Gaming Xbox 360 Controller for PC

[thiefb0ss]

I recently got a 360 controller for Team Fortress 2, and with that I have a lot more fun. Does anyone else here enjoy controllers more despite disliking consoles?

 

[Raichy]

Did you try to play FIFA football with it? Huge difference...

 

[EyeZ]

I don't have an Xbox 360 controller but i do have a Saitek, i use the Saitek on most of my PC games except fps's, they have to be played with mouse/keys.

Where the controller comes into its own is in driving games, i suck relying on keys for steering.

 

[FAST6191]

You got a controller and can stand up to a keyboard and mouse and a game like Team Fortess 2? Impressive if so.

Personally I like the movement of a controller but the control of a mouse. I have tried mapping movement controls to a controller at various points and using a mouse to aim but I rarely get far. Certain genres or at least their standard implementations work better with the two "extremes" (I am leaving the discussion of fight pads/sticks for another day) and others I can go either way on (I still hold mouse killers (dungeon crawlers like diablo) work just as well on console style controllers).

Edit just so you know if a game does not support controllers there are programs like joy2key and xpadder that map controllers to key presses.

 

[qlum]

I wouldn't want to play a shooter with a dual analog controller but something like a wiimote or a ps move would be a totally different story. Although I did use the navigation controller of my ps move in shooters once as a replacement of the keyboard and it worked quite well.

 

[Satangel]

Did you try to play FIFA football with it? Huge difference...

This!
I've had a 360 controller for about a year now, and there are 2 PC games I enjoy a lot more with the controller:

- FIFA (I presume Madden, NBA too if you're into that)
- Batman Arham City and Arkham Asylum
(- Assassin's Creed series)

Furthermore you should really look into emulators! I've played a ton of PS2 games with the 360 controller, works wonderfully thanks to PCSX2.
Also GC/Wii games via Dolphin, and N64 games thanks to Project 64. It might take some Googling to figure out how to configure the controller with the emulator, but it'll all work.
And like FAST said, joy2key and xpadder are excellent tools too.

Too long, didn't read: EMULATE THE SHIT OUT OF YOUR PC!!!

 

[marcus134]

Personally I like the movement of a controller but the control of a mouse. I have tried mapping movement controls to a controller at various points and using a mouse to aim but I rarely get far

you would've probably had more success with something like that: http://www.logitech.com/en-ca/gaming/mice-keyboard-combos/devices/g13-advanced-gameboard

 

[FAST6191]

Such things are nominally better- I have tried various things from natural keyboards to "gaming keyboards" to the large WASD keyboards (nice for some things but even on those games I like it for it is ultimately a net negative) as well as stuff like that. I think the main issue is although I love analogue stick movement when my hand is around such a controller it kind of prevents proper button controls from happening (little and ring fingers are not best suited to such actions) which is troubling when you have lean, crouch, reload, use, select fire more and whatever else (it is also my main gripe with the large WASD keyboards) to say nothing of games using f keys (hands off controllers tending to cause one to fail in games). Frankly if it was not for said extra controls becoming necessary I might well still be using the arrow keys (indeed I kept using them for some time after we went to WASD).

About the only time I got close was with the old star wars jedi knight and so forth games where guns went to sword fighting but that meant I would jump to the controller when I was swinging a sword.

This being said my hand strength is somewhat greater now and my mice seem to have sprung more buttons so I might try a nunchuck arrangement.

 

[Zerosuit connor]

I believe it makes a difference, Minecraft was okay with an Xbox controller.

 

[thiefb0ss]

You got a controller and can stand up to a keyboard and mouse and a game like Team Fortess 2? Impressive if so.

Personally I like the movement of a controller but the control of a mouse. I have tried mapping movement controls to a controller at various points and using a mouse to aim but I rarely get far. Certain genres or at least their standard implementations work better with the two "extremes" (I am leaving the discussion of fight pads/sticks for another day) and others I can go either way on (I still hold mouse killers (dungeon crawlers like diablo) work just as well on console style controllers).

Edit just so you know if a game does not support controllers there are programs like joy2key and xpadder that map controllers to key presses.

I agree. I prefer moving with analog sticks, but can aim and move a lot better with keyboard/mouse because it's what I'm used to.

---

 

[Satangel]

@thiefb0ss True, but I think the upscaling is worth it, and RTS even more. You can also fastforward, incredibly handy.
Basically if your CPU is good enough, you can play God of War 2 in resolutions way higher the PS2 could ever handle, and boy, it's so much better than the original.

 

[The_Hulkster]

Driver San Francisco is fun to play with the 360 controller as well

 

[Hells Malice]

I don't play PC FPS with a controller since I don't want to get my ass kicked ingame by doing so.

I play console FPS like The Darkness and Fallout with a gamepad since they feel like absolute shit with a mouse and keyboard.

 

[Kioku]

I think the main issue is although I love analogue stick movement when my hand is around such a controller it kind of prevents proper button controls from happening (little and ring fingers are not best suited to such actions) which is troubling when you have lean, crouch, reload, use, select fire more and whatever else

This seems to be the problem with most people... Not enough buttons on the controller.. I really don't mind, though. Me, personally? I don't use lean, or even half of the weapon/item buttons. If I have to? XPadder is great for assigning multiple actions to a single button.

 

[FAST6191]

It is not as much lack of buttons (I have more than enough switches and to do such things around to do something there) but that when my hand is gripping a controller moving my little finger and ring finger in a comfortable/reasonable manner that allows for good game controls is a bit of an ask (I tend to leave them hanging on a controller which is also why I am not that fond of the playstation controller). It probably stems a bit from the fairly odd way I type as well but that is a different matter for a different day.

I had thought about having a mode selection added so I could say grip a trigger and turn the analogue into a four way dpad- think N64 goldeneye/perfect dark where you would hold a bumper to aim and the c buttons would change action or some of the radial menus in RPGs on the consoles).

Thinking about it I do have a teensy around here and controller hacks ( http://avtsy.com/html/teensy.html ) are a popular activity there (it has a nice USB HID mode). Four 4 directions and two buttons making for eight buttons if I had a swap trigger... that could work.