those weird gamecube controller keyboad thingies and stuff...

[Omar]

i was also wondering how active PSO is still, considering it's getting a little dated now. is interest in it waning. is it still worth forking out quite a bit of cash to get set up?!?

There are a lot less people online nowadays on the EU and US servers. The JP servers are still thriving however, so you can always find a game over in word select land

In my opinion it is worth "forking out" for, just because the online experience is much more fun than offline.

I use the ASCII keyboard (the one with a keyboard inside the controller) and had a lot of trouble at first with the very small keys, but after a while got used to it and now use it like it were any other keyboard.

The DATEL Powerboard is a cheaper option, but there are some mapping issues. If you aren't wanting to spend too much, then the Powerboard is probably your best option.

[ZpoonZ]

thanks everyone for the advice!
will probably plump for the datel i think.

where's a good place to get a broadband adapter? i've seen prices vary from about 30 quid to about 60 quid.

[Ria]

If you use the keyboard with the GC does that mean you have to use that for in game controls too? Or can you just use the keyboard for talking and the controller playing?

[ZpoonZ]

i'm guessing it's like the DC. pad to control, keyboard to chat...

[Frost]

yeah thats how it works, unless you get one of those cool combo keyboards with the controller built into it... some are akward but I saw a really nice one but they were not shipping outside the US so I couldnt by it

[Phantom_RAcast]

where???

"the message you have entered is to short"

[Orphen]

Warning: Although the powerboard is cheap keyboard, it is for a reason, for some reason, the adapter overheats easily, as well as the fact that alot of keys acre glitchy, thanks to the adapter, some punctuations are jumbled, making it a litle complicates to make emotes or anything, but is it good for just typing to friends.

I have a powerboard, it is okay, it works well for me, since I dont really make too many faces in the game, but if I do, I just set them either to my shortcuts, or use the software keyboard.

I do advise getting the ASCII Keyboard, or the PSO Episode 3 exclusive Keyboard controller, but this is only if you have a pretty penny to spare, which not much of us feel like sparing or have enough to buy. :/

Oh, and Phantom, the keyboard can be found at Lik-Sang, which is, I think..
http://www.lik-sang.com. Either that or you can waste your life trying to look for one on Ebay, they usually dont have them. ><

[decswxaqz]

Ok. I've got both so I guess I can explain some things.

The Datel keyboard is for the quick and dirty player who doesn't want to have to type everything out using the software keyboard. The adaptor to my knowledge doesn't seem to overheat, maybe it's yours?

The keyboard mapping problem is maybe due to the fact ST thought there wouldn't be another keyboard released and only mapped the Japanese (ASCII/funny combo controller) keyboard. With this keyboard it's like all the keys on the top row !"£$%^ are moved to the left one place. Try it next time you play. They should be one place out of synch. With the DC, Sega was going to release the keyboard globally, so they would have to program for different keyboard layouts. But since this wasn't their console, they didn't know and only programmed for the official ASCII keyboard which wasn't released outside Japan.

When I phoned Code Junkies/Datel about it, they said they hadn't tried the PSO with the controller and only on their own softare, Action Replay. Even though they advertised the game on the front -.-

[Ivan]

I don't think you should get Datel. Maybe it's just the EU servers, but my keyboard stops typing and "disconnects" I have to take out the adapter and plug it back in for it to keep typing. It gets quite annoying.

Come to think of it, when this happens. Where the adapter and keyboard plug connects, it does feel a bit heated. I may just buy a new keyboard. I wounder if a regular Dell one would work? They're keyboards are much more quiet as well.

[Orphen]

Ok. I've got both so I guess I can explain some things.

The Datel keyboard is for the quick and dirty player who doesn't want to have to type everything out using the software keyboard. The adaptor to my knowledge doesn't seem to overheat, maybe it's yours?

The keyboard mapping problem is maybe due to the fact ST thought there wouldn't be another keyboard released and only mapped the Japanese (ASCII/funny combo controller) keyboard. With this keyboard it's like all the keys on the top row !"£$%^ are moved to the left one place. Try it next time you play. They should be one place out of synch. With the DC, Sega was going to release the keyboard globally, so they would have to program for different keyboard layouts. But since this wasn't their console, they didn't know and only programmed for the official ASCII keyboard which wasn't released outside Japan.

When I phoned Code Junkies/Datel about it, they said they hadn't tried the PSO with the controller and only on their own softare, Action Replay. Even though they advertised the game on the front -.-

Maybe it is, but about the Datel Keyboard, it does overheat, but not quite for the quick and dirty player, I mean, I use it, its just all of the symbols are like, out of whack. I type the exact same way on that keyboard that I type here, possibly even better. But its just a pain to memorize the "New" Positions of symbols such as colons and apostrophes.