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Microsoft Revises Xbox 360 Controller With New D-Pad
by Colette Bennett [PC, Console/PC]
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August 31, 2010
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Microsoft is releasing a new controller for its Xbox 360 console later this year that features a subtle redesign.
Beyond a matte silver finish and a uniform gray color scheme for the buttons, it addresses user complaints about the old D-pad. By depressing the new D-pad, it can either be used as a single button, or turned to raise the directional input functionality.
Xbox Live director of programming Major Nelson revealed the new controller on his official weblog, dating its launch for the 9th of November. He also described changes made for style, including concave analog sticks.
Common user complaints about the Xbox 360 controller's original D-pad generally hinged on its lack of responsiveness, an issue that frequently surfaced nearby discussions of Capcom's newest Street Fighter titles -- next-gen installments in a franchise that requires directional button precision to pull off moves.
The controller will only be sold as a set, packaged with the new Play & Charge kit, and the combination will retail for $64.99 in the United States when it comes out later this year.
The announcement of a fine-tuning to the controller and a new package on offer comes right after another Xbox 360 tweak: Microsoft also announced a change to Xbox Live Gold subscription prices this week.
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The easy fix was to shave the white housing down a bit. Secondly, the piece itself wasn't fixated well to the controller so pushing down on it felt "mushy" even with the shave fix.
It seems like MS took a sledgehammer to crack a nut, but at the same time I look forward to this perhaps being a standard in future controllers. The new analog stick nubs remind me of the original PS Dual Analog controller, an interesting throwback.
What I don't like is how they've removed the colors for the face buttons (red, yellow, blue, green are easy for new gamers to understand) and of course the cost.
I kid!
The court's still out on the RROD being fixed. The new 360's haven't been out long enough for us to tell if its fixed yet.
As for these controllers the price is typical of Microsoft price gouging. $64.99? OUCH! O.O
Lol for 64.99 they could just make a mouse/keyboard combo :).
On the other hand, they're breaking convention (which as Ujn pointed out many games now rely on) and I'm not sure if the gradiants are good enough.
IMHO the 4 colors that should have been used are: white, black, red, and blue. Each color works on a completely different perception channel (no color blindness).
Computers allowed me to indulge in art because I can define and check my colors numerically. :-) Hmm, is that shade green? #506050. Yup. Is that reddish? #706040. Yes.
Besides, every game I've played on the 360 refers to the letters during tutorial segments.
The thing that pissed me off was them no longer selling the little rechargeable packs for the recharger I already own. I just switched to rechargeable AAs. Fortunately I kept every battery holder from every controller.
So, according to the Wikipedia article;
"Deuteranomaly, caused by a similar shift in the green retinal receptors, is by far the most common type of color vision deficiency, mildly affecting red-green hue discrimination in 5% of males. It is hereditary and sex-linked."
So, apparently while there are a multitude of different types of colour blindness, that can be extreme, the significant majority of sufferers are affected by cone cell pigments with a shifted spectral range, resulting in poorer chromatic discrimination, since the brain computes colour by reconstructing the spectrum through subtraction of several colour pigments with overlapping spectral sensitivities.
However was the release of this new controller suppose to take our minds off the $10 per year price increase for a XBL Gold subscription?
Add a thumb trackball replacing the right analog stick. That's all I need to have the console as my main playing platform.
Secondly I think the biggest target audience are gamers who want a better d-pad for all the 2D games available on the Indie Games service and Arcade. Even the Game Room classics can benefit from a better gamepad. SF players should be using the analog stick anyways, if they are using the controller, it is superior to any d-pad as it behaves like an arcade stick.