Dual Shock 3 might be the most favored gaming controller of our generation. There can be several reasons to bonify this fact, like it is simple to use, or it can be used on multiple platforms, and it is pretty cheap too. If you are a Mac user, there aren’t many options available for you to use to play your favorite games. Using the PS3 Controller on Mac can be the best choice to enjoy the games to the fullest. So, in this post, I’ll guide you on How to use PS3 Controller on Mac.
The procedure is simple, quick and easy. Get your Dual Shock 3 out and ready.
Jul 05, 2017 More new games support Mac OS X than ever, and you can play any Windows game on your Mac. There are many ways you can play those Windows PC games on your Mac. After all, Macs have been standard Intel PCs that come with a different operating system preinstalled since 2006.
Contents
- 1 How to use PS3 Controller on Mac?
- 1.2 Procedure: Set up PS3 Controller on Mac
How to use PS3 Controller on Mac?
Using the Sony Dual Shock 3 PlayStation Controller on Mac is very easy if you know how to set it up to play the games. Here, I’ll explain what you’ll need, how to set up & use, and how to disconnect the PS3 controller on Mac. Just go through this article and you’ll learn everything required that is related to using the Dual Shock 3 on your Mac.
Things you will need
- Mac with OS X Snow Leopard or beyond, including Lion, MacOS Sierra 10.12, OS X 10.11 El Capitan, 10.8 Mountain Lion, 10.9 Mavericks, 10.10 Yosemite, etc. All these have the drivers to support the PS3 controller by default, and the process to set up is pretty much same.
- A Sony Dual Shock 3 PlayStation Controller which you can buy from a reliable e-commerce site or from the nearby gaming accessories store.
- A mini USB cable to connect Dual Shock 3 to your Mac. Remember that the cable will be used only once while setting up the controller, and later you’ll be using the wireless Bluetooth connection.
- Bluetooth support on both Mac and Dual Shock 3.
- An internet connection to thank me later if you feel like.
Procedure: Set up PS3 Controller on Mac
The procedure to set up a PS3 Controller on Mac is very simple. You might feel it isn’t that easy by looking at the length of this post, but just try it once, and you’ll realize how simple it is. Follow these steps in order to connect the Sony Dual Shock 3 on your Mac via the Bluetooth connection:
Step-1:Reset the Sony Dual Shock 3 PlayStation controller by inserting a paperclip or needle into pinhole near L2 button.
Step-2: Next, connect the Dual Shock 3 to your Mac using the mini USB cable.
Step-3: If you haven’t enabled Bluetooth on your Mac yet, then you have to do it now. Go to Applemenu, click on System Preferences, and then click on Bluetooth. Now Turn Bluetooth ON. You can do it either through the Bluetooth preference panel or the menu bar item.
Step-4: Now press the PS button (round button present on the middle of the controller) for 2 seconds to turn it on until the red light on the controller blinks. It flashes as it tries to pair with the Mac.
Step-5:Unplug the mini USB cable.
Step-6: The Bluetooth preference panel might show a device available but not yet connected as it is trying to pair the Mac with the PS3 gamepad. Just click on the + icon in the Preferences to open the Bluetooth Setup Assistant.
Step-7: A new window will pop up asking you to enter a Passcode. Enter 0000 in the box and click on Accept.
Step-8:Close the Bluetooth Setup Assistant now. Your Dual Shock 3 is now connected to your Mac.
Optional but Recommended part- Add PS3 Controller to Favorites on Mac
It is highly recommended that you add the PS3 Controller to Mac’s favorites list. Also, if you are using OS X 10.8.x, it is necessary that you add the controller to the Favorites if you want the instructions presented above to work. Follow these steps in order to Add the Sony Dual Shock 3 Controller to Favorites on your Mac:
Step-1: From the Bluetooth list in the preferences, click on the PLAYSTATION3 Controller item.
Step-2: Now click on Add To Favorites, and then choose Update Services from the little gear icon menu.
Step-3: Next, disable Bluetooth on Mac, and wait for 2 seconds.
Step-4: Finally, enable Bluetooth again, wait for another 2 seconds, and start loading your favorite game.
How to Disconnect PS3 Controller on Mac for Troubleshooting?
Disconnecting and reconnecting Mac can help you with troubleshooting certain issues that appear while using PS3 Controller on Mac. Two of the most common issues are-
- Dual Shock 3 is not found/detected by Mac when it is plugged in and turned on. Keep in mind that you should first enable and disable Bluetooth to resolve this issue, instead of directly disconnecting the controller. If that didn’t help, then you should try disconnecting and reconnecting the PS3 controller on Mac.
- The PS3 Controller gamepad lights blinking constantly and going crazy causing trouble while playing certain games.
Follow these steps in order to disconnect PS3 Controller on Mac, to later reconnect it again:
Step-1: Firstly, go to the Bluetooth preference panel in System Preferences.
Step-2: Keep your cursor over the PlayStation 3 Controller item shown in the Bluetooth Devices list. If a slightly changed name like Sony Dual Shock 3 or something else appears, keep the cursor over that.
Step-3: Now click on the circular X and then click on Remove to confirm the removal of the PS3 controller from your Mac.
Now you can just reconnect it using the procedure mentioned above, and continue playing your favorite games without having any trouble.
Summary
This was how you can connect and use the PS3 Controller on Mac. You can use it to play many amazing games that work incredibly well when played with the controller like the Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic.
Also, remember that always keep the batteries of your Sony Dual Shock 3 charged and, don’t take it too far from your Mac while playing games, as you may move out of the Bluetooth range leading to disconnection. For any queries, doubts, or suggestions, feel free to visit the Comments section.
You may also visit the official Apple Thread related to this topic to seek further help. Hope I helped you.
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The Mac has plenty of games, but it'll always get the short end of the stick compared to Windows. If you want to play the latest games on your Mac, you have no choice but to install Windows ... or do you?
There are a few ways you can play Windows games on your Mac without having to dedicate a partition to Boot Camp or giving away vast amounts of hard drive space to a virtual machine app like VMWare Fusion or Parallels Desktop. Here are a few other options for playing Windows games on your Mac without the hassle or expense of having to install Windows.
GeForce Now
PC gaming on Mac? Yes you can, thanks to Nvidia's GeForce Now. The service allows users to play PC games from Steam or Battle.net on macOS devices. Better still, the graphic power of these games resides on Nvidia's servers. The biggest drawback: the service remains in beta, and there's been no announcement when the first full release is coming or what a monthly subscription will cost.
For now, at least, the service is free to try and enjoy. All supported GeForce NOW titles work on Macs, and yes, there are plenty of them already available!
The Wine Project
The Mac isn't the only computer whose users have wanted to run software designed for Windows. More than 20 years ago, a project was started to enable Windows software to work on POSIX-compliant operating systems like Linux. It's called The Wine Project, and the effort continues to this day. OS X is POSIX-compliant, too (it's Unix underneath all of Apple's gleam, after all), so Wine will run on the Mac also.
Wine is a recursive acronym that stands for Wine Is Not an Emulator. It's been around the Unix world for a very long time, and because OS X is a Unix-based operating system, it works on the Mac too.
As the name suggests, Wine isn't an emulator. The easiest way to think about it is as a compatibility layer that translates Windows Application Programming Interface (API) calls into something that the Mac can understand. So when a game says 'draw a square on the screen,' the Mac does what it's told.
You can use straight-up Wine if you're technically minded. It isn't for the faint of heart, although there are instructions online, and some kind souls have set up tutorials, which you can find using Google. Wine doesn't work with all games, so your best bet is for you to start searching for which games you'd like to play and whether anyone has instructions to get it working on the Mac using Wine.
Note: At the time of this writing, The Wine Project does not support macOS 10.15 Catalina.
CrossOver Mac
CodeWeavers took some of the sting out of Wine by making a Wine-derived app called CrossOver Mac. CrossOver Mac is Wine with specialized Mac support. Like Wine, it's a Windows compatibility layer for the Mac that enables some games to run.
CodeWeavers has modified the source code to Wine, made some improvements to configuration to make it easier, and provided support for their product, so you shouldn't be out in the cold if you have trouble getting things to run.
My experience with CrossOver — like Wine — is somewhat hit or miss. Its list of actual supported games is pretty small. Many other unsupported games do, in fact work — the CrossOver community has many notes about what to do or how to get them to work, which are referenced by the installation program. Still, if you're more comfortable with an app that's supported by a company, CrossOver may be worth a try. What's more, a free trial is available for download, so you won't be on the hook to pay anything to give it a shot.
Boxer
If you're an old-school gamer and have a hankering to play DOS-based PC games on your Mac, you may have good luck with Boxer. Boxer is a straight-up emulator designed especially for the Mac, which makes it possible to run DOS games without having to do any configuring, installing extra software, or messing around in the Mac Terminal app.
With Boxer, you can drag and drop CD-ROMs (or disk images) from the DOS games you'd like to play. It also wraps them into self-contained 'game boxes' to make them easy to play in the future and gives you a clean interface to find the games you have installed.
Boxer is built using DOSBox, a DOS emulation project that gets a lot of use over at GOG.com, a commercial game download service that houses hundreds of older PC games that work with the Mac. So if you've ever downloaded a GOG.com game that works using DOSBox, you'll have a basic idea of what to expect.
Some final thoughts
In the end, programs like the ones listed above aren't the most reliable way to play Windows games on your Mac, but they do give you an option.
Of course, another option is to run Windows on your Mac, via BootCamp or a virtual machine, which takes a little know-how and a lot of memory space on your Mac's hard drive.
How do you play your Windows games on Mac?
Let us know in the comment below!
Updated October 2019: Updated with the best options.
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