Xbox 360 Controller

Are you fed up with Xbox 360 owners waxing poetic about their new controller—how durable it is, how comfortable it is, how much better it is than a PC gamepad? Well, now you can shut ‘em up by buying an Xbox 360 controller for your PC.

The Xbox 360 controller uses a standard USB connection, so the corded version is compatible with both the Xbox 360 and the PC. (An Xbox 360 Controller for Windows version is identical to the standard controller in every way, except it includes a driver disc in the package, and costs $5 more at Best Buy—you don’t need this disc, you can download the drivers via Windows Update.)

If you own a 360 and play PC games, the benefits are obvious: You can use one controller for both platforms—you don’t have to fool with different control layouts. Even if you don’t have a 360, the news is good: All upcoming gamepad-friendly PC games are required to support the 360 controller to get the “Games for Windows” sticker on their box. This means you won’t have to remap button functions for any Windows-branded game you play.

The Xbox 360 controller is comfortable to hold and the buttons are well-placed, even for our clumsy mitts. You get twin analog thumbsticks, a d-pad, and 10 buttons, including four triggers, two of which are analog. The two analogs are notable, as you can use them to, say, make tiny adjustments to speed and braking in Need for Speed: Most Wanted. The controller also features force-feedback vibration and a port that accepts a standard PC or Xbox headset, for voice-chat in games.

The Xbox 360 controller is expensive, especially when you consider that you can’t program its buttons to perform macros. But it’s a very solid PC gamepad, the headset compatibility is a plus, and it has enormous potential to make gaming on the PC much easier down the road.
--Steve Klett