First Look: Sega's $300 Twin Sticks

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As we previously reported, Sega and Hori are teaming up for the Virtual On player's dream peripheral. In Japan, the two firms will make available a specially designed Twin Sticks device for the Xbox Live Arcade version of Virtual On Oratorio Tangram. Over the weekend, they provided a first look at the device.

For those who are unfamiliar, Twin Sticks is the name given to the controller configuration that's used with the Virtual On series. In the arcade version, players control their mechs with two levers. As anyone who's actually piloted a mech will tell you, this is the most realistic control method, as it allows you to easily keep an eye on your opponent while freely moving about in all directions.

Home versions of the Virtual On games have offered control schemes adapted to standard controllers, but in the past Sega has usually also released a special Twin Sticks device to mimic the arcade version's controls. This was unlikely for the XLA version of the game, as a special peripheral for a download-only title is pretty much unheard of.

Sure enough, the announcement of the Xbox 360 peripheral, formally known as Twin Sticks EX, came with a catch. The device will be sold for 30,000 yen, or around $300 US. That's about the same price as a fully equipped Xbox 360 console over there. Furthermore, the device is pre-order only, and if Hori does not get enough pre-orders, it will cancel production.

So what will your $300 get you?

Sega and Hori note that the device uses lever parts from arcade parts maker Sanwa Denshi along with technology that Hori has used for its Real Arcade series of arcade sticks.

The device is wired, and probably can't be used for most other Xbox 360 games, but at the very least it has a headset jack so players can chat with friends while they play.

Assuming the device goes into production (those in Japan can support the cause by place a pre-order through the Hori Store site), buyers will get their sticks on November 12.

Would you pay $300 for a special Twin Sticks peripheral? Not that anything like this has a chance of coming out in America, but let us know what you think in the comments section.

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