Another one from the mail bag I suppose.
Rusty Hearts, which I can’t recall having heard about before, a Perfect World Entertainment MMO currently in closed beta, sent me a note. Or the people running it did. And they want me to go buy a gamepad.
Rusty Hearts Offer
And to get me to do this, the have sent me a code that will let me buy a Logitech Dual Action Gamepad for just $4.99.
The Gamepad in Question
Granted, the gamepad is only $12.99 normally on the Logitech site (it is actually double that on Amazon), but when we’re talking five dollar game controllers, I start wondering if I ought to get one just to tinker around.
Not that Rusty Hearts seems to be my sort of game. It is described as:
An anime-inspired, cell shaded, beat-em-up action MMORPG set in a stylized gothic world.
Sounds just like Darren‘s cup of tea… but for me… not so much.
And if I am not going to use it for Rusty Hearts, then I am not sure what use it would be.
It does seem to be one of the supported devices for Need for Speed World. I’m not quite convinced that a gamepad is necessarily superior to the keyboard for steering control.
So what is a gamepad good for on a Windows 7 PC? What would make it worth dropping the five dollars?
Is there a MAME front end or something that would support it?
The Ancient Gaming Noob 
My two bits: So many games are designed for console first these days and then ported to a PC that a gamepad does make sense. Pretty much any third person game or any driving game is more enjoyable with a gamepad.
But
Don’t get that logitech gamepad.
Most modern PC games are designed for an Xbox360 gamepad rather and a non Xbox gamepad won’t work as well or might not even work at all.
Pro tip: Ignore the pricey “Xbox 360 controller for Windows”. It is just a standard Xbox360 wired controller with a driver CD included. Windows 7 has the drivers built in so all you need is a standard WIRED Xbox 360 controller. The wireless versions don’t work unfortunately without a special adapter.
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Using a XBox360 controller for racing games, I can tell you that it is vastly superior to using the keyboard.
Being able to turn the wheel in more than a “full lock left/right” fashion makes corners much easier (and more natural) to navigate.
In addition, driving without driving aides is usually impossible without an analog controller, since your car will spend the first 10 seconds of every race spinning its wheels.
So, if you enjoy racing games, I would highly recommend you get a controller, though I can only speak for the Xbox360 one.
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I second the 360 controller if you go wireless the same adapter works for their 360 wireless headphone setup
I’ve also played with the the classic controller pro (the one that comes with goldeneye) hooked up to a wiimote being recognized using bluetooth. However, 9 times out of 10 I end up making it emulate a 360 controller
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Yeah, but once you start with the 360 controller, the price goes up to $30 and it falls out of the “whim” category.
I was going to argue about the gamepad being better for driving games, but then I realized that the driving game I probably play the most is Mario Kart 64 on the Wii console. That probably isn’t a representative example. (I play it enough that I have never bothered getting Mario Kart Wii.)
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That particular gamepad has a bad reputation and lots of bad reviews on most sites.
I’ve used a Logitech Rumblepad 2 (cordless) for years for all my MMORPG gaming with no problems. My hands were a mess from decades of using a mouse and keyboard (not to mention those crappy Atari joysticks on the Atari and Commodore 8-bit and 16-bit computers), but the gamepad has let me game again without the pain. I’ve just recently had to switch to the newer version F710 (some buttons on the Rumplepad finally died), which isn’t quite as responsive as the Rumblepad (because they made it identical to the X-Box’s poor responsiveness, sadly…, on purpose… grrrr). The Logitech pads use the, IMO, better Playstation layout of having both sticks in the center for better control and comfort using your thumbs. They also have much better ergonomic design for long play sessions or holding the controller with just one hand while you use the mouse or keyboard for something.
You can map 28 to 30 useable keys (I find the thumbstick buttons impossible to use accurately at all and don’t have the D-pad keys shift enabled due to its location) to the Rumblepad/F710 (using the ‘shift’ function), which is usually plenty.
Logitech’s software is a bit flakey sometimes at auto-detecting which game you are playing, but there are other free options such as X-padder, which I probably should switch to.
With the added bonus of using them for racing games, they are a good deal for the $30+ price range. Get some decent Sanyo eneloop rechargeable batteries and you’re good to go for weeks of cordless gaming enjoyment.
And yes, back when I used to mess around with MAME, the gamepads were supported.
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Just to clarify, the F710 has two modes: the old style key remapping Direct X method the Rumblepad 2 used, and the X-Box mode (no key remapping) for racing stuff, Darksiders-type games, etc. You switch between them with a slider on the side at the front, requires restarting the software.
The X-Box response issue is because the X-Box controllers have a large dead space around the center position compared to the Rumblepad 2, so you don’t have the instant fine control the Rumblepad had, even when using the Direct X mode. They did this because “people are used to the dead zone on the X-Box” and they would rather cater to those players (who probably just buy the X-Box controller anyway) than PC players who want the best response and control possible. Stupid and yet another case of console influence hurting PC gamers, like most of the crappy console game ports we see these days.
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