PC BioShock 2 Lack of GamePad Support Intentional

From PC World: The Windows version of BioShock 2 doesn't support gamepads, and while that's been public knowledge for months, it's apparently causing a stir on the game's official message boards.

After a handful of gamers complained last week about the lack of gamepad support in the PC version and a handful more politely chastised them for doing so, the thread pretty much exploded into a "please bring back gamepad support" appeal, including a petition.

I heard about the decision to axe gamepad support a few weeks ago, listening to the design team chat up the PC version in a podcast. The reasoning seemed logical enough. They wanted the PC interface to capitalized on the upsides of using a keyboard and mouse, to in that sense reward PC gaming's faithful by making the Windows version of BioShock 2 as "PC" as possible. Dropping gamepad support, they argued, freed them to craft an interface--both visually and mechanically--streamlined for the sort of massively-multi-button, ultra-precision advantages PC gamers enjoy. Supporting gamepads in a way that lived up to design expectations would mean shipping with different, alternative interfaces. They chose specialization over generalization.

Sound like a head-slapper? That's how I see it, mostly, except for one or two wrinkles.

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