PC Games and Console Controllers

I want to interrupt my Dark Souls epic poem type narrative I'm working on to say a little word about controllers/gamepads/whateveryoucallthem.  This is going to go back to my theory on interface devices in general, which I reference a ton on the stream and here, but here it is again.  You only actually interact with very few pieces of your PC and you should spare no expense on these things so you have the most enjoyable experience possible.  If you have good hardware to interface with your current computer it will outlast this, and many more, PCs.  

Think of it this way... If you have a good monitor it will last longer than a good CPU, GPU, or motherboard. It's a good idea to put money in things that will last... in my humble opinion.  The plasma TV I use as a monitor has been hooked up to 3 different PCs so far and is still giving me a vibrant, responsive picture to this day.  Etc etc etc... you get it.

Now, most PC gamers I know are passionate about their status as PC gamers.  They feel like the keyboard and mouse combo is the lynch pin of their whole philosophy and a defining input device.  Just ask any competitive Counter Strike player if they'd choose an xbox controller over a keyboard and mouse.  I'm sure all of them will laugh.  If you keep looking them in the eyes they will eventually realize you aren't joking and say no.  The same would go for people who love MMORPGs like World of Warcraft.  Just imagine trying to activate all the skills and abilities while communicating to your guild without the use of a keyboard.  Rough one, right?

Well, there is a place for a solid controller in your PC gaming setup.  There are just some games that are more fun to play with a controller or are so poorly ported from consoles that it doesn't make any sense to fight against the grain and use a keyboard and mouse (I'm looking right at you, Dark Souls.)  The two most common genres that come to mind are 3rd person action games (like Skyrim or Saints Row) and first person shooters with flying elements (like Planetside 2).  Because of this, I purchased an Afterglow Wired Xbox 360 controller.  

I chose the Afterglow Wired Xbox 360 controller from PDP because it was ALL THE LOCAL GAMESTOP HAD and I wanted to be able to route my turtle beach x41 wireless headset to my PC.  In that capacity, it worked beautifully.  I'd just plug in my controller, my headset, and there I was using ventrilo and skype without any issue.  I'm gifted a boxed copy of Skyrim that Christmas and find that I really like the way it plays with a controller... but my afterglow controller doesn't feel right for some reason.  I put both the game and the controller away blaming the problems on bad software in either the driver or the game... but never think it could be a really poorly constructed controller.   

Fast forward a year and I'm signing the petition to bring Dark Souls to the PC.  Then I'm pre-ordering the game.  Then I'm installing it.  I picked up my Afterglow controller to play... and found that the right stick ALWAYS drifts.  Not only that, but the controller lacks the sensitivity to be able to push a stick slightly in one direction.  It was basically a D-Pad that looked like a stick.  There was only sprint at full speed and stand still while the camera randomly flies all around the character.  At this point in my life I was streaming most of my gaming time, but Dark Souls didn't play nice with Xsplit's "game source" streaming mode.  It felt awkward while broadcasting which didn't help anything, but did hide the problems with my controller.  

A couple weeks ago I purchased a legit capture card that streams my screen to Xsplit the same way a webcam does.  I was messing around trying out games that I previously had difficulty streaming and Dark Souls came to mind.  This time I had no "broadcaster issues" but still had difficulty with the controller.  I fought through it for a few days before ordering a real xbox 360 controller from Microsoft themselves.  I couldn't be happier.  I put 70+ hours into Dark Souls happily slaying demons and being slain without having to open the calibration menu once.  The stress of fighting a bad controller was gone.  It felt like a brand new experience.  This controller actually makes me want to give all those 3rd person action games I picked up over the years another try.  What I thought was lousy drivers or bad optimization for a controller on the PC in general turned out to be the consequence of saving $10 on a controller.

tl;dr

Do NOT skimp on a controller.  There will be times you'll want to have a good one and you can't beat a good old wired controller for the xbox 360 from Microsoft themselves.  This controller changed gaming for me and I couldn't appreciate it as a member of my gaming equipment more.  

tl;dr's tl;dr