Some related information from Left 4 Dead's commentary:
Just Cause 2 and Spec Ops: The Line only show hints assuming that I'm playing with the controller, whereas Blur and Psychonauts only show hints assuming that I'm playing mouse + keyboard. I was able to mod Psychonauts to show Xbox controls, but for the others I just have to memorize both sets of controls, so I can remember what keyboard button is mapped to the same function as the Xbox button shown on-screen.
The most annoying thing for me these days is games that don't auto-detect whether you're using a controller, so the button shown by the hint is irrelevant to what you're trying to do.[Jeep Barnett] Through playtesting we found that Left 4 Dead's unique cooperation mechanics were tricky even for seasoned gamers to grasp immediately. Failing because of rules that are not clear is never fun. Therefore, we designed the game instructor system to educate players as quickly as possible. Because first time players can potentially join an in-progress game at any point, it was critical that the game instructor dynamically interpret game events. It keeps a running list of the lessons that can be taught in the current context and displays the ones that are most important. It also tracks how many times the player has successfully demonstrated that they've learned the lesson. Once the player has proven competence at any specific lesson, the hint is never shown again.
Just Cause 2 and Spec Ops: The Line only show hints assuming that I'm playing with the controller, whereas Blur and Psychonauts only show hints assuming that I'm playing mouse + keyboard. I was able to mod Psychonauts to show Xbox controls, but for the others I just have to memorize both sets of controls, so I can remember what keyboard button is mapped to the same function as the Xbox button shown on-screen.