Go for a wired 360 controller for now. They're cheap, reliable and natively supported in Steam and other places.
That being said, I totally might pick up a DualShock 4 at some point since I don't plan on getting a PS4 or Xbox One anytime soon. A slick new next-gen controller (even if there's no support for that front touch pad) would be rad. I'd assume it would work like the DualShock 3 over Bluetooth.
I've got a question kind of tangentially related to this.
Do you think it would be wise to build a gaming PC now with new consoles around the corner. I understand that PCs can easily have better specs than PS4/XB1 but how realistic is that now with cost in mind?
@professoress: @skullcrushermountain: A word of warning: Because the sticks are somewhat looser on PS3 controllers than the 360 ones, PS3 games are calibrated with a larger dead-zone. Any games you play while emulating a 360 controller will be calibrated for a smaller dead-zone which can cause you to experience some drift depending on how loose your sticks are and how much rumble you're using. For example, I had no problems while playing Remember Me but ended up having to disable the right stick entirely for Dust.
@vaddixbell: it's a good time to build a gaming pc now that we know more or less will be in the new consoles and they're not changing anything significant. The GTX 770 is also one if the best gpus that's ever been released for what they're charging for it.
Only thing to possibly worry about is that nvidia may be doing an overhaul next year and changing up the tech in their cards.
as a lot of people said use a 360 controller or a ps3 with the ps3 you need a program called DS3 Tool, or motioninjoy that emulates the 360 controller. i personally use the ps3 controller since i already have a few of them works just as good, and you can run it via bluetooth but the dongle or device needs a special scribt to be able to be pared with the controller. unfortunally i dont know enough about that part to say what it specifically is or what devices contain them
@branthog: I've used a wireless xbox controller for years and have never had a problem with it. It's always worked great.
Same, here.
Many of the wireless receivers work poorly (and depending on where you pick it up, it can be iffy if you're getting the legitimate item or a knockoff). I've seen some systems and games have significant problems either recognizing a controller at all in that situation or keeping the signal. I've found that (since you're already sitting a foot away from the monitor, anyway) a wired controller has always been a really solid non-complex solution when it comes to the PC (if you really want to use a controller on the PC, of course).
Agreed with the wired 360 pc controller as the better ones out there, tried one of the logitech ones that looked like a ps2 controller that felt cheap. Like the 360 one too as I was tired of always watching the charge die all the time so having one controller for both the pc & the 360 that's wired is great for me & recommended.
Umm, maybe just stick with the consoles, and remember, If the controller buttons give you any difficulty you can always use kinect. Your body is the controller! Yay!
Don't matter first or third party. As long as you get a 360 controller all will be fine.
Uh. No. Get a real 360 gamepad from Microsoft and avoid cheap (or expensive) knockoffs. They are not worth it. The official 360 gamepad is as good as it gets.
I used a Mad Catz 360 controller for over 2 years that has been reliable as hell. It still works right now except for the matte skin that's all sticky and gross now. I know the Razer Onza has infamously bad QA, I had a few friends get it and break within weeks. My colleague got a Razer Sabretooth and while I can't say anything about the build it definitely feels amazing in my hands and the buttons click when you press them like you would if you were using a mechanical keyboard. So to me, I believe there are good 3rd party pads out there and I'm willing to pay a little more for a better experience.
A Mad Catz 360 gamepad is around $35-40, right? On Amazon you can get an official Microsoft 360 wired gamepad for $35. I just don't see any reason to go with a third-party gamepad when you can get the nearly-perfect official one for the same price (or $5 less).
Usually slightly above. I agree that the original is near perfect as well aside from the D-pad but I got used very used to my Mad Catz pad cause the trigger buttons had an intentional higher resistance to activate and grew to love it. But hey, it's a matter of preference and I'm thinking of just picking up a new original 360 controller anyway since I got a couple of games from steam sales.
@branthog: ah, I have my PC hooked up to my TV so I'm not that close. I play a lot of magicka local 4 player and the wireless controllers are great for that. Shame you've had a bad experience with them dude.
Just plug it into your PC via USB and you're done.
Never had any issues when using my wireless 360 controllers on my PC and there are like 2 USB HUB's and 15 meters of extension cables between my PC and the wireless receiver.
Setting it up the first time it had some quirks, something about installing drivers first and connecting the receiver after, but after a bit of trial&error to get it working it's pretty much doing what it's supposed to without much of an hassle.
Imho it's the best solution for somebody who already has a 360, just get the wireless gaming receiver or a second party one for cheap money. It's the cheapest and most universal solution, after all you can use all of your 360 controllers.
I bought the wired 360 controller and it works great. Now my only problem is that my laptop wont display full screen on my plasma tv when I hook it up with my HDMI cable despite both being at 1080 resolution.
Apparently this is a known issue where the laptop purposely downsizes the screen by 10%. Now that I think about it there were 3 inch black lines around the screen so it feels like its more than 10%.
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