Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 15
 Bought it for my Laptop July 18, 2010
Enterthusiast
As all my electronics are black, I wanted to continue that trend and buy this controller. I own a PS3, and a few of the games that would have otherwise enticed me into buying a 360 are actually available on the PC. So I decided to buy a black xbox controller for my Laptop so I could bring it with me on my travels.
Aesthetics:
I loved the xbox s controller, and the 360 is similarly shaped and nearly as comfortable. I like the easy to grip concave analogue sticks and the controller fits comfortably in my hands.
Drawbacks are: The horrendous D-pad and the my large hands find my middle fingers being scrunched up into the sharp groove of the battery pack on the back of the controller.
Responsiveness:
The buttons and analogue sticks feel sturdy, although there is a "deadzone" in the middle of the analogue sticks, which hinders long distance aiming in first person shooters, needing compensation from better timing and strafing. You will be at a disadvantage to players using a mouse. But in my case, I am travelling around the world so having a controller garnered a much greater convenience than bringing a large table with me for my mouse and keyboard to sit on.
Games:
In Half Life 2, Half Life Episode 1 and Counter Strike: Source, you can open up the console and quickly set or customise all the buttons, set the responsiveness in the menu. Half Life 1 doesn't have such specific controls, only having options for the more old fashioned single joystick older gamers would remember. So setting the buttons limits you to using one stick for looking or one stick for movement. Not both. Third party customisation lends the possibility of setting the left stick's left x-axis directional movement as "A", right as "D", up as "W" etc. Which means if you really are determined, it's possible to play older games with the controller. In the same way that it's also possible to use the controller as a fully functioning computer mouse.
Team Fortress 2, Half Life Episode 2 Left4Dead 2 and Portal all fully support the controller making them the best games for using it. When playing L4D2 with the controller I noticed the popup hints would say for example "RT to fire" instead of "Left Mouse Button".
Personal Drawbacks:
My reasons for giving only 3 stars are partially my own fault, but I don't feel guilty for the higher expectations I had when purchasing this product. When buying a second, third and fourth PS3 controller, they always came with a usb cable. Charging them was possible with any usb mini cable I had lying around from other products such as digital cameras. Charging the controller and playing over the cable was also possible. A cable I had from my camera was very long, so charging from my couch while still playing wasn't a problem.
When I bought the 360 controller, I expected a cable. When the package came, there was no cable. And the controller to my dismay was powered by batteries. Batteries are the bane of my life, at this stage I almost fully expect everything to have built-in rechargeable battery packs.
I knew the controller needed a wireless adapter, I had chosen a wireless controller over a wired one because if in the future I had wanted to buy a 360 or just hook a PC up to my tv and play PC games as if I had a 360, I felt having a wireless controller was a better idea. But for now I was going to settle for using the wireless controller wired while travelling the world with my laptop.
Out of disgruntled necessity I quickly bought the only wire I could find, which turned out to be an expensive charge n play kit. I had shared my irritance of the lack of cables with the man working in Argos, who reassured my that I could now play on the PC via the cable.
At home after plugging everything in, and installing drivers supplied by microsoft, the computer then recognised the controller. "Xbox 360 controller found" "drivers installed", "your usb device is now ready to use" etc
So naturally I was under the impression that I was good to go. After some more trouble shooting on why my games weren't working, I eventually searched google and found out the relevant information. Although it is potentially possible to run a controller over the cable, microsoft have chosen not to release any such drivers, and instead require you to purchase the wireless adapter.
I was shocked. Something the sony controllers did with ease over a universal cable, microsoft required you to buy all these extra bits and pieces. The initial cheap cost of this single controller had quickly inflated. It seems quite backward that the sony PS3 controllers are the ones limited to their console only, while having universal connections and bluetooth. Where's on the other hand, the microsoft controllers are the ones that can also connect to a PC, yet their cables are all unique specially made only for those controllers, you need to either continueously buy batteries or buy a rechargeable battery pack, and you also need to buy a specially made wireless reciever.
It's baffling. The reasons for not ever buying a 360 had returned, hidden extra costs and compatability issues. Now I fully understand why Gabe Newell has decided to back the PS3 over the 360 as the more open console.
If you've gotten all the way through my above rant, congrats and thank you for reading.
 Good Black Controller. July 6, 2010
Gerson Cardoso
The standard Xbox 360 controller is very good. This one is the same thing, but in black. It's a nice color.
Not bad... June 7, 2010
Mr. C. Coe (Nottingham, UK)
Personally I prefer the Playstation 3 joypad, as it is more intricate and easy on the hands, allowing for more finite adjustments (better for aiming in FPS games). The 360 pads are pretty chunky.
This pad occasionally cuts out, especially after playing for more than an hour. Also, get a usb cable to charge them with - I think this should be included with the pad personally.
The triggers at the back have started to squeak and i've only had it a month! Reminds me of the old Scaelextric triggers!
It looks good and does its job, but room for improvement.
 Good quality controllers, bit pricey. June 6, 2010
K. Mitchell (Bicester, UK)
Much better than any of the 3rd-party controllers like Mad Catz. Last ages, you could play rounders with these as the ball and they'd still work.
The shoulder buttons seem to lose their 'click' pretty quick, though.
good May 30, 2010
Luke Hampshire
well what can i say, its an xbox box controller. i've had no problems and i'm happy with this it.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 15
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