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Designing Shaq's Controller

In a sort of reverse-mirror twist on the moronic controller debacle that Sega faced with the introduction of the Saturn in the U.S., Microsoft used focus testing to devise a controller that will probably go down in history as the most maligned pad ever packed in with a major video-game console. The Xbox controller shocked everyone with its awesome girth. It turned out that only males with meaty hands were comfortable with the behemoth, which was larger and heavier than any pad that had yet graced the market. Derision from gamers was swift, and soon after the system's launch in November of 2001, many were seen scrambling for a third-party solution to the controller situation while Microsoft bravely maintained that people liked the thing.

It was so big we could only show you this much, hohoho. The solution was obvious, though. To combat the horror of a pad that would barely fit inside Japanese gamers' homes, let alone their hands, Microsoft of Japan prepared a more svelte, more comfortable controller for the console in time for its February 2002 Japanese launch. Although it was still the biggest of the three systems' pads, it was much more in line with the size of Sony's Dual Shock 2. Informal reports from developers suggested that they'd all ditched the colossus for the comfort of the Japanese redesign, yet Microsoft wasn't interested in releasing it in the U.S. Time passed, and Microsoft finally decided to release the so-called Controller S in the U.S. after importers reported brisk sales of the Japanese pad. A few months later, Microsoft quietly discontinued the original controller, making the S standard equipment on all Xboxes.

ferricide: The road of the Xbox has been rocky from time to time. There are a lot of great ideas in the system, but there are plenty of first-timer mistakes, too. One of them has been heavily relying on the opinions of a core audience of god knows who -- twelve-year-old boys? -- when designing every aspect of the system's appearance: the embarrassing, huge and clunky box itself, and the monstrous original pad. I remember the first time I picked up an Xbox pad, I was like, "Could this possibly be any bigger?" It wasn't actually as bad as I'd feared, but there's no way I'd go back to the original now that the S is out. The weird oblong buttons were another problem with it -- not to mention that amorphous digital pad. Blech. But at least it gave rise to a great running joke on Penny Arcade.

Ben: What can I say without getting too prickly? It wasn't an especially good controller, and was even worse for a D-pad freak like myself. And the buttons ... what was with the buttons? Who could possibly have thought that oblong buttons were a good idea, let alone the way forward? Lunacy!

To add an ironic twist, Microsoft made a habit of trumpeting how much it had supposedly consulted real gamers while designing the Xbox. My brain shuts down when I think about this. I just can't see how it's true. The system is an aesthetic nightmare (compared to current competitors, anyway) and, well, we already talked about the controller. So, a suggestion for the guys in Redmond: When designing Xbox 2, screen for gigantism when putting together your focus groups. This change, while small, could make a huge difference. Literally.

Sluggo: It amazes me how often developers think they need to fix things that aren't broken. What 13-year-old kid would really be comfortable with a controller just slightly smaller than a bowling ball? As Christian mentioned, it did lead to some fun running gags on Penny Arcade, which were right on.

And, although I'm much more comfortable with the S controller, I still feel like there are improvements that could be made, such as the tiny white-and-black buttons being made the same size as the other buttons, or laid out in a 6-button config similar to the later Genesis pads, or even Microsoft's own Sidewinder PC controller. If Microsoft is going to stay in the console business, hopefully it'll learn a few valuable lessons from these mistakes.

Gandalf wrote:I think I'm one of the minority that actually like the controller, I have gi-normous hands, and so I can grasp it quite well. Most other controllers I find too small.

Sea Skimmer wrote:The only controlled I ever liked was that of the N64. A wheeled optical mouse slaughters all competition in the end.

DPDarkPrimus wrote:BOOOO! I love that giant hunk of plastic! Sure, it sucks for playing Enter the Matrix, but honestly... it's just so cool! Seriously, my hands are far from ginormous, and yet I find that the setup of the controller is great, for all the games I play (other than EtM). I really don't know why everyone complains about it...

Darth Garden Gnome wrote:SNES Turbo Controller. That was the absolute PINNACLE of controller-designing in the gaming industry.

And you versed your friend when you had the Turbo, and you gave him a regular, you would completely wipe the floor with his apendix. Sure it was cheap ass, but it sure felt good.

Damaramu wrote:My favorite controller is the Japanese version of the Sega Saturn controller. That combined with Capcom's VS games.....we're talking fighting goodness.

anarchistbunny wrote:*finishes reading them all*

Wow, because of Nintendo's stupidity, stubborness, and betrayel it lost hold of the gaming world for over half a decade and is only now begining to try to regain control of the business.

For those that haven't read that, Nintendo partnered with Sony to make a CD add on for the SNES, then backstabbed them and announced Phillips as the designer, which then cause Sony to go out on it's own and make the Playstation. And it's stubborness to switch to CDs with the 64 is what really gave Sony the fuel it needed to skyrocket up to the top of the gaming industry. Imagine if the N64 was a CD, it wouldn't have lost Square support(and probly kept Sony from getting 11% of the company) and probly wouldn't have lost Capcon either. Resident Evil would have been with Nintendo as well as Sony(they did release RE for Saturn shortly before it died and painstakingly spent months compling RE2 into a cartrage).
I don't know if Nintendo will ever get back to where it was, it'll take another console atleast for it to do so. Capcon and Square are starting to come back to Nintendo, as well as other powerhouse series, combine with Nintendo classics(which pretty much all that saved Nintendo at the 64 stage).

theheap wrote: all old news. but it is sad... how the mighty have fallen

My theory is that Saturn would have taken Sony's place(due to N64 cartriges) but not as far ahead as the Playstation was, the 64 and the Saturn would be more at what the Gamecube and PS2 are at now. Sony is an unknown varible(not enter the market at all, enter the market at a deficite like the X-Box, or fail like Phillips). At this time Gamecube would be at the top(unless it stuck with cartriges), Dreamcast would still be around and in second place and X-Box probly would be at the same position.

theheap wrote:

My theory is that Saturn would have taken Sony's place(due to N64 cartriges) but not as far ahead as the Playstation was, the 64 and the Saturn would be more at what the Gamecube and PS2 are at now. Sony is an unknown varible(not enter the market at all, enter the market at a deficite like the X-Box, or fail like Phillips). At this time Gamecube would be at the top(unless it stuck with cartriges), Dreamcast would still be around and in second place and X-Box probly would be at the same position.

Ah you can go round and round with the "What if theories" I know i have done it many of times. I am pulling for nintendo right now as far as all the systems go.

anarchistbunny wrote:

theheap wrote:

I'm rooting for the good guys too, but I'm just thinking, if not for Nintendo's stupidity in producing a add-on that never got made the entire gaming world as we know it would be very different.