[Andrew Blair]

You are right on one fact- GamePort to USB converters are cheap and available. These however run only in one direction. USB to Gameport converters are a little different, and a lot harder to create.

First of all, the USB allows for a relatively large amount of power to be passed through the port to power lots of stuff. Like Gameport pots and switches, and the hardware needed to convert the Gameport's analog signals to the USB digital protocol. IFI's OI does not provide for the amount of current needed to run a USB device, and the hardware needed to change USB to analog voltages on individual pins. You cannot reasonably create a USB to Gameport converter without adding another power source- which is what the chicklet does. This is part of the explanation of why the converters only work in one direction.

Apart from power, there are two separate entities in any USB system- slave devices (any USB device you buy pretty much), and a central USB host controller, which is what your computer does. The gameport to USB converter acts as a slave to a computer, and therefore does not need complex hardware to operate. It looks at it's own hardware, and relays that to the host when instructed. It talks when the host tells it to.

However, the host controller must be must more complex, because it has to give the orders to the slave devices. It's responsible for polling and servicing the slaves, not just feeding information. It then has to take the information that the slave provides and convert that to voltages on the individual Gameport pins. As you can see, it takes alot more work to create a USB host than a USB slave, and that's why the Chicklet has been so long in coming.

Why it's $130, I don't know. Startup costs I suppose. Regardless, its a wonderful option to free teams from the terrible white joysticks we have been getting the past few years. But you really have no other options.