Hori Japans's new stock for this region comes out July, so there may be news of more sticks hitting local retailers next week onwards.

Same goes for the TE and SE sticks.

TE and SE sticks will remain premium-priced, but the HRAP3' one is VERY attractive. Let's see how much these game merchants charge us and compare the prices here.

This new is just FYI - I really hope this won't draw any questions to my PM box!!!

What a great decade to be an SF fan!

• The right age for me to save and afford my own gear (as a kid, blowing my allowance on arcades is no fun)
• Interactive communities that actually listens (Capcom-Unity... SFHD fan service, SF4 console char poll, etc)
• YouTube
• 2 local tournaments in a month, and more to come
• SRK Tech Talk (as a kid I couldn't give a damn whenever the arcade technician opens up the panels. Today, I fuss over the Vewlex standard!)
• Abundance of HRAP3s and TEs now - stockouts don't last long too thanks to China
• PayPal, eBay, Amazon, vPost, comGateway to bring to our shores what was near-impossible to get the last decade
• Multi-platform games - but I just wish this site opened up a section just for SF - like what gameaxis did so more detailed discussions can be held. Er wait, (looks at GAX)... nahhhh I don't think so. Before the SRK database wipeout I was quite active there.
• Guys like you here, as with my old friends.

Iiiiiiiinndestructableeee...

Wow, a Penang tourney! Who's the organizer, and what's the prize like? What's the date and time, because mikeeeee is in Penang now, and others like (i think) Maxwei are from there.

I entered "gameaxis.com joytron" and found some interesting bits:

It is moddable:
http://forum.gameaxis.com/showthread.php?p=21613128

Some users' review:
http://www.sgclub.com/singapore/ps3_arcade...ksa_154995.html

For me, to know if an arcade stick is good, I:

1) Look at the outside. Is it durable or cheap looking (breaks faster)? Does the area below the buttons have enough room to rest my hands? Will the whole arcade stick move when I perform moves? Does it sit comfortably on my lap, and steadily? (this is just my preference, if it's placed on a table without moving it's fine but do watch your back!)

2) Look at the parts. Does the joystick give a smooth clicking sound for all direction inputs, or grinding sound (not good)? Does the buttons feel cheap and feels like it may break easily?

3) Via (any) internet pictures, could you see the insides e.g. bad wiring, cheap-looking components, bad soldering workmanship, etc. You don't want the stick to stop functioning halfway due to some unseen reason due to this.

If you are satisfied with this product, do give it a try. The arcade stick market is saturated with Hori because no other makers come up to their standard with CONSISTENT quality (their higher stick ranges ie Real Arcade Pro), choices and affordability.

Actually the Mad Catz warranty is only valid within the States and Europe. As boogalogist mentioned, try seeing the input commands in Training mode. Do try to see the consistency of each MK/MP - whether they respond correctly to the presses. Worst case scenario, you can always switch the defective buttons with the last 2 working grey ones.

shinjite, in this day and age replacement parts are abundant, and you can always have it replaced with Sanwa or Seimitsu buttons.