X-Arcade’s Tankstick, for the arcade purist in your life

I was honestly just thinking about X-Arcade’s controllers the other day. I finally got around to hooking up my NES to my TV at my new apartment and I was meditating on the state of gaming today. I have a friend who’s doing his Ph.D. on video games (yes, it’s quite the scam) and I know how much he loves his classic arcade games. One of these days, I’m going to have to pick him up one of the X-Arcade controllers.

These things are serious . Sure, the single player one goes for $99 and the dual version goes for $129, but is that really too much of a price to pay for greatness ?

X-Arcade’s also just announced their new Tankstick. 30″, 20 lbs. of industrial-grade materials, all for $199. In addition to the dual joysticks, and eight arcade-style buttons, the Tankstick also includes a trackball, should you wish to play, I dunno, Golden Tee Golf (does anybody actually play that game?). The Tankstick has a USB connection, so the trackball is also recognized as a mouse when you hook it up to your computer (you can also buy adapters for your favorite console). It comes with 18 full version arcade games (including Asteroids, Centipede, and Rampage) and is fully compatible with PCs and Macs. Shipping this week.

[via Ubergizmo ]