Xbox 720 Controller: Practical or Mind Blowing?

In today’s society, being practical is often overshadowed by the need to show-off and impress. The average consumer doesn’t need a $400 dollar smart phone in order to function successfully and yet many people buy them. This uber need to have THE BEST has trickled down into the gaming industry, so much so, that gamers now won’t settle for anything deemed “subpar.”

However, with the development of the Xbox 720 well underway…one question remains. Will developers fold under the pressure cooking beneath them and push out controllers that cause every fan boy and fan girl to drool? Or will they produce an upgraded practical version that addresses some key issues with current Xbox 360 controllers?

The Perfect Controller (Epic Fantasy Controller Plays)
Making a perfect controller would be a dream come true for many gamers. However, with astounding features comes an astounding price tag. Ideally nobody wants to drop more than $400.00 on a console today, and most would agree even that is a bit too steep. So let’s play pretend for a second and imagine the perfect controller…price tags out the window.

The new Xbox controllers have always been big, boring, and bulky. It just seems like they have lots of space for modifications that could really help gamers, yet nobody does anything about it. So let’s go ahead and strip away that bland off white and settle for a jet black/blue pearlescent casing. The grip might be a little slick so let’s off set that with solid green grips that can be removed when needed. Hmm…still not quite cool enough. How about we add in a crazy blue light that fades in and out over time? Now that’s sexy.

The button setup for the new Xbox controllers has been pretty easy to navigate but could use some minor tweaking. The two analog sticks need to sit next to each other, while the directional pad is moved to the top. Why? Well its weird having to do acrobatics with your fingers in order to get camera angles set up in certain games. Usually a game will either rely heavily on the analog sticks anyways, making the directional pad a menu activating sidekick. Therefore, it should sit in isolation away from all the action.

Now comes the extra goodies that aren’t really required but make the gaming experience much more fun. Instead of running the wireless controller off of batteries, Microsoft needs to take a note from Sony and have it powered through USB. Batteries cost more in the long run and they tend to add excess weight, while the USB powered controller should provide power longer.

The texting keyboard for the 360 controller was cute and convenient, but wouldn’t it be better to have a controller that had a USB port for keyboards as well? A controller shouldn’t be weighted down too much as it can make your hands feel mega tired too quickly. Plus a fully customized keyboard, with shortcuts, ideally is the best choice. Gamers don’t always have the option of playing close to their system and two USB slots get used up quite quickly. It seems better to allow each controller their own USB port separate from the console.

Now this is probably way left field but it would be pretty sick to have a small fan attached to the top of the controller. Sometimes those Grand Theft Auto multiplayer sessions (hahaha so old) get intense and sweat starts to trickle down. Or maybe the stupid dragon in Final Fantasy 11 is taking too long to kill and frustration is setting in. A nice cool refreshing blast of air could do wonders for people with bad tempers.

Practical Controller (The Gonk Plays)

In reality we all know the controller design for the xbox 720 won’t be some futuristic alien technology that leaves our jaws on the floor. It takes a LONG time for game designers to even consider changing controller schemes. Sony still pretty much carries the exact same controller from the very first Playstation Console, albeit a few changes here and there. Nintendo has always used the same format but has made more drastic changes to their original designs over the years.

The 720 might get a revamp in terms of wireless controlling (I strongly believe the USB powered idea works the best) but everything else might stay intact. They pretty much used the all black color scheme on the first xbox and the 360 was off white…meaning the xbox 720 might get a technical green/black. Maybe they’ll personalize it and place Xbox Exclusive characters on each controller so gamers feel more of an attachment to the bleak things. I’m not sure why developers never try to test out different controller setups, especially since you have war veterans and accident survivors who don’t always have access to special controllers. It would be nice to have some variety.

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