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[Xbox-Scene]

New Xbox 360 Controller Hands On Posted by XanTium | September 15 23:52 EST | News Category: Xbox360

From eurogamer.net: If there's one thing wrong with the Xbox 360 (apart from being about as robust as a pillar of flour in a hurricane), it's that the directional pad on the otherwise-excellent controller is useless. It's hard enough to navigate the dashboard menus: scrolling through lists, the cursor flies off to adjacent boxes as the d-pad decides it's been angled left or right; and inputting text with the on-screen keyboard is like driving one of those carnival bicycles where the handlebars and front wheel turn in different directions. For games like Pro Evolution Soccer, Street Fighter II and Pac-Man Championship Edition, it's necessary to fall back on the analogue stick - a weaker option for precise, reflexive directional combinations, but in the 360's case still a dramatic improvement. That's why Microsoft's decision to rejig the Xbox 360 d-pad for a new version of the controller, due for release in October, drew so much attention when the pad mysteriously appeared on Konami's PES stand at Games Convention in August - and why the manufacturer's apparent disinterest is baffling. It wasn't just announced with little fanfare; it wasn't actually announced. We had to drag a statement out of Microsoft to confirm it was even new, and at the time of writing the company has been unable to give us a detailed explanation of how the pad's reported 32-direction input will be implemented in games, whether it will be available for developers to patch for retrospectively, or even whether PESFan's claim that the new d-pad will be included in all future Xbox 360 controllers - not just the limited-edition lime-green version due out next month - is true. If you ask us, whoever designed the Xbox 360 d-pad in the first place was having a bad day. Or perhaps they didn't realise what it was for. But after a couple of days testing, it's clear that the replacement will need software designed to take advantage of whatever magical advances live beneath its bright green exterior, because while it feels a bit different beneath your thumb, the physical change alone is insufficient to improve your average Xbox Live Arcade game. Although for some reason we do like the colour. Full Story: eurogamer.net

[upsetspy]

I really don't get it, I cant say the Dpad was the best one I ever used but its not that bad, I usually use it to navigate large marketplace lists and to play some arcade games but I dont find anything I can complain about

[Lezlyte]

"inputting text with the on-screen keyboard is like driving one of those carnival bicycles where the handlebars and front wheel turn in different directions"

I don't know about them, but everyone says I'm a beast at entering text on emulated keyboards.  No complaints here.

[sabbath_dude]

Great so even their redesigned controller isn't going to be much of an improvement   . I was going to buy this but not now. The D-pad on the 360 stinks!, it's totally inaccurate and useless for arcade games!. Even games like Gears of War suffers when you have to switch weapons quickly. So many times I've tried to switch to shotgun or lancer in the middle of a fight and my character pulls out a smoke grenade, great   .

And just because you personally don't notice a problem with the d-pad doesn't mean it's not there. People that have to use it a lot understand the frustration that thing causes. It's just another flawed designed same as 3RLOD.

[steveju]

I'd say this is a really small issue, unless you play arcade games 24/7. Maybe people aren't noticing the problem, because it's not there, at least not the way "the internet" is telling it.

[DeMoN_DARREN]

I would love to get my hands on one of them lime green new controllers

[sabbath_dude]

QUOTE(steveju @ Sep 16 2008, 01:21 PM)

I'd say this is a really small issue, unless you play arcade games 24/7. Maybe people aren't noticing the problem, because it's not there, at least not the way "the internet" is telling it.

So what are you saying?, that people like myself and the thousands of others that have issues with the d-pad are just bullshitting?   . Why would Microsoft be redesigning it if there wasn't a problem?.

[Mr. Me]

How hard is it to make a functional d-pad, c'mon, fix the shit already.

[dokworm]

Quite possibly nintendo or someone else owns a patent on the d-pad which means they have to design it a different way.

I find the d-pad next to useless, even in the menus it often thinks I am going diagonal right or left instead of down or up and it drives me batshit. Sports games that use it are useless as it often does that at critical points in the game. Arcade control is a joke with it.
You don't have to play arcade games 24/7 to be annoyed with it, even in a half hour session it is frustrating.

Never have the problem on the nintendo, would retrofit a nintendo dpad if I had the skills.

[Martinchris23]

I agree with the D-Pad comments 100% - however, I'm not sure about the first critisism:

QUOTE

If there's one thing wrong with the Xbox 360 (apart from being about as robust as a pillar of flour in a hurricane)

Excuse me? The 360 controller is about the most robust joypad I've ever used. Mine has been dropped, thrown (stupid feckin AI) and even 'tested' by my 12 month old son. Still works as well as launch day. I'd love to know what the writer of this article has been doing with his controller to warrant such a comment.

[twistedsymphony]

QUOTE(Martinchris23 @ Sep 16 2008, 10:29 AM)

I agree with the D-Pad comments 100% - however, I'm not sure about the first critisism:
Excuse me? The 360 controller is about the most robust joypad I've ever used. Mine has been dropped, thrown (stupid feckin AI) and even 'tested' by my 12 month old son. Still works as well as launch day. I'd love to know what the writer of this article has been doing with his controller to warrant such a comment.

the wrighter is talking about the console (and more specifically the RROD)... not the controller

-------

This whole article has got me to wright another throughthead article on the subject
http://thoughthead.com/95

It's obvious Microsoft just DONEST GET IT, they really don't understand what the D-pad is used for, it's sad really.

 

[dokworm]

You did theatre at uni, huh?

Nice article, I'm guessing you meant 'due' and not 'do' in this sentence, but couldn't guess how the sentence was meant to end

QUOTE

I truly believe that the problems with the d-pad’s original design are do in large part to the fact that MS doesn’t understand why it’s used. The 360 controller has some additional

has some additional....?

[scuba156]

Damn Twisted, you beat me to it. i had written half an article on the exact same thing, but it doesn't seem worth it since your writing skills are a lot better than mine (apart from you writing wright, instead of write )

[twistedsymphony]

oh that just means I need to proof read before I publish crap  

fixed... let me know if you find any other garbage.

[icec]

Aghm... I was under the impression that Microsoft was limited in their design options due to patent issues...