Microsoft prepping new Xbox 360 controller with improved D-pad for the holidays [update]

by David Hinkle on Aug 30th 2010 9:10PM

We've got it on good authority that sometime this Holiday season, Microsoft will launch a new Xbox 360 controller with a rather unique D-pad. According to our trusted source, when one rotates the D-pad ninety degrees on this new controller, it'll raise up about a quarter of an inch -- a modification apparently revealed to be targeted at fighting game fans.

Could it be a version of that nifty (yet ugly) European controller tie-in for Pro Evo 2009? Will it replace the new Xbox 360 S controller (pictured above)? Or will it be a separate, special controller? We've got plenty of questions and will try to dig up some more info, so stay tuned.

Update: The new controller with a "transforming D-pad" has been announced and will be bundled with the Play & Charge Kit this November. Read the complete details here.

Tags: microsoft, xbox, xbox-360-controller

Reader Comments (107)

Raised LIVE price and improved d-pad neutralize each other...

@Danthaman

Unless they raise the controller price. Then we're back to square one.

@Danthaman To be honest, I've never had much of a problem with the D-pad. I own a PS3 and I'm still good with the D-pad on 360. Thats just me though.

@Danthaman

As long as the ads are still in the Dashboard, nothing will ever be neutralized.

You'd think they'd lower the XBL price with those ads in the Dashboard...

@Danthaman
Yeah same here , tho I guess it depends on the person. Anyhow if microsoft wants to improve it then lets see what they do!!

@Danthaman

Maybe if they gave us new controllers with LIVE, then yes that would even out. I hate the fact it took this much time to fix a known issue, then again most of their resources were probably focusing on the RRoD back then.

@Ballistic H

Hey, the ads aren't so bad.

Except for the ones that make a bunch of bloody noise when you land on them.

And they place those in the default positions on the dashboard, so you hear it every time you go back to it.

Yeah, the ads aren't so bad..

@Danthaman

The D-pad is a nightmare for any game that requires precision (Ex: Just about ANY fighting game, retro games such as Mega Man 9/10.)

If your using it just to select weapons or gadgets, its functional....but even then,.sometimes it'll mess that up too.

@Kait

that's not the point: the ads are a source of revenue. They're raising the XBL price and get money from the ads in addition.

That's pure GREED.

@Ballistic H

Corporate greed at its finest.

@Ballistic H

Seriously you people are the biggest whiners ever. You have to be LOOKING for the ads to notice them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYI_XF5dR7I

@Danthaman Seriously. The "ads" have NEVER bothered me.

@Ballistic H

It was a joke. :/

@DangerMouse001 Could be great, Although, I prefer that amazing G-mate controller which can be used for 360 or PS3 as well. http://go9.us/0wm

What I meant to say was that the new controller was no excuse for the new LIVE price upgrade. I can see how I wrote it wrong. Comment fail :/

so its like an adjustable shock/suspension on a car?

@karmakid

That's the thing we're most unsure about. I'm trying to dig up more and will update accordingly.

@Dave Hinkle

This sounds to me like the work Microsoft has been doing with Razor for the 360 over the past 2 years. Razor supplies most all of the drivers/software for Microsoft computer hardware, and with the announcement of the Razer Onza last year it's pretty clear the direction the Xbox Team is going. Sony is able to do things like this in-house because their company is spread so far horizontally.

The fact that they know there is a problem, and are trying to fix it is good enough.

I hate it when tech companies think they're putting out the greatest piece of equipment ever known to man, with which there can be no fault.

@BlackedOut
They've been ignoring the problem for close to 5 years so there must have been someone at MS who didn't care to change anything.

@BlackedOut

cough apple cough

@BlackedOut

"I hate it when tech companies think they're putting out the greatest piece of equipment ever known to man, with which there can be no fault. "

It's been 5 years. It's not that they're realizing there's something wrong with their hardware, but rather Fighters are once again popular, and they just don't like Sony cutting into their sales.

Hear that Sony? Customizing controllers post console release isn't necessarily a bad thing!

@WolfForager they did that before remember the batarang? a lot of people complained about it and are more inclined to use the Dualshock

@WolfForager
Yeah it's called dualshock 3

@shadowhowl1900
You got to take it back to the PS1 days and the Dual Analog controller, before the Dual Shock ;)

@InfinitiProject before that there was no analog sticks on the PS1 controller. In fact it wasn't released till around 1998 at the same time as Gran Turismo.

@WolfForager

Nothing wrong with sonys controller, they have the best d-pad in existence today

@L3gato

ya except the batarang was never meant to be released, It was just a concept design cause they weren't sure exactly what they were gonna do with the new conreoller.

@Faenix
Agreed, but how often do you use that D-Pad for anything crucial? Fighting games maniacs aren't using these controllers anyway so while I think it was about time MS addressed this, it wasn't that big of a deal.

Now if Sony could fix those triggers and god awful analog sticks..

@MrGreen

Sony should never change the analog sticks, I find them more precise than the 360 sticks, but it's all about getting used to the controller.

When I played 360 more back in the day I found the PS3 controller to loose, now that I play the PS3 more I found the 360 controller sticks.

Same thing with the triggers. On 360 the triggers are great for Fire in FPS obviously but on the DS3 I perfer the R1 button for Fire. I generally have no issue going back and forth on either systems.

That reminds me I better play some Halo 3 soon to get ready for some Reach action.

@KinseySS

You probably prefer the R1 to fire on the PS3 controllers because the triggers are the wrong f*cking shape! I mean, they work, but why the hell are they convex? There's a reason every trigger on every device in the world, other than PS3 controllers, are concave.

@Vidikron

No I actually prefer the R1 for Fire cause I don't need an analog spring loaded button to fire a gun. It's either I press to shoot or I don't press to not shoot.

But you are right that the L2 and R2 could use a slight indent for your finger to fit in a little nicely but as it stands I play fine with the way it is for racing games and such that really need the analog aspect of those triggers.

Order your new Xbox 360 Special "How it Should've Been" Edition controller today!

@Ezio Auditore da Firenze

You just know that the next generation is going to feature all sorts of really obvious problems that were fine before, though. Hell, it might even be a broken D-pad again (if the 'extended generation' is longer than their engineer's memories).

Took them long enough

@Jawmuncher
And why didn't they release this with the "slim"?
Because that way, they get you for more.

Hopefully it works out. I was just about to get one. Now I'll wait. Better be worth it.

Am I really the only one who has never had a problem with the 360's D-Pad?

I frequently play (and kick ass at) Guilty Gear X2 #Reload with my standard controller, although I tend to use the analog stick more often than the D-Pad anyway.

@Mach2

I've never had a problem with it at all.

@(Unverified)

I've never had a problem with it, but I also don't play fighting games if that makes any difference at all.

I cant even use Netflix without accidentally hitting up or down and screwing up what I was scrolling through, its horrible. I tried playing fighting games on the PC via emulator with one and the back->forward movements were impossible to do consistently.

Too late! I've already adapted to it, besides I rarely use it. In most games you don't need it...

I think this will be (Like they said) for fighting games. I think they'll keep the Xbox 360 S controller along with this one. I don't see why they would wait until the winter to release this when they could have done it with the release of The 360 S

Why don't they just release a new console. It just reminds me how they sold me crap.

@DohHefe .....they did.

@DohHefe
lol are you serious!!! I pray for you!!

I'm glad this rumor has arrived.

I was just about to go out and buy one of those Mad Catz controllers with the better looking dpad.

Seeing as how the price of live is going up unjustifiably and Marvel vs Capcom 3 is not coming out until early 2011, I think I can wait a few more months. I wish I knew if that Mad Catz controller is worth it though. It seems like the new 360 dpad won't change in feel, but in controller sensitivity. I am hoping for a dpad with clearly visible appendages like the PS3 or Nintendo controllers.

@Lerkero
The Madcatz Fight Pad is useless, well at least mine is.
The diagonals don't register unless I push down hard on the d-pad and it whole thing feels cheaply made. When trying to jump forwards or backwards I jump straight up and special moves are really hard to perform.
I went back to using a standard 360 controller with a d-pad I spent hours modifying to get it to work right.

@DrunkSte
Thanks for giving me the heads up. I saw the Street Fighter Fight Pad and noticed that the dpad was basically the same design as the 360's.

Unfortunately, I wasn't talking about that controller, but the other Mad Catz controller that is more like a normal 360 controller.
http://www.madcatz.com/productinfo.asp?page=247&GSProd=2497&GSCat=97&CategoryImg=Xbox_360_Controllers

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Microsoft prepping new Xbox 360 controller with improved D-pad for the holidays [update]

Reader Comments (107)

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 9:15PM Danthaman said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 9:17PM DangerMouse001 said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 9:27PM Danthaman said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 10:06PM Ballistic H said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 10:11PM Hayatoblaze91x said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 11:22PM XGM said

Posted: Aug 31st 2010 1:01AM Kait said

Posted: Aug 31st 2010 1:10AM ShadowXIII said

Posted: Aug 31st 2010 2:38AM Ballistic H said

Posted: Aug 31st 2010 4:55AM isotrex said

Posted: Aug 31st 2010 8:28AM Vcize said

Posted: Aug 31st 2010 9:50AM Petebot330 said

Posted: Aug 31st 2010 11:31AM Kait said

Posted: Aug 31st 2010 3:28PM reenagleez said

Posted: Aug 31st 2010 3:35PM Danthaman said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 9:16PM karmakid said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 9:19PM Dave Hinkle said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 10:41PM Anticrawl said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 9:17PM BlackedOut said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 9:24PM Lerkero said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 10:08PM xFenixKnightx said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 10:22PM DangerMouse001 said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 9:17PM WolfForager said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 9:40PM L3gato said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 9:44PM shadowhowl1900 said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 9:52PM InfinitiProject said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 10:05PM GenMan said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 10:19PM Faenix said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 10:49PM KinseySS said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 11:33PM MrGreen said

Posted: Aug 31st 2010 12:21AM KinseySS said

Posted: Aug 31st 2010 2:05AM Vidikron said

Posted: Aug 31st 2010 10:29AM KinseySS said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 9:17PM Ezio Auditore da Firenze said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 9:49PM Haggard said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 9:18PM Jawmuncher said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 9:59PM Manifest37 said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 9:21PM SpaceBot said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 9:24PM Mach2 said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 9:32PM TheMainProtagonist said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 9:51PM Dawg605 said

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Posted: Aug 30th 2010 9:32PM Ezio Auditore da Firenze said

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