Forza 5 comming to p.c ???

[pjbliverpool]

I take exception to that
The pc had dozens of gamepads that were just as good
ms's insistence on forcing their console pad on pc gamers (and by extension their xinput api) was a terrible thing.

MS "hey pc gamers we are introducing a new controller and a new api so that your existing gamepads wont work properly see how much we love you, oh and as an added bonus this new gamepad wont work properly in your existing games, I bet you'll be dancing in the street upon hearing this news. And if a racing game only supports xinput it means your steering wheels wont work thats how much we care."

I'm with Cyan on this point, the 360 pad is one of the best things MS has done for PC gaming in the last 10 years IMO. It's not so much the pad itself but the standardisation it brought to games input.

However I do agree for the most part MS has been at best totally negligent with regards to PC gaming and at worst actively working to hold it back. The utterly incompetent "Games Explorer" in Windows Vista/7 is another example of that.

 

[Davros]

We already had a standard (a superior one) now we have 2 standards and now i need 2 gamepads

 

[Cyan]

We already had a standard (a superior one) now we have 2 standards and now i need 2 gamepads

If you want a superior controller you just have to try Xbox One's gamepad, imho.

 

[pjbliverpool]

If you want a superior controller you just have to try Xbox One's gamepad, imho.

PS4 pad can be used on the PC but suffers from the same issues as all PC pads before the 360 pad was made the standard, i.e. its not a standard and thus not natively supported by games. The XB1 pad will be backwards compatible with the 360 pad and thus an automatic standard from day one in typical MS fashion they're holding it back from the PC at the moment. Not that there's really a huge difference between it and the 360 pad in reality. But yeah, I'll get one when they get PC support just because its shiny and new. And I like shiny and new things.

 

[Davros]

If you want a superior controller you just have to try Xbox One's gamepad, imho.

oh you mean the one that will not work properly with any game released before 2005 (just like the 360pad)

 

[pjbliverpool]

oh you mean the one that will not work properly with any game released before 2005 (just like the 360pad)

On balance the advantages gained by people playing post 2005 games probably outweigh the disadvantages caused for people playing pre 2005 games

 

[Davros]

There were advantages ?
I dont remember any

pre 360 pad
games that supported gamepads worked fine

post 360 gamepad
games that supported xinput worked fine with a 360 pad but not with a directinput pad
games that supported directinput worked fine with directinput pads but badly with 360 pads

 

[pjbliverpool]

There were advantages ?
I dont remember any

pre 360 pad
games that supported gamepads worked fine

post 360 gamepad
games that supported xinput worked fine with a 360 pad but not with a directinput pad
games that supported directinput worked fine with directinput pads but badly with 360 pads

Yeah but ALL gamepad supporting games from about 2007 onwards natively supported 1 standard controller configuration giving console quality controls to PC games. Prior to that it was a pain in the ass configuring each game to whichever controller you happened to have and hoping that it worked well.

 

[Cyan]

There were advantages ?
I dont remember any

pre 360 pad
games that supported gamepads worked fine

post 360 gamepad
games that supported xinput worked fine with a 360 pad but not with a directinput pad
games that supported directinput worked fine with directinput pads but badly with 360 pads

I thought there would be some kind of translator. Odd someone didn't make some kind of reverse engineering and modified its operation.

PS4 pad can be used on the PC but suffers from the same issues as all PC pads before the 360 pad was made the standard, i.e. its not a standard and thus not natively supported by games. The XB1 pad will be backwards compatible with the 360 pad and thus an automatic standard from day one in typical MS fashion they're holding it back from the PC at the moment. Not that there's really a huge difference between it and the 360 pad in reality. But yeah, I'll get one when they get PC support just because its shiny and new. And I like shiny and new things.

Well, aesthetically wise the difference isn't huge, but when you get the controller in your hands it is even more comfortable, a lot lighter -kind of made for everyone.... children, men, women alike- and the quality of the sticks is better.

LB and RB are worse, 'til you get used to them or they get a bit looser with use. At first they are very rigid compared to the X360 controller. Only LB & RB are inferior, but not by much.

If they add rumble support on the left and right triggers then it can be the best PC controller out there with ease. Wonder which use are they going to give to the X logo in the center of the gamepad though.

It also has better and (again) lighter batteries and it can last you a long time before having to recharge.

All these factors can be important, and make for a big difference, but it all depends on how important they are to you. To me, they are.

 

[pjbliverpool]

Wonder which use are they going to give to the X logo in the center of the gamepad though.

Excellent question! I've been calling for this to be put to good use for years but in typical MS sabotage PC gaming style they'll probably do sod all with it.

Obviously they should naturally link it to a full screen Media Centre/Steam big picture style games explorer that's fully controllable with the pad but that's expecting way to much of them. Hell I'd have settled for just launching and navigating the utterly crap Windows 7 games explorer but MS clearly think that would be some kind of threat to their console business.

It also has better and (again) lighter batteries and it can last you a long time before having to recharge.

Surely it takes AA's which naturally would be the same weight. I like battery packs but they seem to die too quickly.

 

[Davros]

Prior to that it was a pain in the ass configuring each game to

whichever controller you happened to have and hoping that it worked well.

That was not my recollection so to make sure I wasnt remembering through rose tinted glasses I
plugged in my cordless rumblepad 2 and fired up some games i thought would have gamepad support

I tried
Airfix Dogfighter
BattleZone 2
bloodrayne (said gamepad wasnt calibrated had to move thumbsticks in a circle)
Conflict Desert Storm
crazy taxi
crimson skies
descent 3
devil may cry 3
fifa o7
fifa 13 (asked my to choose between directinput controller and xinput controller)
Grand Theft Auto - San Andreas
Grand Theft Auto - Vice City
need for speed porsche challenge
Prince of Persia - The Sands of Time
Psychonauts
Revolt
Shadowman
Star Wars Rogue Squadron
Star Wars Xwing Alliance
Tony Hawk's Underground 2

And while I did mistakenly try some games that didnt have gamepad support, every game that supported a pad worked absolutely fine no problems at all.

 

[pjbliverpool]

That was not my recollection so to make sure I wasnt remembering through rose tinted glasses I
plugged in my cordless rumblepad 2 and fired up some games i thought would have gamepad support

I tried
Airfix Dogfighter
BattleZone 2
bloodrayne (said gamepad wasnt calibrated had to move thumbsticks in a circle)
Conflict Desert Storm
crazy taxi
crimson skies
descent 3
devil may cry 3
fifa o7
fifa 13 (asked my to choose between directinput controller and xinput controller)
Grand Theft Auto - San Andreas
Grand Theft Auto - Vice City
need for speed porsche challenge
Prince of Persia - The Sands of Time
Psychonauts
Revolt
Shadowman
Star Wars Rogue Squadron
Star Wars Xwing Alliance
Tony Hawk's Underground 2

And while I did try some games that didnt have gamepad support, every game that supported a pad worked absolutely fine no problems at all.

Yeah they worked but you still had to configure them, very often lost out on analogue and/or rumble and didn't get appropriate on screen prompts.

You're talking to the guy that played doom on a control pad

 

[Davros]

I configured 1 game during my testing all the others I accepted the default ( a lot of games that use the 360pad dont even give you an option to configure if your lucky you'll get a choice of 2 layouts)
little experiment try playing doom (the windows version of course) with your 360 pad (without resorting to xpadder)

 

[benroveno]

I think Forza 5 looks interesting to play, but i'm looking forward to see DriveClub actually. I believe the graphics will look insane!