Quite a few people have asked for help implementing this project, and quite a few more have wanted to buy one from me off the shelf. Charles G. from Florida finally convinced me to sell him the prototype for $100, which is about the minimum that I’d be able to charge for these things as I don’t have the time produce them production line style.
I may be able to make a few more at the start of 2008, if you think you’d be interested in picking one up email me at gt@gtpunch.com If there’s a lot of interest I might consider sticking the next one on eBay or something.
One tip is to get a cheap Guitar Hero Xplorer controller on eBay and build the mod into that- no-one wants them anymore as the wireless ones are cooler. There is plenty of room inside them for wires and circuit boards, and the contacts are more exposed than in a handheld controller.
Someone in Germany is making versions of this device based on my design http://swos.ring23.com/gfx/a2x360/ Great to see that more of these things are being made! It seems that they read about it on the sensiblesoccer.de forums.
Matt in London emailed me with some photos of the start of his own project. It seems that the official 360 controllers are a bit more difficult to solder to, as confirmed by this guy (who found a way of doing it, just about). His project requires fewer electrical components because it connects the arcade switches directly to the 360 pads, he replicates all of the buttons (start, back, etc.) which mine doesn’t need to, so there’s a bit more soldering overall: http://www.instructables.com/id/Xbox-360-Arcade-controller—Project-Gyokusho/ .
Here’s another great arcade stick: http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=605873 . The advantage of my approach is that it’s dead easy to swap out the joystick for any of the classics that are preferred: Competition Pro, Zip Stick, (Even a Speedking or a Navigator if you like getting RSI, or a Quickshot II if you like crap that breaks), the disadvantage is that you have to go back to the 360 controller for any button presses other than ‘A’, which means any games other than simple 1-button jobs are out. Matt also mentioned that it might be easier to solder to the inside of a Hori Arcade Stick, if you can get hold of one.
Merry Christmas, Cheers!
Update: May 2009, bencao74 used a similar 4-in-1 optocoupler to build a 360 arcade stick: http://bencao74.blogspot.com/2009/02/common-ground-stick-like-sanwa-or.html
gtpunch 
