gloss lacquered finish
Hardwood body, neck, and headstock handcrafted by a leading guitar manufacturer
Compatible with Guitar Hero/Rock Band games on PS2/PS3
Star Power/Overdrive button provides the fastest most accurate access to improving your score
Ten Fret Button Design features improved button feel, reduced fatigue, and option to play solo-style at the base of the neck
Enhanced Strum Bar gives the perfect balance of tactile and audible feedback
Connect wired for maximum scoring potential or wirelessly (2.4Ghz)
Modular design allows users to separate electronic components from the body of the guitar allowing for further future customization including new guitar bodies, pick guards, and more

For more information goto the peek products website

source http://www.ripten.com/2008/07/31/real-wood-full-size-guitar-controller-for-playstation-rock-band-and-guitar-heroes/