By Mark Hearn, Senior Editor

When we first got word of OnLive over a year ago and how it was suppose to work I was a bit skeptic. It was an awesome concept but would it work? I already knew it would be something we’d be covering if it ever went official and on June 17th we’ll have plenty to talk about. Now with that said we decided not to invest too much into what could possibly be the HD DVD of gaming. So we set out to get a bang for our buck controller to give the new service a test run and also to see how far we could stretch a buck.

We set ourselves a budget of $20 and begin doing our homework. We knew we wanted something sturdy and reliable but still comfortable, in comes Logitech. We found the Logitech Dual Action and sure its wired and missing rumble but with a solid design and an attractive $15 price tag we figured it would be worth a shot.

The Dual Action has a very Playstationish form factor, the button layout is one you’ll know very well. The controller comes in a little bit bigger than a PS3 Dualshock 3, it sports rubber grips and feels pretty darn good in your hands. It has very low system requirements and yes it is Mac friendly. Set up was a cinch, run the disc that comes with it, plug it in and you’re done. Did I mention this thing plays nice with your PS3? Even though its not listed on the actual package we tested it with a few different titles minus Sixaxis support and a PS button it makes for a decent second controller or backup when in a jam. The controller was very responsive in fighting games and held up pretty tight in shooters as well. It was simple plug and play and the button layout defaults to the PS3 standard. The USB cable is fairly long and gives up a decent amount of distance. Its a shame our Xbox 360 wouldn’t recognize it, guess you can’t win them all?

Just to sum things up its not perfect but with a great price point, solid build, familiar button layout and the ability to use it with a PC or PS3, its pretty hard not to call this a worthy purchase. If you’re trying to save a buck and could use an extra controller or a backup in case of emergency the Dual Action is something you might want to consider.