No, the surprise is that it's a free-to-play game--it was previously going to be a standard single- and multiplayer game.

Using Steamworks isn't out of the question, of course, since Valve has recently worked to add numerous free-to-play games to Steam (some of them exclusive to it).

Heh, so "PC exclusive" is another way to say that the game would be unplayable with console-oriented controllers? :-P

Kinda sad, considering Steel Battalion controller.

Well damn, I would rather have Mechassault 3 than this.

I wonder if I can dig up my old Logitech controller...

Where can you even buy a joystick nowadays?

When was the last time a company came out with a new joystick?

Logitech, Saitek & Thrustmaster make them regularly. Essentially any of the brands that were ever worth owning still make them.
Indeed. Not only do I dislike multiplayer but I really dislike MMOs AND I was unable to be bothered finishing the trial of WoW a friend got me to try. I've preordered SWTOR.

I was quite disappointed that the SWTOR beta ended, my smuggler was really starting to kick some arse, had gotten her ship back and had started a galaxy wide treasure hunt. I was really interested in seeing where the story progresses from where I was up to.

Come now, the Sidewinder Pro series was awesome and much more sturdy than those junky Saiteks.

I don't think they come out with much new joysticks anymore, but they're still sold. I bought my Logitech Extreme 3D Pro last year, which had been around for at least 3 years prior.

I still have my Sidewinder Precision Pro, but I need to make some sort of port to make it work on USB. I should probably give it up, but it was my pride and joy when I played MW2, MW3, and Crimson Skies.

One of the problems with sticks these days is that they're targetted more towards the niche sim market and are consequently extremely complicated and expensive. The Saitek X65f & Logitech G940 spring immediately to mind.

The saddest part being that those sticks would be an absolute dream to use in a real hardcore mech sim if anyone ever made one.

Indeed. With Eyefinity, we could even have a cheap version of the Tesla pods right at home

Mine works fine in Win 7 with analog-USB adapter cable. Well, mostly, some newer stuff gets confused by throttle and rudder axis on older controllers.

I think yours was the newer model that came with the analog-USB adapter. I tried buying a few for mine, but WinXP then Vista wouldn't recognize it at all.