7

I bought the Prince of Persia trilogy games yesterday at a garage sale and I want to play them asap! I remember them being great on the PS2.

Can I use my Xbox 360 controller with my laptop? Would I need to buy a converter of some kind? I'm automatically assuming I need to use a wired controller, so share any info on that.

Improve this question
1
  • Wired = Buy one thing for ~$40, wireless = buy 3 things (controller, receiver, charger) for ~$40-60 each.
    – Nick T
    Jan 22, 2012 at 16:02

4 Answers 4

Reset to default
10

Wired Xbox360 controllers can be used on your PC simply by plugging them in.

Wireless controllers can be used on your PC if you buy a Wireless Gaming Receiver. (You can't use a Play and Charge cable, unfortunately. They only power/recharge the controller, they don't carry data.) One receiver lets you use up to four controllers.

Improve this answer
5
  • most recent PC games with controller/gamepad support will usually use Microsoft's DirectInput or XInput, the later being the same API used in the 360 which allows for near identical control setup in 360 games ported to the PC
    – Xantec
    Dec 20, 2010 at 13:57
  • It's worth mentioning that both setups allow the gamepad to show up as standard game controllers in Windows. The headset appears as an audio device. I've got no idea how it works on the Mac.
    – Eric Falsken
    Apr 21, 2011 at 0:37
  • 1
    You only need one Wireless Gaming Receiver. It supports up to 4 Wireless Controllers.
    – ayckoster
    Oct 7, 2012 at 23:33
  • Does that apply to all XBox 360 controllers? Or just the official Microsoft produced ones? Are they any problems with using a generic XBox 360 controller on the PC?
    – Wjousts
    Oct 28, 2015 at 20:44
  • @Wjousts I've never tried it, but I imagine third-party wireless controllers would work, since they use the same wireless communications protocol that the official XBox 360 controllers do.
    – Brant
    Oct 30, 2015 at 2:17
5

If you have a wired Xbox 360 Controller, it can be used by both Windows and your Xbox 360. You should install the software:

http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/gaming/productdetails.aspx?pid=091

As far as I know, you don't need the specific "PC" version of the Xbox 360 controller--they're actually the same hardware.

Then either play a game that supports the controller directly (many of the newer games stamped with "Games for Windows") or you will need to install a 3rd party program to "emulate" a typical joystick from your Xbox 360 controller, such as Pinnacle Game Profiler.

Check out a guide here:

http://www.wikihow.com/Use-Your-Xbox-360-Controller-for-Windows

Improve this answer
0

There are drivers available from Microsoft that allow 360 controller use, but I dont know how this has to interface with the games.

For more information on using the 360 controller with games see this post.

Also, there is an Xbox style control, built by Microsoft that is made for PC. That is more than likely easier to set up for this purpose, but again I have never personally used one to know for sure. See here for more info.

Improve this answer
-1

You can use a regular xbox controller if you splice the wires at the end and wire up a usb end to plug into the pc. You also need to download software to make the pc recognize the controller.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.