Joypads, Joysticks?

I'm trying to play Star Wars X-Wing Alliance. It's a terribly old game that has to be played with a joystick. However, it came out long before USB drives were common so it uses serial joysticks. I have two questions.

1. Would a USB joypad/joystick work with the game? Has anyone tried it, by any chance?
2. How do these look? They look decent and cheap (I really don't want anything fancy, it's just an old game I want to play):

http://cgi.ebay.com/USB-Dual-Shock-C...QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.com/Double-Shock-Con...QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.com/Dual-Shock-USB-J...QQcmdZViewItem

Hi!

Maybe the game will work. Hard to tell really, as it's an older pre-USB supported game. And I can't find anything saying if a usb game pad or joystick is compatible or not?

Yeah, then any of those pads will do the job for ya. And it's wise of you not shelling out money on a quality pad before you know if the game even works with a game pad?

if you have a usb game pad, try it out and see if it works. If you don't, tyr buying one from your local bestbuy store and if it doesn't work, then return the pad and get a full refund back (just ask if you can get a refund (even if you open the wrapping) before you buy it)