Game Controller Recommendations

[Visitor Q]

I currently own an X-Arcade dual stick that I will be using for HyperSpin but can anyone recommend a good Wireless Game Pad for use with console emulation?

I was considering Logitech 963326-0403 Cordless RumblePad 2 USB…

Thoughts?

Thanks.
Jason

[joebells]

I use wireless xbox 360 controllers. Microsoft makes an adapter you can buy for about 15-20 dollars that will allow you to wirelessly connect up to 4 of them to your computer. It works pretty well there are a few gotchas but nothing bad and I think the 360 controller is better than most pc controllers.

[Visitor Q]

That’s a great idea. I don’t have an Xbox360 anymore but I still have the battery pack for one of them and I can always buy another controller. I do have a PS3 and I see there is a way to hook that up as well, have you tried that?

Can you link me to the adapter you are referring to for the 360 controller?

Is this it? http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-Wireless-Gaming-Receiver-Windows/dp/B000HZFCT2

Jason

[joebells]

thats the one. I haven't tried the ps3 controller yet. I happened to have a couple of the wireless controllers(had a 360 for a little while) so I bought the wireless adapter. Last time I looked at the ps3 driver it was definitely still a work in progress. I still consider it sometimes as you have to be careful with the 360 controllers if you happen to start some of the emulators without the controllers turned on they can lose the configuration settings, if the controllers turn off while you are playing the emulators can act screwy/lose configuration settings too. Windows treats the controllers as not existing the second they are turned off.

A japanese person has written an alternative driver that makes it seem like the controller is always plugged in and it offers a crazy amount of customization the problem is that the driver makes it a one controller per gaming receiver setup. So if you want 2 controllers to be hooked up you need 2 wireless gaming receivers, 3 then 3 gaming receivers. If you are running vista sp1 then the drivers are also not signed but there are ways around that, just complicated at first. The driver other than that works great. Here is a website with an older english translation http://x360wc.tripod.com/index.html and that site has a link to the original authors webpage with newer versions but that are in japanese only.

I say all that and it seems bad but I am running off the original microsoft driver and it works ok. Many of the emulators have been updated to not delete the config info if the controller isn't turned on when it starts up. For the couple that aren't updated you can generally just make the config file read only and then the config can't be deleted.

I still think about buying more of the receivers also.

I wish the wii classic controller was wireless and had a good driver for it. That feels the best in my hand. but with those caveats the 360 controller does work well.

If you go this route and have any trouble just ask and I'll fix ya up(well try to :D )

[BadBoyBill]

I think microsoft makes a 360 controller but its for the pc.

[joebells]

they make a 360 controller for the pc but its just a wired xbox 360 controller, no difference between the two except that they include a driver cd with the "pc" version. I have also seen a package of the wireless gaming receiver and wireless controller bundled together at best buy or circuit city I forget and it was a bit cheaper but not much.

[Visitor Q]

Cool Joe, sounds good to me, well for the most part.

So... I justy want to buy that thinger above and a reg. 360 controller then, that is my best bet?

Jason

[brian_hoffman]

If thats what you want.. Im a logitec ps2 style kinda joypad. Never quite got the feel for the xbox controller.

[Visitor Q]

I would rather the Xbox controller to be honest.

Jason

[joebells]

yeah if you don't mind working around the couple of small gotchas I mentioned the 360 controllers are nice in my opinion and yeah just get any regular wireless microsoft manufactured 360 controller and that wireless gaming receiver. I still hold out hope for someone to write a driver like the japanese driver that makes them always appear connected but that allows you to have more than one controller per wireless gaming reciever. You say controller singularly here if you are going to get and use just one then use the english version of the japanese driver and you shouldn't have any issues besides deciphering the installation instructions(they are translated and they are correct just a bit hard to follow)

[BadBoyBill]

Do you guys feel that I should include joypad support or do you think its just simple enough to use a joy to key program to do what you need.?

[joebells]

Personally I think it would be nice to not have to run joy to key but if its hard/alot of work then I wouldn't worry about it as its not a big deal. I kind of think a regular user might like to not have to/not really know how to run joy to key as everything will be pretty simple with this front end with the spots to drop the roms already and the pre done config files and hyper hq so it might attract fairly novice computer users.

[Visitor Q]

I think joypad support would be great!

I plan on using it as well as my X-Arcade Twin Stick.

Jason

[brian_hoffman]

workaround solutions would be xpadder or jtk.
This would map your joypad to keystrokes so you could use it.

[BadBoyBill]

One of the reasons I had the startup program feature, I dont think anyone has extensively tested the feature yet with xpadder or anything, maybe someone could try it out.

[The Loafer]

More options is usually a good thing, so joypad support would be nice. Also, consider some arcade cabs use cool joysticks like the Ultimarc 360, which I *think* windows sees as a joystick (they're usb I think?).

[BadBoyBill]

I would love to get my hands on one of those 360's for testing, maybe someday.

[The Loafer]

I've only heard great things about them. Works wonders with Q-Bert too, a finicky title if there ever was one in a cab without a dedicated angled 4-way.

[Visitor Q]

So Bill, you going to support the 360 controller then?

Jason

[robcat]

If you want the PS3 drivers go here http://www.ps3-hacks.com/page/2/ and scroll down a bit.

I think the 360 controller is the greatest controller ever made ecept if you use the D-pad.