Alternative ps3 controller ... Great for pinball arcade

I have never been fully comfortable playing pinball with the standard PS3 controller. I have been looking for an alternate control pad for quite some time and today, the solution arrived in the mail. After searching on the Internet and looking at pictures of many controllers, I decided to pick up the THRUSTMASTER 3 in 1 PS3, PS2, PC Dual Trigger Rumble Force Control Pad. You are really going to have to look the pics in the link to the review I am putting in this post (as of now I can not post picks here) This control pad feels great, it is programmable on all three platforms ... yep, you can program any button or stick to do what you want it to do and are not limited by in game controls .... that means in pinball arcade, you can set the d pad to nudge the table if you want .... and it has rumble capabilities for the PS2 and PC only, not the PS3. What I love about it is the triggers, they work great with pinball.

Its been a great help in Pinballistik too, now I can use the right analog to plunge the ball, the left analog to nudge the table, and the two lower triggers for the flippers. A big help in Zen as well ..... just a real blessing this controller is all around with every game I tried it for.

There is another version of this control pad which will only rumble on the PS2, not the PC or the PS3. So if you do decide to pick one up and plan on using it for your PC gaming, be sure to find the one with RUMBLE in the name and be sure the description says it rumbles for the PC.

This pad is not sold in the USA so I had to get it on ebay and it was shipped from the UK.

CHECK OUT THIS LINK TO SEE PICS AND A REVIEW - note, my controller arrived in perfect condition without any "squishy" buttons as this reviewer described.

http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=49&Itemid=1

Other people have reported that this gamepad is not reliable and breaks rather quickly (less than 6 months). It would be interesting to get an update in a couple of months.

I have to be honest with you, it feels very sturdy, more so than the regular PS3 control pad. Interestingly enough, because it is not a 1st party controller, compatibility can not be guaranteed across all games in all platforms. For example, it does not work at all for the game SKY FIGHTERS, on the pinball arcade, only in the menu, it acts like a turbo button at times - a minor flaw which has happened to every control pad I used on that game that was not an actual PS3 control pad. I wonder if people think the control pad is broken simply because of its failure in a particular game. As far as a build is concerned, everything feels stronger than the PS3 1st party control pad. I liked the pad so much, I just ordered a second one. I will certainly get back to you in 6 months and let you know. Does anyone else own this pad here, and what are your experiences with it?

I do not own the controller, but I do have problems with the ergonomics of the standard PS3 controller. I cannot play for more than 45 minutes without getting soreness and discomfort in my hands due to the controllers strange shape and size. Does this controller offer more area to grip and does it fit comfortably in your hands?

This controller is slightly larger than a standard PS3 control pad. I would say from top to bottom (height) its about a half inch bigger. So in terms of more area to grip, all around it is a bigger controller. I find this controller comfortable for games in which you are going to use the shoulder buttons a lot. It is designed that your pointing finger use the upper two shoulder buttons and your middle finger use the lower trigger finger. but I do not use it this way. I use my pointing finger on the trigger buttons and it feels good to me. I am also a big fan of First Person Shooters and this control pad is a joy to use .... I have been playing Crysis 2 all weekend with it. On the other hand, comfort for each person depends on the size of their hands and how they feel. For me, I got this for two reasons, one to be able to change the control mapping for games I do not like the control scheme on and have no options to change them in game or options I don't like and the other reason is because of the placement of the trigger buttons, which feel more comfortable for me.

I really hope they end up adding Move support I think that would be the most comfortable way to play.

I have considered getting move, tell me your overall impressions of it. Even if they don't support move, at least they should include six axis on the PS3 control pad as an option for nudging.

Here is something funny I did with the control pad. I programmed all the buttons / analog sticks in reverse, turned the control pad around so that the triggers were facing me and used my thumbs to push down on the triggers to control the flippers ... it worked like a charm! Amazingly, I got my best score yet on Marvel Pinball Ghost Rider .... 29, 062,700. This weekend I will try that method out on Black Hole in TBA. Sounds crazy but the control pad feels great in reverse.

RetroBlast said:

I have considered getting move, tell me your overall impressions of it. Even if they don't support move, at least they should include six axis on the PS3 control pad as an option for nudging.

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Move is probably the best motion control option on the console market, however there are not a whole lot of games that support it.
my over all impression of motions controls is that they are not needed (I got this bundled with my PS3) but the way that the controllers are held in each hand has to be one of the most comfortable ways to play a game I owned the Wii version of PHOF and it was so enjoyable using the wii remote and nunchuck (which is similar set up to the PS Move)

That's funny because I also owned PHOF for the Wii and hated the controls and wound up selling the game, now I wish I had that game for my PS3 but it is not available as a down loadable game and even used, it is expensive. I say expensive because soon the tables will be available in TPA so I can not justify spending $30+ on it now when newer, better versions of the tables from the Williams Collection will be out for TPA in the near future.

Do you use the motion contollers for 1st person shooters? If so, how do you feel about them compared to playing the same game with a regular PS3 control pad?

That I can't answer the only 1st person games I played with motion controls was metroid prime on the wii which worked pretty good, I have heard though that they are ok for games like Killzone 3 and Resistance 3 but more often then not people prefer control pad over motion controls for such games always seems to feel like a gimmick or tacked on.

I have heard that Bioshock Infinity is making use of the Move it will be interesting to see how that turns out. All in all it's probably not worth rushing out to get one as they are bit expensive especially if you were not a fan of how it felt on the wii.

I only didn't like using the motion controls for the Pinball Game on the Wii but I liked it for other games. That Sony Sharp Shooter device is what I have my eye on ... I almost buy it every time I am in GameStop.