News Sony & Microsoft talk up their controllers in face of the Wii

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2006/09/14/Microsoft_talk_up_their_controllers_in_face_of_the/

 

Errr, the Xbox 360 controller (the wired version at least) has been availble for the PC from the day that the Xbox 360 was launched.

Driver support is pretty pathetic though, you need to use XBCD drivers to get rumble, the guide button and deadzones to work.

 

The current 360 pad is PC compatible anyway. I've seen games using it (using the plug and play)

 

The usb 360 pad can be used with the pc already, although i still prefer to use the PS2 DualShock pad for racing games, and i could never get used to using a pad for anything other than Keyboard and mouse for FPS' if you've played half-life / doom3 on console, its not an intiutive experience!

 

IIRC MS showed a wireless adapter that would let you use the 360 wireless controller with a PC. Maybe that's what the article is referring to and not a whole new controller.

 

Apologies, the article is referring to the wireless controller.

 

So they're going to just produce a small USB dongle you can use or is it a whole new package?

 

"Sixaxis".... Six axis..... s*it thats smart...... NOT....... someday it will be called Sexaxis...... with no rumble feature.

 

Using the 360 WiFi pad on a PC would be cool...but I don't think I'll bother (already got x3 's' pads modded with USB plugs).

As for the PS3 pad, I don't understand what they've got to shout about. It's the same as the PS2 one, but wireless (not breaking any barriers here), and includes naff motion sensing abilities. And the potential name is quite strange sounding too. At least 'Dual Shock' had a ring to it...

 

ahh but theres no more dual rumble motors too bad they didnt settle out of court, then they could still use them lol

how much can you pickup 64 games for now? afew quid i assume, so i dont really see much of a problem with the pricing plan, as long as the snes and nes games are really cheap or free.

also capcom need to make a new steel battalion game i never got to play the first 2

 

SNES games can be extremely expensive, the gamestation here was selling a copy of Secret Of Mana (boxed but damaged) for £35

 

I will be def. grabbing a wireless 360, not only because NFL07 sucks with keyboard. I'd almost bought a normal one but the cables behind my desk are alreaddy a mess so I'll wait for the wireless goodness. That controller just feels soo nice..

 

Don't wireless controllers suffer the same response problems as wireless mice?
I have never got on well with wireless controllers I have always found wired to be better but has this now changed?
Has wireless technology matured to the point where this is no longer an issue?

 

i have a wireless mouse that has no response problems and it is old tech, ball mouse, it almost works better than my old corded optical mouse.

 

I've never noticed any lag problems with my wireless controller and the 360. And in games like Geometry Wars, you can't really afford any lag at all!

I've not used any wireless controllers on the PC, but I will be picking up the dongle.

 

ive never used a wireless mouse with lag... i dont see that a controller would be any different

now if only the PS2 to PC adapter i have worked properly...thankfully the entire Prince of Persia series worked with it...would have been a nightmare with Keyboard/Mouse

 

For some reason wireless gaming peripherals don't have the laggyness that wireless keyboards and mice are reportedly prone to. Must be that the wireless is a higher quality, since they know it needs to be quick, I've had no problems with my wireless 360 controllers when playing 360 games (apart from my battaries dieing ).

As for the PS3 pad, they've somehow made it even worse. I can understand them losing the dual shock name since it no longer has a rumble feature, but damn sony stop tacking things on the same controller.

They've kept the same basic layout since the PS1, but just kept on adding things on. First it was the analogue sticks, then they added the rumble feature. Now they've added wireless, and motion sensing, and removed the rumble feature. IMO MS have made the best (standard) pad you can buy right now, they took the controller S, made it more comfortable to use and moved the buttons around to make them all easy to reach.

Sony on the other hand have done what sony do best, be arrogant idiots. "Oh noes our controller is the best, even though it feels horrible to hold and we've tacked on about a million things to make the controller EVEN worse to hold". Come on, tilt function on a 2 handed controller? It makes you look like you're having a fit, just pick up something roughly controller sized and try it, it's not very nice to do.

 

I'm definitely going to be playing with the Xbox 360 game pad on the PC wirelessly .

 

yeah and i bet it uses AA batteries (or AAA)

in which case i hope your wallet is ready for yet more on its bill

 

Not really. Its rechargable...

Know what you are talking about before you start deriding a product.