Joining the glorious PC Master Race

[Ranorak]

So, after getting rid of my mud-stained, dirty console clothes and upgraded my pc to something that can actually run something. I'm slowly taking my first steps as member of the glorious master race!
And I instantly miss my controller.
Looking around on some game website I see a large section on controllers. With prices ranging from 20 Euro to stuff that is 100+.

Now I obviously do not feel like spending a 100 Euro on a controller, but I also don't want to end up with a 20 Euro paperweight.

What do I have to look out for when buying a (un)wired Pc controller.
(And for the record, I'm not talking about a Joystick.)

Any tips, brands, pitfalls?

 

[duwenbasden]

Most people go with the 360 controller (for Windows). It works with most games and has the least amount of stuff to worry about.

 

[Clowndoe]

+1 to 360 controller. Even though alternative exist, I've actually not heard of anyone using anything else in recent memory. If you ever intend to play a multiplayer shooter though, I would recommend you ween yourself off of it. If you choose not to and someone berates you for it, though, you can tell them to fuck off.

More importantly, I would kindly ask of you to eschew the term "Master Race" and the like, unless you're using it in an obviously ironic fashion. It makes me uncomfortable, personally.

Having said that, welcome to the dark side!

 

[Supernova1138]

A wired Xbox 360 controller is probably the easiest option, just plug it in to a USB port and you're good to go. There are also the Xbox 360 Controller for Windows kits that come with a wireless receiver if you want to go the wireless route. As for other gamepads, try to look for something that has native support for the Xinput API, that way you don't have to fiddle around with extra software to try to get your controller to work with most games. PS3 controllers can work on Windows, but does require the use of motioninjoy software to function. I'd only bother with that route if you had a PS3 controller lying around that you wanted to use.

 

[Inazuma1]

I use a USB Logitech pad because they have better D-Pads than the 360 controller and I like to play fighting games.

 

[pilouuuu]

Welcome to our splendid, virtuous and magnificent race!

There's nothing to be missed about your former peasant's habits. Just get yourself an XBox 360 and enjoy your time in a much more enjoyable gaming landscape.

 

[Bad Jim]

Go for the 360 controller for Windows. Virtually every modern game that supports controllers will immediately recognise it.

But also, practise with the keyboard and mouse. Some games are a lot easier to play with keyboard and mouse.

 

[Albino Boo]

A word of warning. If you intend to play any multiplayer fps expect to die a lot when using a controller. The console version of an FPS tends to have aim assist and the PC version don't tend to.

 

[Liberaliter]

Another vote for the 360 controller here, it's the most commonly supported gamepad and is probably the best in terms of comfort and design anyway, plus it's fairly inexpensive.

 

[Ratty]

Get Xpadder or a similar program. This will let you map keyboard keys an/or mouse to the controller buttons and/or analog stick(s) on just about any controller you want. I use this to play games with USB adapted PS2 and SNES controllers and it works flawlessly 99% of the time. You can get the latest version of Xpadder (and free updates for life after that) for $15 while supporting the one man dev team, or fish around for the last freeware version he put out several years ago.

 

[Cerebrawl]

I've got a cheapish Saitek 12 programable button twin stick that works great(6 face buttons, 4 shoulder buttons, and the sticks can be pressed as buttons). It's a P990 for exact model.

But yeah due to overwhelming support, the 360 controller is pretty much the de facto standard.

 

[AD-Stu]

Welcome to the club Another vote for the 360 controller here (mine's wired, but go wireless if that floats your boat). I only really use it for driving games though.

 

[Aluwolf]

So, after getting rid of my mud-stained, dirty console clothes and upgraded my pc to something that can actually run something. I'm slowly taking my first steps as member of the glorious master race!
And I instantly miss my controller.
Looking around on some game website I see a large section on controllers. With prices ranging from 20 Euro to stuff that is 100+.

Now I obviously do not feel like spending a 100 Euro on a controller, but I also don't want to end up with a 20 Euro paperweight.

What do I have to look out for when buying a (un)wired Pc controller.
(And for the record, I'm not talking about a Joystick.)

Any tips, brands, pitfalls?

What console were you using? You can use a ps3 controller on your PC with a very easy to install program called Xinput wrapper, as for 360 controllers they are plug and play.

There are ways of using older controllers as well, but that requires extra hardware.

Something else no one has seem to have brought up is you need a 20 dollar dongle sold by microsoft if your 360 controller is wireless.

At the end of the day do not go with "for pc" controllers, you are 100x better off getting a console controller.

 

[Lazy Kitty]

Personally, I don't bother with anything wireless. Because batteries.
The 360 controller for Windows is pretty nice for some games. (Though mine sometimes pulls to the left for some reason. Haven't figured out how to make the deadzone configure the deadzone.)
Just use whatever you feel better suits the game you play.

 

[William Ossiss]

So, after getting rid of my mud-stained, dirty console clothes and upgraded my pc to something that can actually run something. I'm slowly taking my first steps as member of the glorious master race!
And I instantly miss my controller.
Looking around on some game website I see a large section on controllers. With prices ranging from 20 Euro to stuff that is 100+.

Now I obviously do not feel like spending a 100 Euro on a controller, but I also don't want to end up with a 20 Euro paperweight.

What do I have to look out for when buying a (un)wired Pc controller.
(And for the record, I'm not talking about a Joystick.)

Any tips, brands, pitfalls?

PC Gaming master race? just remember not to be an egotistical blowhard that thinks you're better than everyone else!

OT: Yeah the 360 wired controller is the best way to go. Otherwise you have to hunt down additional peripherals just so you can use the wireless one.

 

[Signa]

I've got a cheapish Saitek 12 programable button twin stick that works great(6 face buttons, 4 shoulder buttons, and the sticks can be pressed as buttons). It's a P990 for exact model.

But yeah due to overwhelming support, the 360 controller is pretty much the de facto standard.

I have that controller. It's perfect for emulators, especially the N64. The problem is they don't seem to make it anymore

OT: Also throwing my vote in for the 360 controller. It's never failed me, and a 3rd party wireless dongle can be bought on Amazon for like $13 if you don't want to be corded. Hell, the aforementioned p990 has failed me on a few games that don't support anything BUT the Xinput API. EVERYTHING these days uses Xinput, so getting a controller without it probably is a bad idea, no matter its quality.

 

[asdfen]

get whatever controller you like with a little tinkering any game supports any controller
360 controller is terribly made (I have 5 of them) the battery pack nonsense drives me crazy for one

 

[The Lugz]

What do I have to look out for when buying a (un)wired Pc controller.
(And for the record, I'm not talking about a Joystick.)

Any tips, brands, pitfalls?

you buy a 360 controller for windows, because everything supports it and windows has built in support for it so no third party drivers to go wrong.

if you want to experiment, you 'can' technically get a ps4/xbone controller and download some drivers for them but I do not recommend that in the slightest, they are new and not generally supported and games are built for the 360 controller and so work best with it.

you 'can' buy razer/logitech /xyz brand controllers but the drivers are hit and miss, you're not ganing anything because the game input parameters aren't going to change just because you plugged in a more expensive controller, the inconvenient truth is simply spending money on a controller is like buying an expensive branded door handle, it looks pretty but a stick would do the job just as well.

the general exception to this rule is simulation grade games and tech demos, that do accept full 16 bit or greater axis sensitivity, for which you'd want a sim wheel or a flight stick but games like that are few and far between!

so long as you're prepared for that, buy what makes you happy!

 

[maveric112]

I'll throw my hat in with the majority and say the 360 controller. When I first switched to PC gaming I went out and bought the wireless receiver since I already owned some wireless controllers with my Xbox and wanted to keep playing with them.

Though for convenience of use I would recommend the wired version since I have heard that the wireless receiver is supposed to be unreliable (though mine has been running fine for about a year) plus some older games which run the wired controller like assassins creed 2 don't recognise the wireless version.