Tribute.

So, some of you may know from my posts on the PA Forums, or because I've told you, but up until the other day, all my Playstation 3 gaming had been done with the Sixaxis Controller that came with the PS3 I bought waaaay back in January of 2008.  It's been with me through a lot of good times, and a lot of bad, and it's not like it's...y'know, going anywhere, but it'll definitely see a lot less use.

This is my controller, named Sechs.  (Get it?)  Sechs has seen better days.

...as you can see.  He has a lot more, aherm, Battle Scars, but they wouldn't really turn out well in pictures, so you'll just have to picture it with a little help from me.

Now, the primary issue I had with Sechs, was that, and you can even see it in the second picture there, that the left stick floats.  That is to say, it's not really anchored to anything, so it doesn't move correctly.  Not to say that sticks are supposed to be, well, stiff, but they're supposed to center themselves, if that makes sense.  And the sticks on Sechs do not.  They also squeaked a bit from their excessive use, which when I was playing online could actually be heard over my headset, apparently!

And the obvious second issue is a rather recent one, thanks to Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus.  Well, it had been cracked long before when Sechs received the biggest portion of his 'definition' thanks to the Challenges of the Gods in God of War 1 (also the collection.  Somehow I get the impression that I don't need to play PS2 games anymore), but the piece had stayed firm until a section in Sly that I don't even remember.  Probably the last chapter of the game, since that was by far the worst section.

Also an issue is that, well, you know how you have the 1 2 3 4 area on top to show you what 'port' your controller is 'plugged' into?  And how there's little bits of clear plastic to light up from the lights beneath?  Yeah....those came out long ago when I nearly twisted Sechs in half from the Challenges.  And the 2 light just plain doesn't work.  Before that piece broke off of the bottom, it was also kind of off-center and not really connected properly.

This is my shiny new Dualshock 3.  I'm not sure what to name it, and I realize naming inanimate objects is more than a little silly, but it's something I tend to do, and I probably won't stop anytime soon.  I love the extra weight of it, the color, and that, hey, Rumble is back.  How I ever missed it.  I swear, when I started playing around with Tumble (the demo) using my Move Wand, and it rumbled, I nearly dropped it.  Since, I mean, it has been quite some time since I had a rumble controller!  (Well, the Wiimote, but I've barely messed about with that)

It feels -right- to finally have a DS3.  I mean, I put it off as long as possible since the controller's $50 or so, but it was getting a little closer to the area where it was a necessity and not just an upgrade.  Sechs made more than one game a little more difficult than it needed to be to play (Dead Space being the prime example), but I admit I'm a bit sentimental (which is also more than a little silly) so I didn't want to look at it as a replacement process; just picking up an extra controller, which, well, I did!  I have two controllers now, which works out pretty nicely.  I don't usually have company, but now if I do, I'll be able to share!

Anyways, that's about enough rambling.  I just wanted to make a post about Sechs, my loyal, uh, controller, who has served me faithfully for three years.  Rock on, Sechs.  Even though you can't rumble.

UPDATE:  My Dualshock's name is now "Char".  That is all.