Bay 12 Games Forum

For a couple of days now I've been researching into PC controllers, the last one I bought was about 16 years ago and I don't really know what I'm doing. I want two controllers, one solely for 2D platformers (which I will probably use the most) and the other... Also for 2D platformers, but preferably with an analogue stick in case something 3D catches my eye.

I would have thought looking for controllers would be fairly easy, but it seems to me that everyone is using an X-Box 360 controller, which apparently has a bad d-pad and is no good for me. The other popular one is the Sega Saturn controller, but I'd worry how responsive this would be considering I would have to use an adapter. Lastly, I came across Logitech's Gamepads, which generally have good reviews, but at this point I would like to hear about other people's experiences.

What are your favourite game controllers for PCs? How is the responsiveness and comfort? How long did they last?

It's a fantasy book which came out (I think) within the last four years, I think it's likely to have come out within the last two. It was probably a British book, but not necessarily.
It was a story about this wizard growing up, he grew up in the circus but his family and circus comrades were killed by shadowy figures because his father was singing an historical song which the shadowy figures wanted forgotten. He was homeless for a long time until he managed to get out of the city to a magical academy where he was allowed in for free due to his outstanding talent. I can't really remember what happened after that, he was looking for evidence of the shadowy things existence with his girlfriend or something.
The book was told as if it was told by the wizard himself at a much later time in his life and it was interspaced by him working as a landlord in a pub telling the tale to a journalist. At the end of the book the journalist was threatened by the wizard's apprentice.
Could anybody help me out? I really want to read the sequel!

Anybody can use this thread for other books they can't remember the name of too.

My Fortress in next to a volcano so I decided to set up a lava trap, here's my basic plan-

0=Volcano
|_= Carved out path
+=wall
X=Floodgates

                             0
                             X
                             |_
                                |
                           +++|+++
                           +         +
                           +XX+XX+

                 (definitely not to scale)

I managed to set it all up, but I had a few problems;
The lava took a while to get to the trap area.
My first floodgate vanished.
My floodgates to the left vanished.

My floodgates are made out of Gabbro and Mica solely, the mechanisms are not though. What's wrong with my trap? :S