What sort of joystick/controller to use to remotely control/pilot walking robot?

Hi - I am trying to decide what sort of controller I want to use to
remotely pilot my 6 legged robot.

Right now I'm using an XBox 360 controller. I like some things about
it - but the centering on it is absolutely awful. So I'm thinking
about switching over to something like a 3 axis joystick, probably the
Saitek Cyborg wireless.

Also - I can't decide about which control should do what. I figure the
primary control (X/Y) on the joystick should control X/Y on the
robot's movement. But what about rotating in place? That's what I'm
thinking I'll use the third axis on the Saitek for. But - what if I
want to walk, say, in a circle? How would I do that? I thought about
trying to mix the third axis of the joystick with the X and Y axes, so
that the harder you twist the joystick the tighter of a circle it
would walk in, until at the max twist the robot would be turning in
place. The X and Y would control the direction of the circle it was
walking in, and once the joystick was turned all the way (so that the
robot was rotating in place) - the magnitude of the combination of X
and Y would control the speed of rotation.

But that seems a little, well, weird. Have any of you all found a good
way to control your walking robots?

Thanks,

-Mike