In the halcyon days before dual analog sticks, when gamers had only D-pads and buttons and that's the way we liked it, serious PlayStation drifters had one weapon of choice for 'Ridge Racer' battles: the neGcon from Namco. It and its twisting mechanism never really caught on, but it hasn't been entirely forgotten, reborn through the DualShock Vortex pictured above, a controller extending the same concept to the PS3, offering the 45 degrees of twist you'll want for
Gran Turismo 5 (if it ever ships) plus the analog sticks you'll need for
Killzone 2. Alas, it's just a rendered concept from Israeli designer Tamar Fleisher at this point, and is rather unlikely to show up at a game retailer near you, but maybe if enough of you e-mail the kind folks at the now Namco Bandai they'll think about making it a reality.
[Via
Gizmodo]
posted Feb 27th 2009 8:36AM
Meh, I'll stick wit my DS3 for now.
Is that controller exploding?
NegCon was the poop for driving games, especially Wip3out. This has me giddy in the frilly cotton panties I stole from the sorority ^_^
45 degrees isn't nearly enough for neGcon veterans. They'd tear it in half and then crush each broken segment with their bare hands.
Nice! I just picked up a NeGcon on eBay a few weeks ago.
all i read was "blah blah blah twisting mechanism blah blah blah" whats the twisting mechanism for?
though thanks for linking it to gizmodo, at least they have explained it better. >_>
It could be more comfortable for people with mis-sized arms. Like one longer then the other.
Somehow make the twisting mechanism with some force feedback and i'll be in.
You with your crazy ideas.
I miss the NegCon sooooooooo much. I would buy a modern version of it.
I apparently missed out on the whole NegCon thing. What's the point of this?
+/- 60 degrees might just be enough to work. +/-45 probably isn't.
It also would be important to have good long-throw buttons for gas and brake (like the I and II buttons on the neGcon) somewhere on the unit. And they probably need to be both on the same side of the pad, not one on each side like L2 and R2. This is because with high twist angles, it's tough to keep your hands gripping each side equally well, which would be needed for accurate throttle and brake control.
Ok, so how is this exactly useful?
I loved using my NegCon with Ridge Racer and WipeOut. Made racing games a lot more fun than just constantly tapping left or right on the d-pad to steer.
I still have a NeGcon in my basement!!! =0