Show Us Thy Weapon!

[Sir Games-A-Lot]

I thought it would be interesting to see what controllers people use for their system/systems of choice.

SO why not give a little review of you're personal favorite/s.


Only rules are:

1. let's not have this degrade into:

S PWNZ Duke/ PS2 controllers are like little burgerking toys/ how r u able to use the GNC controller, which is so sucky 'cause it don't have as many buttons as mine!

type flame war.


So barin' that stuff show off your, pads, fighter-sticks, light guns, fancy-mice-with-a-gazillion-extra-buttons, those little half-sized keyboards that have art work from the latest PC game and the essential game playing keys on em', the ginormous gaming keyboards from thinkgeek with all kinds of extra buttons, mappings, alternative arrangements and one of those little lcds that tell you how hot the inside of the compy gets, when you get an IM, email or Virus etc., racing wheels, those super expensive flight yokes, power-gloves, paddles, head mounted zappers into which you desperately shout "Fire" until eventually some one calls 911 (or 111 if your from the other side of the pond), and of of course the ever popular "control a virtual pikachu with this microphone-controller that has a giant yellow foam cover that just screams neighbor's cat/toddler rip off and kill", and all other manor of cool game controlling devices right here.



for starters here's my personal favorite for the Xbox:

The Game Shark: SHARK PAD PRO 2.4 GHz wireless controller. (manufactured by Mad Catz)

A nice "S" sized Xbox controller. While over all it is about the same size as the standard S, it feels just a little bit more chunky especially with the nice, big rubberized grips which are actually well positioned and comfortable for a change from the usual minimal, misplaced stuff on third part controllers. The added thickness accommodates my largish hands well which means I loathe ever having to go back to a first part S controller.

Another advantage is that the bottom of the pad portion (basically the thing that would be one large SNES pad if it didn't have the handles on it) is flat rather than curving out war leaving a Nice comfy place for your fingers to sit.

Surprisingly (or not so surprisingly for you M$ haters) the best part about this controller is the actual controls. The X, A, B, Y buttons rise well above the surface, so they're easy to find, as are the black/white's a nice change from the super-inset of the first party addition and (very important in my book) It has a proper D-Pad not the entirely above the surface disk type, a real, honest to gravy D-d like on an NES controller (well not as good as an NES's but still there). the joy sticks are adequate and don have any flop to them, but the joystick tact switches for the press in function area bit stiff.

Other nice features are battery life, I used a single set of batteries from Christmas until last night with out a warning light, this has a lot to do with the automatic shut off feature (although it is annoying to find the thing turned off after you go to get a snack), but the batteries do stick out the back a bit but not uncomfortably or at least not to me. One gripe in the battery department is that it takes three double A batteries so you're always gonna have one left over out of a four pack, a small problem but it does annoy me.

There are some down sides to wireless though, for instance after a long stint of playing the batteries will get a little low and your character may begin to twitch or move around erratically, the solution turn off the controller for about 15 seconds and then turn back on simple as that.

also since I am not level with my Xbox when I play certain odd positions some times make me lose signal but this is once every few days that I'll find the "bad spot".

Also maybe it's the questionable amount of juice left batteries I just put in but when ever I go into a new section of a level in KOTOR it will tell me to plug my controller in again but then I just hit A and the error goes away. hmm... rhymes.


Over all a very nice controller, and in many aspects superior to it's wired first party counter part. Wireless is more of a bonus for me. I would recommend trying test one out to any Xbox owner who needs something a little heftier than the Standard S, or dare I mention mini controllers, but dosn't want to go whole hog and track down a Duke. oh and if it don't say on the future shop site it does include rumble but I never have many games that use it so I don't notice, also there is no messy wire for the Xbox plug in part (I always found those to defeat the point of a wire less controller), which does include a single memory card slot (not that I ever heard of anyone whoe used a memory card for the Xbox but still)

Wheel By all and have fun posting!


P.S. No what you post here will not gathered up later and fed into a super computer at Mad Catz that will produce the "Perfect" controller which strangely includes four non-centering analog sticks which are mounted on the back side, and a numeric key pad on the front, along with 27 or so tiny buttons going from A-Z and the Greek symbol pi!

[vskid]

the joystick tact switches for the press in function area bit stiff.

Maybe I should get one of those, I'm always accidentally zooming in on Halo.

Right now I'm stuck with a green and a black s-type for my xbox. They are great, but I would get two more that are wireless, but the 2.4 ghz craps up my wireless internet (might be okay though since the xbox is about as far away from the computer as possible).
I really like the feel of first party GC wired and wavebirds, but I don't have a 'cube.
PS2 controllers are my least favorite of the xbox, GC and PS2.

[Skyone]

Meh, I just use first party controllers. S-Controller Xbox, DualShock 2 PS2, WaveBird GCN if I can.

Though I did use that sharkpad a few days ago, Sir Games-A-Lot. I really liked it! Sometimes it farted out on me and I had to replug it in a few times. I used it in black and silver colors.

[blackbox_dev]

I also just use first-party controllers on my consoles (that is when I'm playing, I usually 3rd-party controllers to hack )

On the PC however, I use a Microsoft Sidewinder gamepad and Logitech WingMan Extreme joystick. I never use it, but I also have some ThrustMaster racing wheel with force-feedback.

I also had some brand-less SNES type gamepad for PC, and a digital Gravis Joystick (until it broke).

[Sir Games-A-Lot]

Sometimes it farted out on me and I had to replug it in a few times. I used it in black and silver colors.

As I said mine almost never does that but that's probably because the room I have the Xbox in, is long-ways about half the controller's max range so there's never any range issues and I'm as far away as posible form the wireless phone and internet router.

[limpport]

I use my TEPCR headset that I bought in the future. (Total Emmertion Prefrontal Cortex Reader)

[Skyone]

I bet the only way you know of 'Prefrontal Cortex' is from brain age.

[Turbo Tax 1.0]

i liked this thirds party N64 controller a lot back in the day. i got it for my birthday one year and it was great because the joystick was always perfect those were the days. but it kept making our N64 crap out on us, so we had to unplug everything and then wait a few hours then try it again. i still have it and all its badsass seethrough greenness

[gamemasterAS]

For my GC I like the mad cats 2.4gHz wireless microcon controler.

For X-box I hate them all because there to big and bluky.

For PS2 I like the dual shock.

[Turbo Tax 1.0]

For X-box I hate them all because there to big and bluky.

i know what you mean but i kinda like the 360 controllers though

[ganonbanned]

[gamemasterAS]

For X-box I hate them all because there to big and bluky.

i know what you mean but i kinda like the 360 controllers though

Yah. Yes someone finaly understands it all.

[gamemasterAS]

For X-box I hate them all because there to big and bluky.

i know what you mean but i kinda like the 360 controllers though

Yah. Yes someone finaly understands it all.

[Triton]

i like 1st party controllers, i love the GC controller and for the pc i use a generic flightstick or my sidewinder force feedback pro or a duke controller! i love the duke!

[PancakeGoblin]

I use it with every system. I use pancake technology to warp the controller ports to get it to work.