Last month, Hori showed the tweaked US$300 plus sticks with re-modeled the grip and layout.

The sticks were designed so players could play SEGA's Xbox LIVE Arcade game Virtual On: Oratorio Tangram. Above is the latest and final redesign, which looks even closer to the Dreamcast dual sticks.

Hori, however, has once again to redesign something very important — that hefty price tag.

A Brief History Of Virtual On Twin Stick Controllers [Siliconera]

The beef? The layout was all wrong.

Hori has re-modeled the grip and layout. As game site Insert Credit points out, "The sticks are now sculpted more in-line with the Dreamcast original as well as the distance between the sticks themselves." One thing Hori hasn't re-modeled: That $300 price tag.

News: HORI TwinStick re-modelling [Insert Credit]

Knoxximus at TheFour11.org notices the twin-stick layout is a little off. See, the label under the left stick says "D-Pad." Good. That's one point of any custom 360 stick, get people away from using that hideous D-Pad. But under the right stick, which should control the buttons X, A, B, and Y, instead you see "RS." As in "ruh roh."

You can see the row of buttons across the top, further solidifying the point. So Knoxximus loses his shit.

Am I to believe that a controller being made for a port of an arcade game, whose controller was 100% digital, has somehow been incorrectly configured and is hardwired with half-digital/half-analog controls?!?

How did Hori fuck this up? Even I, your most basic of modders, understood that the L stick would be wired to the DPad, and the R stick would be wired to ABXY. My friends, I can now sum up my interest in this product with three words…

DO NOT WANT.

So, until Hori gets its act together, this will remain the preferred twin-stick solution for VOOT enthusiasts.

Update: Ollie B., someone much more knowledgeable than I about VOOT, sent a link to a forum post, whose writer assures this will not be a problem:

"This isn't an issue, since the analog stick input will be designed to be digital instead. I modified the analog trigger buttons for use with the digital weapon buttons on my Twin Sticks, and I can assure you that it works fine.

Since this is an "official" controller, I bet that Microsoft had something to do with the crazy control scheme (i.e. having ABXY as the right stick is too confusing, since you need those buttons for menu navigation)."

Product Page [Hori]

$300 Xbox 360 Hori VOOT Twin Stick….REVEALED! [Thanks Mark]

Released by Kotobukiya, you can pre-order it now for around USD$50 from Hobby Search. As you can see, the detail is pretty great. Especially the pop-out Saturn, which is a neat touch.

Viper II [Hobby Search, via Tomopop]

And it's going to be released soon, with Sega today announcing that it'll be available for download on April 29. The re-release will feature not only multiplayer game modes, but also - like Rez HD before it - updated graphics, giving the game a HD sheen more fitting for this day and age.

Virtual On actually on XBLA April 29 [GameSpot]

Even the Dreamcast version had a nice twin-stick peripheral for home use, but on 360, you're stuck using the control pad. Which might make things difficult. Oh, unless you're this guy (or somebody who follows his lead).

Two candy sticks, some buttons, a quick wiring job and you're good to go.

電脳戦機バーチャロン オラトリオ・タングラム [GamerBook, via 1UP]

Sega's already got a pair in the works—the RVR-H8 Raiden II RNA and RVR-87 Specineff—but have added two more. Well, technically one more, in the form of the nimble Fei-Yen Kn, but "she" comes in two separate color schemes.

The slender maiden of a Virtuaroid is shipping this June for 3,570 yen (about $36 USD) to Japanese retailers. Since my pink and tiger print versions suffered battle damage during a cross-country move, I may have to pre-order.

Virtual On fans will no doubt be used to the steady stream of figures and models associated with the series, but these two latest - in the form of plastic model kits - are just in time for peoples renewed interest in all things Virtual On.

The sharp, spindly guy is a Specineff, while the fatter, orange mech is a Raiden II. The Specineff will be out in the West in August for $60, while the Raiden II will be on shelves in October for $75.

True, we're still holding out hope that Sega will re-issue its bulky twin stick arcade controller for the XBLA release of Virtual On Oratorio Tangram, but have a plan in place if it doesn't—a total nervous breakdown and vulgarity-laden online meltdown. Perhaps we'll find solace in the VR customization option.

Until then, enjoy hi-def pics in our gallery below. Or, catch that trailer you might've missed.

The Xbox 360 release will be Cyber Troopers Virtual On Oratorio Tangram version 5.66, the final release for Sega's NAOMI arcade platform, released in 2000. The Xbox Live Arcade release, slated for April, has already been priced at 1200 Microsoft Points according to the mag.

Hopefully, the official announcement of VOOT means that more of Sega's Dreamcast and NAOMI titles are en route. After all, Sega registered the trademark for Virtual On Oratorio Tangram in December, alongside a slew of other Dreamcast era games over the past six months.

Those include ChuChu Rocket, Cosmic Smash, Jet Grind Radio, Sonic Shuffle and more. Sega has yet to confirm a re-release of any of those titles, however.

With the Dreamcast due for its tenth anniversary in North America later this year, will Sega capitalize on console nostalgia further? Oh, God, let's hope so.

Virtual-On Oratorio Tangram is, of course, the follow-up to the original Virtual On, which is only the best damn robot fighting game of all time. Virtual On is also one of the last "classic" Sega franchises the company is yet to sully with a sub-par current-gen remake.

Which is exactly why we're going to hope that this move means nothing. Squat. Because our hearts couldn't take a shitty Virtual On remake where the robots turn into werebots and kiss human girls and play tennis against Ulala.

OK, maybe we could take the tennis part.

Sega Turning On Virtual On Development? [Siliconera] [Virtual On Tennis Image]