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Microsoft Announces Customizable Xbox Elite Wireless Controller
MojoKid writes: Today, Microsoft announced that later this year, it will be releasing what could be the "ultimate" Xbox and Windows game controller. Called Xbox Elite Wireless, this gamepad has a dramatically overhauled D-pad and four paddles underneath. Other features that make this gamepad special: there are trigger locks, the ability to customize thumbstick sensitivity, along with the level of travel for the top triggers. In addition, it also sports swappable components, like the paddles, etc. Pricing has been announced at $149 and given just how advanced this gamepad is over the original, it's understandable but still pretty steep.
The controller is probably the one thing more than anything else that prevents me from having an interest in the XBOne, just like the 360 & XBox before them. The PS controllers have always seemed more comfortable to me due to their symmetry.
Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
Easy, don't buy it. This thing wasn't meant for you. Keep using the controller that came with your Xbox One and be happy.
What's with this "me, me, me" generation, where something sucks just because it doesn't please ME??
Wow, unless they use leaf switches, those sound like really crappy buttons. You should really think about switching to Cherry-brand microswitches.
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You're aware there's a wireless adapter for Xbox 360/One gamepads for Windows, right?
Yes, that's just what I need, another proprietary wireless communications dongle that exists only because Microsoft wanted to be proprietary. Now I see the error of my ways, and I love Microsoft! You have truly shown me the light, you obtuse ass.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I have a Bluetooth mouse. It loses connection and isn't brilliant but you could use it for casual word-processing or similar use.
I have a Bluetooth keyboard. It works okay.
I work in a school. Put ten of them in a room and it all falls apart. If they aren't directly interfering the hassle of getting one and only one to join on to one and only one computer is a pain in the butt. Windows isn't particularly great at this, even on 8.
But at home I have four wireless XBox 360 controllers on a cheap dongle thing I bought from Amazon. Works perfectly, don't need to set anything up, recognised by all games, if one goes to sleep, you press a button and carry on.
Bluetooth isn't perfect and probably not good for this kind of thing. Wireless is even worse as you then have a controller-over-IP situation. There is no real alternative.
Also, go buy a bluetooth PC keyboard/mouse compared to the cheapest of "other wireless" sets. You'll pay more. I can only presume that this is patent or similar licensing. There are also a lot fewer models of such things because the cheap wireless stuff just works. You don't need to know the ins-and-outs of a protocol like the XBox controllers. You can pick up cheap dongles and controllers that are compatible for next to nothing, so it's not hard to work out and not "secret".
"The controller is seen as a huge improvement. In FPS playtesting, test subiects using this controller had their butts handed to them by a mouser in 2.8 seconds, compared to 1.3 seconds with the old controller."
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
I'm with you in your griping about people thinking that every product is a failure if it isn't intended for them, but at the same time, you have to wonder just who this product is intended for. Those paddles on the back? They weren't there when the system launched. What's their purpose?
Allows gamers to keep their thumbs on the directional pads at all times, while also still being able to access (mapped) functionality of face buttons.
Glorious for disabled gamers.
When it comes to wireless keyboards, mice, and controllers those proprietary dongles make Bluetooth their bitch.
Oh yeah, that's why the input latency on the PS3 and PS4 are so massive. Wait, they aren't. While some titles on PS4 do have more input lag than the Xbox, it's not because of Bluetooth. We know because it's only some titles.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
In case you haven't noticed, for the last decade or so the gaming industry has been catering mostly to casual gamers and shitting all over hardcore gamers as a matter of course.
I definitely have not noticed that in the market. In fact, the market suggests exactly the opposite of that. How many games come out in a given month that are designed to be playable in short (say 30 minutes or less) increments? How many games are playable with only 6 or fewer buttons and a D-pad? How many games are designed to be multiplayer experiences with the players all in the same physical room? Those are some of the aspects that characterize casual gaming.
Instead what I see sold in the ads today are fancy headsets, expensive controllers, $70-80 new titles touting special DLC offers, and highly caffeinated beverages so people can stay up all night gaming.
Similarly, think of the video games that we've had movies based on. We've seen Doom, Tomb Raider, etc... Have you seen anything for Mario Kart the movie? Me neither.
There is simply more money to be made on the hard core gamers. They are willing to buy new titles all the time and pay for DLC. Casual gamers just want scattered bits of interactive entertainment here and there. This is also part of why so many people put so much energy into shitting on the Wii consoles - not because they are that concerned about the hardware differences but because they despise casual gaming as a matter of practice.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
No, I'm the kind of guy who wants everyone to be great by thinking creatively on how to simplify complexity. Steve Jobs said it best, "That's been one of my mantras - focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it's worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains."
I want more people gaming without dumbing down gaming into what we see on mobile devices. This doesn't take away from l33t hard core brogamerz. Less creative people, on the other hand, seem to want a world of Pro Halo and Candy Crush Saga. They cannot wrap their mind around how to make something deep and simple. Simple doesn't mean cheap or easy; but elegant.
A great example would be Sonic the Hedgehog 3 vs. whatever junk passes for a Sonic game today. In Sonic 3, you have one button and directional pad to do a vast variety of tasks. I could duck, move, look up, jump, fly, glide, electric jump, flame dash, spin dash, bubble jump, change into Super Sonic, insta shield, etc... One button and a directional pad. It all made sense and require no tutorials. Not true today. Every single button on a controller has to be used because game developers are not creative enough to do otherwise.
If you're into Rube Goldberg machines, then more power to you. But if you want to win the market and please users, be more creative and figure out how to tame complexity.