Xbox 360 Controller Review

"Remember the first Xbox controller? This one is better. Way better.

The original Xbox controller was an abomination. Huge, ugly, cheap, and uncomfortable, the overall design begged users to question what Microsoft was smoking. Slippery thumb sticks, vertically (why!?) oriented hard plastic buttons (the white and black almost impossible to reach), and a really tacky looking Xbox logo smack in the middle, it was design disaster. Compared to Sony's Dualshock 1 and 2, the experience of picking up the original Xbox controller felt like playing with Duplo blocks instead of Legos. And as if Microsoft didn't have enough to worry about in terms of breaking into the Japanese market, they went and made a controller that could only look proportional in the hands of John Wayne.

Fortunately, Microsoft solved almost all of those problems with a quick redesign and release of the Controller S. As soon as the 360 was announced, debate began to stir on what the next Microsoft controller would look like. You've all seen it by now, and the lucky ones among us have them in hand. It's safe to say that after a pretty rough start, Microsoft has really learned what makes a good controller, cause the 360 controller is pretty bloody tight.

The 360 controller is a solid evolutionary step in the Microsoft controller species. While it breaks no major new ground, it builds upon the design cues of the terrible original and the much more refined Controller S in a fluid manner, producing a visual impression of futuristic progress and refinement. While it seems that Sony may be planning a fairly radical departure from the tried and true DualShock design for the upcoming PS3, Microsoft has managed to add spice to an old design, a clever move in developing Xbox brand continuity. " [more]