Ubuntu question; Wireless xbox 360 controller problem

[borg101]

First, lets get the obvious out of the way. I don't know why, but Ubuntu forums have no answers to how to get a wireless xbox 360 gamepad to work in Ubuntu. Sure they have guides from a decade ago that are outdated and don't work. On top of that, I don't know if its the distro's popularity or just the forum, but questions are barely looked at, let alone answered on their forums....at least the few I've asked on this issue.

Second, I installed Ubuntu 17.04 on my son's laptop. Steam recognizes the controllers and they work in Big Picture Mode, but as soon as games start, they don't recognize any of the input from the gamepad. Does anyone have any idea how to fix this? I'd appreciate being pointed in the right direction.