I have read most of the relevant forums pertaining to the pricing of modded twin sticks, and I was amazed by the extravagant prices they go for. Undeniably, niche products and especially those that are modded would fetch quite high sums, but approx. 400 (with shipping) for the new hori twin sticks is a steep price to pay even for the most vehement virtual on addicts. I have even seen modded twin sticks on yahoo japan sell for similar fees.
Similar to the Te street fighter stick, which went from 400 dollars to 150 within the modicum time span of two/three months, it seems the twin stick peripheral is taking an almost analogues turn. The modded virtual on sticks have depreciated in value quite rapidly, and just wanted to bring this to the attention to those who wanted a twin stick, but couldn't justify the prodigious fees in the past. Anyways, it's best to strike when the iron is hot because more than likely these japanese modder's will stop production of these items as the demand decreases, which will in turn, at least in this case, make the prices decrease too. I just recently purchased a nice looking 360 twin stick on yahoo japan auction for around 99 dollars, from a seller named africantenmjin -or something like that. considering his, or her, modded stick used to sell at its pinnacle for about 300 dollars, you can most likely guess that selling them as low as 99 dollars may destroy this persons incentive to keep making these modded sticks. As you can imagine, other sellers are lowering their prices as well. These decreased profit margins would more than likely make these modders initial investment of buying an old stick, and spending time and money modding it with 360 parts pointless, as the net gain would be to low to justify continued production.
For those of you who don't know, japan auction center -or busineesses simlar to it- are generally a necessary component for aquiring items from yahoo japan. Most yahoo auctions do not mail things internationally, so by signing up with a company like japan auction, or whom ever you chose, they will ship your item to one of their store houses in japan, and from there they will be mailed anywhere outside of japan. So when you add all the hidde expenses: the shipping fees from the modders location to japan auction center, japan auctions center fees for using their services, and the price for international shipping to the United States, was around 55-65 dollars. This price isn't too bad, when you consider that i received the item three days after I confirmed my shipment method.
If this is all common knowledge, I'm sorry for the redundancy of the post, but I hope this helps those who are on the fence about purchasing a stick. For those who still need a little more nudging to actually buy a twin stick, I'll give you one reason that was solely absent, at least when I checked, on the controller vs twin stick forum. Playing virtual on with a twin stick is significantly more amusing to play, then with a controller. Of course, this can easily be contended, especially by those who like to invoke relativism into their arguments, but it is undeniably a very different and very special experience when you play this game with the twin sticks. The game really stands out as something completely iconoclastic when using the twin stick peripheral,
I look forward to playing many of you online in the future.
I just hope I have time.
