It used to be that third-party controllers and accessories in gaming were something you picked up on the cheap and didn't expect to last very long; gamers fighting over who would get the official controller and who would get the knock-off was a typical problem in many homes. Mad Catz, the company most often talked about when it comes to cheap knock-offs, wants you to know that it has changed, and it wants another chance from consumers. Based on a few recent acquisitions and the company's first official Rock Band 2 accessory, it may have earned that second chance.

"I read the forums and listen to consumers and thoroughly apologize if any consumer feels let down by the quality of previous Mad Catz product however, a great deal of gamers often refer to products we released almost ten years ago!" Alex Verrey told Ars. He's the company's global PR and communications manager, and he seems very open about his feelings on the new range of products: they're premium quality. "Take a look for yourselves. We believe we've moved on and ask that those initially hesitant on purchasing one of our products gives us a second look."

He sent Ars one of the new products: the Fender Bass for Rock Band 1 and 2. We've been playing with the guitar for about a week now, and he's right, it's a wonderful instrument. Much bigger than the standard guitar, with a split strum bar that allows you to pluck notes very quickly and accurately; the controller feels much closer to a real bass than anything else that has shipped for the game so far. The bass does have some odd design choices: the control for the whammy bar is now a twist knob that isn't easy to reach while playing, and Overdrive sometimes doesn't activate as easily as it does on the stock guitars, but since we've used it scores have gone up, and it does feel like a high-quality product.

The other drawback is the guitar is wired, which may be a problem for some. Verrey hints that this may not have been their choice. "Mad Catz is committed to delivering the very best possible experience to gamers but sometimes various concessions may have to be made," he told us about the wire. "We plan to support Rock Band and Rock Band 2 for quite some time and indeed there is every possibility that some products in the PlayStation 3 and Wii range will be wireless."

Licensed products seem to be a large part of Mad Catz' new strategy. The company will be the only game in town when it comes to add-on cymbals for the Rock Band 2 drum set, and it will also be offering the official fighting stick for Street Fighter IV, a peripheral that no one is willing to detail yet. Fighting fans are champing at the bit, and rumors have run rampant, but Mad Catz isn't talking. "The only information officially announced by Mad Catz is that we have secured the license to work alongside our friends at Capcom on a range of licensed Street Fighter 4 accessories. Any further information is again the result of conjecture, rumor and inaccurate leaks," Verrey tells Ars, before offering a slight tease: "I confidently feel that you are all in for a treat."





Images of the Street Fighter IV stick from the GameStop managers conference (via NeoGaf)

Ars reader N. Masood gave some hints about what we might expect.

I hang around Shoryuken quite a lot, and we've been getting a lot of info on these sticks. MadCatz hired a couple of hardcore fighting game fans who know what goes into a good arcade stick, one of whom is the aforementioned Capcom blogger, and another who's an absolute arcade stick nerd if his site is any indication, to advise and guide the company on constructing these sticks. Those two have guaranteed that the premium stick is going to have authentic Japanese arcade parts in it, and the folks at the Gamestop conference who tried these out have been saying that they did a good job in achieving that goal.

That has to be filed under rumor for now, but it makes us very hopeful.

"As a consumer myself I can fully understand the notion of 'Once bitten twice shy,'" Verrey said. "Once a brand lets you down it can be a long time before trust is restored and some consumers decide never to trust certain companies again."

This could be the fate for Mad Catz, but our first taste of the Fender Bass controller was a very positive one—look for a full review in Opposable Thumbs very soon. Mad Catz has also purchased and incorporated both Saitek and Joytech into the company, making Mad Catz one of the largest creators of third-party controllers. The company wants gamers back, and we'll be watching to see if they do the one thing that will make that happen: create quality hardware. So far, things are off to a good start.