Suggestions about using a Sidewinder in my Arcade.

[the3eyedblindman]

Hi, I recently posted asking about using arcade controls for pc games also, alot of people said it is possible, but for first person shooters it would be awkward, and those are the games i mostly wanted to play ( Halo, Medal of Honor Allied Assault). I was wondering what people think of this idea....

1. Buy a Microsoft Sidewinder Gamepad to put in my cab for use with those certain games.

2. Arcade Controls would be used for the Mame games.

3. The sidewinder would be hidden inside keyboard drawer.

I wanted to see what people thought of this idea, and am wondering if its for sure possible to do this. Can a sidewinder be used in all pc games, or just microsoft games? Suggestions and help wanted, thanks.

[DaveMMR]

Hi, I recently posted asking about using arcade controls for pc games also, alot of people said it is possible, but for first person shooters it would be awkward, and those are the games i mostly wanted to play ( Halo, Medal of Honor Allied Assault). I was wondering what people think of this idea....

1. Buy a Microsoft Sidewinder Gamepad to put in my cab for use with those certain games.

2. Arcade Controls would be used for the Mame games.

3. The sidewinder would be hidden inside keyboard drawer.

I wanted to see what people thought of this idea, and am wondering if its for sure possible to do this. Can a sidewinder be used in all pc games, or just microsoft games? Suggestions and help wanted, thanks.

A Sidewinder works with any PC game that accepts gamepad input (AFAIK, but I have a Sidewinder and no game I own with joy input has balked at it yet).

You can connect it easily if you keep a USB input handy (and if your Sidewinder has a USB plug of course).  Should fit in the draw swimmingly.

Now here's my thing about using it for FPS.  Those games really only play great with keyboard/mouse control.  You can control it with a gamepad but, to me, you lose all the precision.  And if you're using a gamepad to play games on your cab, you're kinda defeating the purpose of having arcade controls.  Might as well just plug it into your desktop computer and get comfortable.

Just my opinion... others may (and will) vary.

[the3eyedblindman]

the sidewinder will only be used for pc games, all mame games will use the arcade controls, i still want the arcade, this is just to make things easier with pc games, plus it will be hidden in the keyboard drawer.

[DaveMMR]

the sidewinder will only be used for pc games, all mame games will use the arcade controls, i still want the arcade, this is just to make things easier with pc games, plus it will be hidden in the keyboard drawer.

Yeah I understood that.  There's no problem with what you want to do.  Keep the pad in the keyboard draw and pop it in when you want to play some Halo.  But my point was that keyboard/mouse is a much better way to control those games anyway.

I think you took my opinion on controlling FPS with gamepads in general as telling you not to build a cab, which it was not.  BTW make sure those games you want to use a controller for accept controller input (though I'm really sure they do).