Thanks for reporting back about all of that.

I think I'd like a PS3 controller for native Mac games. Fortunately, there are not a lot of older games I want to use a controller with but in those cases, I have the option of playing them in a Windows XP virtual machine via Parallels. So that works with the Logitech F-510 if needed.

Since I had the controller I figured I would test out some more native Mac games. I wanted to try games that would utilize both analog sticks. I tested the demo of Tiny & Big, a demo of an indie shooter called Steel Storm and a free racing game from the Mac App Store called RC Mini Racers.

The controller worked fine in all three games. However, I did find a limitation with the OS X driver. It treats the L2 & R2 analog triggers as digital buttons. I could see this being a problem for racing games.

Apparently the unofficial Xbox 360 driver does treat the 360 triggers as analog, so at least for analog trigger functionality, the 360 controller would seem to have the edge.

Its seems the F-510 or the 710 are good options for Windows games. Have you used it much for native Mac games? Any issues?

I have several racers by Feral but haven't gotten around to them. I've been working away on games I need to reboot for as I'd like to abandon rebooting altogether when I catch up on the games I own that I still need to do that for. I hate rebooting to Windows and being out of OS X.

If it matters, here are my thoughts concerning gamepads, WINE and gaming on the Mac:

First, regarding WINE and Windows games, yes, WINE's support for Xinput is AFAIK problematic; some people have worked on this, including submitting patches, but from what I can tell the work is still at a rudimentary stage at best. DirectInput on the other hand, works fine; Blood Omen 2, and Legacy of Kain: Defiance both worked brilliantly with my older Gravis Destroyer Tilt and my Logitech F310. (At the time, I think was using CrossOver 12 and Wineskin with WINE 1.5.15, IIRC.) - the problem lies with games that use Xinput. I think this may be the reason why the Guilty Gear games didn't work very well with either gamepad before.

With regards to Mac native games, I've only tested my Logitech F310 and Destroyer Tilt with platformers like Megabyte Punch, or top down shooters. Since OS X picks it up as a standard HID device, I haven't had many problems with configuration. For the times that I have (i.e. with older games), I've used USB Overdrive to map the keypad buttons to keyboard keys, and it works fine. I've also tested Joystick Mapper and Gamepad Companion on the Mac App Store, and they both work too.

To answer the original OP's question, the gamepad I'd recommend is the Logitech F310; apart from its good build quality, the ability to switch to legacy DirectInput mode is its killer feature, as apparently the majority of PC gamepads out there only support Xinput.

Thanks everyone! I think I will go with the F310. I don't need rumble which is the only additional feature the F510 has as far as I can tell. In my original post I was looking for wireless, but for now wired is fine. The length of the cord should be enough for my small bedroom. I can always get a ps3 controller down the road for wireless (I'll probably buy the console eventually anyway).

Too bad the F710 doesn't support Logitech's Unifying receiver. If it did, I would have bought it immediately.

I should add that OS X's major weakness for gaming is a lack of a proper provision for calibration, either for the axes on a joystick, or thumb sticks on a dual-shock style controller. In some games, that's not a major issue; but in others it may make them all but unplayable.