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Microsoft has unleashed yet another amazing product for its many fans, the SideWinder 3D Pro, a high-performance joystick.

The SideWinder has a digital and analog mode which enables the joystick to be compatible with Windows 95 and MS-DOS.

  The digital mode also enhances joystick performance for games running with Windows 95. In digital mode optical tracking is enhanced and stops drift.

 This mode is automatic when games are being run on Windows 95, or the SideWinder 3D Pro software is installed.

The analog mode works very similarly to standard analog joysticks.

It automatically works when you run your game with MS-DOS or Windows 3.1, or if you have not installed the SideWinder 3D pro software. If the SideWinder software is installed, calibration of the joystick is automatic. The same is true if SideWinder 3D Pro is selected in the Windows 95 joystick properties window.

The SideWinder also has eight buttons, four conventional joystick buttons on the handle and four new base buttons which allow the user to employ additional game functions with Windows 95.

There is also a hat switch which gives you directional control with a touch of a thumb.

  The main use of the hat switch is to allow the user to change point of view, modify ship direction, or change altitude when playing games.

The slider gives you command over incremental game functions. For example, to adjust thrust, throttle, or altitude.

There is also joystick rotation that gives players a third degree of freedom with a twist of the joystick. This allows users to change viewpoint.

There is a joystick switch in the front of the base. This is for games that are set up to use CH Flightstick Pro series, or the ThrustMaster joystick.

After several hours of being in the Zone, playing Fury3 at the highest level and MechWarrior, the SideWinder proved to be all its marketing said it was. The joystick was a lot easier to control than your average joystick.

There was no need to slam the stick in the direction you wanted it to go in, and have the stick falling over from the force of your movements.

I would describe the feeling as similar to changing from a car with a standard steering column to a vehicle with power steering.

 The disk at the bottom of the joystick handle is provided for hand support. This has two benefits. First, it makes the user feel more comfortable when playing, and second, it reduces the amount of stress and pain the hand suffers after continuous use.

 The buttons on the handle are conveniently placed and easily accessible, but the four extra base buttons, although rarely used, would have been better placed, on the left, rather than on the back of the base of the joystick.

 This is because the player would have had to place the left hand underneath the right arm.

This makes it awkward to get to the buttons needed, and if used quite often it would cause some discomfort to the user.

All in all, I would have to say this is one good joystick, and long in the waiting.



SideWinder's steady hand