New Toy: Madcatz SF4 Special Edition Arcade Stick

Finally after months of waiting for this stick i finally got it! Was really undecided whether to get this one or its 'double the price' brother the Tournament Edition one. In the end, I opted to get this one and mod the buttons. From the numerous reviews i've read online, that kinda makes it pretty similar already (for my needs).



So i found this nice guy online who sold me 6 Sanwa Dark Hai buttons and very carefully went to pry open my brand new joystick. Note that I have NOT done this before and it was scary to try to mod something brand new and so expensive.



However the good build of the arcade stick, the good tutorials online all made it a breeze. Even a super first timer noob like me could swap all 6 buttons out in about 30mins. After that the controller really felt very good and responsive. Truthfully not THAT much different from the previous buttons but i guess psychologically it felt tons better ;) More importantly, i saved a ton of money doing it this way and its like a 100 times better than my Joytron Singibigi.



After playing some games, i realize that having such a good controller does not mean you're going to win more matches etc, its still mostly about skill.

Homeplugs not for me

Recently bought a pair of homeplugs for my dad as well as to try the technology.



This is the Aztech 105e 85mbps one.

In my home I'm gettng an average of 70-85mbps on my 100mbps plan (depending on time) from my router (either direct connection or wireless N). When i tried the homeplug in my living room, the results were only 8mbps! Pretty much similar throughout all rooms in my house except in the kitchen where it dropped to 5mbps.

When i plugged the other homeplug in the same powerbrick as the first one (literally side by side), the speed jumped to about 20mbps (still quite sad...). Probably need to tweak the connections by directly connecting to the wall instead of using powerbricks. Explains why the newer models offer the AC through function where you can plug something on it. Not sure how much that would change the connection but am not confident it will make that much a jump anyway so im sticking with what i have - an ugly wire running from my room to my living room.

On the good side, it was really really easy to install, just plug one into the router and the other to a PC and you're done.

Hope i'll get a chance to try the 200mbps versions with more direct connections and see what happens.

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