Im interested in buying a controller for arcade games, sort of like the one you find on the cabinetes (you know, with you buttons and the joystick on one panel). I dont know if these exist as an external plug in device, so i wanted to check here.

X-Arcade makes nice solid sticks I hear.

Yeah, like Gryph said, Xarcade does have solid built sticks. And they are reletivly cheaper than other companies.
Mine was about $40 bucks since I bought the wood and built it myself.
Heres a link:
http://www.x-arcade.com/

Righto, thanks a lot guys!

Bear in mind though that many fighting game purists will denounce X-arcade sticks as being too stiff and American or whatever... has to do with the bat style stick.

They'll direct you towards Hori, a Jap peripherals company, but shipping and such makes this option not that worthwhile in my book. Just thought you should know X-arcade gets mixed reviews.