I have just recieved my brand new Saitek Cyborg Rumblepad (only 5 hours ago, and I already love it)

So I wondered what gamepads/joysticks/steering wheels you use and for which games.

I use mine for GW:RE for pc, Everyday Shooter, GBA and N64 emulator (I HAVE the games a play in real life)

I used to love the Microsoft Sidewinder line, I still have a half-dozen Sidewinders ranging from joysticks to gamepads to hard-to-classify items like the Strategic Commander. Haven't used any of them in a while, mostly due to a lack of joystick/gamepad suitable games, not out of any dislike of them.

I also have some Saitek sticks, again nothing to use them with, but I also found Saitek's software to be glitchy at best, with frequent USB problems. Thrustmaster I had over a decade ago, it broke, and while I'm a big fan of Logitech mice and keyboards, they've never made a joystick or gamepad I like.

The two items I still currently use are a brand not listed above, my Belkin Nostromo N-52 and a Belkin Nostromo gamepad (forget which N-#, the one that is like a PSX controller with no analogs). I cannot game without my N-52 in the left hand, and my Logitech Trackman Wheel trackball in the right.

For my PC, I really don't see the point in using a gamepad to play a game. It's like playing the Wii with a Gamecube controller, it just takes away the novelty of it.

I need to get a PS2 emulator, I want to play SotC in high res on my comp.

I'm not a gamepad guy, but if I'm gonna use anything it will most likely be a Saitek.

EDIT: and I have a bluetooth adapter, so I can use the Wiimote on my comp. too.

Gawd, where to begin? I've used everything from an ancient one-button joystick for the C64, then graduating to a three-button gamepad for the Amiga (although you only ever used one button), then going on to gamepads for the Master System, NES, Genesis, X-box, a budget Saitek pad for the PC that worked like a dream, and then the X-Box 360 controller for Windows (bought solely for Bioshock) that didn't. Oh, and a keyboard and gaming mouse.

Rumblepacks are one of my pet peeves. I don't use them and don't know anybody apart from the most hardcore of LAN-partygoing gamers who does (watch every single person on this forum chip in and prove me wrong there though!) The first thing I'll do with a game where I have to use a pad with rumblepack is to turn the RSI-inducing thing off. They practically come as standard on most gamepads nowadays, yet add £20 to the price of a controller and make it far too heavy for my taste. You can gets good gamepads without the rumblepack but they tend to be either rather specialist (read: expensive) or ultrabudget efforts that lack other features. It's outdated technology anyway: to the best of my recollection (but don't quote me on this) rumblepacks first appeared long before the original X-Box controller came with one installed as standard. There are many other ways of creating that "realistic" gaming feeling now - gaming jackets, realistic phaser guns, etc - and I'd rather like to see the rumblepack become part of a specialist market and not an excuse for peripheral manufacturers to charge you more for every purchase you make (don't forget also that the extra weight also adds to the postage charge if you order one online!)

What do I use? My Saitek for retro-gaming, a keyboard and mouse for everything else. I'd like to get a really good gamepad for things like FPSs, but the only one that's officially compatible with Bioshock is the 360 controller for Windows, which I bought but find unusable, and I'm not going to "chance" getting one that claims to be able to spoof it. I've never had a problem with any gamepad before the 360. (Well, my C64's joystick occasionally "locked", but I doubt you'd find many modern game controllers using leaf switches now!) The Saitek is excellent and has lasted me a year or more now - not bad considering it cost about ten quid including postage!