Mad Catz purr-ipherals see strong Q2 sales

This has got to be propaganda. Nobody wants their crap. I'd rather have a chinese knock-off of the original thing. At least then I could pretend it didn't suck ass.

They make their pads out of an inferior sub-plastic; they do so out of the bones of children, possibly the ones who worked for them.

Oh, had to add this. The madcatz logo is a great touch.
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/8/1/

Whenever I think of 3rd party controllers I think of this utter monstrosity of an N64 controller a mate had back in the day; tacky gold plastic (literally sticky-feeling), about the size of a housebrick and with a analog stick purpose-built to cripple thumbs and cause huge blisters. They're always just plain wrong.

I hope your friend has learned to not buy things because they are cheaper and shiny :P

Nope. He's an idiot like that.

Funny comments! I do agree, the ONLY item I bought from them was a smaller xbox controller for my son.

Again because they were the only option.

That's what you get for chasing all those 3rd party and 2nd rate clown prostitutes.

I think the greater problem is that there isn't a "premium" 3rd party manufacturer. You hear nothing but complaints about "Wah, the PS3 controller is too small", "Wah, the 360s controller is too big", Wah, the Wii Nunchuck isn't wireless"

Logitech is the best we've got, (in my opinion, I don't doubt Logitech quality for a second), but Madcatz, Pelican, and others choose to play the part of the discount option instead of taking on the first party peripherals head on.

If they ever did, though, I'd be excited as hell.

That is a good point. Even though people do whine about the 1st party controllers we have, we've accepted the fact that nothing better will come along.

Personally, I don't know how I would react to a different shaped PS3 controller. The Wii... oh boy... I just was playing Super Paper Mario and while the wii's controller is versatile it's uncomfortable. And there are plenty of design flaws with the Xbox360.

But if I were the 3rd party vendor... trying to convince mommies and daddies and bratty children that my controller was far superior to that of Sony's, Microsoft's, or Nintendo's will be pretty damn difficult unless the price is drastically less.

The problem associated with that is the manufacturing process needs to cost as little as possible to maximize profits, resulting in cheaper materials and cutting lots of corners. So until a company like Madcatz or even Logitech for that matter can convince the world that their version of our console controllers are just as good, if not better and make it cost only a small amount less, ill-informed soccer mom's will just continue to disappoint their spoiled children on Christmas morning.

I was going to apologize about the DP, but then I realized how important the post was. I think it deserves to be reiterated.

*shooting star*
The more you know.

A stress ball is even cheaper. ;)