Microsoft Announces Xbox Adaptive Controller For Players With Disabilities (theverge.com)

A new Xbox controller designed for people with disabilities has been announced by Microsoft today. The Xbox Adaptive Controller features two large programmable buttons and 19 jacks that can be connected to a range of joysticks, buttons, and switches to make it easier for a wider range of people to play games on Xbox One and Windows 10 PCs. The Verge reports: "I can customize how I interface with the Xbox Adaptive Controller to whatever I want," says Solomon Romney, a Microsoft Store learning specialist who was born without fingers on his left hand. "If I want to play a game entirely with my feet, I can. I can make the controls fit my body, my desires, and I can change them anytime I want. You plug in whatever you want and go. It takes virtually no time to set it up and use it. It could not be simpler."

The focus is on connectivity and customizability, with players able to build a setup that works for their capabilities and needs. It won't be an all-in-one solution for many games, but through the use of peripherals and the Xbox's system-level button remapping, the possibilities could be endless. The Xbox Adaptive Controller will cost $99.99 and goes on sale later this year.

Comments

law of unintented consequences

[Anonymous Coward]

I can guarantee that able-bodied individuals will find a way to get a competitive advantage by using this, so it could lead to an arms race where everyone has to buy the new controllers to be competitive. (But then again, the cynic in me wonders if maybe that is an intended result.)

p.s. I personally hope this lets people use mice instead of thumb-sticks for aiming.

Re:law of unintented consequences

[PopeRatzo]

I can guarantee that able-bodied individuals will find a way to get a competitive advantage by using this

I used to think covering my eyes would make me play harmonica and sing as well as Stevie Wonder. It didn't work out that way, and I doubt using this adaptive controller will work that way either.

Re:law of unintented consequences

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't know what Xbox controllers are like these days, but on PS4 it's virtually impossible[1] to simultaneously use L1/L2 + left D-pad + left joystick (which is also L3 when pressed) effectively, since you have to move your thumb off of the joystick to operate the D-pad, or you have to curl your fingers awkwardly to press the D-pad buttons, which means you can't hit the L1 / L2 buttons. But if you moved the left D-pad to a foot pedal, then it would be easy to operate all of those controls at once, and it would allow competitive gamers to switch weapons / toggle powers / whatever more effectively == they would have a huge advantage over others players who don't use physically-remapped controls.

[1] I said "virtually impossible" because it's not actually impossible: there are a few gifted individuals out there who have mastered "the claw," which is a technique where you use your ring finger/pinkie for L1/L2, and then use your middle/index fingers to press the D-pad, leaving your thumb free to operate the left joystick.

Re:law of unintented consequences

[PopeRatzo]

You're a fucking moron.

Gosh, you're so hostile. You shouldn't let yourself get so upset.

Re: law of unintented consequences

[Anonymous Coward]

It's just a programmable controller with marketing added to it, and those have been banned from esports for a long time now.

Re:law of unintented consequences

[schitso]

Yeah, if this allows people to hook up mice for an FPS, other players won't stand a chance.

Re:Is it a disability

[Anonymous Coward]

tldr; Your disability is showing.

Ben Heck has been doing this for some time

[BenJeremy]

I'm surprised Ben Heck wasn't involved in this project. I honestly don't know if this was an oversight, if Microsoft reached out to him and a deal fell through, or they decided to leave him out of the effort... but he's been doing this sort of thing for ages.

Given the pricing....

[Anonymous Coward]

If this thing is clearly documented and works well, it might be a great basis for custom gaming controllers. The only thing I haven't seen documented is if it has force feedback outputs to go with the rest.

programmable controller

[DrYak]

Pardon me if I'm wrong.

But aren't the things which are banned from esports *macro programmable* ? As in, you program a whole complete sequence of button press commands (preferrably a complex or difficult one) to a single physical trigger ?
(e.g.: whenever I push button W5, please replay the complete Konami code, followed by that difficult special move from Zangieff on Street Fighter II)

This thing is "simply" a *remapable* controller :
"left foot pedal" = "button B" (because the disabled player is hemiplegic and lacks control on the right side of the body, and thus can't push buttons with the right thumb and thus could get past the first pit in a Mario platformer).

Re:programmable controller

[Anonymous Coward]

Rock and Geese Howard from King of Fighters have some of the most brutal combo inputs I've ever seen. One of them involves moving the joystick around in what can be best described as a pretzel shape, another one of them requires you to memorize a huge dial-a-combo after doing some other funky shape joystick input, and it's too easy to pull off one move instead of the other by accident if you're not careful.

Playing those characters makes me yearn for the days when Zangief's spinning piledriver was the worst of my problems. At least that move is easy to pull off if you've got a joystick, albeit less so if you're on a gamepad.

LOL, the captcha word is "wrists".

Okay Microsoft, you did good.

[Anonymous Coward]

As someone who has worked with people who have physical disabilities, I've seen how isolated people can be when they don't have an interface that they can work with, as well as how liberating it is for them once they start using a device that works well for them. I've always been happy with Microsoft's controllers, so they should make a decent, reliable product out of this. I wouldn't be surprised if it'll run on the Xinput API, so it should be plug and play with Linux machines, incidentally.

What really impresses me the most is the price. I've seen many adaptive devices go for several hundreds, if not thousands of dollars, with the excuse always being that it's a "niche market". By pricing this at $99.99, it's a little higher than say an Xbox One controller, but not by much. This is very compassionate of them.

Good on ya', Microsoft. Stop making me like you, damn it. :)

Genial..!

[Francis_Ravello]

Is perfect..!!