Oh joyous day. The Xbox 360 controller is unleashed by Microsoft, catching many consumers off their guard. Is this the same controller that players can use for their Xbox 360’s? According to Microsoft’s press release this morning, it is. In a fevered rush we here at IGN managed to grab an X360 controller from a Best Buy near our office for $44.99. Initially overjoyed, we rushed outside with the red and clear plastic packaging held high over our heads while bellowing various obscenities at the elderly and a few small children. Several minutes, purse thrashings, and flying pacifiers later, we came to the sobering realization that even though we had the X360 controller, we still couldn’t play the games.
What we did do upon arriving back at the office was take tons of out-of-focus digital pictures. Yes, I suck with a digital camera. The evidence is obvious. Still, the following pictures give a fuzzy impression of what the outside packaging and contents look like, and how we tested the controller in a few different ways.
First photographed was the outer packaging. This was perhaps one of the most surprising aspects of the controller, since it wasn’t covered in Xbox 360 labels and slick next generation graphics. Instead, it was packaged to resemble something you might buy at an office supply store. Picture in your head the packaging for a new stapler or electric pencil sharpener and you might get a good idea of what to expect. All set? Check the packaging pictures below.
Next, we tore off the incredibly annoying hard plastic packaging that encased the mythical controller. Seriously though, that kind of hard plastic packaging is the most annoying crap in the universe. Tossing aside any regard for the product’s safety, I actually had to bust out a pair of giant scissors to pierce the thick plastic armor that managed to thwart my eager fingers. After some screaming and a few personal attacks directed at the packaging, we finally had the controller, the driver CD, and the instruction manual out in the coffee and junk food tainted air of the IGN office. Behold, the conquered packaging and its precious contents.
Since we had a few processes running on our computer that couldn’t be interrupted we decided to give the controller a try in a PS2. Wandering over to the dank, cobwebbed, crypt-like depths of the PS2 channel, we managed to find an open unit as well as a Japanese PS2. With a U.S. debug PS2 unit we tried both USB ports and with no result. However, we did notice that the light surrounding the Xbox 360 button in the middle of the controller lit up and remained on when we plugged it in. With the Japanese unit, there was no response at all. For those who are curious, we tried a final build of Total Overdose in the U.S. PS2 and Grand Turismo 4 in the Japanese PS2. We also managed to try out debug and retail Xbox units using a fancy USB to Xbox controller port converter. Unfortunately, both of these attempts were failures. Though the lights surrounding the center Xbox 360 button on the controller lit up initially when the systems were powered on, they went out soon after, and none of the controller buttons had any effect when pressed. In the debug unit we had a Half-Life 2 disk and SSX On Tour was in the retail.
We then tested the controller for it’s compatibility with our PC and we’re happy to report no problems. Though we didn’t try out the most stellar PC titles, namely Worms 4: Mayhem and Evil Dead: Regeneration, we’re happy to report the 360 controller was fully functional from what we experienced. Though we realize that Worms 4 is a poor title to play with a console controller, we were still able to map out all the face buttons and triggers though the controls menu. Evil Dead was much more satisfying since the game automatically assigned actions to every button on the Xbox 360 controller excluding the center X360 Guide button. We were able to play the PC version of Evil Dead without the hassle of a keyboard a mouse, making it a much more enjoyable experience. All the controls responded well, and we were happy to find that even the control stick buttons (activated by pressing down on the control sticks) were assigned to bringing up two menus.
After initially plugging in the controller and installing the drivers we went through the process of calibrating the right joystick, the trigger buttons, and the D-Pad (there didn’t seem to be a calibration for the left stick). Initially this made the left stick seem to control improperly, making menu navigation in Worms 4 difficult. However, upon uninstalling and reinstalling the controller and setting everything to default, the controller worked perfectly, so it was most likely us that screwed something up the first time. Neither of the PC games we played recognized the guide button. We’ll have more impressions as soon as we can uncover new information.
Thanks for the heads up KingOfNoobs!