I'm still waiting for a modern VR mech sim title with full peripheral support. Nowadays with racing cockpits, VR, flight sticks, and custom button boxes... it'd be insane.
It's a market gap and not remotely as difficult to produce as something like a real vehicle simulator, because you can just make up most of the parameters and don't need to correlate anything. You won't be under the scrutiny of not being realistic, because nothing really is. Implementation wise a clickable cockpit wouldn't be any different from anything in a flightsim, for example. All of the electrical and propulsion sim would just be empirical, alongside weapons and armor. You could make up a lot of stuff there too. A clickable cockpit would be an absolute must for me, and it'd open up a door for more sim-y gameplay due to needing to stop/autopilot and play with the MFDs and switches, instead of just walk and shoot. The hardest parts would be coding movement (Unless you don't care about that simulation and just fake it, which is also fine, but it'd be cooler to build actual PIDs for the control system) and it would become taxing on artists and model engineers to implement more than just a few mechs; potentially implementing even one would be too much for most indie studios. It's likely never going to happen as I lack the compsci skills, but a sim like that has been in a conceptual stage in my files for some years. I might slowly just force myself to learn to code and start working on it. I can do 2D assets and 3D model somewhat, and I have a lot of experience building models for car simulations; but it's still a hell of a lot different to do something like that from scratch.
I remember the first time I saw a picture of the Steel Battalion controller. It was 2003, and I was reading a PC Gamer magazine in the high school tech class. She's the one that got away 😢
I will never forgive myself the time that I found Steel Battalion full and box at a half price books. They were asking for like 150 or $200 for it and like the idiot I am I totally passed it up
I had this and only sold it recently. There's a steep learning curve and a lot a memorisation required to get the most out of it, but when you get past repeatedly falling over and start completing missions, it's an excellent game.
The controller itself always felt like such an overwhelming joy to use, despite the game's steep learning curve. I don't think we will ever see such a unique experience for a very long time.
Having had the opportunity to play this a few times, it's something I really recommend. The gameplay is really deliberate but the special controller makes you feel connected to the game in a way that I've only felt since with VR. The way the controller has so many one-off controls, the way the buttons light up in reaction to things in the game, the way everything is so physical and tactile. It's such a fun and unique feeling. It's an absolute ride and if you get a chance to play it, you really should. If I ever find one for sale for less than the cost of a used car I will be hard pressed to turn it down. There are even people who still play it online.
Saw that controller yesterday in a retro-gaming shop, that thing looked in real live amazing. A remake with 4k-graphics, modern game design and maybe VR/AR-support would be bloody amazing!
Wait... Really!? I need to learn more about this! I would love to dust off my controller and have some fun. I haven't played with it in years and years now. Maybe even 20
@@kylecoulombe2755wait online gaming with these controllers on the original game? I haven't played with my controllers in ages. Where is this online community?
I hope one day you get to play that massive beast. Just watching this vid activated my muscle memory and so many happy memories. It’s one of the only times a game actually made my pulse pound.
I happen to be one of the lucky ones to own this game and controller. I got the controller from Japan, given it's a lot cheaper to obtain from there than it was to get it from America. I tried it out, and it worked perfectly. And let me tell you, it's a great experience on the original Xbox. I mean, foot pedals, two large joysticks, a gear shift and radio dial, it's something I love in terms of mech sims!
Great video man! We still play Steel Battalion Line of Contact online with game nights held weekly and up to 5 v 5 team combat with these giant controllers. We're called Steel Battalion Online
I'm amazed that they rereleased this on the kinect and not one of the many VR storefronts. I think this game would be great in VR because it's actually good motion controls.
I was obsessed with these controllers when they came out. I bought my first one at a flea market complete in box for $60. I bought another years later off Craigslist for $25. I had them stored in a temp controlled shed that got washed away during hurricane Ian. Both worked and the boxes were like 8/10.
Managed to get mine when it 1st came out. Got the last one off the shelf. Still have it and often think of pulling out my old Xbox to play it again. Was a very fun game.
I still have mine! I lost the game but I kept the controller all these years! It was amazing to learn, once you got used to it, it was honestly pretty easy to know where everything was in the heat of battle. I was honestly toying with the idea of remastering the controller myself with modern connections to turn it into a HOTAS.
A friend and I played the Kinetic version. The best thing about that game is if you try to activate the self destruct in the traing mode. Your crew mates will stop you, eventually they will beat you up if you keep trying it XD But yeah ive always wanted this controller. Ive seen Flight Geeks have whole movable cockpits for fighter jets and commercial aircraft sims. This controller is the closest ill get to building a Mech cockpit
It's the same principle as "it's not about shooting, it's about reloading." In that it just feels so good holding those two metal joysticks, shifting gears, and pretending you're in that mech. Get the hole body involved, not just the finger/tips.
Great video and great shirt. I had a chance to try out this massive controller at a game convention a few years ago. I could not even get my mech to start up. Wish I had more time to try again. Seemed like a great concept.
i was very lucky to be able to play Steel Battalion with the massive controller in a literal movie theater. it was quite the experience to sit in the center of the seating and have my entire vision taken up by the game. i'll be honest though, we didn't play it much! it really isn't that fun of a game if you haven't already mastered it. we pretty quickly switched to playing GTA after everyone had a turn on steel battalion and got bored with it. still an awesome game, but its not something you can really enjoy in one shot like that
I remember thinking this was an amazing idea, back in the day. The big problem is that it's specifically themed to one game franchise. I've been into flight sims since the 1990s, though, so I know that this is by no means the most extensive controller setup (though it certainly was for console). I've spent a lot of money on this stuff myself...
if the options are available, I'd want to be able to use DCS controllers, or the similar thrustmaster Flight controller usable for War thunder and flight simulator, and somehow map the controls for Armored Core 6.
Being a PC gamer first, but had the original Nintendo and Sega Genesis too, I was a veteran MechWarrior player by the time Steel Battalion came out and I was f*ckin' PUMPED to buy it along with that massive controller, until I found out about the insane price....I was so poor when it came out, I was absolutely crushed!
I remember seeing a video way back in the day of a guy using the controller and I thought it was absolutely insane and awesome. Still do. You make some great videos man, keep up the good work.
Playing Steel Battalion without the Controller is equivalent to playing a jump scare game without the screen. Edit: I own one that I bought a couple years ago, as well as an HDMI mod for my OG xbox, and quite frankly, it's the coolest thing I've ever played with that I quite frankly suck at. lol
Ive been chasing the Steel Batalion controller since I was in middle school. The closest ive gotten is a HOTAS in Mechwarrior 5. Its really to bad the VR has consumed the "Cool controller" Genre of games. VR will never be the same as having physical controls.
and if you think about it the steel battalion controller is the most "cost" efficient way of getting that controller to work, I mean the HOSAS today cost at least 2x or 3x of the SB controller. another way while not exactly immersive if a fully rigged accelorometer based peripheral and some pedals a fully rewire and gutted Joycon controllers would do the trick probably
I've gotten to try it at a furry convention I attend in Chicago. Even when you know what you are doing, it can be hard to operate but it feels so cool!
wow, i guess people who already owns this today modded theirs or reconfigure its keybind to play other games fitting of the controller. edit: lol it does fits AC6
I'm still waiting for a modern VR mech sim title with full peripheral support.
Nowadays with racing cockpits, VR, flight sticks, and custom button boxes... it'd be insane.
I play Mechwarrior 5 with a HOTAS, and it's about as close as I can get. A full cockpit and VR would be rad.
Design a mech with controls that look suspiciously like a Cessna 152 cockpit lol. Would be so easy to find controller hardware for.
It's a market gap and not remotely as difficult to produce as something like a real vehicle simulator, because you can just make up most of the parameters and don't need to correlate anything. You won't be under the scrutiny of not being realistic, because nothing really is.
Implementation wise a clickable cockpit wouldn't be any different from anything in a flightsim, for example. All of the electrical and propulsion sim would just be empirical, alongside weapons and armor. You could make up a lot of stuff there too. A clickable cockpit would be an absolute must for me, and it'd open up a door for more sim-y gameplay due to needing to stop/autopilot and play with the MFDs and switches, instead of just walk and shoot.
The hardest parts would be coding movement (Unless you don't care about that simulation and just fake it, which is also fine, but it'd be cooler to build actual PIDs for the control system) and it would become taxing on artists and model engineers to implement more than just a few mechs; potentially implementing even one would be too much for most indie studios.
It's likely never going to happen as I lack the compsci skills, but a sim like that has been in a conceptual stage in my files for some years. I might slowly just force myself to learn to code and start working on it. I can do 2D assets and 3D model somewhat, and I have a lot of experience building models for car simulations; but it's still a hell of a lot different to do something like that from scratch.
It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen
Also still being played online to this day. Look up the SB LOC community.
@@NexusARC ok I will
I remember the first time I saw a picture of the Steel Battalion controller. It was 2003, and I was reading a PC Gamer magazine in the high school tech class. She's the one that got away 😢
I will never forgive myself the time that I found Steel Battalion full and box at a half price books. They were asking for like 150 or $200 for it and like the idiot I am I totally passed it up
And then the follow up to Steel Battalion is made by From Soft and... used the Kinect of all things
I had this and only sold it recently. There's a steep learning curve and a lot a memorisation required to get the most out of it, but when you get past repeatedly falling over and start completing missions, it's an excellent game.
seeing that thing as a kid I always wanted one but it was way out of reach
The controller itself always felt like such an overwhelming joy to use, despite the game's steep learning curve. I don't think we will ever see such a unique experience for a very long time.
Having had the opportunity to play this a few times, it's something I really recommend. The gameplay is really deliberate but the special controller makes you feel connected to the game in a way that I've only felt since with VR. The way the controller has so many one-off controls, the way the buttons light up in reaction to things in the game, the way everything is so physical and tactile. It's such a fun and unique feeling. It's an absolute ride and if you get a chance to play it, you really should. If I ever find one for sale for less than the cost of a used car I will be hard pressed to turn it down. There are even people who still play it online.
Saw that controller yesterday in a retro-gaming shop, that thing looked in real live amazing. A remake with 4k-graphics, modern game design and maybe VR/AR-support would be bloody amazing!
Steel battalion still has an active online community! If you ever get your controller definitely join us
If I ever get it I’m in there 100%
Wait... Really!? I need to learn more about this! I would love to dust off my controller and have some fun. I haven't played with it in years and years now. Maybe even 20
@@BrassStacks yes dude! It's thriving, we just got campaign servers up and running for the first time in almost 20 years!
@@kylecoulombe2755 No shit? That's awesome! Congratulations on that!
I can never access links on RUclips, but where can I find you all?
@@kylecoulombe2755wait online gaming with these controllers on the original game? I haven't played with my controllers in ages. Where is this online community?
I hope one day you get to play that massive beast. Just watching this vid activated my muscle memory and so many happy memories. It’s one of the only times a game actually made my pulse pound.
I finally got one on my birthday this year I won the bid for 200.00 I laughed my ass off because I thought I lost at first
it's totally worth it!! I got mine about 15 years ago and it's still awesome!
Are there converters for this would love to play ac6 with this
lmao "audio mostella"
nice, you play this game someday.
omg im jizzing steel battalion video and is a brother speaking on it in 2023 SUBBBBBBBBED
would it be believed that some mecha enthusiasts tried to use this controller for actual mecha builds?
I happen to be one of the lucky ones to own this game and controller. I got the controller from Japan, given it's a lot cheaper to obtain from there than it was to get it from America. I tried it out, and it worked perfectly. And let me tell you, it's a great experience on the original Xbox. I mean, foot pedals, two large joysticks, a gear shift and radio dial, it's something I love in terms of mech sims!
Great video man! We still play Steel Battalion Line of Contact online with game nights held weekly and up to 5 v 5 team combat with these giant controllers. We're called Steel Battalion Online
I have to look into this. I would love to play again!
I'm amazed that they rereleased this on the kinect and not one of the many VR storefronts. I think this game would be great in VR because it's actually good motion controls.
Heavy armor came out in 2012, so it missed the dawn of VR by about 3-4 years, which is a damned shame because the game actually looks great.
I was obsessed with these controllers when they came out. I bought my first one at a flea market complete in box for $60. I bought another years later off Craigslist for $25. I had them stored in a temp controlled shed that got washed away during hurricane Ian. Both worked and the boxes were like 8/10.
Nobody believes you.
Managed to get mine when it 1st came out. Got the last one off the shelf. Still have it and often think of pulling out my old Xbox to play it again. Was a very fun game.
I absolutely LOVE this game! Awesome to hear someone talk about its history!
I still have mine! I lost the game but I kept the controller all these years! It was amazing to learn, once you got used to it, it was honestly pretty easy to know where everything was in the heat of battle. I was honestly toying with the idea of remastering the controller myself with modern connections to turn it into a HOTAS.
A friend and I played the Kinetic version. The best thing about that game is if you try to activate the self destruct in the traing mode. Your crew mates will stop you, eventually they will beat you up if you keep trying it XD
But yeah ive always wanted this controller. Ive seen Flight Geeks have whole movable cockpits for fighter jets and commercial aircraft sims. This controller is the closest ill get to building a Mech cockpit
It's the same principle as "it's not about shooting, it's about reloading." In that it just feels so good holding those two metal joysticks, shifting gears, and pretending you're in that mech. Get the hole body involved, not just the finger/tips.
That Takkyu Ishino banger caught me off guard at 7:40 ! Good stuff...
I remember seeing this set up in a store when it first came out, it was crazy looking. Great video!
I still have mine. I break it out once in awhile. So much fun.
I've wanted this controller since the day I saw it. If I ever win the lottery I'm buying two!
Another fantastic video!
Well I Gotta track One of these down
Great video and great shirt. I had a chance to try out this massive controller at a game convention a few years ago. I could not even get my mech to start up. Wish I had more time to try again. Seemed like a great concept.
i was very lucky to be able to play Steel Battalion with the massive controller in a literal movie theater. it was quite the experience to sit in the center of the seating and have my entire vision taken up by the game. i'll be honest though, we didn't play it much! it really isn't that fun of a game if you haven't already mastered it. we pretty quickly switched to playing GTA after everyone had a turn on steel battalion and got bored with it. still an awesome game, but its not something you can really enjoy in one shot like that
I love mine so much i getting think i could ever get rid of it. I really enjoyed the game. I played through it more than a few times.
The Steel Battalion controller would be an amazing interface for a sim like Elite dangerous.
Would honestly rock this for iron core 6
I remember thinking this was an amazing idea, back in the day. The big problem is that it's specifically themed to one game franchise. I've been into flight sims since the 1990s, though, so I know that this is by no means the most extensive controller setup (though it certainly was for console). I've spent a lot of money on this stuff myself...
Steel Battalion heavy armor would be a blast in vr i'm sure
Great video essay! You've earned a sub. Looking forward to more of this kind of videos.
if the options are available, I'd want to be able to use DCS controllers, or the similar thrustmaster Flight controller usable for War thunder and flight simulator, and somehow map the controls for Armored Core 6.
Being a PC gamer first, but had the original Nintendo and Sega Genesis too, I was a veteran MechWarrior player by the time Steel Battalion came out and I was f*ckin' PUMPED to buy it along with that massive controller, until I found out about the insane price....I was so poor when it came out, I was absolutely crushed!
I remember seeing a video way back in the day of a guy using the controller and I thought it was absolutely insane and awesome. Still do. You make some great videos man, keep up the good work.
great vid!
Dam 2023 here I own a hotas joy stick for my ps4 Vr ace combat and star wars and love it so much!!!
I owned and loved this game!!! Sadly, couldn't get past level three but I didn't care!!!
I’ve been trying to build a video game collection and I’ve recently added a factory sealed steel battalion collectors edition set for the Xbox :)
OG VR pilot
Playing Steel Battalion without the Controller is equivalent to playing a jump scare game without the screen.
Edit: I own one that I bought a couple years ago, as well as an HDMI mod for my OG xbox, and quite frankly, it's the coolest thing I've ever played with that I quite frankly suck at. lol
Ive been chasing the Steel Batalion controller since I was in middle school. The closest ive gotten is a HOTAS in Mechwarrior 5. Its really to bad the VR has consumed the "Cool controller" Genre of games. VR will never be the same as having physical controls.
and if you think about it the steel battalion controller is the most "cost" efficient way of getting that controller to work, I mean the HOSAS today cost at least 2x or 3x of the SB controller.
another way while not exactly immersive if a fully rigged accelorometer based peripheral and some pedals a fully rewire and gutted Joycon controllers would do the trick probably
I've gotten to try it at a furry convention I attend in Chicago. Even when you know what you are doing, it can be hard to operate but it feels so cool!
Woulda loved to try this controller out. It’s so cool and would love to try other games with this.
Great video
I hope you can get one one day.
I would love this for ac6 just looking for a converter for the OG Xbox controller modding it sure but damn.
Why is Bandai not doing one for a gundam game😫
wow, i guess people who already owns this today modded theirs or reconfigure its keybind to play other games fitting of the controller.
edit: lol it does fits AC6
I have this controller
does it work with any other games?
what is this song i fucking love it
need song list of whole video
Some other company must have made a similar controller right?
Why they not sell it for PC?
1 game, armored core.
RIDGE RACER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wait... Does this mean I can play Steel Battalion without the controler?
use your ps5 stand
Nice video bro! :) Keep up the good work!