How To Use an Xbox 360 Wireless Controller With Your Mac

by Jon Fox
Most hardcore computer gamers count on the extra-precise aim of a mouse, and are more than happy with their WASD control scheme. But for the rest of us, hunching over a desk to keep 30+ hotkeys within reach can feel like overkill.
If you're a Mac gamer who's tired of trying to game on your mouse and keyboard, you should get an Xbox 360 controller. By connecting an Xbox 360 Controller to your Mac and mapping its buttons to keystrokes (or mouse actions), you can bring the console experience to your Mac without breaking the bank -- or a sweat.

 Sigh, not an actual product.

Difficulty Level

>> Medium

What You Need

>> A Mac running Snow Leopard.
>> Microsoft Wireless Controller & Receiver (or Wired Controller)
>> Controller Driver (free)
>> Gamepad Companion ($8.99)

1. Pick the right tools for the job.

The OS X driver for Xbox 360 controllers is free, but it's only compatible with 1st-party peripherals. We like the "Xbox 360 Wireless controller for windows," which comes with a wireless receiver. (You'll need this, because unfortunately 360 controllers don't use Bluetooth.) For what it's worth though, you can also use the controller with a regular Xbox 360. Like an actual Xbox, the included receiver can connect with up to 4 wireless controllers at once. And at less than $50 on Amazon, the package still costs less than a fancy gaming mouse.
Just don't count on connecting your wireless controller via the USB play & charge kit: these carry charge only, no data.

 

Controllers or wireless receivers (like this one) that don't bear Microsoft's shiny sticker of authenticity are made by a 3rd-party, so even if they look legit and have the Xbox 360 logo printed on them they won't work for this project.

2. Install the driver.

Follow this link and download the driver's most recent disk-image. Open the .dmg file when it's finished, and (from the Finder window that pops up) run the installer package.

Scroll through the driver's messy download page till you see this, and click the link for the disk image.

3.  Connect your controller

If you're using a wired controller, this is as easy as plugging it into your Mac's USB port. For wireless, plug in the USB receiver, turn on your controller, and hold the Connect buttons on both devices until a connection is established.
If you want to monitor the driver, open the System Preferences pane and click on "Xbox 360 controllers" in the bottom row.

Select your controller in the "Device" drop-down menu and press a few buttons on it. The diagram on the screen should light up accordingly.

4. Find out if You'll Even Need Gamepad Companion

A few Mac games are accommodating enough that they'll recognize your connected controller, and might even let you pick your own control scheme. If this works, you can forget Gamepad Companion (because you won't need it) and skip right down to our very last step.
Halo should have no trouble with your controller once the driver's installed. And while we haven't tested this, Feral Interactive has hinted at support for the driver in Bioshock.

5. Install Gamepad Companion.

Unfortunately, lots of Mac games force their default control schemes on us, and we hardly expected a shareware driver to be immediately compatible with every game. Get ready to do some key mapping.
Mac users' simplest option here is Gamepad Companion, (a bargain at $7.99 in the Mac App Store) and installing it is as easy as authorizing the purchase.
Before you buy, be advised that the app's debut build is having mouse-compatibility issues. But it's still the best simple key-mapper, and plenty of great games hardly rely on the mouse anyway.

6. Map Keystrokes to your Controller's Basic Buttons

Fire up Gamepad Companion and click the Stop button on the right to select your controller in the left-most panel.
For now, let's stick to single-action buttons. (We'll map controls to the thumbsticks and triggers next.) Key mapping in Gamepad Companion is simple. Let's say the Space key means Jump, and you want to map that to the A button: Press A on your controller, click on "Single Key..." in the Action menu, then press Space on your keyboard.
Repeat ad nauseam (because, unfortunately, this process can take a nauseatingly long time). Try to think about how good it will feel to hit each of those buttons to slay legions of PC users --hey, it got us through the process. If you're not already familiar with your game's default controls, be sure to consult the manual before mapping keys so you don't waste your time.

You can pretty much ignore the Selected Element drop-down, but keep an eye on the Current Key Mapping pane.

7. Map Keystrokes (or Mouse Actions) to the Thumbsticks and Triggers

Move either thumbstick along its X- or Y-axis (or press a trigger), then select "Multiple Keys" and enter two different keystrokes. Mapping these correctly can get tricky, since Gamepad Companion mysteriously flips some of the axes, so here's a guide to help you get it right the first time:
>>  Thumbsticks, X-axis: input for Right, then Left.
>>  Thumbsticks, Y-axis: input for Down, then Up.
>>  Triggers: input for the trigger first, then press caps-lock twice.


Gamepad Companion doesn't support graded inputs. The alternative is about like controlling early PS1 games with a Dual-Shock Controller. If you set RT to Accelerate in a racing game, you'll constantly be flooring it or just coasting.

8. Go For a Test-Drive

When you've finished mapping keys, be sure to save your new control scheme to Gamepad Companion's Configuration menu. Then click start on the right side of the window to activate the controls and run a game to test your handiwork.
 You'll want to make sure you didn't accidentally map one of your thumbsticks backwards, but with any luck you'll have nailed it and instantly own the coolest gaming Mac on the block. Before you go nuts downloading classic arcade or Nintendo roms, let us remind you to respect intellectual property and, you know, laws.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD preview

by Dave Rudden

Pro Skater HD includes far more facial definition than previous games in the franchise. Who knew there was so much rage in skateboarding?

As The Birdman himself will attest, you can’t master the art of skateboarding without taking risks and falling down. The two most recent entries in the Tony Hawk franchise certainly reflect that, as the plastic-peripheral-packed Ride and Shred were unquestionable disasters. All parties involved have pulled themselves off the ground after that brutal spill, though, with a classic trick in mind for the next leap off the ramp — an HD reimagining of the original Pro Skater and its sequel’s best levels.
We got to check out the iconic Warehouse — the first stage of the debut THPS. On one hand, it’s not the ideal locale to showcase the HD upgrade given to Tony’s old proving grounds (it’s browner than some of Gears of War’s dullest levels), but it did provide a glimpse at how the game will stay true to its skating roots. Not a single element of the stage was out of place — the rails, ramps, and bumps in the road were exactly where we remembered them, and the hidden tchotchkes were in the same spots as before, too. Though when Tony blasted through the glass-encased room above the half-pipe, we could have sworn we saw a disc in place of the tape…

If Robomodo limits the feature set to the first two THPS games, grinding will be essential for nailing high scores.

Other parts of Pro Skater HD are similarly skating between honoring the classics and treading newer ground. We know manuals will be included, but an Activision rep couldn’t confirm the presence of THPS 3’s revert or Project 8’s “nail-a-trick” option, stating that Robomodo is trying to “take the best of the old games.”
The iconic soundtracks are also in the air. Due to the nature of music licenses, Activision can’t pluck the original tunes from the first or second THPS without again paying the artists involved. The publisher’s social-media guru (and former OXM editor) Dan Amrich noted the most likely scenario would be to see a “mix of some classic tracks with new music.”

Since manuals are a part of the game, how about we kick up the measly 15,000 point goal from THPS’ Warehouse level?

Many months still stand between us and our skate down memory lane with Tony and Co., and while our first look at the series’ most famous stage hit the right nostalgic notes, there’s still plenty more to learn when it comes to almost every facet of the game. At the very least, we’re happy to say, for the first time in almost a half-decade, that we’re looking forward to the next Tony Hawk game.

UFC 141 Knocks Out Xbox Live App

By: Alex Dobie - "PlanetRaptoR"

Jan. 3rd, 2012 12:16 pm

Ruh-roh. It seems that the live streaming of UFC 141 last Friday didn't go quite as smoothly as Microsoft was planning.

To drum up publicity around the newly-launched Xbox Live UFC streaming app, Microsoft gave away 30,000 virtual tickets allowing Live users to watch the fight for free. However, the increased traffic, combined with "technical issues", seems to have prevented many users from viewing anything beyond a few seconds of the event. Cue an angry backlash from frustrated Live users.

In the aftermath, Bitmob received an official statement from Microsoft about the outage and surrounding technical problems, and it see that the company is prepared to make it up to the 30,000 users who registered for UFC 141 --

"The broadcast of UFC 141 through the UFC for Xbox LIVE application was hampered by technical issues appearing in the hours leading up to the fight. Despite restoring service to some users during the course of UFC 141, there is a great deal of room for improvement. All 30,00 users who registered to view UFC 141 for free will be provided access to a future fight at no cost.

"We want to ensure that the 30,000 giveaway recipients for UFC 141 have an optimal experience with UFC on Xbox LIVE, and we are currently working with our partners at the UFC to ensure we deliver just that. The gamertags of the 30,000 users who registered for UFC 141 are being safely kept on file for free access to a future UFC event, and we will have more updates to share in the near future."

If you were affected by the technical issues with UFC 141 on Xbox Live, be sure to let us know in the comments.

How to use xbox 360 controller on pc team fortress 2

Team Fortress 2 has it´s own built-in configuration for the XBOX 360 controller. To use  this configuration, just open the console and type exec 360controller then  press enter.


These games use special  joystick interface configurations that may  interfere with the usability of the keyboard and mouse - if you wish  to undo these configuration changes, there is a second configuration file you may  run by opening the console and typing exec undo360controller then pressing enter.

If you wish to customize  the configuration, or use one of these configurations with Team Fortress 2 , you will need  to set up your own copy in a text editor (such as Notepad) modifying the default settings underneath and save it as something singular (such as joystick.cfg), then place it in the \cfg\ folder within the game's directory, which uses the following basic  structure:

Steam\steamapps\<account name>\<game name>\<short name>\cfg\

    Windows PCs: \Steam\ is located in C:\Program Files\ by default.
    Mac OS X: /Steam/ is located in ~/Library/Application Support/ by default.


//Team Fortress 2 specific settings
//**************************************************
tf_build_menu_controller_mode 1
tf_disguise_menu_controller_mode 1



bind "Z AXIS POS" "+attack2"  // L TRIGGER
bind "Z AXIS NEG" "+attack"  // R TRIGGER

bind "JOY1" "+jump"   // A
bind "JOY2" "+reload"   // B
bind "JOY3" "taunt"   // X
bind "JOY4" "togglescores"  // Y

bind "JOY5" "invprev"   // L SHOULDER
bind "JOY6" "invnext"   // R SHOULDER

bind "JOY7" "changeclass"  // BACK
bind "JOY8" "pause"   // START

bind "JOY10" "voicemenu 0 0"  // Right Stick Down
bind "JOY9" "+duck"   // Left Stick Down

bind "POV_UP" "slot1"
bind "POV_RIGHT" "slot2"
bind "POV_DOWN" "slot3"
bind "POV_LEFT" "slot4"
//**************************************************
//END