I don't think I need more than one controller.

[Menegrothx]

Yes you only need one controller.

A Saturn controller.

Fixed

A Xbox 360 controller with the D-pad from a Saturn controller, L and R from SNES controller replacing the shoulder buttons and buttons from a Playstation controller replacing the XYAB, how's that?

[Luke]

How often do you all have people over for multiplayer gaming?

Around twice a week. Lately my friends and I have been playing a lot of SMB.3, Double Dribble, Contra, Blades of Steel, and other two player games. If we're not playing the NES, we're probably playing games on the Wii.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Have controllers always been this expensive?

I have two controllers only for the following systems: Atari 2600, Odyssey 2, NES, SNES, Genesis, GameCube, Wii.

I don't have any friends in the area to play games with (sniffle) so shelling out something like $50 for another Xbox 360 controller seems like a waste.

Kind of a moot point anyway as I mostly play single-player RPGs...

[Menegrothx]

Have controllers always been this expensive?

Well I've read from a gaming magazine that back in the Commodore 64 days people would break their Quickshot joysticks during a weekend gaming marathon and buy a couple of more from the store like it was nothing.
For what it's worth, I recall being shocked by how expensive PS2 accessories were back in like 2003 or 2004. And I've needed to buy another controller for my PS3 since I got it since it's partially broken but I haven't because of the prices, so I'm just gonna buy PS2 to PS3 adapters and use my PS2 controllers.

Not sure if the wireless technology makes modern controllers more expensive to produce.

[Hatta]

Depends on what kind of friends you have and what kind of games you play. I play a lot of RPGs and mostly have artists and bartender types over these days. So we just tend to drink and chat. It's a rare person who will sit down and play through Toejam & Earl or River City Ransom.

[BogusMeatFactory]

It's a rare person who will sit down and play through Toejam & Earl or River City Ransom.

When you find that person... you never let them go...
..
.....
...
never......

[fastbilly1]

In all seriousness, I have to have the max controllers on every platform, including PC. We have people over to play games all of the time. My wife and I are social gamers. We have a lot of fun having friends over and socializing over a couple of rounds of games. This was one of the big reasons we got the WiiU, because a lot of its games deal with a socially interactive experience, something we love to do.

What is sad is that, with the PS3 and X360, there isn't that many local multiplayer games outside of Xbox Live Arcade games. I wish there was more.

Same. But from what I have seen there are plenty of 4 player local PC games coming out. So what my wife and I have started doing is researching what controllers/sticks work best for our needs and with our friends. And we plan on just buying a bunch of them and having them setup and ready to go. Granted some of the stuff we are looking at doing, like retrofitting a fightstick with a 4way joystick, is something you just cant find out without having one to open.

[Ivo]

Have controllers always been this expensive?

Well I've read from a gaming magazine that back in the Commodore 64 days people would break their Quickshot joysticks during a weekend gaming marathon and buy a couple of more from the store like it was nothing.

I went through several joysticks on my Amiga. They were perhaps the equivalent to (but that is not inflation adjusted) 15 to 20 USD back in the day, perhaps? It wasn't as if it was nothing, but it wasn't a tragedy either. But maybe being cheap(ish) is also why they were fragile. They had clicky microswitches, and it were those that gave out.

Particularly killer were waggle games or sections (several track and field games, or mini-games involving running, had you waggle as fast as you could from left to right).

Any gamepads I've had have been more resistant, although the CD32 pad is also pretty crappy and prone to failure on its d-pad.

I also had some mice wear the buttons out. Mostly from those days as well.

[Cronozilla]

I have opposite problems, when I was younger I never had enough controllers ... now I never have enough people.

Personally, I'd have at least two lying around. In case your household ever wants to coop something, or you need to play and charge and your TV is like 12 feet away.

[Frag Mortuus]

Personally, I'd have at least two lying around. In case your household ever wants to coop something, or you need to play and charge and your TV is like 12 feet away.

What I've done with my Wii U and Pro Controller is use a USB extension cable that extends a total about 15 ft to go from the console to the couch. I plan on using this same cable to charge my PS4 controller when it needs it. My Wii U Game Pad has the charging base with it. As does my Wii-Remote and my PS3 controllers.

I do have 2 PS3 controllers, but I am currently building a retro gaming PC with a bunch of emulators and plan on using the Sixaxxis with it and keeping the DS3 for the PS3.

It seems the Wii U is what system I have the most controllers for, but they are all different