I realise this might be a bit blasphemous, but can you lads please recommend a decent PC compatible gamepad? I had a Speedlink one from Maplin, but that was a bit erratic and has now fallen apart.
I use a trusty old PS2 controller with a USB adapter, because it was the pinnacle of controller design and covers you for all emulators etc. There's a program called X360emu to make it work for fancy modern games that expect a 360 pad.
You can get 360 controller rip-offs with the superior layout of a playstation controller, though, if you want less hassle.
I'd suggest getting a second-hand wired Xbox 360 controller from eBay. They're still available new, but they cost £60 for reasons I fail to understand; the Xbox One controller is available for less than £50 and works over bluetooth. Other controllers will work, but with a fair bit of faff. Off-brand controllers are exactly as awful as you remember from the MadCatz days.
If you mostly intend to play retro games, I'd suggest one of the 8Bitdo controllers.
I have a Steam controller, I like it. I don't know why people hate it so much. But then again I haven't regularly played games with controllers since the N64.
As most have said, the Xbox controller is a great way to go, there's native support in most games and it works well on Windows for obvious reasons.
That being said I'm sure a PlayStation controller works too. What I'm trying to say is go for one of the controllers that a company spend millions designing and developing as the sole control input for their console, instead of a MadCatz abomination.
PS4 controllers are actually quite lovely, but I got mine for naff all so that's obviously a factor, and of course you need a bit of third party software to trick games into thinking it's an Xbox one. However, in terms of the hardware itself, I'd say it's the tops.
>>22511 The D-pad really can be an issue. It works fine movement controls even if it feels a little spongy, but some games initially designed for Sony consoles, RPGs in particular, use the D-pad like an extra set of four buttons instead. This works reasonably ok since they are physically separated making it easy to hit one direction only. Trying to do the same with an XBox controller, on the other hand, can be pretty torturous if fast and precise actions need to be done using that control scheme.
>>22527 If the d-pad is a concern then a 360 controller is a bad choice. Solid otherwise, though, and should be pretty cheap.
If you play platform games or other games that use the d-pad extensively then a PS4 DualShock 4 or an Xbox One controller are the clear winners, IMO. Their d-pads are tighter than any of the classic controllers were even back when they were new, and even if you've got an old PS2/Saturn/SNES pad knocking around, chances are it's a bit knackered.
The Xbox One controller hooks into Windows using xinput, which is the de facto standard for pad support in PC games, the DS4 used to require fiddly third-party software to emulate this though Steam apparently now does a good job of supporting it natively. DS4s come with a rechargeable battery inside, but the battery life is pretty feeble.
>>22512 The Steam controller is an interesting design and I don't regret buying one, but I found that it landed in a no man's land between a pointing device and a gamepad, while not being especially competent at either. I've mostly used it for turn-based games where its accuracy isn't such an issue.
