I'm pretty late to the party on this one, but I thought I would share the good news that you can pair a PS3 controller with your Mac. This allows you to play games using a widely available and (relatively) inexpensive controller.
I enjoy the classic titles available on gog.com but they're kind of a drag to play without some sort of controller. I'm typically a console player so using a traditional mouse & keyboard with some games just felt awkward. A quick search suggested that I could use a PS3 controller without much fuss. Well, it was a bit more fuss than I was expecting so I thought I'd share my experience. I had a few annoying pitfalls but it was pretty easy in hindsight. Here's what I did to get up and running.
Getting ready:
I'm running OS X v10.9.2 on a MacPro 2.5 GHz Intel Core i7 with 8 GB of RAM. The PS3 controller is from Sony, not a third party. I can't say that these details matter, rather I thought I should share the equipment that I used for reference.
You'll need a USB 2.0 5-pin Mini Type B male to USB 2.0 Type A male cable. A new controller may not come with a USB cable (at least mine didn't).
If this is a new PS3 controller, charge overnight on your Mac, not a wall charger. I was first scratching my head wondering why the controller wouldn't charge, only to learn that this was a common mistake. The 4 red LEDs on the front of the controller will slowly blink when charging.
If you're using an existing PS3 controller, you'll need to press the reset button with a paperclip. It's a small (about 1 mm), black, recessed button located near the left trigger on the bottom of the controller.
Pairing the controller with your Mac:
Don't try turning on your controller yet.
Navigate to the Bluetooth settings within System Preferences.
Turn on Bluetooth.
Connect the controller to the Mac vis a USB cable. The controller will appear on your list of Bluetooth devices but may not yet say it's connected. The 4 red LEDs will blink; the controller is charging.
Press the PS button on the controller and then disconnect it from the Mac. The 4 red LEDs should now blink faster. The controller is trying to pair with the Mac.
The Mac will prompt you to enter a password to pair with the controller. Use four zeros (i.e., 0000) and click pair.
You're done! Now don't panic: the 4 red LEDs will continue to blink while in use. I thought that was odd, but apparently it's normal.
When you're done using the controller, you can't turn it off directly. Rather, you have to disconnect it from your Mac. The Bluetooth preferences should be available as a short cut on the bar at the top of your screen. Simply disconnect the device or turn off Bluetooth altogether. You'll know it's off because the 4 red LEDs will stop blinking.
Mapping buttons:
You're not out of the woods yet. You'll need a utility to map the buttons on your fancy new controller. I use Controller from VividMachine. A demo version is available on Apple's App Store. For $5 you can download the full version which allows you to create/save profiles for each game you play. It's worth it. Note that you can only download the full version directly from the developer's web site, not the App Store. You'll need to open Controller and choose a profile before starting a game. Just leave the app open while playing.
I like Controller a lot but you'll need to do a little reading first. Be sure to check out the Help link on the developer's web site. Trust me. In particular you'll need to disable Apple's app nap feature for Controller. I was having peculiar behavior until I did this; I kept thinking the button map was lost. Instead, Apple was essentially turning off Controller while I played my game.
Additional reading:
Article 1. Pairing controller with your Mac.
Article 2. Pairing controller with your Mac.
