Tendo City

Okay, so I got an Xbox back in early 2010, and fortunately got one of the original ("Duke") controllers with it. I love that controller -- it's probably my favorite Microsoft gamepad ever -- so that was awesome. I also have a controller S, but almost never use it. However, the original-style controller has had issues in some games for a long time, maybe as long as I've had it. In some games it works fine, but in others, the right stick was having problems -- it felt fine, but I couldn't move full speed to the right. In a few games I couldn't move right at all, which obviously is a problem. But in other games it was fine, which was weird. I kept using it anyway, because even if in some games it had issues moving right, I'd rather deal with that than use the controller S.

So yesterday I finally got a component cable for the X360, so I can use my other cable (the PS2/Xbox/X360 component cable) to hook the Xbox up via component, without having to do cable-switching that I was almost never doing. Yeah, I've barely touched the Xbox since I got the 360... but now I can use it. But this reminded me of the malfunctioning controller. I tried some of the cheap (like, $1 or less) disc-only games I've gotten this year but hadn't played yet; several, including Big Motha Truckers 1, Halo 2, and Turok Evolution, might be too damaged to work, but the rest are fine... including Big Mutha Truckers 2, but I couldn't move right at all in the game, which is a problem... and finally I decided to actually try doing something about it. So, I used my GC/Xbox/PS2 to PC USB adapter box to attach it to the computer (on that note, if I manage to find a cheap Duke sometime, something I have not seen since getting the Xbox, I should buy it to use it as a good PC gamepad!), so that thing actually got some use for once. I got the thing locally, for under $5, so it wasn't exactly expensive... but it works fine. Anyway, in the gamepad config window, it showed that the stick wasn't quite reaching the right bound, while on the other three sides it was. Also I tried a PC game with it, and got the same "can't move right correctly" problem there, plus also a leftward drift as well when not touching the stick. Not good.

So, the Xbox controller just uses normal phillips screws, so it's quite easy to take apart. (The 360 uses security screws, on the system and controllers, but the original Xbox does not.) So I looked some stuff online, but it wasn't all that helpful. I took it apart, blew some dust off of it, cleaned it up a little, found a few little things in the analog stick housing I guess but nothing of note, plugged it in again (without the cover on the controller), and now it worked. Um. But without that plastic blocking the right side, this didn't surprise me too much. Then I put it back together, which was the real test... and it works correctly now. Yeah, it was that easy? Why didn't I do this years ago... :S Of course, as I said, it never had affected all games, and plenty worked fine or were dpad titles such as my most-played Xbox game, Dead or Alive Ultimate, but there were a few for which it was definitely annoying... ah well, it's fixed now. Hopefully it stays that way!

Good jorb. I prefer the S, but I will acknowledge the irony that Nintendo now has a controller that dwarfs the original original XBox controller by wide margin.

The original Xbox controller has a better button layout -- the Black, White, Start, and Back button locations are completely stupid and broken on the S -- and is much more comfortable to hold, too.

Alright, you've got ridiculous mammoth hands, got it.

:D

Really though, I get what you mean by the black and white buttons. I found them "hard to reach" on both revisions of the controller, but they're actually recessed on the S, making them a bit tougher to press. As for start and select, I actually like their position on the S.

There's a reason why pretty much no other controller (except for some handhelds) put the start button(s) under the dpad/analog stick, and that's because it's a really weird design decision that doesn't work well at all compared to the usual "put them in the middle" design...

And as for black/white, the recessing of the buttons is one problem, but the bigger one was moving them! On the original controller, they're slightly offset, but are in a reasonable place for 6-face-button gamepad buttons. It's a good 6-face button gamepad. The S, however, completely messes things up by moving them down into the corner. Whatever Microsoft was thinking there, it was stupid and wrong. Of course though, I'm still a definite proponent of 6 face buttons over four...

On that note, there's a 6 face button analog Xbox 360 controller, the Hori Pad EX 2 Turbo. It's not sold new anymore, but you can get them on ebay. I'll have to get one!