Before I get started on Virtual On and fans making their own twin stick controls, let’s look at this week’s notable events for Xbox Live. The Deal of the Week for Gold Members is half off Brain Challenge (it’s now $5, or 400 points); I don’t have a full review for it ready but the demo didn’t entertain me much at all so I’ll pass on buying it. The upcoming Arcade releases are Texas Cheat’em (a Texas Hold’em variant that encourages and facilitates in-game cheating) and Star Trek: D-A-C, which appears to be a top-down shooter with a ships from the franchise.

Also, Major Nelson has acknowledged the Achievements issue with Fallout 3’s DLC pack, “Broken Steel.” I personally did not have any problem with that, but for those of you that did, you should read both the post and the comments because some users have problems with the solution proposed. Check it out here: http://majornelson.com/archive/2009/05/07/fallout-3-broken-steel-fixed.aspx

Next, the main topic: Virtual On and why some players are so dedicated to the game, they’ve made their own controllers for the Xbox Live port.