New Xbox 360 controller - November 9th $65 w/ charge kit

[ManaByte]

"Select the traditional plus for distinct cardinal direction movement in games like Halo: Reach to change weapons and perform complicated combinations and deadly finishing moves in Street Fighter games, or rotate the D-pad to the disc format for sweeping motions in games such as Pro Evolution Soccer 2011."

[MCD]

Obvious beta test.

Pass.

[Howard Alan Treesong]

$65 to fix the D-pad

[Eel O'Brian]

they are bound and determined to piss off every single 360 owner this year, aren't they

[CajoleJuice]

you have to buy it with the play and charge shit?

wow ms

[Third]

SIXTY-FIVE US DOLLARS 

M$ also increased the price of XBL.
Kinect is $150.

What the hell are they thinking?

[Eel O'Brian]

final money grab before this gen winds down, is my guess

[MCD]

http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-360-Play-Charge-Black-Controller/dp/B000P5FEJC

Price is old news.

[Third]

Yeah, but this time you're forced to buy the play&charge kit for the new controller.

Adding the kit is just another reason to rape early buyers.

[CajoleJuice]

http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-360-Play-Charge-Black-Controller/dp/B000P5FEJC

Price is old news.

It's that you NEED to buy that play and charge to get a functional d-pad.

MS

edit: beaten

[MCD]

Demi beat Bionic Commando XBLA with the old dpad, clearly it is functional alright.

[Third]

I guess MS has a full warehouse stacked with those play&charge kits. They have to sell them somehow...

But I like options. Why not just sell a standalone sku? Oh well. I already have three X360 controllers. Not interested in this one.

[iconoclast]

Demi beat Bionic Commando XBLA with the old dpad, clearly it is functional alright.

Same. And I did 99% of the challenges in SF4 with the dpad. Doesn't mean it's not a shit dpad though.

[Howard Alan Treesong]

Well, Microsoft had a good run.

Agreed.

[Eel O'Brian]

Well, Microsoft had a good run.

Agreed.

 

[DJ_Tet]

My eneloop batteries

M$ charge and play kit

Quit killing the environment making your shitty 'batteries' M$.  Leave it to the professionals and quit wasting precious resources you fucks.

[Purple Filth]

Why are the buttons not fucking colored?

[Bebpo]

Why are the buttons not fucking colored?

Because they want to get rid of QTEs and the easiest way to do that is remove the color and make gamers fail all QTE segments and grow to scorn QTE

MS - always thinking about the gamer

[ManaByte]

Why are the buttons not fucking colored?

Avoiding lawsuits from colorblind gamers. MS wants to avoid what Sony is dealing with.

[Howard Alan Treesong]

Why are the buttons not fucking colored?

Because they want to get rid of QTEs and the easiest way to do that is remove the color and make gamers fail all QTE segments and grow to scorn QTE

<- is colorblind

buttons have colors?

I had no idea that the buttons are different colors.

what are you talking about?

in 25 years of gaming, the color (?) of a button has never affected my ability to play a game 1%

[Hitler Stole My Potato]

Well luckily the ammount of games that I actually play with a d-pad range anywhere from 0 to 1, so yeah I don't need another overpriced piece of hardware from MS.

[chronovore]

Well, Microsoft had a good run.

Agreed.

 

I would have missed that.

I just bought my fourth controller, so good jon M$. Also I <3 my ENELOOP batts, too.

[Purple Filth]

Why are the buttons not fucking colored?

Because they want to get rid of QTEs and the easiest way to do that is remove the color and make gamers fail all QTE segments and grow to scorn QTE

<- is colorblind

buttons have colors?

I had no idea that the buttons are different colors.

what are you talking about?

in 25 years of gaming, the color (?) of a button has never affected my ability to play a game 1%

This is mainly about the 360 scheme and the colors are a great visual point so people understand what button to press and its function in menus (eg Red button for cancel, Green for accept).

Plus it helps until they fully know the button positions (and IMO the color can help in that situation since you might process the color info first, then know what that button is and its position on the Controller).

and jarosh's stolen post from gaf

the silver/grey wouldn't bother me much... but i just wonder: the colored buttons are used on almost every interface in pretty much every 360 game, some games don't even show the letters or have barely legible letters in their huds or tutorials, they rely on the colors to indicate what button to press. so isn't this kinda, uh, totally counterproductive? did they not think this through at all?

 

[Howard Alan Treesong]

This is mainly about the 360 scheme and the colors are a great visual point so people understand what button to press and its function in menus (eg Red button for cancel, Green for accept).

Plus it helps until they fully know the button positions (and IMO the color can help in that situation since you might process the color info first, then know what that button is and its position on the Controller).

and jarosh's stolen post from gaf

the silver/grey wouldn't bother me much... but i just wonder: the colored buttons are used on almost every interface in pretty much every 360 game, some games don't even show the letters or have barely legible letters in their huds or tutorials, they rely on the colors to indicate what button to press. so isn't this kinda, uh, totally counterproductive? did they not think this through at all?

In all seriousness: I had no idea that red was cancel or green was accept. I couldn't tell you what color the buttons are to save my life. And I've never had any problem with a game UI or QTE ever.

the way I look at controllers is "buttons have letters, that is the button". I push X. I dunno what color X is. I'm never looking at the controller so I don't care what color X is.

not that big a deal, just legitimately surprised to hear people know what colors the buttons on the controller are, or that they use that information while playing a game

[MyNameIsMethodis]

No Power than Overcharigng the Consumers I mean X 

[pilonv1]

ITT gamers cry over inflation.

[Purple Filth]

This is mainly about the 360 scheme and the colors are a great visual point so people understand what button to press and its function in menus (eg Red button for cancel, Green for accept).

Plus it helps until they fully know the button positions (and IMO the color can help in that situation since you might process the color info first, then know what that button is and its position on the Controller).

and jarosh's stolen post from gaf

the silver/grey wouldn't bother me much... but i just wonder: the colored buttons are used on almost every interface in pretty much every 360 game, some games don't even show the letters or have barely legible letters in their huds or tutorials, they rely on the colors to indicate what button to press. so isn't this kinda, uh, totally counterproductive? did they not think this through at all?

In all seriousness: I had no idea that red was cancel or green was accept. I couldn't tell you what color the buttons are to save my life. And I've never had any problem with a game UI or QTE ever.

the way I look at controllers is "buttons have letters, that is the button". I push X. I dunno what color X is. I'm never looking at the controller so I don't care what color X is.

not that big a deal, just legitimately surprised to hear people know what colors the buttons on the controller are, or that they use that information while playing a game

i use the whole button is "whatever" also since in the old days buttons are usually the same color so i personally don't mind it.

Its just the different colors tends to "pop" out more than the label so people use that instead.



But having thought about it I guess this controller is for the true hardcore gamer who would know his buttons already and not needing aid. Charged at the ass raping premium price of course

[chronovore]

ITT gamers cry over inflation.

It makes me wonder, though, how this technology has become less expensive to make, yet they're charging more for it.

The batteries are also pretty crappy; they're ALWAYS dead at work. Wired controllers are like gold, hoarded by those who have them.

[Diunx]

[pilonv1]

ITT gamers cry over inflation.

It makes me wonder, though, how this technology has become less expensive to make, yet they're charging more for it.

The batteries are also pretty crappy; they're ALWAYS dead at work. Wired controllers are like gold, hoarded by those who have them.

Are they charging more? They've put in a Play & Charge kit. Seems like they've kept the build the same, added a fancy dpad and a play and charge and upped the price.

[Eel O'Brian]

i would find it hilarious if this turns out to be the exact same piece of shit pad in every way except now you can twist it and feel like a goddamned idiot

[cool breeze]

Color prompts for QTEs and other things does help make them pop out instantly.  I don't look at the controller or anything, it is more just something other than the letter that pops out at me.  It's like how God of War 3 has the QTE stuff on the edges of the screen.

It's no big deal since games won't exactly stop using the colors.  The problem is that the color scheme is pig ugly and doesn't make sense.  Why do they have four face buttons in different shades of grey? they don't relate to anything on the screen or the old colors.  Maybe if they had A and X be darker to represent cooler colors, and B/Y lighter for warm colors, it might make sense.  But no, from lightest to dark it goes Y, A, B, X.  I want an explanation for that.  It's distasteful and serves no purpose.  And it's just a controller and I don't know why this shit is bothering me.  WHY IS THE D-PAD CHROME  Making things shiny doesn't make them seem more valuable!

I like the analog stick change.  Circles instead of dots for the grip like on the Wii.

[Beezy]

$65?

pass

[Robo]

i would find it hilarious if this turns out to be the exact same piece of shit pad in every way except now you can twist it and feel like a goddamned idiot

I would bank on this being the case.

[AdmiralViscen]

I read on engadget that they are phasing out the other controllers, so $65 will be the minimum point of entry for extra 360 controllers. Crazy.

And if all they did was make the goofy corner thingies slide down then it won't even fix the problem.

[G The Resurrected]

Seems like good value to me...
except the play & charge kit is this shittest battery solution ever invented for a controller.
I'd rather just use eneloops in a regular wireless controller.

seeing as the new plug and play's are just re-branded older gen eneloops, I'd completely agree. I don't know why M$ didn't take the time and create a better solution to the battery debacle. If its one thing I do like about the PS3's DS3 is the fact that the battery is nicely hidden away inside the controller. Its also why I only use wired 360 controllers, sadly the all black USB controller will not be seeing a release to the public.

[The Sceneman]

Demi beat Bionic Commando XBLA with the old dpad, clearly it is functional alright.

I got 200/200 using the analog stick 

[Beezy]

I read on engadget that they are phasing out the other controllers, so $65 will be the minimum point of entry for extra 360 controllers. Crazy.

...

I need to buy another controller or two before this shit starts. I already got my eneloop batteries, I don't need this shit.

[iconoclast]

MS has been going downhill since Petah Moore left.

[pilonv1]

ITT gamers cry over inflation.

A lot of inflation happening in MS land!

It's happening everywhere. As someone posted above games are relatively price inelastic and people falling overthemselves to pay $60+ for stupid collectors editions and full price for game remakes have just proven that as much as gamers complain and cry about price increases they'll still pay for it.

[maxy]

The most important question.

Does it work?

[AdmiralViscen]

http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/31/new-xbox-360-controller-with-improved-d-pad-confirmed-by-major-n/


The new matte silver controller will only come bundled with the Play and Charge kit for $64.99 when it launches on November 9 in the States and replaces the existing wireless controller -- it'll hit Europe around February. Yep, it definitely seems like a major upgrade, but we've got a couple questions: when will it replace the packed-in controller?

[DJ_Tet]

Seems like good value to me...
except the play & charge kit is this shittest battery solution ever invented for a controller.
I'd rather just use eneloops in a regular wireless controller.

Definitely. I switched over to a standard wired controller when I realized my play'n'charged one had become a wired controller. Seems like it only lasts 2 minutes unplugged.

Yours and like 90% of everyone elses did this.  It's a complete POS (or was.)

[AdmiralViscen]

Major Nelson's little video says it replaces "the controller with the play and charge kit," not all controllers.

[MyNameIsMethodis]

That doesn't make any sense. If the controller was available outside of this ludicrous package then you could say that, but it's not.

[AdmiralViscen]

What the fuck are you talking about?

[originalz]

From Major Nelson's Twitter:

FYI the grey ABXY buttons are just for this one new controller. It's not the de facto standard from now on.

[chronovore]

Demi beat Bionic Commando XBLA with the old dpad, clearly it is functional alright.

I got 200/200 using the analog stick 

Pretty sure the hatred for the standard controller's d-pad comes from the 45 degree angles and the difficulty with performing quarter-circles and 180 degree sweeps, no? Does BC:Rearmed require those?

[MCD]

Demi beat Bionic Commando XBLA with the old dpad, clearly it is functional alright.

I got 200/200 using the analog stick 

Pretty sure the hatred for the standard controller's d-pad comes from the 45 degree angles and the difficulty with performing quarter-circles and 180 degree sweeps, no? Does BC:Rearmed require those?

Can't you see I'm desperately spinning here, old man? Stop with your logic.  :'(

[naff]

Heroic MS is nearly dead, say hello to Evil MS.

MS have always been that evil greedy multi national looking to create a monopoly and monetize anything they possibly can. Nothings changed. Xbox has always had well overpriced peripherals and shitty entry level deals. It works, MS are the quintessential capitalist opportunists, cutting prices here and making them back + M$ levies over there. Sony and Nintendo are the same too, making good money on peripherals, games and the new to this gen tiered OS functionality then selling the core hardware at a loss initially is standard, MS are just particularly good at it this gen.

[The Sceneman]

^ this guy really hates Microsoft

[pilonv1]

he's just a filthy poor

[naff]

^ this guy really hates Microsoft

But i my Xbox. Does slightly disgust me that I paid for an MS product though.

[chronovore]

Can't you see I'm desperately spinning here, old man? Stop with your logic.  :'(

Hey, babe, you ain't wrong. The d-pad sucks for some things, it's fine for others, "clearly the dpad is functional" depending on usage.

^ this guy really hates Microsoft

But i my Xbox. Does slightly disgust me that I paid for an MS product though.

I can relate. The first MS product I paid for was a retail (not OEM) version of Windows ME. I felt like a mark who'd been taken by an expert con.

One of my friends is a manager at Apple, and it is only after substantial heckling that he'll admit to enjoying anything about his Xbox. I'm sure his experience with MS customer service taking 3 weeks to repair his on-arrival defective power adapter did nothing to improve his opinion of the overall MS customer experience.

I love mine though; while I'm not in love with the hardware, my E74, RRoD, fan noise, heat generation from both the main unit and power adapter, it is hard to dispute that the software running it, and the infrastructure behind it, have beaten the pants off the PS3 offering.