What the Pros Use

What the Pros Use

All responses are listed in order of receipt.

The Pro

The Games

The Controller(s)

Courtenay Heater

Creator of the JoyNet Gameport Hub

Alphadactyl

Not specified

"I have to remain unbiased in my treatment of game

controllers, but I do tend toward Microsoft controllers because they are easiest in a multi-controller millue. Microsoft has taken advantage of its own technology to make device selection completely automatic."

Peter Inglis (AKA MigMan)

The man behind MigMan's Combat Diary

Long List of Flight Sims

Saitek X35/X36 with PC Dash

Brett "3-fingers" Jacobs

AMD Manager of Performance testing and Marketing

Author of "The 3 Fingers' Quake II Tweak Guide"

Quake World CTF & Quake II

"I play Quake World CTF and Quake2 and only use a Logitech Mouse Man 3 Button (the old big one). I use the PS/2 Rate program to adjust the sampling rate of my mouseman up to 100Hz. You can get this program on my page."

Penny Bradshaw

Public Relations Director for Mad Catz

Quake II

Unreal

"Mad Catz Panther XL of course!"

Dave Whittle

Columnist & Online Editor for

Voodoo: The Official 3Dfx Magazine

First Person Shooters

Flight Sims

Logitech MouseMan + and cheep Mitsumi Keyboard

"Joystick-wise I'm a CH man. I use the fully programmable F-16 FighterStick paired up with the programmable PRO Throttle. The top button on the F-16 is a little out of reach and I do admit to feeling

wrist strain in the middle of a fierce battle when

gripping the CH stick hard, but I can't leave it. Every other joystick I try just doesn't feel right... either too heavy, light, or I can't find the middle point accurately. CH's programming software "SpeedKeys" is a brilliant piece of work that makes the F-16 and the PRO Throttle worth paying the extra money for."

Sam Mancuso (Me!)

The Control Center Editor

First Person Shooters

Flight Sims

Racing

SpaceOrb 360

Microsoft Sidewinder Force-Feedback Joystick

AVB Force Feedback Racing Wheel

and anything I am currently testing!

Rod Berry**

Virtual Pilot Magazine, Military Sims Editor

Flight Sims

"Personally I exclusively fly flight-sims, and mostly WWII combat sims at that. So about 2 years ago I bought a MS Sidewinder 3D pro joystick by Microsoft (the 4-axis one, X- & Y-, throttle and rudder, but NOT the newer Sidewinder precision pro) and I've used this exclusively since then. It's got great feel for what I play but as it's quite a "stiff" stick it isn't much good for arcade-type games or space combat (X-wing etc) and FPS's."

Jace Nightshade**

Game-Revolution, Game Reviewer

Arcade Sims (Forsaken, Descent, Wing Commander)

Flight Sims

Racing

Thrustmaster Top Gun

Saitek X-36 System

ACT LABS Force RS

InterAct Force Fx Racing Wheel

Thomas Crymes (A.K.A. Crymelord)

Applications Support Rep., Users Inc.

Gamepen, Game Reviewer

Inside Games, Game Reviewer

See controller descriptions.

"First off, the majority of my controllers (all but one) are Microsoft products.

Why? The reason is simple. They all work together. If you have the sidewinder gamepad plugged into your game port, you can connect any other Microsoft

controller to the back of the pad in a daisy chain configuration. This is very useful. Plus I have found the Microsoft controllers to be among the best out

there. I have never had a problem with them."

Gamepad - "Microsoft Sidewinder Game Pad. It has lots of buttons, it feels good in your hands, You can daisy chain a bunch of them together for multiplayer

gaming. Its just very versatile."

FPS controller - Mad Catz Panther XL. "The

Analog stick and the track ball along with the numerous buttons that are literally at your fingertips makes for a great controller for games like Quake 2, Half-Life, and Unreal. Not just a gimmicky controller, it can seriously

improve your game."

Steering Wheel - Microsoft Force Feedback Wheel. "The force feedback might be a tad gimmicky, but if used right it actually makes for fun gaming. I wanted the

force feedback for no other reason than that I wanted high tech, and really enjoy force feedback controllers in an arcade setting. Games include, Need For

Speed 3, Powerslide, and Dethkarz."

Flight Stick - Microsoft Force Feedback Pro - Again, I chose the force feedback because it was the latest and greatest. And it was worth it. There are a number of games that really utilize the forces well. Descent Freespace, and X-Wing Alliance are 2 examples of games that work well with the stick.

Misc. - Microsoft Freestyle Pro - This controller was just too cool to pass up. A controller that reads your body english. It works really well in Motocross Madness and is not bad for most racing games. It can also be a digital pad which is also a plus.

More to come!