Pc gaming and gamepads

[kainemaxwell]

Gamepad (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=5796463&type=product&productCategoryId=cat01063&id=1058188350409)

Anyone here have or recommend this pc gamepad? I'm thinking of picking it up seeing how my gravis pro, as much as I like it, is showing its age and acting wonky. Also wanting to finally pick up Knights of the Old Republic as well.

[calthaer]

I have this one, and the one I have works great.

FYI, KOTOR works great on a PC with your mouse and keyboard - no gamepad required. In fact, it might even be something of a hindrance to you.

[Push Upstairs]

Thats the controller i have.

I use it when i play "Vice City" and i really have zero complaints about it...aside from its lack of analog buttons (when you drive, you drive at top speed all the time.)

For anything else i use it on it's great.

[Blanka789]

This is my choice of PC game controllers, and it works pretty well with emulators.

[kainemaxwell]

I have this one, and the one I have works great.

FYI, KOTOR works great on a PC with your mouse and keyboard - no gamepad required. In fact, it might even be something of a hindrance to you.
Thing is I'm not that great playing games like that with the keyboard and mouse, so gamepads are my thing (maybe fact I'm left-handed and I use my right hand usually for the mouse and cursor keys). i'll give it a shot without first.

[Joker T]

I personally like KOTOR better with the keyboard I think it works great. Speaking of KOTOR I never got the second one :(

[Daniel Thomas]

Heeyyy! Wait a minute.

I had to replace my Microsoft Sidewinder (6-button ala Saturn) some weeks ago, and this was the controller I bought. I think it's very good for analog control, but otherwise I hate it.

Namely, the d-pad sucks. It royally sucks. Even for PC joypads, which have always been scraping the bottom of the barrel, this one is terrible. I can't play anything that requires digital control.

Nobody knows how to make a good d-pad anymore. The problem is that the directions aren't precise. Changing direction is a lot muddier. You can hold down right, but if you happen to shift your thumb in even the slightest, the pad registers as up or down...or diagonals.

Microsoft's Sidewinder had this problem also (I couldn't ever play Pac-Man without turning the wrong corner suddenly), but this is far worse. Forget about playing anything via Genesis, SNES, or GBA emulators. I'd like to be able to run through the earlier Advance Castlevanias, just to jog my memory (I'm playing through the new DS Dawn of Sorrow), but I can't control the characters with any sort of precision.

Did I mention tonight how much I hate these people?

Do the XBox 360 controllers have USB connections? If so, I'll be getting those instead. That, amigos, is a real controller.

[Push Upstairs]

XBOX 360 controllers for the PC have USB connectors.

They are mentioned in the newest PC Gamer.

[Zing]

I must agree that this gamepad is a 100% DO NOT BUY.

I bought it for my wife thinking it was so similar to the awesome PS2 gamepad, that it had to be good. The truth is: the D-pad is, indeed, terrible. Just as the poster above stated, it is insanely sensitive when pressing left or right. If you do not have it exactly, and I mean exactly, left or right, it ends up registering as up or down. This essentially rendered the gamepad useless.

Stay away.

However, I heartily recommend the Saitek P880 or the P2500 (same as the P880 but with rumble).

[calthaer]

Thing is I'm not that great playing games like that with the keyboard and mouse, so gamepads are my thing (maybe fact I'm left-handed and I use my right hand usually for the mouse and cursor keys). i'll give it a shot without first.

KOTOR has this semi-turn-based system a la Baldur's Gate (for the PC), where you pause the game with the space bar and then give orders for your whole crew. Giving orders is as simple as clicking on your teammate (making them active), then clicking on the bad guy (or the door, or the computer, whatever) and telling them what you want them to do. Since the game is paused, there's no need for lightning-quick reflexes, so you don't necessarily have to be "good" with the keyboard + mouse to play with them - just good at being strategic with your combat. Walking around is done via WSAD, so if that's really annoying for you, then maybe not - but again, you can set it to auto-pause any time you see a baddie, so combat IMO is much better with the K+M.

With the gamepad, you are forced to cycle through available baddies and stuff like that - annoying.

If you can navigate Windows, you'll probably have no problem with this game. KOTOR...what a great game. I want to go through it again on the Dark Side this time.

Make sure you save up lots of cash. Play all the Pazaak you can.

*some might consider this a spoiler, I guess*


There are two "legendary" light sabre crystals you can get on this space station (on Xbox, you have to have Live to download an update - I believe that KOTOR PC has this included, or at the very least it's a patch? but i don't think you need to patch) around Yavin, and they have UNGODLY power, but cost 20,000 credits or so each and you can only get them near the end of the game. Man, those two crystals (teal + orange light sabre colors) are so awesome - I was cutting things down left and right; just tap an enemy and they go down like a dog, and I had those super cut-up moves where you do the flurry of strikes, and DUAL-WIELD with both of those.

Awesome. I was a machine.

[kainemaxwell]

What's WSAD?

[Tritoch]

What's WSAD?

He's referring to the W, A, S, and D keys on your keyboard typically used for movement in most PC games.

[mario2butts]

I agree, the D-pad sucks. I bought it for playing old school emulatoin... bad idea. Imagine playing any mario or sonic game, ok? Press right to walk forward and your character will randomly duck or look up; the pad keeps registering the wrong direction! Probably designed with 3D games where rapid and fluid changes in direction are helpful. You'll probably be fine using it for modern gaming, though.

[Joker T]

I have been thinking about picking up one of the 360 control pads but then I thought. What games do I play on PC? Shooters, RPGs and Strategy games. So I don't really need one. You really don't need a gamepad to enjoy many PC games with the exception of badly done console ports and racing games.

[kainemaxwell]

I would have picked up one the XBox PC controllers, but not a big fan of them. Aren't they made smaller now and better fitting? Outside of Logitech's then, any other suggestions of a decent controller- either PS2 shaped or not?

[poe]

I snagged a RadioShack Playstation-to-USB adapter. Solves the issue of the crap D-Pad (on every PC pad I've seen currently on the market), plus the analog sticks on the logitech model wear out quickly, from what I've heard. Not sure how effective (if at all) the analog sticks are with the adapter, though. I've only used it for NES emulation so far, and I get no response from the sticks, though that's probably got more to do with the software itself, and the fact I just used the generic gamepad config XP autodetected this as, instead of the manufacturer's driver CD.

Also, if you haven't played it yet, KOTOR plays a lot more like the old Infinity Engine games (Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale) than it's XBOX origins suggest, and I found mouse-centric controls with WSAD movement worked best for it. I wouldn't bother with the gamepad for it.

EDIT: LINK (http://www.atruereview.com/PS2/index.php) to a review of a product similar to mine. They used the included software, with positive results. I know the one I bought at Radioshack is a different model; not sure if the same company manufactured it, so there might be some functionality differences between these adapters.

[Blanka789]

Quick question: I used to have a Sidewinder(loved it), why did Microsoft stop making these?

[kainemaxwell]

How much is this Playstation-to-USB adapter and do they still sell them?

[grayrobertos]

I personal have a gamecube to PC connector. Couldn't recomend it more.

[calthaer]

Slightly off-topic but not really - if emulation of classics is what's desired, I'm very interested to hear what people think of the GP2X Linux handheld - it apparently emulates quite a few of the oldies, and was wondering how the whole thing performed, how its controls are, how user-friendly, etc.

[poe]

How much is this Playstation-to-USB adapter and do they still sell them?

I only bought mine about 2 months ago, so I'm sure they're still available; the hard part will be finding them in the store, since most Radio Shacks I've seen haven't put in an actual video game section (I hear some have, though). Check with PC accessories, if they haven't. Mine only cost me about $10, and I've seen a lot on eBay, if you can't find it locally.

[kainemaxwell]

For the record, planning to use the gamepad for PC gaming and emulation.

[kainemaxwell]

Any other recommendations?

[c0ldb33r]

You can easily mod an xbox controller to work with a standard PC usb pad. Xbox pads just use proprietary USB connectors - they're USB but just with a funny plug. All you do is buy an extra xbox breakaway dongle (I bought a 6 foot replacement), sacrifice a dongle - cut it in half, and wire the wires to a male USB plug. The wires are all the same colour as their USB counterparts (except one extra colour which you just ignore - tape up the end). Just solder the two halves together and usb some shrink tubing or electrical tape and you're done.

To install it, just download the xbox controller drivers (google for them).

I've done it, it's simple, and fantastic as a PC controller. The whole project took me about half an hour. Whenever I want to use the controller with my xbox, I insert it into the normal xbox dongle, when I want to use it with my PC, I stick it into the PC dongle :)

[jezt]

Game elements recoil.
For 16 bucks, it works pretty well.
I use it to play zelda classic.

The Cord retracts as per its name.

[YoshiM]

You can easily mod an xbox controller to work with a standard PC usb pad. Xbox pads just use proprietary USB connectors - they're USB but just with a funny plug. All you do is buy an extra xbox breakaway dongle (I bought a 6 foot replacement), sacrifice a dongle - cut it in half, and wire the wires to a male USB plug. The wires are all the same colour as their USB counterparts (except one extra colour which you just ignore - tape up the end). Just solder the two halves together and usb some shrink tubing or electrical tape and you're done.

To install it, just download the xbox controller drivers (google for them).

I've done it, it's simple, and fantastic as a PC controller. The whole project took me about half an hour. Whenever I want to use the controller with my xbox, I insert it into the normal xbox dongle, when I want to use it with my PC, I stick it into the PC dongle :)

I was going to mention this method too. You can buy Xbox dongles at a Gamestop for cheap. Think I got mine for like $2 or $3.

It's pretty sweet and works great. The software is programmable so you can set up your Xbox pad for practically any game.

[YoshiM]

You can easily mod an xbox controller to work with a standard PC usb pad. Xbox pads just use proprietary USB connectors - they're USB but just with a funny plug. All you do is buy an extra xbox breakaway dongle (I bought a 6 foot replacement), sacrifice a dongle - cut it in half, and wire the wires to a male USB plug. The wires are all the same colour as their USB counterparts (except one extra colour which you just ignore - tape up the end). Just solder the two halves together and usb some shrink tubing or electrical tape and you're done.

To install it, just download the xbox controller drivers (google for them).

I've done it, it's simple, and fantastic as a PC controller. The whole project took me about half an hour. Whenever I want to use the controller with my xbox, I insert it into the normal xbox dongle, when I want to use it with my PC, I stick it into the PC dongle :)

I was going to mention this method too. You can buy Xbox dongles at a Gamestop for cheap. Think I got mine for like $2 or $3.

It's pretty sweet and works great. The software is programmable so you can set up your Xbox pad for practically any game.

[YoshiM]

You can easily mod an xbox controller to work with a standard PC usb pad. Xbox pads just use proprietary USB connectors - they're USB but just with a funny plug. All you do is buy an extra xbox breakaway dongle (I bought a 6 foot replacement), sacrifice a dongle - cut it in half, and wire the wires to a male USB plug. The wires are all the same colour as their USB counterparts (except one extra colour which you just ignore - tape up the end). Just solder the two halves together and usb some shrink tubing or electrical tape and you're done.

To install it, just download the xbox controller drivers (google for them).

I've done it, it's simple, and fantastic as a PC controller. The whole project took me about half an hour. Whenever I want to use the controller with my xbox, I insert it into the normal xbox dongle, when I want to use it with my PC, I stick it into the PC dongle :)

I was going to mention this method too. You can buy Xbox dongles at a Gamestop for cheap. Think I got mine for like $2 or $3.

It's pretty sweet and works great. The software is programmable so you can set up your Xbox pad for practically any game.

[Jorpho]

A while back someone posted about a relatively inexpensive PC gamepad that actually plugs into the PS/2 keyboard port -- all the (remappable) buttons are common keys like Ctrl, Page Down, etc. I should look into getting one of those.

[Iron Draggon]

Game elements recoil.
For 16 bucks, it works pretty well.
I use it to play zelda classic.

The Cord retracts as per its name.

That's the pad that I have too. It works very well. I also love the way that it feels in my hands. It's covered in soft rubber, so it feels really cool, and you never lose your grip on it. So much more comfortable than hard plastic pads.

[kainemaxwell]

Game elements recoil.
For 16 bucks, it works pretty well.
I use it to play zelda classic.

The Cord retracts as per its name.
Know where its sold?

[Synergy]

Personally, I use a SmartJoy Plus adapter and a PS2 controller. I love PlayStation controllers because they seem the most comfortable to me; maybe after playing so many PSX games. :)

I ordered it directly from Lik-Sang.com. Here's a link:

http://www.lik-sang.com/info.php?category=23&products_id=3833&

I've had it a little over a year, never had a problem with it.

[kainemaxwell]

Personally, I use a SmartJoy Plus adapter and a PS2 controller. I love PlayStation controllers because they seem the most comfortable to me; maybe after playing so many PSX games. :)

I ordered it directly from Lik-Sang.com. Here's a link:

http://www.lik-sang.com/info.php?category=23&products_id=3833&

I've had it a little over a year, never had a problem with it.
I'll look into getting that if I can't find the adaptor at any of the 2 Radio Shacks by me. :)

[kainemaxwell]

Anyone ever see this:
http://www.amazon.com/Playstation-PC-USB-Gamepad-Converter/dp/B000F6BGXY

Also what's the name of the adapter they sell at Radio Shack? I'll take a look for it tomorrow.