I have no idea what this thread is on about. I have never had a game "strong-arm" me into using a gamepad. Most of the games in the OP's list I have and have played with no trouble at all using a keyboard.

EDIT: Oh wait, is this about games not giving a choice about which gamepad you can use?

Joe Danger series. Had to use the x360ce to get the generic gamepad to work in this.

Can this really not be resolved in a satisfactory manner through third party software? I have even successfully used x360ce over wine.

On the flip side, Bard's Tale with its DirectInput controls was quite painful to play with an x360 pad because it made assumptions about the physical button layout for the weapon wheels or somesuch.

Yes and no, it's about following Microsofts new standard, I couldn't care less about support of their console gamepad.

It's the same with Apples new headphone standard, it was an exception clearly intended as a new company driven standard and they are getting away with it.

http://www.element14.com/community/servlet/JiveServlet/showImage/105-37789-198921/3_5mmplugs.png

I've been a PC gamer since the early 90s and I think having XBOX gamepad support is a godsend. It's incredibly easy to setup as it's plug and play, and in my experience the XBOX pad is far better in quality than any PC gamepad I've ever used before.

Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons. In this game, keyboard only works well if you have a second person playing with you and controlling the second brother. Alone it's almost impossible and requires a high amount of patience to play with each brother at a time. A dual-stick gamepad is highly recommended for this game (an Xbox 360 controller is perfect).

Anyway, to add to the list:

if I remember correctly, Grand Theft Auto IV only had native compatibility with the XBOX pad.

You CAN use any controller*...Steam and others are OPTIMIZED for XBOX...

* You may need third party software.. XBOX controller works natively

That said XBOX controller is one of the best for PC use anyway...

Also I bought an OEM XBOX controller new for $25 and some pawn shops have XBOX brand controllers for $15-$20

It sure is but still... not having a choice isn't acceptable.

EDIT: updated my syntax :P

You have a choice between native use of XBOX, or additional software required to make any other controller act like an XBOX controller. I agree that it is limiting, but I do not think the game developers are 100% to blame for this. I'd blame microsoft.

The game initially used Xinput. Other controllers using Directinput had to be tweaked in some way. But later people reported that most of their controllers were working okay, like PS3 controllers (see the Steam forums), so maybe there was an update. Since I only have Xbox 360 controllers, I can't confirm it, though.

Just Cause 2... the reason I bought an xbox gamepad for windows in the first place. I don't regret it however, it only cost me £17.99 and I much prefer playing a lot of games on it.

I usually blame Microsoft about everything, so I won't argue on that. :D

Metal Gear Rising..even though you can play the game with a keyboard(not recommended), you can't use another gamepad other than an xbox controller unless you're using X360ce.