The Greatest $199 you'll ever spend.

March 4, 2004 9:20 PM

Have a spare $199 lying around? Steel Battalion Central is your one-stop Steel Battalion source. For those of you not in the know, SB is the $199 Xbox game with it's own custom 40-Button controller. It's also one of the most intense hardcore Video Game experiances of the last few years.
posted by hughbot (15 comments total)

One of the fourty-odd buttons is the eject button. If you forget to hit it when your giant robot starts to explode, the game deletes your save file off the hard-drive. This game is so tough, after you pay two hundred dollars for it, it slaps you around.

It's probably the closest any of us nerd will ever get to really piloting a ten-ton robot.

Incidentally, I had to trade in 23 other Xbox and Gamecube games to afford it.
posted by hughbot at 9:24 PM on March 4, 2004

Brian Van Hoose (of The Knights of the Dinner Table) had something similar. When playing one of his net games, if your character lost hit points, the game starting deleting files from your drive. If your character died, the game formatted your disk.

It brought an element of actual pain and loss to computer role-playing.

The idea never caught on, for some reason...
posted by SPrintF at 9:38 PM on March 4, 2004

A copy of this was at work briefly when it first came out. I can honestly save I have never felt more like a nerd than when I was playing the game. The controller is huge. Really big. about 3 foot across when assembled. Truly bonkers.

It took us 10 minutes to find the ignition (it was a 5-8 button sequence).

I was bad at the game. I've never really been into the giant robot genre though.
posted by Flat Feet Pete at 9:39 PM on March 4, 2004

Ooooh... I'm not really into video games (except old school nintendo ones) but... this is good.
posted by drezdn at 9:58 PM on March 4, 2004

Oh, wow. Someone please tell me they have Patlabor skins for this. < /nerd>
posted by vorfeed at 11:56 PM on March 4, 2004

ADOM deletes the save file when you die as well.

I thought about how ridiculous it is to spend $200 on a game, then I considered...

I like racing sims on the PC. When you factor in the force-feedback steering wheel, 3D glasses and the graphics card updates, etc, I hate to think how much I've spent on getting the perfect F1 experience.

I just wish I was any good at it.
posted by salmacis at 2:20 AM on March 5, 2004

Thanks, hughbot. Thank you very much.

You have just made my life a living hell, soon to be a hell furnished with a three foot control pad. I made the mistake of looking at the site with the kids around.
posted by cedar at 4:51 AM on March 5, 2004

I want the same thing in a flying ship like Descent 3, and I want it for my PC or PS2. I'd like it better for the TV, if only to get me out of my desk chair. And I have surround in the livingroom, but not my office (yet).
posted by Goofyy at 4:55 AM on March 5, 2004

Two cartoons on Steel Battalion on Penny Arcade.
posted by CrunchyFrog at 6:26 AM on March 5, 2004

Still cheaper than an actual coin-op cabinet. Certain members of the MAME community would probably consider this cheap and low-end without a decent 29" CRT attached.
posted by snarfodox at 7:52 AM on March 5, 2004

my brother is totally getting this tonight...he's wanted it for....ever.... or so. thanks for the site!
posted by taumeson at 10:32 AM on March 5, 2004

If I had an xbox, I'd have to have this game and controller. I'm not sure I'm a big enough geek to really get into the game, but I sure like to try it out a bit.
posted by tomplus2 at 11:21 AM on March 5, 2004

The greatest game ever, Nethack, also deletes your save file when you die and when you load it. And you can only save by exiting. IE: When the wizard kills you on level 1after harrasing you all the way from 50 (the end game) you start over again.
posted by Mitheral at 7:26 PM on March 5, 2004

Wow, they've finally figured out a way to stop people pirating games... Make them rely on special controllers!

Brilliant!
posted by shepd at 8:24 PM on March 5, 2004

Interesting point shepd. Then, like, the price should go down, right?
posted by Goofyy at 1:38 AM on March 6, 2004