Microsoft claims it made “over 40 improvements” to the Xbox One controller compared to the gamepad that comes with the Xbox 360. Today, the company released a seven-minute video that goes in-depth into those changes.
In the video embedded above, Microsoft Xbox evangelist Larry “Marjor Nelson” Hyrb interviews Xbox accessories general manager Zulfi Alam about the Xbox One’s sleeker-looking controller. Alam points out how his team integrated the batteries into the controller rather than having a big protruding piece of plastic like with the 360 gamepad.
“We worked really hard on the ergonomics of the device,” said Alam. “We wanted to make sure that it is incredibly comfortable controller. We had hundreds of models, hundreds of user-research studies, and hundreds of gaming to make sure people feel comfortable with it. The changes that we came up with — some are small and some are large.”
For a tiny example, Alam pointed to the screws and the screw holes that break up the back of the Xbox 360 controller. After hours of gaming, those gaps could cause issues for some people, so the Xbox One pad has no screws. That means no screw holes to irritate gamers’ hands.
Alam next removed the face of the Xbox One controller to show how they mixed around the device’s internal components so the engineers could raise the height of the directional pad. Many gamers complain about the 360 controller’s D-pad. It is mushy and inaccurate. For Xbox One, Microsoft is going with a clean plus sign for the D-pad in addition to raising it further off the surface of the joystick.
The video reveals even more about the controller. That includes its capability to work as a wired or wireless controller and its use of transparent aluminum. That’s the ticket, laddy.