Game controller for PC and TV out questions...

[Jimbo]

I've been wanting to mix up some games for my work out time, basically I ride and exercise bike for about 1 hour or more, and have been wanting to play some computer games.  I have an Xbox and it works great to take the bike in front of the TV and run the controller over to me and have some fun while riding.  I could get a Gamecube and a Playstation 2 for some more cool games, but I have a ton of computer games I want to play too.

Between Microsoft, Saitek, Logitek, and on and on...it gets very confusing.  I don't want wireless, I hate buying batteries, and programability is a must have feature.

I know the TV out can look like ass, but it should be okay if I am just playing some games like Toontown, WoW, or CoH/V.  Besides plugging in the adapter on the back of the computer, running the cable to the 3 way T.V. plug in, and messing with the video display settings, is there much else to do?

[Trippy]

Between Microsoft, Saitek, Logitek, and on and on...it gets very confusing.  I don't want wireless, I hate buying batteries, and programability is a must have feature.

Microsoft no longer makes joysticks (though you can probably still find them around) nor do they make gamepads for the PC so your choices from the above list are limited to Saitek and Logitech and if you are looking for a gamepad I would recommend Logitech.

I know the TV out can look like ass, but it should be okay if I am just playing some games like Toontown, WoW, or CoH/V.  Besides plugging in the adapter on the back of the computer, running the cable to the 3 way T.V. plug in, and messing with the video display settings, is there much else to do?

I'm sure Sky will chime in at some point with all the gory details but remember that if you don't have a HDTV you will effectively be playing at 640 x 480 resolution and all the text like in the chat windows will probably be difficult to read unless you crank the font sizes up.

[Sky]

You can display pc stuff on a normal tv, but you'd have to do something first. I don't know what, google is your friend. Out of the box, no. The text alone will be unreadable (I tried EQ on my 30" standard def set many years ago). Look into scan converters and see if that's something you want to get into. And it'll look like crap because NTSC is crap. Or buy an hdtv.

Controller: logitech. I've always been happy with their stuff, though nothing's perfect. I'd go wireless, it's not like you'll be buying batteries every week. I have a bunch of wireless stuff and use rechargeable AAs. Takes about 15 minutes to fully charge, so I keep a backup pair to swap out while I charge. I've had to get new batteries only recently, I'd say I got more than a year out of them, and that's using them pretty heavy. The logitech gamepad I have has a good sleep mode and I almost never have to change batteries in it (though I am a pc gamer, so it doesn't get nearly the usage of the mouse). I never use the charger base station the mouse came with. Finally, the gamepad has decent programmability, too. Save profiles and load them on the fly and whatnot, I don't really mess with that.

[Jimbo]

Thanks guys, yeah I found a rechargeable wireless game controller with a ton of programable buttons.  And I found out I need a program that makes the controller act like the mouse keyboard (emulator), and have been reading up on how to get it to look decent on the TV.  That or I just figure out a way to push the bike near the computer table...which might be easier to buy some wood and screws than to fiddle with the other stuff :)