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Xbox 2 to Have Wireless Controllers Standard

Posted by Zonk on from the halo-from-your-bathroom dept.

GamesIndustry.biz has the news that the Xbox 2 console, releasing this fall, will use wireless controllers by default. From the article: "Microsoft will be the first console manufacturer to ship wireless pads as standard with its hardware, but not the first to ship an official wireless controller; Nintendo has already enjoyed significant success with the WaveBird, its wireless pad for the GameCube."

1 of 146 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Mod parent up by SkyWalk423 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I have a Wavebird and I am still impressed with the way it was engineered and it's battery efficiency, but I would guess an Xbox2 wireless pad will have a lot more to handle than the Wavebird does. For one, it has to deal with the bandwidth of not only registering button presses, but also the Xbox Live voice data to the headset, which goes through the controller in the current system. Plus I'm sure they are at least considering force feedback (rumble) support. IANAEE so I don't know how much more of a drain this will have on the batteries, but I would have to guess that it will be more than the Wavebird demands.