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| OH NO!!! TOO SEXY!!! TOO SEXY!!! |
So the wonderful folks of Bill Gates' esteemed empire at Microsoft have unveiled their newest iteration of the XBOX 360 controller this week. The new wireless controller is a testament for many XBOX gamers who have been complaining for years about certain features in the control. Specifically, many gamers, myself NOT included, are whining about the functionality of the D-Pad on the current control. For those of you who don't know the d-pad is the round part of the control next to the left thumbstick that isn't used for many context sensitive functions in games. And that's my big problem gripe with this new control.
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| Now a part of the Smithsonian |
Among the big change with the new control is the ability for gamers to twist the D-Pad to allow for the "plus" part to extend, thus allowing for better accuracy and control. You can alternate between the regular control style currently, or "twist" your D-Pad to extend the movement stick. In my honest opinion, this is a gimmick. I've read the so-called arguments gamers have with the 360 controller claiming that they find a better sense of control (no pun intended....honestly) when they use the D-Pad in many of their games, but in my opinion, they're living in the past. Older generation consoles like the NES, SNES, and Genesis had D-Pad style controllers that gamers nowadays are craving, but in today's world of 3-D games, it doesn't work anymore. Many games that include the D-Pad movement only use it for secondary action in many games like say, choosing a weapon. Sure you can change your control scheme, but with many first person shooters and fighting games, the joystick is the way to go.
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| Thank God for technological advancements in gaming |
Another cosmetic change to the control is the buttons. It's nothing with the functionality but rather, they've changed the color scheme. No longer will your 360 controller have a blue, green, red, and yellow palette. Instead, Microsoft decided to go Steamboat Willie on everyone and change the colors to different hues of gray. I don't know the logic behind this decision, considering that many game developers include their games with button-prompts that use the default color scheme. For example, in game tutorials will show the button and color to players in order to cement their control style to gamers.
With all the changes in the new control, I'm further convinced that Microsoft is out to make a quick buck thanks to the Kinect. In case you haven't heard, Kinect releases this November (around the same time as this controller I might add) and features a new playability on the 360 that uses your voice and body movements as the control so to speak. My point...until now, the control for the 360 has worked just fine. I feel that old saying "if it ain't broke don't fix it" fits quite appropriately here. Why release another controller when your company is obviously pushing it's new piece of hardware that promises to ditch controllers? I mean, did Microsoft drop the ball on this in terms of financing the development? Are they desperate to try and make back whatever cash they wasted in developing this new contraption that they'll tell you it can cook Easy-Mac in less time than you can? Damn...I should probably invent something like that. Easy-Mac is my life-force.
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| PS3 Controllers have barely changed since the PS1 days. Thank God! |
Anyway, The new "Steamboat Willie" 360 control is set to release on November 9th -- which will include the Play and Charge Kit -- for a hefty $64.99. Until then, here's a video from XBOX Live's Major Nelson showing you the new controller. Enjoy!
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