I bought the PC version of this game since it supported the 360 controller but found I can only use the d pad to hotkey 2 shortcuts instead of the 8 shortcuts in the 360 versions of Oblivion and Fallout. Is the 360 version the same? The only 'solution' is to pause the game and reselect from the Favorite menu which is beyond lame. Pause should only be there for recycling your favorite beverage, not part of integral gameplay.

That's how it is on 360 as well. I don't mind it myself.

It is a pretty huge change if you are accustomed to real time combat. Also the behavior is inconsistent. Assign a two-hand weapon or bow to the d-pad and then assign 2 spells to the triggers. This allows you to toggle weapons and magic. However if you map a shield, staff or one-hand sword this does not work, you always get unarmed. This makes no sense at all. Would you want your mage to fight unarmed instead of casting spells?