Let me start off by telling my little story, it's not long.

Anyways, back when I was eleven or so my father bought my brother the LucasArts Archives Vol. II. This contained, Dark Forces, Tie Fighter (Collectors CD ROM), Rebel Assault, Making Magic (digital enhancements of first three SW movies) and Rebel Assault II.

I immediately fell in love with Tie Fighter and hail it as one of the best flight sims ever. I did not have a joystick back in day and used the mouse, which I believe is extremely accurate.

I've always wondered why LuscasArts didn't make a sequel (besides the two expansions i.e, Defender of the Empire and the other) or at least polish up the graphics and release it again. I've wondered about this for years. Fortunately, and rather late, I found out about X-Wing Trilogy addition which enhanced the graphics of Tie Fighter. I saw some screen shots and was throughly impressed. I've beaten Tie Fighter at least ten times, I'm 22 now, and really want to try out the enhanced version of Tie Fighter. Here's the entire point of the story. I need a joystick in order to play Tie Fighter with the new enhanced or textured graphics. I've never owned a joystick before and spent the last 5 hours online, vigorously, searching for what kind of joystick I should get.

So, Here's the question, should I get an old school, Sidewinder Force Feedback (I really want to try out this FF) or a new school (2006-2007) FF joystick. I heard that digital is the way to go to avoid calibration issues.

Any suggestions or recommendations would be most helpful.

Thanks for your time.

P.S. I'm willing to spend between 30 and 70 bucks for this joystick.

For New school I'm looking at this.

Saitek Cyborg Evo Force PC Flight Stick

http://www.amazon.com/Saitek-Cyborg-Force-Flight-PS27/dp/B00068P3O4)

For Old school I'm looking at this.

Microsoft SideWinder Force Feedback Pro

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00002JXBD/ref=olp_product_details/002-2631622-5309662?ie=UTF8&seller=)

I heard there was some compatibility issues with XP but there was some sort of workaround.

For the compatibility issues, you'll probably want to go to the "Advanced" button in the Game Controllers dialog and select the stick from the "Select the device you want to use with older games" drop-down list.

I'm not sure about the FF Pro, but if it's like the other Microsoft SideWinder sticks, it'll probably be auto-detected by Windows and, thus, give you fewer configuration headaches than the Saitek stick.

I had a Cyborg Evo for a couple of years and couldn't fault it, well laid out buttons and fully adjustable hand supports which could also be set up for both left or right handed users.