European-based accessory manufacturer Subsonic, in collaboration with North American distribution/marketing firm FAME, LLC, officially launches the Racin'Pro peripheral for the PC and PlayStation 3. Offering gamers additional features in terms of quality, design, comfort and elevated gaming performance, the Racin'Pro drew steady crowds at last month's E3 Expo in Los Angeles.
This controller, despite a few flaws, is a joy to play with and has looks that could kill. Focus... we are still talking controllers here.
Savvy console gamers realize that the purchase of a third-party controller can often be a dicey proposition. Although the devices are typically priced a few dollars cheaper than their first-party competitors , they often lack the quality, durability, and ergonomics of the controller which comes packed in with consoles. PlayStation 3 owners have it especially rough, as many non-Sony control pads requires the use of a dongle for wireless play, squandering away a USB port.
Looks like a good design with crap electronics. As usual the reviewer didn't verified if it have good analog sticks despite the fact that most third part controllers use crap ones, which make fine using of analog stick (like slow moving, minor camera adjustment, minor aim adjusts, etc) almost impossible...
My guess is it have a nice shape, nice concave analog stick pads, nice concave/clipped shoulder buttons, crap everything else... Why the hell would you want video player buttons there anyway? It's not supposed to be a BD remote.
But the shape is really great. This is actually the kind of design I had been expecting Sony to do for Dual Shock. The same recognizeable Dual Shock shape but with less short corners and more light curves, bigger like a Xbox360 controller but keeping the symetrical layout.
I'm tempted to buy that and change electronics (should not be hard to do with a dremel and epoxi, specially since it's inside job, you don't have to worry about finishing, what troubles me is if I can get the components at all, as probably D-Pad and analog sticks can't be simply changed for original Dual Shock parts).
Subsonic has dished out an alternative to Sony's DualShock 3 for the PlayStation 3 that adds a handy media bar to the top of the controller for movie playback. But is that functionality all it has going for it?
You end the review by saying it only works 50% of the time. Was your unit defective? If not why not just say the controller doesn't work and leave it at that, I see no reason to read a review about why it is good when it works, but then doesn't half the time...
Well, its not like its any good at being a controller, might as well BE a batarang.
are these third party controllers OK with sony?
the reason i ask this is that third party controllers are cheaper than DS3 but whats the point if it doesnt work or if sony has the ability to block them via a FW update.
