Joystiq have it on ‘good authority‘ that Microsoft are prepping a new controller for this Christmas. “According to our trusted source,” says the blog, “when one rotates the d-pad ninety degrees on this new controller, it’ll raise up about a quarter of an inch – a modification apparently revealed to be targeted at fighting game fans.”
Possibly relating to this patent picked up a few weeks back, which refers to a ‘dual mode’ power system, the new controller would finally put to rest complaints that the Xbox 360’s d-pad isn’t up to scratch and be able to switch between wired and wireless without any fuss.
Still, whilst continous tweaking of your hardware is something to be applauded, especially when it’s at the request of your fanbase, I can’t personally see how raising the d-pad will actually make that much difference, although I’m not exactly what you’d call a hardcore fighting game fan. If this is true expect to see the revised controller on the shelves this side of the New Year.
Dan Lee
interesting. although if youre into your fighting games, its more than likely youll use an arcade stick.
jamess109
if this is true i wonder if this controller will be able to hold over an hours worth of charge like the PS3 dual shock 3 does.
My Xbox controller with new charger kit & the original battery powered kit never lasted long every-time i want to use it needs charging.
cam the man
Each time you charge a battery /pack it holds slightly less charge.
Every month or so after charging use the controller until it’s totally out of power, then recharge fully.
This increases the life of the battery and slows down the charge deficit.
DJ-Katy
They realized Kinect will be a flop so they pushed something out quick to make up the sales numbers :P
DJ-Katy
(I love a good conspiracy theory)
scavenga
lol
Charmed_Fanatic
haha love it :)
Danza Di Fuoco E Ghiaccio
Might as well pay some company to that….. every arcade game needed a good d-pad.
MiguelX69
Better d-pad indeed. It’s all they need.
(Wow, see what i’ve done there :P)
But really, the actual controller is almost perfect, they just need to improve the d-pad.
Walker
It’s far from perfect.
The left stick and d-pad should be swapped around, the d-pad is crap (as mentioned before), the face buttons (A B X Y) aren’t pressure sensitive (unlike the DS3’s /_\ [ ] O X buttons), the LB and RB buttons are awkward to reach (since your fingers naturally rest on the triggers) and are also not pressure sensitive (again, unlike the DS3’s L1 and R1 buttons) the battery packs aparently don’t last long and it just looks like a fisher-price toy :P
Walker
and the rechargable batteries aren’t included and the battery gets in the way of my fingers.
Juelz345
I love how you tell him that his opinon is wrong and your opinion is right.
The left stick should be switch around (opinion)
The LB and RB buttons are awkward to reach (opinion)
The bettery packs dont last long (not entierly true)
and it just looks like a fisher price toy (opinon)
Walker
and where did I say that exactly?
and pretty much all of my ‘opinions’ ARE fact.
Walker
and I said APPARANTLY the bateries don’t last long since I don’t have a rechargable battery for my xbox controller.
Juelz345
I’m with you, i prefer the feel of the 360 controller (maybe because i got my 360 before my PS3 so i got used to it) so hopefully they get the dpad up to the standards of the DS3.
colmshan1990
When I saw this, I thought it meant a Move style controller to go with Kinect.
As it is, a controller aimed at fighting games?
Surely that’s what the stick controllers are for?
Vaile23
its chuffin huge, are they going to make the thing less clunky?
Spence1115
Why is the patent picture shown from an original Xbox with original Xbox controllers?
Jas-n
That’s what I thought, maybe it’s an old patent finally being put into production for the current generation?
Hullian_Hero_95
i doubt it would be as good as the dualshock 3…
Kennykazey
The new controller has been revealed!
IGN has the pic’s:
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/111/1117085p1.html