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NickD

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 25, 2007
725
1
Colorado
I'm looking for a gamepad to make my Mac game playing experience, more like my consoles, and don't really know where to start, because of all the different options, and possibly compatibility issues.

In your opinion, what's the best gamepad controller out there for the Mac platform?

Thanks,
NickD
 

Eric5h5

macrumors 68020
Dec 9, 2004
2,488
590
I'm looking for a gamepad to make my Mac game playing experience, more like my consoles

Just be aware, if you aren't already, that gamepads on computers are really only for a few specific games. The majority of computer games are designed for keyboard/mouse and most won't even work with a gamepad, at least not directly.

That said, all gamepads work with a Mac if they're properly USB compliant so just pick whatever you want. At worst, you might miss out on a feature, like the rumble in my Logitech Rumblepad II doesn't work (just as well; I'd switch it off anyway ;) ). A few require hacks/drivers, like the Xbox360 controller.

--Eric
 

Jack Flash

macrumors 65816
May 8, 2007
1,160
7
I believe you can use a Microsoft 360 SUB controller with a OS X driver. I will Google for it.
 

Amacfanboy

macrumors newbie
Mar 25, 2010
18
0
6 Button Mac OSX Gamepad

The Sega USB Gamepad for Mac is really good, especially if you play retro games on emulators like MAME OSX. Its great for fighting games like Street Fighter and the drivers are built in, so theres no need to install anything.
 

GreyMatta

macrumors regular
Jul 29, 2007
212
0
England
http://tattiebogle.net/index.php/ProjectRoot/Xbox360Controller/OsxDriver

I went ahead and googled the driver to use a 360 wired or 360 + wireless dongle. I have a wireless dongle for 360 so I'm gonna try that out sometime. =) I just bought an ebay one made by some chinese company since they don't sell the real ones anymore. works great.

I bought one of the non-microsoft ones from ebay and it does not work with OSX at all. Apparently only the official ones work OK
 

0098386

Suspended
Jan 18, 2005
21,574
2,908
I'd go for the Xbox 360 controller. Had one for years just for my PC. Used it for gaming and developing and it has just been a joy to use. I must have got an early model though because the rumble is ultra strong. Punches a hole through my hands!
 

bmb012

macrumors 6502
Jul 25, 2006
414
0
There really is no PC gamepad that comes close to the quality of a 360 controller. Just grab a wired 360 controller, or a pack that comes with a wireless receiver, and that driver linked to above.
 

Arregaithel

macrumors newbie
May 1, 2011
4
0
Guys,,,,I have used both Games pads as the list below . I would say that XBOX 360 is remarkable in its result as compared to other game pads . Second one Sega USB Gamepad for Mac is also best option .

Xbox 360
Sega USB Gamepad for Mac
 

Nightarchaon

macrumors 65816
Sep 1, 2010
1,393
30
Just be aware, if you aren't already, that gamepads on computers are really only for a few specific games. The majority of computer games are designed for keyboard/mouse and most won't even work with a gamepad, at least not directly.
--Eric

that used to be true ' but nowadays most games are designed for the consoles first , as evident by the fact that most games (80% of the ones I own on a quick look through) have direct support and artwork and in game tutorial for the xbox 360 pad.

Which is a shame as I prefer the PS3 pad. But since Microsoft made it so easy to basically recompile 360 game for the PC (over simplifying I know'. But basically true) very few games are written for the PC as priority one, it's just seen as a niche Market by the money makers now, it's consoles 1st for full price titles , milk the PC Market for a fraction more sales with a sub par port later.
 

0098386

Suspended
Jan 18, 2005
21,574
2,908
Which is a shame as I prefer the PS3 pad. But since Microsoft made it so easy to basically recompile 360 game for the PC (over simplifying I know'. But basically true) very few games are written for the PC as priority one, it's just seen as a niche Market by the money makers now, it's consoles 1st for full price titles , milk the PC Market for a fraction more sales with a sub par port later.

That's not true in the slightest. The reason why the 360 controller is so widely supported is because 1) it's extremely common, developers will always jump to the most common hardware. 2) Native support with DirectX, Xinput. Crazy easy to implement.

All my games are developed from the ground up with both 360 & keyboard+mouse support because it's bloody simple. Even games ported from the Xbox and PS3 support a wide range of controllers... they just need calibrating and keys remapped.
 

Nightarchaon

macrumors 65816
Sep 1, 2010
1,393
30
That's not true in the slightest. The reason why the 360 controller is so widely supported is because 1) it's extremely common, developers will always jump to the most common hardware. 2) Native support with DirectX, Xinput. Crazy easy to implement.

All my games are developed from the ground up with both 360 & keyboard+mouse support because it's bloody simple. Even games ported from the Xbox and PS3 support a wide range of controllers... they just need calibrating and keys remapped.

You don't think that the crazy large number of games designed for 360 1st then ported to the PC with the console controls still mapped right down to the art assets and in game tutorial prompts are a big give-away that console support comes 1st .

Simply put, most games are written for console 1st nowadays (the PC is long on the decline, thanks to STEAM and online direct sales basically ensuring that high street retailers stop selling PC games, and World of Warcraft that stopped millions of people from bothering to play another game on a PC, and now the app store has shifted people's expectations to cheap throwaway games , I fear the future is a sad place of MMOs or 2minute mini games , or DLC riddled bloatware ) , if a game is written for the 360 , then the PC version will be recompiled for windows and since the 360 code transfer is so easy thanks to MS, the 360 gamepad for the MAC/PC is the logical choice , I play Lego star wars in mac OS with the 360 controller. All in game prompts are for it anyway.
 

0098386

Suspended
Jan 18, 2005
21,574
2,908
You don't think that the crazy large number of games designed for 360 1st then ported to the PC with the console controls still mapped right down to the art assets and in game tutorial prompts are a big give-away that console support comes 1st .

Simply put, most games are written for console 1st nowadays (the PC is long on the decline, thanks to STEAM and online direct sales basically ensuring that high street retailers stop selling PC games, and World of Warcraft that stopped millions of people from bothering to play another game on a PC, and now the app store has shifted people's expectations to cheap throwaway games , I fear the future is a sad place of MMOs or 2minute mini games , or DLC riddled bloatware ) , if a game is written for the 360 , then the PC version will be recompiled for windows and since the 360 code transfer is so easy thanks to MS, the 360 gamepad for the MAC/PC is the logical choice , I play Lego star wars in mac OS with the 360 controller. All in game prompts are for it anyway.

PC gaming isn't dying. Sheesh, this topic gets brought up all the time and is put back to bed soon after. Answer always being: PC gaming isn't dying. Some people believe otherwise and have done so for the last 15 years.

But regardless of that. Games are either developed for consoles, PC or all platforms. Outside of indie games you don't get that many that are released for an Xbox and then later ported to PC. So all assets are either created for all platforms during the same development cycle, or they're just made for one platform. Even Valve had accidentally left some console strings in Portal 2 recently... and that was a multiplatform title with most features, better graphics+connectivity on PC.

The only modern console-centric PC games that come to mind are GTAIV, Modern Warfare 2 and Crysis 2.
Not an epidemic. Not a problem.
 

Nightarchaon

macrumors 65816
Sep 1, 2010
1,393
30
PC gaming isn't dying. Sheesh, this topic gets brought up all the time and is put back to bed soon after. Answer always being: PC gaming isn't dying. Some people believe otherwise and have done so for the last 15 years

The only modern console-centric PC games that come to mind are GTAIV, Modern Warfare 2 and Crysis 2.
Not an epidemic. Not a problem.

your falling into the same perceptions everyone else seems to have, the PC gaming scene is on life support . Sure at first glance it looks healthy, but remove the games that are released on consoles as well, and look at what's left, MMos , Starcraft 2 , and Facebook games. Everything else is designed to run on a consoles limited hardware, and generations old graphics hardware,, a PC developed title , if one was to exist, should, using even 3 or 4 year old PC tech as an upper minimum requirement be impossible to port to a current gen console, PCs have long since had more ram ,better CPUs and much better GPUs, so why do all the games look the same on a PS3 at 1080p as they do on a state of the art butter my toast walk the dog in the morning all singing all dancing GPU and i7 at 1080p ?

Sure the frame rate might be 2million fps , but I can't tell ,being human I perceive around 25fps, so anything over 30 is lost on me.

When we get a game, that's world class, immense and ground breaking, and pushes PC hardware to it's limit,, we won't see it on a current gen console, and on that day , PC gaming will cease dying.. Until then .. The truth is.. PC gaming is out to pasture, getting console gamings scraps , and soon AppStore like morsels to survive on.

In my local big named game retailers there is 1 shelf allocated to PC games, 1 third is allocated to world of Warcraft , ,1 third to the sims, and the last to budget titles from the 486 era like Simon the sorcerer.
 

0098386

Suspended
Jan 18, 2005
21,574
2,908
Well done; you've not realised that PC gaming is shifting to digital services.

How much shelf space a system has is no indication of its success (the GC library was larger than the Xbox library at various GAME stores in the UK, and the PSP shelf was as big as the DS shelf...).

Oh and lock a games performance to 25fps, then play it at 60fps. There is a difference and the human eye sees it. What you probably haven't read up on is that films, TV shows are all filmed close to what our eyes see because, just like our eyes, their recordings have motion blur and other effects that our eyes have. Games can't mimic that just yet. Once a game looks real we can drop the framerate to 25-30 and everything will look fine.

If you think Crysis 2 (most recent example) looks the same on a PS3 and Xbox 360 as a PC on max specs, then you probably should get your eyes checked. The consoles are running on the PC's medium setting and at a much lower resolution.

Again though. People have said "PC gaming is dying" since 1995 when the N64 and PS1 showed up. 15 years later and, if anything, they've all merged into similarly capable machines. With only licenses holding games back from being ported to every console available.
 

bmb012

macrumors 6502
Jul 25, 2006
414
0
that used to be true ' but nowadays most games are designed for the consoles first , as evident by the fact that most games (80% of the ones I own on a quick look through) have direct support and artwork and in game tutorial for the xbox 360 pad.

Which is a shame as I prefer the PS3 pad. But since Microsoft made it so easy to basically recompile 360 game for the PC (over simplifying I know'. But basically true) very few games are written for the PC as priority one, it's just seen as a niche Market by the money makers now, it's consoles 1st for full price titles , milk the PC Market for a fraction more sales with a sub par port later.

You can bluetooth a stock PS3 pad to a Mac pretty easily, with the drivers that are on the same site as those 360 drivers.

But, it seems like most of the Steam games have built in support for the 360 pads beyond what those drivers offer, I haven't uninstalled the driver to check, but I was playing through Portal 2 with perfect rumble, just a few missmatched buttons, which could be because of the drivers.
 

PowerGamerX

macrumors 6502a
Aug 9, 2009
673
1
I use a PS3 controller with Controllermate. You should really check it out. I've got configurations for all my games. The best part is that you can set it to automatically start a profile when you start a game (besides source games, which have no .app). It doesn't even have to be running. Just set it up. Exit. Then you never have to see it again. Very seamless and Mac-esque.

Unfortunately gamepads on computer games have always been almost a niche product. It's even worse on Macs, so after searching and searching. The PS3/360 controller plus controllermate seemed to be the best option.
 

ronnydudek

macrumors newbie
May 5, 2011
5
0
I use my wireless XBox 360 controller with a wireless to USB adapter.All easy to get from Best Buy or Walmart.Works good for me,I use it with an NES and Genisis emulator.I think there was a fan update for that or something but he should try resetting his hardware by unplugging the power and holding the power button.
 

jakeyxinxin

macrumors newbie
May 11, 2011
1
0
I also am such

I use my wireless XBox 360 controller with a wireless to USB adapter.All easy to get from Best Buy or Walmart.Works good for me,I use it with an NES and Genisis emulator.I think there was a fan update for that or something but he should try resetting his hardware by unplugging the power and holding the power button.

I also am such
 
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