Console Bliss

When it comes to gaming nothing beats playing a game with a nice controller.  Even though consoles are known for their nice fitting controllers that feel natural in your hand, there is no reason to let the consoles have the monopoly on controllers.  Consoles are really just souped up PC systems and the controllers can be used with your PC.  In fact the best PC controllers out there are the controllers made for consoles.  The DualShock 3 SIXAXIS PS3 and XBOX 360 controller are the most well made controllers out there that really do last and can take a serious beating.  Most of the other third party pc controllers are just not as durable as what the Playstation and Microsoft have come out with.  The other really great part about using a console controller with your PC is that if you ever play your favorite PC game on the Xbox or PS3 you won’t be the odd man out that doesn’t know the controls.  How do you hook up these controllers to your PC?  We’ll tell you!

The easiest PC game controller to install is the XBOX controller as it is made by Microsoft.  Any machine with Windows XP or above are compatible with the controller.  Simply plug in the controller to the usb port and whala, you are good to go.  If you have the wireless version of the XBOX 360 controller then you will need to buy a USB thumb drive that can read the wireless signal of the controller.  These controller stations can be bought off of amazon and other gaming stores for not very much.  These adapter also let you have several controllers hooked up to your PC which can all be wireless to experience multi player gaming on the same computer.

The PS3 Controller is also fairly easy to install, but may not be as easy as the microsoft controller.  The Dual Shock 3 controllers have a USB input for you to hook up to your computer.  If you want to use the blue-tooth technology you will need to have a bluetooth receiver or buy a special receiver fom SONY.  Here are some simple steps to install a Ps3 controller.

• Download and install the SIXAXIS controller driver which can be downloaded here. sixaxis_PS3_Win32_Driver.rar
• Unpack the ps3sixaxis_en.exe file
• Plug the SIXAXIS Dual Shock 3 PS3 controller into your PC via the USB cable
• Run the ps3sixaxis_en.exe file ONE TIME
• One you have run the executable file, simply press the PS button on the SIXAXIS once if the computer does not read the controller right away.

Like we mentioned above, nothing can beat the durability and comfort of using these two controllers.  By using these controllers you will have a much more enjoyable playing experience and you will be able to switch from console platform to platform without skipping a beat.