Love the new look, I'm a casual gamer but I don't use colors to recognize the buttons I am pressing. I usually keep my eyes on the game and control it by touch.
This is cool and all, but I don't think this is going to fix the problem of the 360's d-pad being made of complete suck. It's not the tactile feedback of the actual cross, but rather how the physical pad tilts on its axis. The 360 d-pad is awful because it's terribly inaccurate on it's axis, it feels too vague and sloppy when you try to move to diagonals. Accentuating the cross isn't going to fix that.
Unless they've changed how the base of the pad comes into contact with the directional switches, this isn't going to change much.
I'm confused about why the picture at the top of this article has the buttons flipped so that the ABXY buttons are on the left but the controller is clearly not upside down. Is the picture mirrored or are they making left handed controllers now?
I was pretty excited when this controller was first announced and showed off by that "Major Nelson" guy. If anything, I was pleased that Microsoft FINALLY acknowledged that most of us think their Dpad is really shitty. I've finally learned to "use" it, but still I often make a "bad" input. Let's say I want to click "left", and I'll get a "down-left". Fine for RPGs and shooters and such where there often times ISN'T anything mapped to the diagonals... but terrible for ANYTHING ELSE.
I was watching a video review of the controller, and the gamers there said the new Dpad is certainly an improvement, but it only adds a marginal benefit. Certainly not worth the high entry price tag.
Personally, I'll most likely be going for this Hori 360 Pad EX 2. A lot of the reviews state that this controller has THE best Dpad of any 360 controller. It gives a very tactile "click" when pressed in a direction, something the mushy "official" controller does not do. It was also cited as being a popular controller for fighting games (besides an actual arcade stick controller).
Oh yeah, it's also got those nifty turbo functions. Not a big selling point for me, but hey that does sometimes have it's uses if a game has something repetitive or tedious in it that a turbo controller can help with. Also, they added "LB" and "RB" as extra buttons, making it almost Sega Genesis-like. Again, a delightful bonus. I'll take "added feature" over not if it doesn't hamper the controller.
One note of caution though. Some reviews stated that they received "ghosting" issues in the analog sticks after some time. The black controller version seemed to fare better than the blue one, for whatever reason. Perhaps superstition or bad luck. But it does seem to have some issues, so on the other hand I may end up waiting to see if an updated version will emerge.
Also, thanks guys for pointing out that the feature image was mirrored, and the 45° -> 90°. Those have now been addressed. I apologize for the confusion.
Playing Contra on the Xbox 360 controller is a lesson in insanity.
Yeah dude. My roommate and I have been playing through Captain Commando Reloaded, and I hate being forced to use an analog stick to play it. Due to the D-pad's suck, I don't have a choice though.
I don't think it's ineptitude, merely a lack of foresight. Technologies like XBLA were not developed for the 360 until the console was already in the public, so controllers were not developed with highly-technical fighting games in mind.
You could make the argument that the revision should have been done for the 360 Slim, but I doubt a new D-pad design would be received favorably. 360 fanboys rage at everything except shitty sequels to boring franchises.
Oh yeah, I was mostly making light of how everyone trash-talks Microsoft, whether they do something that's genuinely good or not. Very good points about how the controller wasn't really designed with XBLA in mind.
For most games, the Dpad really is "good enough". Especially shooters, where the Dpad may only be used for switching weapons. Up/down for weapons, left/right for gadgets & gear.
Of course, personally I wish they just had four discrete buttons that aren't connected at all. Doesn't even have to be in a true "cross" shape. My problem with the "disc" Dpad is that pressing any direction on the cup influences all the other directions, since they're all combined. This makes precise diagonal controls very tricky for me.
Also, for the record, I actually really LIKE the Xbox 360 controller. It's easily one of my favorite controllers of all time (1st place will always go to the PlayStation DualShock series). That's why I'm so critical of the Dpad. It's that Achilles's heel, that one flaw that becomes so obvious when compared to how good the rest of the controller is (in my mind).
Comments
Me too.
Unless they've changed how the base of the pad comes into contact with the directional switches, this isn't going to change much.
I was watching a video review of the controller, and the gamers there said the new Dpad is certainly an improvement, but it only adds a marginal benefit. Certainly not worth the high entry price tag.
Personally, I'll most likely be going for this Hori 360 Pad EX 2. A lot of the reviews state that this controller has THE best Dpad of any 360 controller. It gives a very tactile "click" when pressed in a direction, something the mushy "official" controller does not do. It was also cited as being a popular controller for fighting games (besides an actual arcade stick controller).
Oh yeah, it's also got those nifty turbo functions. Not a big selling point for me, but hey that does sometimes have it's uses if a game has something repetitive or tedious in it that a turbo controller can help with. Also, they added "LB" and "RB" as extra buttons, making it almost Sega Genesis-like. Again, a delightful bonus. I'll take "added feature" over not if it doesn't hamper the controller.
One note of caution though. Some reviews stated that they received "ghosting" issues in the analog sticks after some time. The black controller version seemed to fare better than the blue one, for whatever reason. Perhaps superstition or bad luck. But it does seem to have some issues, so on the other hand I may end up waiting to see if an updated version will emerge.
Yeah dude. My roommate and I have been playing through Captain Commando Reloaded, and I hate being forced to use an analog stick to play it. Due to the D-pad's suck, I don't have a choice though.
It's been rage-worthy.
You could make the argument that the revision should have been done for the 360 Slim, but I doubt a new D-pad design would be received favorably. 360 fanboys rage at everything except shitty sequels to boring franchises.
For most games, the Dpad really is "good enough". Especially shooters, where the Dpad may only be used for switching weapons. Up/down for weapons, left/right for gadgets & gear.
Of course, personally I wish they just had four discrete buttons that aren't connected at all. Doesn't even have to be in a true "cross" shape. My problem with the "disc" Dpad is that pressing any direction on the cup influences all the other directions, since they're all combined. This makes precise diagonal controls very tricky for me.
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Seconded