xbox_one_controller_2016

The new Xbox Wireless Controller offers more than just custom colours. The Xbox One S might be impressive, but don't overlook the new Xbox Wireless Controller. While Microsoft led with the already-leaked Xbox One S console, the new look Xbox Wireless Controller also raised a few eyebrows at the Microsoft press conference at E3 2016 . While Microsoft hyped the customisation -- over 8 million different ways of making it all your own, apparently. -- there's a lot of difference to be found. Bluetooth : Currently gamers who want to use a controller with their PC have to get a dongle, and quite frankly it can become a hassle. But this long setup process is no more, as the updated Wireless Controller has Bluetooth connectivity built in. Not only will this let you easily connect the controller to the Xbox One S , but it can connect to your PC and many other devices. By going with Bluetooth you get an increased range of connectivity as well. Just don't necessarily expect all functions to work: headsets plugged into the controller's 3.5mm audio jack, and accessories like the Xbox One Chatpad mini keyboard., won't work on PC over Bluetooth. Textured grip : The new controller has a subtly streamlined design, with a textured grip on the rear. It certainly doesn't have the premium feel of the Xbox Elite Controller, but it also doesn't have the price tag either: it's starting at $79.99 (Australian and UK pricing still undetermined) but it'll go up based on the customization you want. It's light, but not so much so that it feels tacky and cheap. The thumbstick action is smooth, and the textured areas are actually quite noticeable and very welcome. Headphone jack : The new controller also has a 3.5mm jack so you can plug your headphones straight in, a feature that only recently came to Xbox One controllers. The original controller needed an adapter, so that's a nice touch. Do note that you won't be able to use the 3.5mm jack with a PC when connected with the new Bluetooth connection, though. The One S will ship with one of the new Wireless controllers but you can get your own separately starting late August. The Design Lab customisation, sadly, is US and Canada only to start off with but will expand out to new regions soon after, according to Microsoft. More from E3. Where to Buy. Microsoft Xbox Wireless Controller (2016, White) CNET earns fees when you click these offers. Hot Products. Apple iPhone X. The best iPhone asks you to think different. Samsung Galaxy Note 8. Excellent, powerful -- and pricey. Google Home Mini. Google Home Mini sounds great but lacks vision. Google Pixel 2 XL. Google Pixel 2 XL: What we know so far. August Smart Lock (2017) August's affordable Smart Lock is solid, even sans Siri. This week on CNET News. Share your voice. Be respectful, keep it clean and stay on topic. We'll remove comments that violate our policy. Gaming & Culture / Gaming & Entertainment. Issues with Windows Anniversary update, Bluetooth limits on new Xbox One S pads. by Sam Machkovech - Aug 6, 2016 2:30 pm UTC. The Xbox 360 controller has been popular since its launch in 2005, even after its follow-up controller launched in 2013. Why? Because it's one of the best "it just works" gaming pads for PCs. After third-party solutions forced the issue, Microsoft eventually continued the "it just works" tradition in 2014 by launching official, perfectly solid drivers for the Xbox One controller. That tradition looked like it would live on this week with the rollout of another updated Xbox One controller model, complete with a new Bluetooth radio. After some investigating, however, Ars Technica has bad news for PC gamers who just want to get their Xbox One pads working on their favorite games. Whether you use a new Bluetooth controller or you upgraded your old XB1 to this week's Windows 10 Anniversary edition, get ready for some road bumps. XInput marks the spot? Before we dive in, a note: we have sent questions to Microsoft about our concerns and about the technical reasons for these issues. The answers may very well hint at upcoming patches or fixes, which could render our complaints moot. We hope so, because the clock is ticking for Xbox One controller issues on Windows: T-minus seven weeks. On September 27, Microsoft Studios and Turn 10 will release Forza Horizon, the first in a wave of "Play Anywhere" games meant to launch simultaneously on Xbox One and Windows 10. Forza Horizon will likely bring a lot of attention to Windows 10. That being said, the primary compatibility issue is wreaking havoc on various PC games whose controller support used to work just fine. Some games no longer recognize when Xbox One controllers are connected via Bluetooth or through the official Xbox One wireless adapter. Other games, as well as Steam's Big Picture mode, think a single Xbox One controller is two controllers simultaneously. The number and type of games affected at this point appears to be scattershot, with an official Xbox support forum thread cataloging various errors. In our own experience, Windows 10's Anniversary update definitely changes something with both launch-edition Xbox One pads and the updated, Bluetooth-enabled pads that launched this week. Installing the Windows 10 Anniversary update caused our Xbox One pads to briefly sync with our PC's Xbox One wireless adapter, then automatically power down. Only when we attempted a full re-sync did the controllers once again register, which required the installation of a brand-new controller driver for each re-synced pad. At that point, certain controller-friendly games, like Gang Beasts and Videoball, stopped recognizing our Xbox One pads. At least our wired Xbox 360 pads continued to work as they had before. Has the Xbox One controller's use of the XInput API been altered? XInput, after all, is the API that ushered in the Xbox 360 pad's wide PC acceptance. Game makers just slapped the API into their games to enable easy, no-fuss controller compatibility (which both 360 and XB1 pads utilize). Many other controllers play nicely with that API, though homebrew efforts also exist to turn on "exclusive" mode and remap other controllers to the XInput API. We point this out because Windows 10's Anniversary update also broke current homebrew ways to get popular controllers, like Sony's DualShock 4, to play with Windows PCs. There's currently a hack to get DualShock 4 pads working on Windows 10 with the Anniversary update, but the dev behind InputMapper, the most popular DS4 workaround for Windows PCs, says that the hack "does not fix the underlying issue." A patch or update to the currently broken XB1 controller driver could very well fix whatever Microsoft did in the Anniversary update. But that still doesn't explain why the controller driver required an update in the first place, let alone what Microsoft is doing that disables the compatibility of other controllers. Bluetooth might make gamers blue. Another issue is less likely to receive an update: the new Xbox One controllers' Bluetooth support is severely limited. As in, only one pad can be connected via Bluetooth at once. Microsoft isn't advertising this limitation, but an official Xbox Support page confirms it: you can only connect one Bluetooth pad to a Windows 10 PC at a time, and those Bluetooth pads require running on Windows 10 with the Anniversary update. If you want to use more wireless Xbox One pads on a single PC, you'll need to purchase the official Xbox One wireless adapter. Otherwise, don't rush out and buy a bunch of updated Xbox One pads expecting them to sync up to any laptop for the sake of wild, on-the-go multiplayer sessions of Push Me Pull You or Towerfall: Ascension . The situation gets worse. Your sole Bluetooth controller won't even function in Windows 10's Anniversary update until you update the controller's firmware, which users aren't told when they connect the pads. Instead, users must manually find and install the Xbox Accessories app from the Windows Store. Boot that with the Xbox One pad connected via Bluetooth, and you'll then get the prompt to update the pad's firmware. The new Xbox One controller does not include instructions to this effect, possibly because Xbox One consoles automate this process in a way that Windows 10 PCs do not. Until Microsoft announces an update to these controller-based woes, the gaming geeks at Ars recommend that you avoid the Anniversary update. If you've already updated and want to return to the "it just works" days of XInput support on wireless controllers, toggle to the "revert to your previous install of Windows" option, which isn't hard to find in the options menus. Update, 8/10 : On Tuesday, a Microsoft representative confirmed that the Xbox engineering team was working on issues with controllers' "exclusive" modes, controller connectivity with certain games, and Steam Big Picture mode seeing two controllers where there should be only one. No timeline was given for fixes on those issues. The Microsoft rep also insisted that two of the new-hardware Xbox One gamepads should be able to connect simultaneously to a single Windows 10 PC via Bluetooth, so long as both controllers have their firmware updated. The company's support site still lists a one-pad limit when connecting via Bluetooth. We are awaiting a response about that discrepancy. Sam Machkovech / Sam has written about the combined worlds of arts and tech since his first syndicated column launched in 1996. He can regularly be found losing quarters at Add-A-Ball in Seattle, WA. You May Also Like. WIRED Media Group. © 2018 Condé Nast. All rights reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. The Xbox E3 2016 Briefing: Everything You Need to Know. Today, at the Xbox E3 2016 Briefing, Team Xbox unveiled a new family of Xbox One devices, a host of new Xbox Live features and the biggest lineup of games in Xbox history. Head of Xbox Phil Spencer underscored the Xbox team’s commitment to building a future of gaming beyond console generations and inviting gamers to play without boundaries. Xbox is working to bring Xbox Live to all devices and networks – PC, console, virtual reality and mobile – to create a unified experience where all gamers are welcomed, respected and supported. The new Xbox Play Anywhere program lets gamers buy a game once and play it on both their Windows 10 PC and Xbox One console with shared progress, game saves and achievements. Every new Microsoft Studios title shown at the Xbox E3 2016 Briefing will support Xbox Play Anywhere, with more titles on the way. “Gamers have never had more choice in how and where they play,” said Spencer. “We are bringing our biggest games lineup ever to Xbox One and Windows 10, uniting gamers across networks on Xbox Live and expanding the Xbox One family of devices with the addition of Xbox One S and Project Scorpio to give gamers more choice in how and where they play. There’s never been a better time to be an Xbox gamer.” Introducing the Xbox One family of devices. The new lineup of Xbox One hardware and accessories delivers unprecedented choice and level of personalization for gamers. All Xbox One devices will play current and future Xbox One games as well as titles in the Xbox One Backward Compatibility program, and all accessories will work across every console in the Xbox One family as well. Xbox One S . Debuting a sleek new design and “robot white” color, the new Xbox One S is the smallest and most compact Xbox ever. The 40 percent smaller console has an internal power supply and supports 4K Ultra HD for Blu-ray movies and content streamed from partners like Netflix and Amazon Video. High Dynamic Range (HDR) support for video and gaming delivers richer, more luminous colors in games like Gears of War 4 . 1 Available for preorder beginning today and in stores starting August 2016: 500GB Xbox One S is $299 USD/ £249 GBP / €299 EUR, 1TB Xbox One S is $349 USD / £299 GBP / €349 EUR Limited launch edition 2TB Xbox One S will be available in select markets for $399 USD / £349 GBP / €399 EUR. Project Scorpio. Coming Holiday 2017, Project Scorpio will be the most powerful console ever created, with 6 teraflops of GPU delivering a premier console gaming experience including true 4K gaming and high fidelity virtual reality. Project Scorpio will join the Xbox One family and coexist alongside Xbox One and Xbox One S and all of your Xbox One games and accessories are compatible. New Xbox Wireless Controller. We’ve enhanced comfort with a textured grip and introduced a sleek, streamlined design in white. Added Bluetooth radio gives you easy wireless connection to your Windows 10 PCs and tablets. 2 The new Xbox Wireless Controller will be available worldwide starting in August for $59.99/49.99 pounds/59.99 euros. Xbox Design Lab. Now fans can create their own official, one-of-a-kind Xbox Wireless Controllers with more than 8 million color variations to customize the controller body, D-pad, thumbsticks, ABXY buttons and more. Each controller is handmade to order and shipped directly to fans. Xbox Design Lab is open for orders now in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico for $79.99 through http://www.xbox.com/xboxdesignlab. Laser engraving is also available for an additional $9.99. Xbox Elite Wireless Controller – Gears of War 4 Limited Edition. A pro-level controller designed in collaboration with The Coalition, the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller – Gears of War 4 Limited Edition features laser-etched claw marks and a battle-weathered design, telling the survival story of a confrontation with the Swarm. Available in very limited quantities in early October for $199.99/199.99 euros/159.99 pounds with pre-orders starting the week of June 13 at select retailers. Uniting gamers through Xbox Live. The goal of Xbox Live is to cultivate a safe, fun and reliable online community, where all types of gamers are welcome, respected and supported. Team Xbox announced a slew of new features to break down barriers between gamers playing on different devices and make gaming more accessible for all. Clubs on Xbox Live. A new way to connect with gamers and create private communities with people who have similar play styles, personal interests and values. Looking for Group on Xbox Live. Like a “want ad” for multiplayer, Looking for Group on Xbox Live is the easiest way to seek out players who are available — and qualified — to jump into your multiplayer match right now. Arena on Xbox Live. A new online tournaments platform designed for everyone, from novice to aspiring pro, Arena on Xbox Live brings competitive gaming to Xbox One and Windows 10 devices. Sign up for tournaments directly through the Xbox UI or the Xbox app and play for prizes and bragging rights. Cross-play. Gamers on Xbox One and Windows 10 can now play select multiplayer games together. Gears of War 4 , Forza Horizon 3 , Sea of Thieves and Scalebound all support cross-play between Xbox One and Windows 10 PC, and now Minecraft players on iOS, Android, Windows 10 phone and Windows 10 devices can all join together in cross-device multiplayer fun. Cortana on Xbox One. We’re bringing the popular digital assistant Cortana to Xbox One, featuring familiar voice commands available on Windows 10 devices and new gaming-specific scenarios for Xbox One. Cortana will initially launch on Xbox One in the U.S. and U.K. with additional markets coming soon after. PC games (Win32) in Xbox Live. With the Xbox update coming this summer you’ll see the top PC games on Xbox Live, with more added every month. Use the Xbox app to see what PC games your friends are playing, view game clips and upload your own, and message and voice chat with friends across games. Language Region Independence. Based on overwhelming fan feedback, we’re enabling Language Region Independence to give gamers even more control over their Xbox experience and how they engage with their Xbox One. Language Region Independence gives gamers the freedom to choose any supported language on Xbox One, regardless of their location. Biggest lineup comes to Xbox One and Windows 10. Xbox premiered a wide range of games launching in 2016 and beyond for Xbox One and Windows 10, including a mix of exclusives, blockbusters and independent games through the ID@Xbox program. ARK: SURVIVAL EVOLVED (FIRST ON XBOX ONE AND WINDOWS 10). The wildly popular indie game from Studio Wildcard has sold over 1 million copies on Xbox One via Game Preview, and is soon coming to Windows 10. Stranded naked, freezing and starving on a mysterious island, you must hunt, harvest, craft items, grow crops and build shelters to survive. Learn how to tame, train, breed and ride dinosaurs and primitive creatures living on the ARK as you forge new paths across the beautiful open world in this large-scale survival game. Team up with hundreds of players online, play split-screen locally or brave the island on your own. BATTLEFIELD 1 (ELECTRONIC ARTS). Featuring some of the largest, most dynamic battles in FPS history, experience the dawn of all-out war across war-torn France, in the sand dunes of the Arabian Desert, and in the skies over London – only in Battlefield 1 . Join in massive 64-player battles and experience unexpected Only in Battlefield moments during a time where the old world was destroyed, giving way to the new one. Play it first, exclusively on Xbox One with EA Access beginning October 13. Available worldwide on Xbox One and Windows PC on October 21, 2016. DEAD RISING 4 (WORLD PREMIERE). Developed by Capcom Vancouver, Dead Rising 4 marks the return of photojournalist Frank West in an all-new chapter of one of the most popular zombie game franchises of all time. With an unmatched level of weapon and character customization, ambitious new features including new zombie classes and EXO Suits, Dead Rising 4 delivers a heart-pounding experience as players explore, scavenge and fight to survive in an epic open-world sandbox. Available Holiday 2016 on Xbox One and Windows 10. FINAL FANTASY XV (SQUARE ENIX). Final Fantasy XV is the highly anticipated action RPG and 15th mainline entry in the iconic Final Fantasy Set in an enthralling world where fantasy meets reality, players will join Crown Prince Noctis and his comrades on an epic journey of brotherhood, love and despair as they unravel Noctis’s destiny and take up arms against the nefarious Niflheim empire. With a captivating cast of characters, breathtaking visuals, open world exploration and action-packed real time combat, Final Fantasy XV is the ultimate FINAL FANTASY experience for fans and newcomers to the series. Available worldwide for Xbox One on September 30, 2016. FORZA HORIZON 3 (XBOX ONE AND WINDOWS 10 EXCLUSIVE — WORLD PREMIERE). The best-selling racing franchise returns with Forza Horizon 3 . Race and explore the rugged wonder of Australia with your friends in over 350 of the world’s greatest cars as you win millions of new fans and build the world’s greatest automotive festival. As the new boss of the Horizon Festival, you can modify every aspect of race events, and how you get to the finish is up to you. Available worldwide as an Xbox Play Anywhere title on Sept. 27, 2016. GEARS OF WAR 4 (XBOX ONE AND WINDOWS 10 EXCLUSIVE). A new saga begins for one of the most acclaimed video game franchises in history. After narrowly escaping an attack on their village, JD Fenix and his friends Kait and Del must rescue the ones they love and discover the source of a monstrous new enemy. Gears of War 4 returns the franchise to the dark tone and intensity of the original and includes split-screen and online co-op, the next generation of the five-player favorite, Horde Mode, 60 frames-per-second Versus multiplayer, and stunning visuals powered by Unreal Engine 4. Available worldwide as an Xbox Play Anywhere title on Oct. 11, 2016. GWENT (WORLD PREMIERE OF CLOSED BETA ON XBOX ONE AND WINDOWS 10 ). Gwent , the hit card game from CD PROJEKT RED’s game of the year – The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – is now its own standalone collectable card game. Inspired by player feedback, with new rules and mechanics, Gwent puts players and their style of play, and not only their cards, in the center of the action. In Gwent , You are the Wild Card. HALO WARS 2 (XBOX ONE AND WINDOWS 10 EXCLUSIVE). The best-selling console real-time strategy (RTS) of all time is back! Developed in partnership by 343 Industries and Creative Assembly, Halo Wars 2 is an action-packed RTS on the biggest Halo battlefield ever. Get ready to lead armies of Spartans and other Halo fighting forces like Warthogs, Scorpions and exciting new units in a brutal war against a terrifying new enemy, The Banished. Available worldwide as an Xbox Play Anywhere title on Feb. 21, 2017. INSIDE (FIRST ON XBOX ONE). Developed by Playdead, INSIDE is the long-awaited follow-up to 2010’s groundbreaking digital hit Limbo . Featuring Playdead’s trademark dark art, emotion and game craft, this adventure puzzler ships June 29, 2016, and is available for pre-order now. To celebrate the launch, Limbo will be free to all Xbox players from June 13‒ MINECRAFT (REALMS AND ADD-ONS). Mojang and Microsoft showcased cross-device multiplayer between iOS, Android, Samsung Gear VR and Windows 10 devices, made possible with Monday’s launch of the “Friendly Update” for Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition Beta and Minecraft: Pocket Edition . With Xbox Live and the Minecraft Realms service, Windows 10 and mobile Minecraft players can host their own multiplayer worlds on private, cloud-based servers and play with friends 24/7, even when the original world creator is offline. Starting today, players with Xbox Live accounts can try Minecraft Realms on mobile and Windows 10 free for one month through the Minecraft The team also announced new game add-ons coming this fall that will let players modify their in-game worlds to customize key game elements and create their own maps and minigames. RECORE (XBOX ONE AND WINDOWS 10 EXCLUSIVE). From legendary video game creator Keiji Inafune and Armature Studio LLC, the team behind the Metroid Prime series, comes ReCore , an action-adventure game masterfully crafted for the modern generation. Play as Joule, one of the last remaining humans, and forge friendships with courageous robot companions to lead them on an epic adventure through a mysterious, dynamic world. Available worldwide as an Xbox Play Anywhere title starting Sept. 13, 2016. SEA OF THIEVES (XBOX ONE AND WINDOWS 10 EXCLUSIVE). Developed by Rare, the legendary creators of Perfect Dark and Banjo-Kazooie , Sea of Thieves is an immersive, shared world adventure game filled with pirates, unexpected dangers and loot for the taking. Be the pirates you want to be, share adventures with friends, and set your own rules, roles and goals in a world where every sail on the horizon is another crew of players with unknown intent. Sea of Thieves offers an experience that will evolve over time, landing in players’ hands early and growing based on feedback from the community. STATE OF DECAY 2 (XBOX ONE AND WINDOWS 10 EXCLUSIVE, WORLD PREMIERE). The next installment in the fan favorite State of Decay franchise immerses you in an all-new multiplayer zombie survival fantasy. Players work together to build lasting communities where choices made shape an interconnected world and form a unique experience every time. Available worldwide as an Xbox Play Anywhere title in 2017. SCALEBOUND (XBOX ONE AND WINDOWS 10 EXCLUSIVE). From critically acclaimed developer PlatinumGames Inc. and renowned Game Director Hideki Kamiya, Scalebound brings epic adventures and battles at enormous scales across the beautiful and dangerous open world of Draconis. Customize main hero Drew and your dragon, Thuban, to suit your playstyle as you battle legions of soldiers and massive monsters solo or cooperatively with up to three additional friends on Xbox Live. Available worldwide as an Xbox Play Anywhere title in 2017. TACOMA (FIRST ON XBOX ONE AND WINDOWS 10). It is the year 2088, and humanity has taken to the stars. You step aboard the abandoned space station Tacoma , the facility’s Augmented Reality technology your only connection to the crew that once lived here. What happened to them — and what role did the station’s AI overseer, ODIN, play? Discover the truth in Tacoma , Fullbright’s follow-up to the genre-defining story exploration game Gone Home , when it comes to Windows 10 and Xbox One next year. TEKKEN 7 (BANDAI NAMCO ENTERTAINMENT INC.). An engrossing story intertwines the past, present and future fates of fan-favorite characters in Tekken 7 . Known for revolutionizing the fighting genre through both its hard-hitting gameplay and diverse cast of characters, Tekken 7 introduces enhanced fight mechanics alongside a slew of new combatants to ensure that your next fight won’t ever be your last. Available worldwide for Xbox One in early 2017. TOM CLANCY’S THE DIVISION – EXPANSION I: UNDERGROUND (UBISOFT). Dive into the underbelly of New York to save what remains in Underground, the first expansion for Tom Clancy’s The Division . Explore the randomly generated mazes of subways, tunnels and sewers to fight deadly enemies and recover powerful loot. Experience an all-new incursion and find the latest weapons, gear and more. Available first on Xbox One and Windows PC beginning June 28. WE HAPPY FEW (FIRST TO CONSOLE ON XBOX ONE). Developed by Compulsion Games, We Happy Few is coming to Windows 10 and Xbox One this summer. In a dystopian, mod 1964 England that lost World War II, the citizens of Wellington Wells are taking a happy drug called “Joy,” and living in denial of their grim existence and a terrible past. Can you survive among them once you stop taking your Joy become a “Downer?” Pre-order now at your Microsoft Store or local retailer. Xbox One Controllers. Brand. Microsoft (12) Logitech (2) Thrustmaster (2) KontrolFreek (3) PowerA (6) Insignia™ (2) Afterglow (1) PDP (2) Activision (1) Current Deals. Clearance (1) On Sale (3) Free Shipping Eligible (31) All Discounted Items (4) 20% Off or More (3) 30% Off or More (2) 40% Off or More (2) New (29) Refurbished (2) Open-Box (9) Less than $10 (2) $10 - $19.99 (5) $20 - $29.99 (6) $30 - $39.99 (4) $50 and Up (14) Multi (4) Black (16) White (4) Red (1) Green (2) Pink (1) Silver (1) Gray (1) Yellow (1) Customer Rating. Top-Rated (15) Pre-Order Now (1) New Releases. Coming Soon (1) Collection. Only at Best Buy (2) Main Results. Microsoft - Xbox Wireless Controller - Black. Model: 6CL-00001 SKU: 5621843. Microsoft - Geek Squad Certified Refurbished Xbox Wireless Controller - White. Model: GSRF-TF5-00001 SKU: 5655937. Logitech - Driving Force Shifter for Windows, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 - Black/Silver. Model: 941-000119 SKU: 4381000. Microsoft - Xbox Wireless Controller - Volcano Shadow Special Edition. Model: WL3-00068 SKU: 6022901 Release Date: 10/15/2017. Microsoft - Xbox Wireless Controller - Patrol Tech Special Edition. Model: WL3-00072 SKU: 6022903 Release Date: 10/01/2017. Microsoft - Xbox Wireless Controller - White. Model: TF5-00001 SKU: 5396001 Release Date: 08/02/2016. Microsoft - Xbox Elite Wireless Controller for Xbox One - Black. Model: HM3-00001 SKU: 9529009 Release Date: 10/27/2015. Microsoft - Xbox Wireless Controller - Sea of Thieves Limited Edition. Model: WL3-00078 SKU: 6178773 Release Date: 02/14/2018. Not Yet Reviewed. Microsoft - Xbox Wireless Controller - Gray and Green. Model: WL3-00060 SKU: 6022905 Release Date: 09/17/2017. PDP - Talon Media Remote for Xbox One - Black. Model: 048-083-NA SKU: 5377800 Release Date: 10/09/2016. PDP - Wired Controller for PC and Microsoft Xbox One - Black camo. Model: 048-082-NA-CM00 SKU: 6023105. PowerA - Charging Stand For Xbox One - White. Model: 1500010-01 SKU: 5577779. Microsoft - Xbox Wireless Controller - Minecraft Creeper. Model: WL3-00056 SKU: 6036601 Release Date: 10/01/2017. PowerA - Spectra Controller for Xbox One - Black. Model: CPFA115536-01 SKU: 8685189 Release Date: 10/12/2014. Logitech - G920 Driving Force Racing Wheel for Xbox One and Windows - Black. Model: 941-000121 SKU: 4223402 Release Date: 09/27/2015. Microsoft - Xbox Wireless Controller - Minecraft Pig. Model: WL3-00052 SKU: 6036606 Release Date: 10/01/2017. Microsoft - Refurbished Xbox Elite Wireless Controller for Xbox One - Black. Model: GSRF-HM3-00001 SKU: 5655932. KontrolFreek - FPS Freek® Inferno Thumbsticks for Xbox One. Model: 2040-XB1 SKU: 5804702. PowerA - Wired Controller for Xbox One - Black. Model: 1427470-01 SKU: 5187900. Thrustmaster - Thrustmaster TMX Force Feedback Controller for PC and Microsoft Xbox One - Black. Model: 4469022 SKU: 5434000. KontrolFreek - Destiny 2: Ghost Thumbsticks for Xbox One - Grey/Black. Model: 8566-XB1 SKU: 5991502 Release Date: 08/15/2017. Microsoft - Xbox One Chatpad - Black. Model: 5F7-00001 SKU: 4401800 Release Date: 11/18/2015. Afterglow - Prismatic Wired Controller for Xbox One - Silver. Model: 048-007-NA SKU: 4353510. PowerA - Wired Controller for Xbox One - Green. Model: 1428124-01 SKU: 5188100. No matching products found at this store. Recommendations. Buy an Xbox Controller. Choose Your Controller. With the Xbox One game controller you get improved comfort, response time and precision, plus a jack for your gaming headset. At Best Buy, you can choose from a variety of extra controllers, including media remote controls, wireless controllers, special edition Xbox controllers and more. You can also use a Kinect sensor with your Xbox One console and play hands-free. Kinect reacts to voice commands, so you can switch between apps, make video calls and control the volume just by speaking; plus, you can even control gameplay by using hand and body motions. Find Xbox One Accessories. Once you've chosen your Xbox One controllers, you can get the rest of your video game accessories at Best Buy. For example, an Xbox Chatpad lets you search easily and send messages to friends while you play. A controller stand lets you display your controller and makes it easy to grab for gameplay. Stick extenders improve your accuracy, so you can gain the upper hand on any virtual battlefield. From chargers and batteries to headsets, gaming chairs, and more, Xbox One accessories help take your game to the next level. Download Xbox One Games. Whether you have an Xbox title in mind, or you want to browse through downloadable games to find your next adventure, Best Buy has your gaming life covered. You'll find the latest popular games, along with the classics you love. Plus, Xbox One is backward compatible with a growing number of Xbox 360 games, to expand your library even further. Discover Xbox Live. From creating your own groups to building your gaming legacy across Xbox One and Windows 10, an Xbox Live membership opens the door to a whole new way to play. Join this gaming community to follow your favorite games, see what your friends are playing, and stay right in the middle of the action. Plus, you'll be able to access your games and friends on multiple devices, wherever you are. Update your Xbox One Controller. When you update your controller with the latest software, you get full use of your Xbox One Stereo Headset Adapter capabilities, plus important controller improvements. You can update your controller wirelessly or via USB. For assistance with troubleshooting update issues, see Troubleshoot update issues with your Xbox One Controller. On this page. An Xbox One Wireless Controller purchased in or after June 2015 can take updates wirelessly without connecting via USB cable. This controller has a small, circular 3.5-mm port on the bottom of the controller; controllers without this port must update via USB cable. Follow these steps to update your controller wirelessly and to support the Xbox One Stereo Headset Adapter: Sign in to Xbox Live on your Xbox One console and install the latest system update if prompted to do so. If you have a stereo headset adapter, plug it into the bottom of your controller so it can also get updates. If you're using a stereo headset adapter, plug in a headset (a headset must be plugged in so the adapter will turn on). Press the Xbox button to open the guide. Select System > Kinect & devices > Devices & accessories , and then select the controller you want to update. Select Device info , select the Firmware version box, and then select Continue . When the update is complete, you can update additional controllers. If they can only be updated via USB, see Update via USB. Otherwise, select the Update another button on the screen after the first update is complete, and then follow the steps. The auto-detect feature of this update may not work immediately if you plugged your stereo headset adapter into the controller while downloading a system update, or while the console was turned off. To resolve this, go to the Home screen and unplug the adapter. Then, re-plug the adapter into the controller. You only need to update your controller one time to use the stereo headset adapter. However, if you plan to use the stereo headset adapter with other Xbox One controllers, you’ll need to follow this process for each controller. Additionally, check for new updates periodically as Xbox frequently ships new controller features and improvements. If you try to update a controller that was already updated, the system will check the controller and proceed to the success screen within a few seconds to indicate that it’s already updated. Follow these steps to update your controller via USB and to support the Xbox One Stereo Headset Adapter: Sign in to Xbox Live on your Xbox One console and install the latest system update if prompted to do so. If you have one, plug the stereo headset adapter into the bottom of your controller so it can also get updates. If you're using a stereo headset adapter, plug in a headset (a headset must be plugged in so the adapter will turn on). Plug the big end of the included USB cable into the port on the left side of the console, around the corner from the disc tray. Plug the small end of the USB cable into the top of the controller. Instructions to install the update should automatically appear. Follow the instructions, and don’t disconnect the USB cable while the update is in progress. (The process can take up to 3 minutes.) If instructions to install the update don’t automatically appear, you can start the process manually. To do this, press the Xbox button to open the guide, select System > Kinect & devices > Devices & accessories , and then select the controller you want to update. Select Device info , select the Firmware version box, and then select Continue . When the update is complete, unplug the USB cable. If you have additional controllers to update, connect them now, one at a time, select the Update another button on the screen, and then follow the steps. Press the Xbox button on the wireless controller to turn it on. Your controller is now up to date, and you’re ready to use your Xbox One Stereo Headset Adapter. The auto-detect feature of this update may not work immediately if you plugged your stereo headset adapter into the controller while downloading a system update, or while the console was turned off. To resolve this, go to the Home screen and unplug the adapter. Then, re-plug the adapter into the controller. You only need to update your controller one time to use the stereo headset adapter. However, if you plan to use the stereo headset adapter with other Xbox One controllers, you’ll need to follow this process for each controller. Additionally, check for new updates periodically as Xbox frequently ships new controller features and improvements. If you try to update a controller that was already updated, the system will check the controller and proceed to the success screen within a few seconds to indicate that it’s already updated. If you have more than one controller connected via USB cable, the update will tell you to disconnect the other controller and update just one controller at a time. Update your controller on a Windows 10 PC by using the Xbox Accessories app: Get the app from Microsoft Windows 10 by searching for "Xbox Accessories." Launch the Xbox Accessories app. Connect your Xbox One Wireless Controller by using a USB cable or the Xbox Wireless Adapter for Windows. Note You'll be prompted to update to Windows 10 Anniversary Edition if you haven't yet done so. When the controller is connected, you'll see the message Update Required if an update is mandatory. Install the update. Note You can also go to Device Info to check for an update. The Xbox Accessories app is available only on Windows 10. Controllers that don't have a built-in 3.5-mm audio port must be updated using a USB connection and must have the Windows 10 TH2 Update (or later). Updating the controller over Bluetooth is not supported. Bluetooth requires a PC running the Windows 10 Anniversary Update. See Windows Update: FAQ to learn how to get the latest Windows update. Xbox One S controller is another sleek and smart upgrade from Microsoft. Above: My custom Xbox One S controller from Microsoft's Xbox Design Lab. The Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles did not launch with great controllers in terms of build quality. In hindsight, while both devices had their upsides, they feel cheap. Microsoft and Sony have since revised their gamepads, and now the Xbox One is on its third standard design — and it’s the best one yet. Microsoft announced the Xbox One S controller at the Electronic Entertainment Expo tradeshow in Los Angeles last month, and now the company has finally sent me one. Not only is this the sturdier, feature-packed S that goes on sale August 2 for $60, but it’s also one of the first pieces of hardware to come out of the new Xbox Design Lab custom paint-job site. You can make your own controller right now starting at $80, and it’ll start shipping in September. But should you pull the trigger? The new gamepad impressed me — and here’s why. What you’ll like. Xbox Design Lab delivers what you expect. Third-party companies have offered customized controllers for years. Their prices start at around $120, so it’s wonderful that Microsoft has built a first-party solution for gamepad paint jobs that is only $20 more expensive than the price of a standard $60 unit. And Xbox Design Lab produces spot-on results. The site delivered the exact controller I crafted. The blue wasn’t two shades off. It was precisely what I picked out. Now, this means if you design something ugly, you’re going to get something ugly. But an extra $20 to get a personalized Xbox One controller is a real bargain. Gallery: Xbox One S Controller. Above: That's a handsome controller. Image Credit: Jeffrey Grubb/GamesBeat. The Xbox One S controller is another major step forward for Microsoft in terms of the quality of the parts and manufacturing processes it’s using for its products. The 2015 controller revision, which introduced the 3.5mm headphone jack, featured better buttons and more resistant control sticks. The S amps up all of this with buttons that have a premium action. This stands out with the sticks, which have a more even resistance and smoother rotation around the border of their wells. If you’ve used an Xbox One controller for any extended period of time, you’ve likely noticed a chalky dust that builds up around the ball-bearing area of the stick. Microsoft claims to have solved this, and the analog sticks feel great because of these improvements. Beyond the buttons and sticks, the controller uses strong and light materials. The hand grips, where you hold the pad with your inner knuckles and palms, now has a textured coating. This prevents the device from slipping whether you use a light squeeze or a death lock to hold your controller. One of the other improvements in the One S controller is a stronger radio signal that increases the range of the connection you can have between the Xbox One, a PC, or another device and the gamepad. Based on my testing (going in my backyard and walking away from the house until the controllers stopped working consistently), the range is about 75 percent more than the 2015 Xbox One controller. This is true for both the standard Xbox One wireless connection, which uses a dongle on PC, as well as the new Bluetooth radio. This is one of my favorite new features. If your PC has Bluetooth compatibility, you no longer need the Xbox One Wireless Adapter to use the gamepad without a USB connection. Bluetooth also means you can connect it to smartphones and tablets. I used it with my Nvidia Shield tablet, and the controller worked without flaw for both gamepad-capable mobile apps and PC games I streamed to my device. What you won’t like. Bluetooth doesn’t connect to everything. My only hangup with the Xbox One S Controller is that the Bluetooth didn’t work with the Steam Link. I would guess that Valve, which manufacturers the Steam Link, will address this soon, but — for now — I’m forced to go through a Steam Controller or the PlayStation 4’s DualShock 4 (which does work over Bluetooth) to navigate the Link. While this was the only device I tried that doesn’t work, consider this a warning that the Bluetooth connection is not guaranteed to work on anything you may want to try it on. Conclusion. The Xbox One Elite Controller is still the best gamepad I’ve ever used, but that’s $150. For $60, you can’t beat the Xbox One S Controller. At this point, following all of Microsoft’s revisions, it outdoes the DualShock 4 in terms of quality. If you prefer Sony’s design, you probably shouldn’t switch. But if you are more agnostic and not looking to spend a lot of money, then the S is the controller I recommend. Xbox Design Lab also gets my approval. For $20, I now have a connection with a controller because I created it. It is Jeffrey Grubb’s Xbox One gamepad. I’ve never had that before, and I kinda don’t want to play with anything else. Now, if only I could get a custom Xbox One Elite Controller. Xbox One S Controller is available August 2 for $60. You can order a custom one now starting at $80 that will ship in September. Microsoft provided GamesBeat with a Xbox Design Lab code for the purposes of this review. Microsoft Xbox One. The good Microsoft's Xbox One offers impressive graphics and a solid list of exclusive 2015 titles. The Microsoft console currently edges ahead of the PS4 with a better selection of media apps. The console's fall-2015 dashboard update is a noticeable improvement. The console has backward compatibility with around 100 Xbox 360 titles, and that list is poised to grow. The bad The Xbox One's new interface is still more convoluted than the PS4's. In general, the PS4 delivers slightly better installation times, graphics and performance on cross-platform games. The Xbox One also lags behind the PS4 in its selection of indie games. The Kinect's legacy is still a blemish. The bottom line While the PS4 remains our overall preferred choice in the game console race, the Xbox One's significant course corrections and solid exclusives make it a compelling alternative. CNET review. Much improved, the Xbox One has hit its stride. With E3 2015 safely in the rearview mirror and the Xbox One's second anniversary fast approaching, we're diving back in the home console pond to take the temperature of the current landscape of videogame consoles. Without a doubt, the Xbox One has gone through the more significant metamorphosis of the two big consoles since their release in November 2013 -- the other being the PlayStation 4. Even before its launch, Microsoft had begun changing the messaging philosophy of the platform, going from a console that heavily relied on DRM to an unshackled experience where owners can trade in and play used games. That was followed up by making the Kinect motion sensor no longer a required part of the system (the no-Kinect bundle is now the default entry-level model). Meanwhile, a lot has been fine-tuned under the Xbox One's hood -- particularly the firmware's functionality (not actual hardware tweaks), which, from a performance and ease-of-use standpoint, is still playing second to Sony's impressively smooth interface. A massive interface update dubbed the "New Xbox One Experience" was released in November 2015 that has improved some of the dashboard's logistics and aesthetics, but it's still hanging on to some lingering frustrations. But more on that later. Overall, Xbox One has had a great 2015 and is home to the best exclusives of the 2015 holiday season. In the short term, Xbox One makes a solid argument for ownership, but do 2016 and beyond look to be just as promising? To be clear, the two consoles are very closely matched. They offer a growing library of third-party games -- mainstays like the Call of Duty, Assassin's Creed and Madden series, as well as newer titles like Fallout 4 and Rainbow Six Siege are all available for both platforms. And both systems double as full-service entertainment systems, with built-in Blu-ray players and streaming services like Netflix, YouTube and Hulu. In our opinion, the PS4 still maintains an edge, with slightly smoother gameplay and a much more straightforward interface. But Xbox harbors a more mature media app ecosystem in the US and a decent list of exclusive titles. Xbox One will continue to have a solid 2015 in terms of exclusive software, but 2016 and beyond aren't as well defined. Editors' note, November 16, 2015 : This review has been updated to reflect the changes to the Xbox One platform including the November 12, 2015, New Xbox One Experience dashboard update. The console's overall score has improved from a 7.7 to an 8 and we've added one point to the design and value subcategories. Xbox One bundles. Xbox One is sold in what feels like a constantly expanding bundle market. In fact, don't buy the console if it doesn't come with at least one game. At any given time the odds are there's a bundle that includes a game that's right for you. For the most part, the Kinect camera-microphone array has been eliminated from bundles, but you can still purchase the original tandem for around $400 or more. Alternately, you can buy the Kinect module separately (usually with a game included) for $150. That said, we really can't recommend Kinect for much of anything. No matter when you decide to buy an Xbox One, odds are you'll find a compelling bundle or discounted special pricing. Major Xbox One exclusive games (available now or soon): - Forza Motorsport 6. - Rise of the Tomb Raider (timed exclusive) - Halo: Master Chief Collection. - Titanfall (also available on PC) Major Xbox One exclusive games due in 2016 and beyond: Xbox One pros. Here are the areas where the Xbox One excels -- and where it occasionally has an edge over the PS4: Media apps. The Xbox One has a slightly better lineup of streaming apps than any other current-generation console. It has roughly twice as many offerings as the PS4. Some notable wins here include Comedy Central, Fox and FX Now, MTV, Bravo Now, NBC, Starz, TED, USA Now, Verizon FiOS TV and Skype (Microsoft-owned) -- none of which are available on PlayStation 4 at the current time. Xbox One is also home to EA Access, a subscription early-access program that gives members a chance to play games a few days before they're released and provides access to a growing list of EA legacy games. Media playback. Xbox One now has a media player app that will play nearly any file format you throw at it -- off a drive or anything discoverable on your home network, like another PC or NAS (network attached storage). The Xbox One media app also lets you customize the dashboard with a custom photo wallpaper. As of June 2015, the PS4 has a media player app too. Kinect advantages. Kinect is an ambitious attempt to integrate voice control and motion gesturing with live TV, interface navigation and some gaming elements. That said, it's definitely taken a backseat in terms of priority. In fact, we don't think Microsoft even said the word "Kinect" at the company's E3 2015 press conference. It's also no longer bundled with a new retail Xbox One. But, if you're still intrigued by its potential, when it works, Kinect technology brings with it an "aha" moment straight out of a sci-fi movie. Kinect lets you change the channel, volume and other items using only your voice. Its problems, however, are documented later in this review. Other features of the Xbox One experience can be accessed or activated with hand gestures and voice commands. You can say, "Xbox, record that," and the console will save the last chunk of gameplay to the hard drive. The list of voice-control triggers is lengthy. Of course, the Kinect is available only in the more expensive $400-and-up Xbox One bundle. However, if you buy the entry-level no-Kinect bundle and decide you want to upgrade, you can buy a standalone Kinect later for $149, £130 or AU$170 (usually bundled with a game). Sarah Tew / CNET. The Xbox One controller. While it's not necessarily what I'd call a vast improvement over the Xbox 360's stellar input device, the Xbox One's controller is a solid and mostly comfortable handheld. Microsoft has totally revamped the problematic D-pad present on the Xbox 360 controller and opted instead for a clicky, tactile pad. Battery life is impressive on the controller, though it takes two AAs as opposed to the DualShock 4's internal rechargeable battery. (You can use your own rechargeables, or invest an extra $25, £19 or AU$30 per controller in Microsoft's Play and Charge Kit.) Microsoft debuted two new controllers around the time of E3 2015: a revamped controller with a 3.5mm headphone port and the Xbox One Elite Wireless Controller ($150/AU$199) which allows players to customize their pad with interchangeable D-pad pieces, analog sticks and triggers. That controller is also available in a bundle with a 1TB solid-state hybrid drive for $500. Both controllers can also be connected to a Windows PC with a Micro-USB cable or wirelessly to a Windows 10 PC with a $25 dongle. Related Links. BYO USB 3.0 storage. The PS4 has an easily accessible and replaceable hard drive, but the Xbox One's drive is not to be messed with. Instead, you can bring your own storage via an external hard drive over a USB 3.0 connection. And because USB 3.0 is faster than the Xbox One's internal stock drive, odds are you may see a slight bump in performance, too. Just make sure your external drive is 250GB or bigger. Cloud-synced game saves. Signing into any other Xbox One will give you access to all of your digital games and their respective game-saves. PS4 owners need to have PlayStation Plus to upload cloud saves, while Xbox One owners can do it without Xbox Live Gold. For what it's worth, the cloud game-saving feature is definitely better on Xbox One. Going from console to console is a much smoother experience. Gold no longer required for basically everything. It took a while, but an Xbox Live Gold membership is no longer needed to access apps like Netflix and Skype. You still need it to play multiplayer games online, but the massive restrictions on other functionality have mostly been lifted. Always-on has a bright side. While the Xbox One's always-on feature has been a point of some contention, jumping right into a game from live TV is nothing short of brilliant. Xbox One will suspend your most recently played game while you watch TV or do other things and when you rejoin your game session it's resurrected with absolutely no loading time. Of course, if you don't use your Xbox One with live TV there's really no reason to keep the console on 24-7, save for receiving updates when you're not using the console. PlayStation 4 added the majority of the functionality described here with a firmware update. Exclusive games and content. Microsoft has secured a number of high-profile exclusive deals for content with third-party games like Evolve and early beta access to a number of games including Tom Clancy's The Division. Xbox One also has a solid roster of exclusive franchises including the Forza, Halo, Fable, and now the Sunset Overdrive and Titanfall series. A more detailed list of exclusives can be found at the top of this review. Xbox Games with Gold. While it debuted with an underwhelming selection of free titles, Xbox's Games with Gold monthly giveaway lets Xbox Live Gold members download two Xbox One games for free. The caliber of these titles has started to improve, but still isn't as impressive as the entire PlayStation Plus package. Backward compatibility. Included in the November 2015 "New Xbox One Experience," the Xbox One now offers limited backward compatibility with a handful of Xbox 360 games. Around 100 Xbox 360 games currently work , and Microsoft will let each developer decide whether to allow legacy play for its existing 360 games. Windows 10 game streaming. With the introduction of Windows 10 and the "New Xbox One Experience," Xbox One owners can now stream games to their PC with the Xbox Windows 10 app. For more on that specific experience, check out CNET's Windows 10 review. Over-the-air DVR. New Xbox One Experience. In a November 2015 update, Microsoft completely redesigned the dashboard interface for the Xbox One. We've outlined its major features here . Long story short, the new dashboard is easier to navigate and more logically laid out. But a lot of the fundamental shortcomings like slow game installations still plague the system. Most of the back-end settings like app and game management remain unchanged. We'll continue to keep our eye on the Xbox One's dashboard and update this review with significant changes. Xbox One cons. Here are the areas where the Xbox One leaves room for improvement. System interface. Even with the New Xbox One Experience in place, the console's interface leaves room for improvement. Compared with the PS4's, it's at times confusing, especially when navigating through the system's settings. Overall it's undoubtedly better, but still, two years after release, navigating through the Xbox One takes some getting used to. The New Xbox One Experience. Kinect's shortcomings and annoyances. If you're not interested in getting an Xbox One with a Kinect, skip ahead. But if you're on the fence about spending the extra cash on Microsoft's microphone/infrared/camera technology, read onward. Given the short list of positives Kinect brings to the table, more often than not it's a pain to endure. I've had Kinect attached to my Verizon FiOS cable box for over a year, and it's been nothing but a love/hate relationship. Half the time Kinect will operate flawlessly, other times it's a frustrating mess. Kinect still has never understood the channel voice command "HGTV." It seems to miss other commands quite often, too, with no real explanation as to why something wasn't understood. The system will also not let you watch TV before a system update has been installed. The fact that the console can actually prevent you from watching TV is a huge issue. At the end of the day, Xbox One's ambitious live TV and other extracurriculars get in the way of it being a focused gaming system. Navigating the interface seems to be much more problematic than it rightfully should be, and there's simply not enough transparency in the logic within it. There are oddities peppered throughout, which is the root for countless headaches and frustrations. For now, I just can't recommend Xbox One with Kinect because of the numerous shortcomings the tandem continues to exhibit. Save your money and buy Xbox One without its camera-microphone array. Installation times. Even though the Xbox One and PS4 have similar optical drive hardware, Xbox One lags behind PS4 in some installation times. Xbox One starts installing a game once a disc is inserted and then will flash a "ready to start" message when the game can be booted up before it's done completely installing. In a small sample comparison, Xbox One fell behind PS4's installation time. For Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, the PS4 was ready to play in 2 minutes 30 seconds as opposed to the Xbox One's 8 minutes. Assassin's Creed Unity also installed in 2 minutes 30 on PS4 but wasn't ready to go until 3 minutes 42 on Xbox One. Installation times will vary by game, but when I used a stopwatch to time the consoles side by side, the PS4 came in faster nearly every time. Oddly enough, it seems Xbox One will install a game more quickly when no other features are being used. This includes watching live TV. Independent games. There are independent games available for Xbox One and a smattering of others coming down the road, but not as frequently or as plentiful as they are on PS4. Xbox One owners will get occasional gems like Max: The Curse of the Brotherhood, Ori and the Blind Forest, and the yet-to-be-released Below. Like PS4, Xbox One also has console-exclusive deals in place for titles like Cuphead and INSIDE. To be fair, a lot of the PS4's indie offerings are only console exclusives as well. Xbox One owners also have access to the fruits of ID@Xbox, which have already given way to titles such as Super Time Force and Sixty Second Shooter. Indie fans aren't totally out of luck on Xbox One; there's just a shorter list of titles to play. Broadcasting and sharing. Xbox One offers broadcasting through a Twitch app, but it's nowhere as seamlessly integrated as it is on PS4. The experience is bound to get better, but for now, streaming and social sharing is way better on PS4. As for now, Xbox One doesn't allow for YouTube streaming. Taking a screenshot isn't as easy as the single-button press it should be, so it's tough to get that instant shot you want. The way screenshots and videos are captured feels shoehorned in, so we'd really like Microsoft to figure out an easier way to provide access to capturing in-game content. Using the Upload Studio app, Xbox One users can share clips to Xbox Live, OneDrive and Twitter. Xbox One vs. PS4. There's not likely to be a definitive winner in the current-generation console wars. While the PlayStation 4 had a clear advantage at launch, that edge is slowly evaporating as Microsoft has worked feverishly to undo most of the Xbox One's original missteps. The two consoles are now similarly priced and offer many of the same features. For what it's worth, at the time of this writing, the PlayStation 4 is closing in on 30 million units sold. The Xbox One is estimated to have sold about roughly half that. Right now the PS4 and the Xbox One are neck-and-neck with exclusives -- though the PS4 also has a better range of digital-only titles. But taste in games is always subjective; either those games will appeal to you or they won't. Each console manufacturer has made exclusivity deals with various developers, so the sad reality is you're going to miss out on something great no matter which platform you choose. You might read about the PS4's specs trumping those of the Xbox One, but it's important to keep in mind how that translates to actual results. You'll remember that the PS3 was originally poised to be a massive powerhouse that would leap past the Xbox 360, but in reality it didn't perform much better. You could even make the argument that most multiplatform games played more smoothly and looked better on the Xbox 360. That said, at the time of this writing (and having considered most of the multiplatform games currently available), the PS4 does seem to perform slightly better than the Xbox One. These two consoles are constantly evolving, and the competition is only ramping up. We'll continue to check back in on both the Xbox One and PS4 as they continue to evolve. Xbox One Controller – A review for PC gamers. Hey adblock user! Would you mind whitelisting us? We run one ad at the top and one in the sidebar, that's it, no popups, no auto-playing videos. It would really help us cover our costs. Without advertising revenue we couldn't bring you any content and we really don't feel our ads spoil the site at all. Thank you! Update – It has come to our attention that it’s actually possible to use the Windows 7/8 Xbox One pad drivers under Windows 10, at least while using the controller with a USB cable rather than by the wireless adapter. By doing this, the pads analogue triggers are mapped in the same way as they were on the Xbox 360 pad, both triggers to the Z axis. You can even toggle between the two layouts by changing between “Xbox Controller” and “Xbox Gaming Device 6.2.22058.0” in device manager (full tutorial here). While it’s disappointing to have to go back to the old layout that didn’t work well with so many driving games, at least this layout doesn’t break compatibility entirely with many titles. Major Nelson originally posted these drivers on his blog here. The download links have since been removed, but luckily you can still grab the 32 bit driver here and the 64 bit driver here. If those links stop working let me know and I’ll find some alternative arrangements. We don’t yet know if using these drivers breaks compatibility with things like the Xbox One chatpad or the firmware update tool. Update – Yes the old drivers do break chatpad compatibility… *sigh*. The original Xbox 360 controller quickly established itself as a standard controller for modern PC games, thanks to Microsoft’s new XInput API and wide support for the controller in recent PC titles. Choose the Xbox 360 controller and no longer do you have to suffer the indignity of being told “press button 1 on your controller”, when all the inputs are labelled with letters. Yes, it’s great that on the PC, I could use a Wiimote in Skyrim if I really wanted to, but sometimes the biggest strengths of the platform can be weaknesses too. There’s certainly something to be said for standardised controller layouts when it comes to actually playing games. Of course, the Xbox 360 is no longer Microsoft’s flagship games console. With their newest console, the Xbox One, Microsoft took the opportunity to redesign the controller and make some subtle but significant changes. There are plenty of reviews of this new controller available on-line, but despite drivers having been available for some time now, few take a really in-depth look at its performance on the PC, so that’s what we’ll be doing today. Xbox One Controller – Familiar but different. The Xbox One controller ships in an unremarkable green box, with the familiar Microsoft/Xbox One branding on it. Inside the box, you get the controller itself and a set of AA batteries. What you don’t get is either a USB cable or a wireless receiver, you will need to add one or the other in order to use the device on the PC. The old Xbox 360 wireless receiver is not compatible with the new pad. Thankfully any standard micro-USB cable will work. Attach the controller like this to any spare USB port on your PC and Windows 10 will detect the pad and download the drivers automatically. The pad itself feels instantly familiar to those of us who are used to the old 360 pad. In keeping with recent Microsoft traditions, the Select and Start buttons have been re-labelled with some strange hieroglyphic symbols. The analogue sticks feel a tiny fraction softer than on the old pad and the triggers feel a little spongier, but both perform well in use. The analogue triggers also protrude slightly further out from the pad. I didn’t anticipate this being a problem, but while getting used to the pad I did find myself catching the triggers accidentally thanks to my muscle memory from all the years of using the 360 controller. One element of the old 360 pad that was often criticised was the D-pad. The old 360 D-pad was notorious for slipping down into diagonals thanks to its wobbly design. The new Xbox One D-pad is a massive improvement. To test the pad, I fired up a selection of Mame games such as Pac-Man, Rolling Thunder and Dig Dug. The D-pad performed excellently in these classic titles, with only Pac-Man really causing me to question if a mistake was down to a pad slip or just my own clumsiness. Overall I still feel that the Sega Saturn controller is the gold standard when it comes to D-pads, but the Xbox One D-pad puts in a commendable performance. XInput vs DirectInput in a nutshell. In PC gaming, there are two main API standards for reading and interfacing with controllers. DirectInput (often abbreviated to Dinput) came first and is what the majority of games used before XInput came along. DirectInput is highly flexible and works with a huge range of controllers. XInput on the other hand was really designed around the Xbox controller. According to Microsoft it’s much easier for programmers to support than DirectInput, but it lacks some of the advanced features of DirectInput. Like the Xbox 360 controller, the Xbox One controller supports both XInput and DirectInput, at least to some degree. Performance – Xinput and recent games. In most instances the Xbox One controller can be used as a direct replacement for the Xbox 360 controller for recent (XInput compatible) games. The buttons will map in exactly the same way and it’s then just a matter of getting used to the slightly different triggers. Bizarrely, there is at least one game (Sonic and Sega All Stars Racing Transformed) that doesn’t work with the pad at all, presumably due to shoddy programming (like many games in this genre, the PC port was almost certainly somewhat of a rush job). While this only affects a small number of games, it’s nevertheless quite disappointing and means you will need to keep your 360 controller on hand, just in case. Performance – DirectInput and legacy games. Notice the Z axis is at 0 despite the controller being at rest here. Poor DirectInput support on the Xbox 360 controller has always been a bone of contention between PC gamers and Microsoft. Although the 360 pad works perfectly fine in a large number of DirectInput titles, Microsoft made the decision to map both of the pads analogue triggers to the same axis. So, by squeezing the left analogue trigger all the way down, you’d set the axis to the minimum, and by squeezing the right analogue trigger all the way down, you would set the axis to the maximum. The problem with this is that it doesn’t work well in a lot of games, especially driving games. If you want to perform some advanced racing manoeuvres you will often want to touch both the throttle and the brake at the same time and since these controls were mapped to the same axis, that wouldn’t work. There were various workarounds for this problem, including alternative pad drivers, but none of them were terribly convenient and each had their own caveats too. For the Xbox One pad, Microsoft has at least tried to remedy this behaviour. Each analogue trigger is now assigned to a different axis. This is good news for the most part. We tested the controller in the classic racing game Rallisport Challenge and indeed it did allow for proper, individual control of the throttle and brake. Classic racing game Trackmania didn’t fare so well however. No matter how we configured the controller, the game would always think we were trying to accelerate or brake while not touching either input. While this game is notorious for its poor controller support, it highlights an important issue with the Xbox One controllers DirectInput support. Usually when an axis is at rest, it’s value is set somewhere in the middle of the range, or half way up the axis, if you prefer. Microsoft decided that the triggers should have a zero value when at rest, or all the way down the axis if you prefer. This does allow for a wider range of input on the analogue axis, but lots of games assume that the input is a joystick or a throttle control where 0 is the control pulled back to its furthest negative extreme. This can confuse some software that thinks the control is permanently pressed when it is not. This can actually be a significant problem in some software. Trying to configure controls in some emulators is now pretty much impossible, although software such as Xpadder can help work around the issue in some cases. Ideally we’d have liked to have seen a toggle that allows the controllers triggers to be toggled between 0 and centre when at rest. Given that Microsoft isn’t the best at supporting DirectInput on Xbox controllers though, don’t hold your breath for this functionality to be added any time soon. If it is, we’ll update the review accordingly. Xbox button and Windows 10 features. Want to remap your controller? Spend more money. If you’ve already upgraded to Windows 10, you can use the Xbox One controller to perform a few basic functions. By pressing the Xbox button on the pad, more Microsoft hieroglyphics will appear over the game you are playing, allowing you to take screen-shots and videos. That’s the theory anyway, the overlay doesn’t work in every game, in fact it seems to work in far less titles than either Steam or Evolve. In many games, pressing the Xbox button simply makes the screen flash. The recording and screenshot functions work well, though we can’t imagine many people would use these features in preference to either Steam or Evolve, since these overlays already have much more functionality. There’s also a Windows 10 exclusive app called the “Xbox Accessories” app. This lets you update the firmware on the controller. This worked without a hitch with our controller, though we’re not exactly sure what benefit there was to updating the firmware. The app also lets you remap triggers and other inputs, that is if you’ve shelled out over £100 for the “Elite” controller, otherwise that’s not possible. Headset performance. The controller also includes a standard 3.5mm headphone jack for attaching suitable gaming headsets. When tested with a basic ear-piece headphone, the audio seemed excessively quiet. If the opportunity arises to test other headsets with the controller, this review will be updated, but for now keep in mind that you may need to connect your headset directly to the PC rather than through the controller if you want to hear what your friends are saying. Conclusions. The Xbox One pad is a comfortable controller with excellent analogue sticks and a great D-pad too. It’s a real shame that Microsoft implemented the new DirectInput drivers in such a way as to break compatibility with a significant number of games. By fixing the old analogue axis problem in some games, they’ve gone and created a host of new problems in others. Given this rather thorny issue, it’s difficult to recommend the Xbox One controller just now, although the prospect of a fully supported chatpad to use with Steam or Evolve is quite tantalising (a review of the chatpad will be published in the near future). For now, we’d recommend keeping your 360 controllers and just buying a different pad (such as the Logitech F310) if you need full DirectInput compatibility. Official Xbox One Wireless Controller - £42.88 - Amazon.co.uk. Build Quality - 9. Ease of Use - 9. Features - 7. Software Quality - 4. Overall - 6. A good controller, but difficult to recommend over the original, Xbox 360 pad. 2 comments. With regards to analog triggers, I had similar issue with the Mayflash Gamecube adapter in USB mode. The Mayflash mapped the analog triggers as separate axes with the triggers -100% without the triggers actuated and full +100% when pressed in. I don’t use Xbox controllers but it is a common problem with many USB controller adapter configurations for game controllers that utilize analog triggers. Whatever axis the analog trigger is connected is always actuated and many games that map USB controllers just wait for the first input that is pressed and it is impossible to tell the software to ignore specific inputs. Interesting to know, if it’s a common problem I wonder why there seems to be quite a few programs that are incompatible with this configuration. Leave a Reply Cancel reply. Your Shopping Cart. Search Site. Get your OSSC. OSSC’s are in stock now! Click here to get yours! Categories. AV Guides (22) Console Guides (15) DIY Guides (1) DVDO Edge Guides (4) Emulator Guides (4) PC Guides (14) Gaming News (8) Retrogaming news (22) Site News (110) Accessories (1) AV Equipment (49) Cables (11) Controllers & Adapters (5) Hardware (26) Software (2) Sites in our network. Other stuff we love. © 2018 ACEL Systems Ltd. VideoGamePerfection.com is a trading name of ACEL Systems Ltd. All rights reserved. Use of this Site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy. By using this site you accept that we use cookies, for more information, click here. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of ACEL Systems Ltd. Registered in England No 10981211. VAT registration number:- 255 0063 34. By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. more information Accept. Like virtually every other website, we use cookies to make your browsing experience better. Due to some crazy EU bureaucracy, we're now required to tell you this explicitly. The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this. Best game controllers for Windows PC (updated July 2016) By Brian Crecente @crecenteb. on Jul 26, 2016 at 1:16pm. Windows 10 has a lot of interesting hooks built into it. My current favorite is the ever-growing integration between the computer operating system and the Xbox One. If you own an Xbox One controller, you can use it to play games on your PC. Yes, sure, mouse and keyboard, mouse and keyboard, mouse and keyboard. But what about . gamepad. Table of Contents. A lot of different Windows 10-compatible controllers have come to the market in the past year. Like, a lot a lot. There's the Xbox One Elite controller; Razer has one; PowerA does, too; and let's not forget about Valve's funky Steam Controller. In this guide we'll walk you through what each of these controllers has to offer and how they feel. But first, let's talk a bit about controller modding. Why mod a controller? As some PC gamers have grown to accept, and even embrace, the idea of playing a computer game with a gamepad, the options for those players have blossomed. Gone are the days when a third-party controller meant something gaudy, cheap or both. Now some of the best gamepads on the market come from companies that specialize in peripherals. " Before we founded Scuf Gaming 5 years ago, third-party controllers were more about offering a cost effective controller option or a controller with cosmetic enhancements," said Duncan Ironmonger, CEO and co-founder of the controller company. " We felt there was a gap in the market for professional controllers that enabled hardcore gamers to use more of their hand in an ergonomic way. With billions of dollars being spent by game developers, we felt a 'one size fits all' model for controllers was outdated. Our objective was to rethink how controllers were being used and offer hardcore and professional gamers more functionality through increased hand use and reduced latency. We invented several key features to achieve this objective and have since been granted over 17 patents with another 38 filed." All of that started, though, when Scuf's Simon Burgess hacked together a custom controller using switches and his daughter's hair clips to add paddles to the back of his over-the-counter controller. Windows Wireless Xbox adapter. While Windows 10 includes support for Xbox One and Xbox 360 wired controllers, it doesn't natively support wireless controllers. In June 2015, the company announced that it was coming out with a solution to remedy that problem: a $25 adapter. The Xbox Wireless Adapter for Windows, which came out in late October, plugs into a USB port on any Windows 10 computer, and can support up to eight controllers at a time along with four chat headsets or two stereo headsets. It's a relatively seamless, albeit slightly pricey option for bringing wireless gamepad gaming to Windows 10, something that is especially useful if you ever stream gameplay from your Xbox One to your Windows machine. During my time with the adapter I never ran into any binding issues, nor did I notice any perceptible lag. Purists, though, will likely want to avoid any wireless play and stick to the reliability and speed of a wired connection. Nowadays, the company strips down official first-party controllers and rebuilds them from the ground up with Scuf's own tech and a customer's specifications. The most popular modification is the paddle control system, which adds paddles to the back of the controller that can be assigned to the actions typically triggered by face buttons. Other popular mods include hair triggers to reduce latency, thumbsticks with different height and shapes, an improved directional pad, and controller grips. "Over the last 5 years we have educated the professional gaming community on how to use more of their hand and adopt our features to improve gameplay," Ironmonger said. "These features truly work which is why over 90 percent of pros use Scuf controllers in shooters." While Scuf made its name by satisfying the controller needs of hardcore and pro gamers, these days, the company's customers are designed for a much broader segment of the market. "A lot [of] very young gamers buy Scuf controllers because they find the paddles intuitive and also their parents are more educated on hand strain and injuries caused by holding a controller using techniques like Claw," Ironmonger said. "Paddles prevent the need to do this. We also find a lot of older gamers, some well into their 60s using Scuf controllers because of the reduced hand movement, providing for a more comfortable gaming experience." While Scuf does a lot of hardware modifications to its controllers, one thing the company doesn't do is provide an option for software mods or macros. These modifications can do things like trigger multiple button pushes, or tie a button push to an action. For instance, a popular mod can make a player's character in a first-person shooter automatically drop to the ground every time they fire a weapon. Another popular mod increases the fire rate of weapons. "Scuf Gaming [is] partnered [with] and endorsed by all the professional gaming leagues," Ironmonger said. "In Console Gaming, macros and rapid fire are cheat functions and illegal. Scuf will never provide cheat modifications." But that hasn't stopped other companies from selling software-modded controllers. Evil Controllers got its start in the spring of 2007, when founder Adam Coe was sitting around in his University of Arizona dorm room trying to figure out how to improve his gameplay. "I was a big Halo 2 player," he said. "I wanted to get better, so I started researching on the web and watching videos. I realized relocating buttons would give me a tremendous advantage." Over a spring break, Coe reworked a controller with tiny reprogrammable buttons on the back. "Initially, it was all about button remapping; macros came afterward," he said. Coe quickly found a market for his hand-rewired controllers, and soon afterward, hooked up with a self-taught programmer in North Carolina who offered to do the work on the mods. "We've been working together for eight years now," Coe said. "We do it all by hand. We make controllers for disabled gamers, too." Evil controllers come reprogrammed with the ability to turn on a selection of mods including the aforementioned dropshot, the ability to tweak fire rates and other controversial modifications. Coe said that any modifications, even the hardware ones, were long looked down upon in the industry. But that seems to be slowly changing, at least for the hardware tweaks. These days, he said, button remapping is allowed, but not macros, turbo buttons or "anything like that." " That's what they consider cheating," Coe said. "The beauty of the modded controller industry is that it is essentially undetectable." Coe noted that games have tried, but not typically succeeded in, detecting software mods. One shooter, he said, would lock out your weapon if it sensed you were pulling the trigger too fast, but that impacted some players who could do that without modding. "I believe detection is something you can't do efficiently," he said. Legally, he added, you are allowed to do whatever you want with a controller you own. "It's like the car industry," he said. "You can't stop someone from modifying their car." "It's like wearing better basketball shoes." Coe noted that game publishers and platform holders don't condone using modded controllers online, but he added that Evil Controllers doesn't, either. Reached for comment while working on this story, Microsoft officials initially declined to discuss whether using a software-modded controller could result in a ban from Xbox Live. When pressed for an answer, they pointed us to the Xbox Live terms of service agreement with no other comment. The issue remains, at best, in a gray area. While Coe said he doesn't condone using Evil controllers in online matches, he also doesn't see it as cheating. "Anyone can dropshot by pulling the right trigger and pressing the B button," he said. "For people who don't play often and get their butts kicked, [mods make] games more fun. "It’s like wearing better basketball shoes." Evil Controllers. Founded in 2007 out of a college dorm, Evil Controllers is likely one of the largest branded creators of software-modded controllers in the world. The small business hand-tweaks every controller it sells, reworking all of the inner mechanics of a standard controller to make it better, and then adding in a homemade chip that gives the controller a buffet of special functions — like the ability to fall flat to the ground automatically in a shooter every time you fire, or increase the fire rate of weapons. The result is a controller with powerful helper macros that so straddle the gray line between what is and isn't allowed by console makers that Microsoft declined to comment about it directly for this story. The software mods have to be a big part of the initial attraction for these controllers with on-the-fly remapping of functions like dropshot, auto run and auto scope, but after spending some time with the controller, I discovered that the mechanical refinements of the Evil controllers are just as powerful. But first, those software macros. The heart of Evil Controllers' mod system is called the Master Mod. The Xbox One and Windows PC version of the Master Mod includes 20 slots for different profiles to be used when playing different games. To set everything up, players first hold the X button and then tap the directional pad to the right to select a specific slot (e.g., five times to the right for slot five). Once a profile is selected, the player holds the D-pad in a specified direction and taps a corresponding button to turn on a mod or tweak the fire rate of weapons. So, a player would hold down on the D-pad and and tap the B button to turn on dropshot. The mod also allows for minute tweaking of the rate of fire. While you can adjust mods by simply tapping buttons on the controller, you probably shouldn't try to do this in game. Results seem to vary, and you're likely to die a lot. Turning on dropshot alone for a play session or two, I was shocked by how much an impact the mod had on my kill-to-death ratio. Playing a warmup round or two, I was averaging 0.75 or so. (Yes, terrible.) With dropshot on, my ratio rocketed to 3.75 or so. While a bulk of that was most certainly due to the mod that had me falling to the ground as soon as I fired, thereby almost always dodging initial return fire, the hardware tweaks to the controller also likely contributed to that amazing spike in kills. Evil starts out with stock first-party controllers and then completely tears them apart to improve a number of things. The face buttons, for instance, are pulled apart and the rubber receiver under each one replaced with a button. This, I was told, makes the face buttons feel and act more like mouse clicks. By shortening the travel distance, it also reduces the time it takes the game to react to a button press. Evil also reduces the travel distance and tension on the triggers, and makes them more sensitive to a pull. And the company adds two extra buttons to the back of its controllers; both look like small black buttons. Evil opts for buttons rather than the paddles seen on Scuf, Steam and Xbox Elite controllers because the company believes they're more comfortable and natural. Finally, Evil offers a variety of colors and prints for its controllers, as well as lighting effects and colors. The final result is a slick remake of a controller that features some powerful tools and tweaks. Because the controller is literally a rebuilt stock controller, it requires little to no time to get used to its design. I found that I adjusted to the better buttons and triggers very quickly, but rarely used those back buttons. It was nice to have them, but I think — as with back paddles — those are creations designed for someone willing to sit down and practice using them. The downside of the controller is that many people — maybe rightfully so — will view your use of it as cheating. Even turning off those mods, because there's no way to prove you did, won't likely stop those accusations. (You can read a bit more about Evil Controllers' thoughts on that accusation and what it all means in our section on modded controllers above.) If that sort of thing doesn't bother you, or you plan on picking this up for offline campaign play, I'd highly recommend the controller, both for its redesign and its powerful mods. Logitech Wireless F710 Gamepad. While several esports teams use Logitech keyboards, headsets and mice during tournament play, it's unlikely you'll ever find a team using the company's gamepads. That's because Logitech simply doesn't make a high-end controller. But I was still interested in checking out how its top controller — the $50 F710 — compares to controllers that can cost as much as five times that price. Unfortunately, even at that price point, the F710 isn't worth picking up. For $10 more you can purchase a PlayStation 4 or Xbox One controller. The biggest problem the F710 faces is that it relies on Bluetooth and a tiny dongle to connect to a PC. While I didn't run into any major issues, many of the top retail sites that sell the controller have plenty of reviews complaining about lag and dropped connections. The other chief complaint is the relatively short distance over which the connection will work. The controller does ship with a USB cord to extend the physical reach of that dongle, but it makes for a sloppy solution. Even if one were to put that major concern aside, the basic controller isn't very well-designed. The design of the controller and location of the batteries give the F710 a back weight that makes it feel like it might flip out of your hands if you let go. The horns of the controller, where you grip it, are more angled down and slightly shorter than most. For me, and I don't have large hands, that meant that my pinkies were gripping the very tips of those horns as I played — an uncomfortable feeling. The thumbsticks feel a bit too tight, and the face buttons seem to have a bigger drop than even the standard Xbox One controller. The triggers are surprisingly tight, making the pull on them noticeably harder, and the bumpers are small squares rather than rectangles. The F710 does support both Xinput and Directinput, which means it is likely to work with a broader variety of non-traditional games. That also includes Android TV. The one major positive for the controller is its directional pad, which relies on four individual switches rather than a single pivot point. It's surprising that a company that makes such well-designed mechanical keyboards and mice can so thoroughly overlook the burgeoning market for solid, high-end controllers. Even if that is in Logitech's future, the company is going to have to do a lot of work to get over the name it's made for itself as a sloppy controller creator. PowerA Fusion Pro. PowerA isn't exactly the brand I think of when I'm considering which high-end gamepad to buy for my Windows gaming needs. The Washington-based accessory company is probably better known for its extensive line of branded mini-controllers, Skylanders play sets, console accessories and smartphone gamepads. But the company's recently released Fusion Pro controller is a surprisingly solid gamepad, even if you don't consider that it sells for the relatively low price of about $80. The wired Fusion Pro includes a 9-foot braided USB cable, four buttons on its back, trigger locks, custom thumbstick tops and the ability to change its built-in illumination (or turn it off) on the fly. The Fusion Pro is shaped slightly differently from the standard Xbox One gamepad, with rounded grips, and a little less weight to the controller. That light weight also means the controller feels a bit hollow, a bit cheap in places. The controller's directional pad also feels somewhat cheap and too tight for my liking. Fortunately, that's not the case with the face buttons, which feel fairly close to those on Microsoft's original Xbox One controller. The thumbsticks have just the right amount of tension and are topped with oversized, concave "platters." The platter (which is about the size of a nickel, compared to the Xbox One controller's smaller-than-a-dime top) feels like it's made of hard plastic, but the outer edge has a rubberized grip. The shafts of the thumbsticks are under a plastic sheath that appears to be ringed with a band of extra plastic or metal. The band is where the thumbstick touches the ring around the mini-joystick's base. The effect doesn't really equal the same buttery smoothness I've noticed in controllers like Microsoft's Elite. The design is likely more about the lighting effects that the controller includes than any tweak to how it feels. The Fusion Pro sports lighting effects around the base of both thumbsticks and from a V-shaped cutout below the start and menu buttons. Small, flat buttons in the very center of the controller's back are used to change the brightness of the lighting effects and shift through more than a dozen color options, including off, color cycling and color shifting. The colors for the thumbsticks and the color for the V-light are set independently. The triggers on the controller feel a bit larger, a bit flatter, than a traditional trigger, and they feel a bit tighter as well. Separate trigger locks for the right and left triggers allow you to greatly cut down on the travel space for a trigger pull. Finally, most importantly, the Fusion Pro features four additional buttons on its back. These aren't the paddles found in an array of controllers, nor the triggers that Razer's Wildcat sports, but flat buttons instead. The design reduces the possibility of accidentally triggering them, but it also makes using them when you want to much harder. I found the best way to use this controller was to shift my hand down slightly so that my middle fingers could press on the larger two of the buttons and my pointer fingers could press the smaller, higher buttons. When I tried playing with my middle fingers on the top buttons and my ring fingers on the lower buttons, I simply couldn't apply the pressure needed to click the larger buttons. It's not the best solution, but it does work once you get used to it. Programming those buttons requires pushing a special button on the front of the controller, tapping the button you want replicated and then tapping the one you want programmed. It's the least complex to change out of all of the controllers I tested. PowerA's Fusion Pro certainly doesn't stand up to the likes of Evil, Scuf, the Elite or the Wildcat, but it also comes in at a much lower price point. Ultimately, the decision to pick this up over a pricier competitor is going to come down to personal tastes, and how much value you see in higher-end parts and easier-to-use assignable buttons. Razer Wildcat. Before companies like Scuf and Evil were making controllers for pro gamers, Razer already had its first pro controller banned and unbanned from Major League Gaming. That short ban of the Razer Onza controller in 2010 isn't just an odd footnote in gaming history; it also shows how widespread specialized controllers have become in the half decade since. Where in 2010 customizable controllers were viewed with suspicion, today most pro gamers use them. According to Razer, that story of the Onza ban is also evidence of just how good the company's pro controllers are. It was such a good controller, Razer says, that it led to that temporary ban. Last year, Razer released its latest iteration on the pro gaming controller, the Wildcat. Razer says it took the lessons learned from the Onza and its predecessor, the Sabertooth, to design the Wildcat prototype. Then the company took that controller out to be tested by pro gamers, and refined it based on their reactions. What the company ended up with is a solid gaming controller that offers a slew of refinement, a few customization options and four programmable buttons on its back. The Wildcat's body feels a bit more shaped to the hand than the standard Xbox One controller's and, at 260 grams, weighs nearly 100 grams less than the Xbox One Elite controller. The thumbsticks are made of high-carbon steel and have a smooth feel to their motion, while the clicky face buttons seem to have much less travel than a standard controller's. The directional pad is slightly sunken in, but otherwise unmemorable. The big differentiator with the Wildcat comes with its back buttons. Instead of using paddles like the Elite, Steam controller or the Scuf, or tiny buttons like the Evil, the Wildcat has an extra pair of triggers on its back and an extra set of smaller bumpers located between the main bumpers and separated by the detachable braided fiber cable. Razer says it didn't take the decision to go with triggers instead of paddles lightly. The company said it researched the two options and found that paddles weren't as efficient as triggers and that triggers were easier to adjust to. Having spent months with a variety of controllers, I can say that using the Wildcat's back triggers was certainly a much easier process to get used to than paddles, but I can't say whether — once learned — the triggers are more efficient or better than paddles. All four extra buttons can be programmed on the fly with the use of the Wildcat's quick control panel. The panel sits at the bottom of the controller and features buttons for remapping, toggling between profiles, mic mute, and adjusting the volume balance between game and voice. To set a button up, you simply hold in the remap button and the button you want to trigger, and then tap the button you want it to emulate. It's so easy to do that I found myself adjusting button mapping between matches. While those extra back triggers never seemed to get in my way while playing — something I ran into with the paddles — they can be removed with an included screwdriver. The controller's main triggers feature both trigger stops and a hair trigger mode. The trigger stops physically reduce the distance a trigger has to travel to actuate from 18 degrees to five degrees. The hair trigger mode, which is turned on by using the remapping button, reduces the activation time of either or both of the triggers with the controller's firmware. The Razer Wildcat doesn't include things like interchangeable thumbsticks or extra directional pads, but it does come with Razer green rubber palm grips and two thumbstick grip caps. It's also worth noting that while the Wildcat's USB cable is detachable, the controller does not function wirelessly. That, the company said, is to ensure the fastest response time while playing. The Wildcat's $150 price tag puts it even with Microsoft's own Xbox One Elite controller. Both are solid, high-end controllers, so ultimately the decision for me would come down to the importance of the Elite's included interchangeable parts and whether I wanted back paddles or triggers on a controller. Scuf Infinity One. Where Evil Controllers splits its time between improving on the stock controller and creating a powerful suite of possibly bannable software mods, Scuf is singularly focused on reinventing the controller. Over the past five years, the company says, Scuff has helped to educate the pro gaming community about the benefits of custom controllers. These days, Scuf is overwhelmingly the controller choice for not just pro gamers, but increasingly for everyday gamers looking to find the perfect fit for their gaming habits. The key to Scuf's success seems to be twofold: the over-the-top design choices for customizing the controllers, and the slew of features that the company brings to its creations. (Scuf currently has 17 patents granted and another 38 filed.) The site (and CEO) quickly rattle off the Scuf controllers' most popular features: Hair trigger and trigger stop mechanisms Six different length and shape thumbsticks High-grade grips Directional pad total control disc Custom designs. But the thing that really put Scuf's name on the board is its paddle control system, the foundation of a Scuf controller and a selection every customer chooses when building out a custom controller. The paddle control system is a set of two or four vertical levers that rest on the back of the controller, each tied to a specific button or action on the front of the controller. It's an allowable hardware mod that helps pro players avoid using the "Claw," an uncomfortable method of holding the controller that involves gripping it between your first and middle fingers and using the pointer finger to press face buttons. With Scuf's paddles, players can avoid removing their thumbs from thumbsticks to press buttons, something that can cost a life in a high-level first-person shooter match. The patented mechanisms are so popular that Microsoft's own high-end controller uses a form of the licensed paddles. Last summer, Scuf released its Infinity One, the company's controller for Windows PC and Xbox One. The new controller is packed with a broad array of interesting features and is supported by an even more robust line of accessories. As with Evil, Scuf starts with a standard off-the-shelf body, then tears it apart and tweaks it, reworks it and adds to it. The end result is almost unidentifiable as a Microsoft controller. When designing a custom controller, players have a lot to choose from. Starting with the body, a player can choose to have the rumble motors removed from the controller to reduce interference during play. Other body options include custom front shell colors, patterns and prints; custom grips and LED colors. While the face buttons remain untouched, a player can customize the color of the ring that holds the thumbsticks in place, as well as the height and design of the thumbsticks themselves (Scuf offers three stick lengths, domed or concave styles, and five colors). Scuf also sells a pop-on control disc for the D-pad. Internally, the controller features new switches for a longer actuation life, improved haptic feedback (should you choose to keep it), and adjustable hair trigger and trigger stop mechanisms. Of course, the biggest addition Scuf brings to the controller market is its paddle control system. The paddles run from the top of the controller to just above the bottom, and in their latest iteration feature a larger surface and slightly tweaked design. The paddles are fully modular, meaning you can swap them around, add them or remove them on the fly without a screwdriver. The controller is designed to support zero, one, two, three or all four paddles at the same time. This reliance on quick, easy modification carries through to much of the Infinity One's design. For instance, the Scuf uses a rubberized, branded magnet to remap the paddles to different buttons on the fly. (That costs about $20 to include.) The thumbsticks can be swapped out by popping off the ring used to hold them in place with an included tiny plastic tool. And the hair trigger can be minutely adjusted with an included tiny screwdriver. Finally, the grips can be popped off fairly easily with another removal tool. The Infinity One lives up to its name with a seemingly unlimited number of ways to optimize and tweak your own controller. All of it costs money, but the end result is likely to be exactly what you have in mind. During my time with the controller, I enjoyed the feel of the pro grips, custom D-pad and thumbsticks, but would have liked there to be a bit of work done on those face buttons. The triggers, and the ability to tune them to the exact amount of draw you want, are fantastic. The D-pad's control disc, while a clever idea, didn't really stay on the controller when I was using it. That habit of popping off while in storage led to its disappearance about a week after I started using the controller. I like the idea of the paddles, but new to the idea and unaccustomed to buttons or paddles on the back of the controller, I found myself often accidentally triggering different buttons while in menus or even in gameplay. Fortunately, you can pop those paddles off fairly easily, but since they're such an integral part of Scuf's design, it seems like a waste to buy this controller and not use the paddles. I'm sure that given the time and interest, I and anyone could master using them; I just didn't find that necessary. If you're the sort of player who wants to customize the look and feel of your controller and still maintain the ability to tweak it easily over the course of its lifetime, Scuf is perfect for you. That obviously means it is a big draw for pro players, but its intricacy of tweakage and refinement of controls may be lost on less serious, less refined gamers. Sony DualShock 4 controller. I haven't talked about the standard Xbox One controller in this look at Windows PC gamepads because there's a high likelihood that if you're into gaming with a gamepad and own a Windows PC, you either own one or have tried one. But what about the PlayStation 4 controller? As Polygon's Dave Tach pointed out way back in 2013, the DualShock 4 is hands down the best controller Sony has ever made. "It blends the familiarity of a PlayStation controller with some positively charged evolution," he wrote. Dave — all of us, really — loved everything from the more tactile, rubbery feel of the body, to the longer grips, to the reworked buttons and triggers. Sure, the DualShock 4 doesn't feature any programmable back buttons, trigger stops or retuned face buttons, but if you're a big fan of the controller, it's great to know it works on Windows 10 pretty much straight out of the box. How straight out of the box? All I had to do was plug mine into a USB port using the standard cable, and it was instantly recognized and worked. The games I tested even showed the right visual cues for the buttons (triangle, circle, X and square instead of Y, B, A and X, respectively). The games used the clickable touchpad as a giant start button and the options button as an options button. The DualShock 4's Share button and PlayStation button didn't do anything, though while testing it in settings Windows did recognize the inputs. At $60, the DualShock 4 comes in at the same price as the Xbox One controller, so it's a great alternative if you're just looking for a better handgrip and different design. (Don't forget the DualShock 4's thumbsticks are parallel, not offset). Valve Steam Controller. While 2015 was a banner year for Windows PC controllers, the mix of gamepads didn't necessarily offer much in the way of variety. Sure, we saw more controllers with back-of-gamepad inputs and tweaked, more sensitive buttons and triggers, but that's just about refining an existing standard. There was one major exception, though: Valve's Steam Controller. Instead of working to eke more performance out of the existing standards, Valve did what it does best: It reinvented the wheel. The Steam Controller is like nothing I've tried before, an input device meant to both mimic the controls of a console gamepad, but also give a sense of using the much more precise mouse and then throwing in significant motion controls to the mix. The controller still features twin grips and a rectangular body, but even the overall shape is a tweak on what you might expect. Most significantly, the entire controller feels almost upside down when you pick it up. That's because the grips, which typically curve down on a controller, curve up slightly on the Steam Controller. This gives you a bit more stability and makes motion controlling a bit more precise, but it also takes some getting used to. The face of the controller has also been completely redesigned. The Steam Controller has a single thumbstick placed where you'd usually find the D-pad on a standard Xbox One controller. To the right of that, where the Xbox One controller usually has its right thumbstick, the Steam controller has its tiny face buttons, labeled A, X, Y and B, just like on the Xbox One. Moving up and toward the outer edges of the controller, where you'd typically find the left thumbstick and face buttons, are two oversized circular pads. The one on the right is completely smooth, and the one on the left has a giant plus sign sunken slightly into its face. These are touchpads that can also be clicked in different directions. In the center of the controller is a Steam button, with smaller rectangular buttons on either side of it. The top of the controller features two very clicky bumpers and two triggers, and the back of the controller has a large, oddly-shaped piece of plastic that sticks out slightly from the body and wraps around into the grips. It can be clicked on either grip. A release switch on the bottom of the controller pops off that piece of plastic to give you access to the two AA batteries used to power the controller. When the Steam Controller first hit, I wasn't very impressed with how it performed when I used it as a standard controller in games like first-person shooters. At the time, I wrote that the controller was bound to be a polarizing gamepad, one players would either love or hate. As odd as the controller's oversized touchpads feel and look initially, it didn't take me long to fall in love with them. I spent way too much time in Steam's menus just tooling the pointer around with the right thumbpad, feeling it rumble under my thumb like a drumroll. There's something very satisfying about controlling a mouse pointer with the pad. Maybe it's the feedback, maybe it's the sense of reinvention — that somehow Valve has figured out a way to build a better mouse — but I couldn't get enough of it. I noticed that if I slid my thumb sideways across the pad, the pointer could pick up a little speed. Then I noticed that if I did it quickly enough and let go, it continued to rumble, as if I had just passed my hand quickly across an old-school controller ball in an arcade game like Marble Madness or Tempest . I sat on my couch for a bit, popping my thumb across the surface, first one way, then the other, feeling the controller roll along without me. Problems arose, though, when I tried using the controller to play shooters. The problem seemed to be in my thumb's ability to deliver fine precision movement. The thumbstick, I believe, takes slightly bigger movements and translates them, at the end of that stick, into those tiny motions. The settings I tried with the thumbpad didn't seem to do that, at least not in the same way. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive felt like it was being too persnickety with my movements, making it hard for me even to hold the aim steady. Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel felt like it wasn't sensitive enough. The good news is that there is a vast array of programmable functionality built into SteamOS and the controller that allows you to adjust just about anything. You can save these control schemes and even share them. And Valve itself is working to create some solid templates as well. I was also blown away by how well the controller replicated mouse movement in a game. I set up the controller to work with Nuclear Throne , which isn't specifically designed for a controller, and it worked almost flawlessly. I also, more recently, tried my hand at Dota 2 , and was surprised at how well the controller worked in the MOBA. Since I first tried the controller, Valve has released a seemingly endless stream of updates for it. Each tweak of the controller, increased your ability to use it and added features asked for by gamers. Valve has done an amazing job of supporting this controller, and that's really its biggest draw. It's obvious that Valve wants to make this thing work, and the company is willing to put in the effort and time to both listen to its community and do what it can to deliver on requests as quickly as possible. Just last month, Valve updated players both with news on changes coming to the controller and also a lot of tips on how to get the most out of it. Ultimately, the Steam Controller is worth picking up not just because it offers a unique way to play your computer games (especially if you're sitting on a couch and not at a desk), but because of Valve's tremendous work to make sure it remains as innovative today as the day it was launched. Xbox Elite Wireless Controller. There is no clearer a sign that custom controllers are coming into their own than Microsoft's decision to create a high-end, customizable controller for the Xbox One. The Xbox Elite Wireless Controller is meant to be an improvement on the $100 million design of the standard Xbox One controller that ships with most Xbox One consoles. It is the byproduct of 18 months of research conducted in Microsoft's own research centers and in gamers' homes. The result is a controller that Microsoft says is designed for the top 1 percent of players, but attractive and useful to everyday gamers as well. The new controller features stainless steel thumbstick shafts (it ships with sets of standard, tall and domed sticks); reinforced rings around the thumbsticks; interchangeable faceted and standard directional pads; four removable horizontal back paddles; and a rubberized grip. The controller also includes a case and a braided cable. Instead of relying on tools to switch out the parts, everything that is interchangeable on the Xbox One Elite controller can be done quickly with your hands. Magnets hold your choice of thumbsticks and D-pad in place, making it super simple to swap them on the fly. The triggers each have physical trigger locks on the back of the controller that can be switched on or off at will. And the four back paddles are designed to be interchangeable and quickly added or removed. The Xbox Accessories app adds to the customization options by letting players adjust trigger minimum and maximum values, tweak thumbstick sensitivity, and assign essentially any input to any face button, paddle, trigger, D-pad direction or thumbstick click. While you can save an unlimited number of profiles on your Xbox One or Windows PC, you can only store two on the controller. A profile switch, below and in between the menu and options buttons, allows you to flip between the two at any time. It's a slick package, one that delivers a robust slate of options at a relatively low price. Better still, it feels like a solid upgrade from the packed-in Xbox One controller. That said, many core components of the controller remain mostly unchanged. The face buttons feel just like standard face buttons; the bumpers too don't feel like they've been noticeably redesigned. While Microsoft seems to have left most of the controller's inner workings alone, the company did add the sort of tweaks that will be most noticeable, like the reworked grips and that ring around the thumbsticks. That ring was designed specifically to both increase the life of the controller and smooth out the feel of using those thumbsticks. The result is smooth, effortless sweeps of the thumbsticks in games. While the paddles still remain a bit of a mystery to me, the Elite controller's horizontal design seems to make them a bit less obtrusive than Scuf's vertical design. And removing them if they get in your way is certainly simpler. Part of the licensing deal with Scuf that gave Microsoft the ability to use those paddles on the Elite controller also promised rights to Scuf to make accessories for the Elite. With a $150 entry price and the promise of a line of Scuf accessories, the Elite is a strong contender for step-up use, especially if you're not as worried about the nuance of color and control as some pro players might be. New Xbox One S Controller. Earlier this year, Microsoft added a wrinkle to its growing line of Xbox One controllers: The new Xbox One controller, which both ships with the Xbox One S and can be purchased on its own for $59.99. Where the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller remains one of the hands-down best high-end controllers you can pick up for the PC, the S controller introduces some much-desired features that the Elite doesn't yet offer. Chief among the changes is the new controller's Bluetooth support, a wonderful addition for PC gamers to allow for quick, easy connection to their gaming rig. The controller is also currently the only one that can be customized through Microsoft's Design Lab, allowing a player to select from a wide range of colors for everything from the bumpers and backing to the thumbsticks and directional pad. It's unclear how this new controller is going to fit into Microsoft's collection or if it will eventually replace the standard-issue Xbox controller, but I've been impressed with what it delivers at its price, so far. The new Xbox One controller looks very much like the original Xbox One controller initially. It feels very familiar as well, with one major exception. Where the grips of the original controller are smooth, the new controller has a subtle pattern to its horns. The grip is not nearly as noticeable as the rubberized, patterned grip found on the Elite, but it's a nice touch that seemed to help when my hands started to get a little sweaty. The thumbsticks, according to Microsoft, now feature a more durable design. They did feel a touch stiffer than the sticks on my original controller, but that's more than likely due to age. The real question is how the rubberized heads of the sticks will stand up over time. I've never had an issue with mine wearing down, but I know it's a problem for some gamers. If the rubber or the underlying plastic of the sticks has been upgraded, I couldn't tell. The directional pad feels slightly stiffer and has a much deeper click to it, instead of the original controller's louder, snappier sound. That said, they felt about the same. The same was true for both controllers' bumpers. The triggers on both sounded and felt identical to me. The weight and balance of the controller feels about the same. It doesn't come with a cable, but it does include a set of batteries and supports the accessories that are used by the original controller. That means you can still use your Play & Charge kit, chat headset, stereo headset, chatpad and more with it. The controller supports both Xbox One's proprietary wireless connection and Bluetooth. Connecting to a Alienware Alpha 2 was as simple as turning on the rig's Bluetooth and holding down the connection button on the new controller until the Xbox logo light started flashing. Once the controller was identified and accepted, the PC found and downloaded the software, and I was up and running. The Xbox Accessories app adds some layer of controller customization by letting players adjust trigger minimum and maximum values, tweak thumbstick sensitivity, and assign essentially any input to any face button, trigger, D-pad direction or thumbstick click. While you can save an unlimited number of profiles on your Xbox One or Windows PC, you can only store two on the controller. Unfortunately, while the new controller supports the app, it doesn't have the same profile switching button found on the Xbox One Elite controller. Another big attraction for this new controller is the deep customization any player can do through the Xbox Design Lab. Currently, this new controller is the only one a player can customize through the lab. The website, which anyone can use and save designs on, has players select colors for the body, bumpers and triggers, D-pad, thumbsticks, ABXY buttons, view and menu buttons, and the back of the controller. While there are currently 15 colors to pick from for most of the parts, the thumbsticks have to match and are limited to eight colors. The ABXY buttons offer four variations on black, white and gray or the traditional colored buttons. The view and menu buttons only have gray, black and white options. And designers can't slap on any images or patterns. That said, there's a lot a person can do with the options currently offered, from recreating the color schemes of sports teams or older consoles, to creating themes that match characters in games. I was happy with the end result of my controller, which I designed to look a bit like the original Game Boy with an off-white body and red thumbsticks. The customization feature bumps the price of your controller up by $20 and adds another $10 if you want to have words laser-etched in the bottom center of the body. It's a smart move by Microsoft to reinvigorate its entry-level controllers with color customization options and a few very useful extra options. The new Xbox One S controller isn't my favorite among the one's I've tested, but it's one of the most affordable. I'm just hoping these color and custom options come to the Elite. Active Discussions. Polygon Monthly: Off-Topic: January 2017. Game Manager. Anime, Cartoons, Comics! Plight Vol. 4 No. 11: Mythos. Path of Exile Build Collections by KerbLave(2018) My Top Games of 2017. © 2018 Vox Media Inc. all rights reserved • Designed & Developed in house. Xbox Design Lab. Starting at $79.99 with free shipping. Pick your team. Make it yours. Xbox Design Lab. Green Bay Packers. Choose your team. New England Patriots. Choose your team. Pittsburgh Steelers. Choose your team. Seattle Seahawks. Choose your team. Orange Zest. Start with a bold color. Mineral Gold. Start with a metallic finish. Desert Tact. Start with new colors. The Diamond. Start with rubberized grips. My Gallery. Pick up where you left off. Community gallery. Get inspired by what other people are making. Get started. See where inspiration takes you with more than 1 billion possible color combinations.