In the fray of console fanboyism, there has been one argument thrown around that cannot be argued with, nor denied: The Controller. If you take me, for example, I absolutely cannot play a First Person Shooter using the Dual Shock controller. Why not? Because either my thumbs continuously bump together when tilting the analog sticks inward, or they cramp up because of the unsual style in which I have to bend them to play. That said, I don’t think anyone will argue that the Dual Shock’s D-Pad is miles ahead of the 360 controller, and an all-around better choice for fighting games, platformers, and RPGs.
That may be changing, though. Follow the jump for the information.
At the Games Convention in Leipzig, an IGN writer got his hands on an ugly green 360 controller with a noticeable difference. From the picture, you can’t tell squat about what’s different about it, but apparently, the guts sitting below the d-pad have been redesigned in this particular model to offer more control. The IGN guy notes that the d-pad has switched from a 4-way input to an 8-way, which I always thought the 360 had an 8-way, but if it doesn’t, that explains a good deal of just what’s wrong with it.
Of course, this is Microsoft, and no redesign can’t go down with some sort of hitch.
According to Joystiq, the controller is a tie-in product for Pro Evolution Soccer 2009, and is currently only expected to release in Europe, Asia, and Latin America “While Supplies Last.” So while this isn’t much of a problem for our buddies across the pond who love the game of socc… ahem, Football. It looks like those of us in the US are going to be waiting a long time for Microsoft to realize that we’d like to play Soul Caliber and Bionic Commando without cursing that tiny piece of plastic that kills us on a regular basis.
If anything, us Yanks can hope that Microsoft decides to add this d-pad to all their new controllers currently in production for sale next year, leaving the ugly green controller with the revamped d-pad as incentive for Europeans to pick up Pro Evolution.
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5 responses so far ↓
1 Jolley22 // Aug 20, 2008 at 11:32 am
seriously tho I am sorta glad it isn’t coming out in the US right now. You see the US get nearly EVERYTHING before Europe and most of the world.It’s nice to have one thing that we can have exclusive for a well.
2 Xemnas // Aug 20, 2008 at 12:16 pm
It’s not so much that the US gets everything before Europe, its that when we get it, it costs more, and in a lot of cases its a dumbed down version.
Have you not seen the UK ps3?
3 zzz711 // Aug 20, 2008 at 6:17 pm
if its a europe only just import the controller if it bothers you that much
4 Kiltman67 // Aug 20, 2008 at 6:42 pm
The whole thing with this is bizarre. Effectively it seems to be Microsoft admitting that their controller has a flaw, and yet only releasing a fix for it as a limited edition item.
It’s a level of idiocy below Nintendo admitting the Wii-mote didn’t work properly, producing a fix but forgetting to share it around the third parties.
5 web design company // Aug 25, 2008 at 1:00 am
Can anyone here recommend a 3rd party controller with a good D-pad? The ‘news’ of the 360 D-pad only having 4 sensors doesn’t bode well. To me, that says that even 3rd party controllers will have the same scheme.
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