There was a phase at Microsoft Gaming where the initial team started off all unknowingly having the biggest dicks on the planet and even as they added more people nobody wanted to speak up and question the size of their peripherals
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I loved the original XBOX controller and Microsoft's PC gaming peripherals from the golden era of gigantic dick energy! Also, that Sidewinder controller was badass. I remember playing Motorcross Madness using the gyro to steer the bike around in the air doing tricks. It was amazingballs!
The Nintendo 64 controller is awesome! I have a few of them in storage I should pull out. You can buy converters that allow you to use them on the PC. It's fun to play N64 games like Goldeneye and Wave Racer AI upscaled to 4k120fps HDR. It makes them look almost new again.
Yup, I had all of the force feedback joysticks and loved every minute playing flight sims with them and space sims. But then force feedback went out of fashion and people stopped making them. I even had the last logitch force feedback G960 but sadly sold it.
That controller was obnoxious AF. The floaty feeling D-Pad was trash too. It was like left over junk rejected by Mad Katz's quality assurance team, which is really saying something as most Mad Katz peripherals were garbage.
I've never had this controller, but thank God Microsoft fixed their D-Pad problem with the Xbox Controller S. The Duke controller d-pad to this one, but the controller itself was way bigger
The Xbox Controller S fixed all of the issues that this controller and the Duke had, and later Xbox controllers would adapt the same format from the Xbox 360 controller and to the current Xbox One and Series controllers
OOC : // ( That's because it wasn't designed as a d pad. It was a rip off of another company's spaceball. It was meant as a tracker ball sort of thing. An analog stick with out the stick.
Not many games supported it though and thus they treated it like a d pad to mediocre results as you know. )
Tell me you're under the age of 20 and you've never played an original Xbox without telling me you've never played an original Xbox and you're under the age of 20. S controller is literally as big as a Dreamcast controller.
Before ps4, Playstation had too small controllers for my hands. I've always preferred the Xbox controllers over the competitors. Ps3 controller had my hands cramping in an hour of gaming.
I used to test Xbox games at MS before the original console was released. Hated the big controller as made my hands sore. Luckily we had one small Japanese controller which everyone fought to use. Also Lotus supplied us with their steering wheel prototype which was brilliant but sadly died out.
Fond memories of the Sidewinder 1 and especially 2, which I still have. Heck, I remember playing Freelancer with the Commander. Voice controls! In 2004! I was so cool in college.
A scroll wheel should be on controllers though. In some games I play, controller people get salty that mouse and keyboard players can spam certain actions extremely fast by binding them to one, and have a major advantage.
Wow, this brought back memories...my family had this when I was younger, I remember playing around with it but never knew how to actually make use of it 😅 Ah...history
This was some version of the Sidewinder, right? I think I had one and I don’t remember it being anything special. It’s hard to tell, but isn’t there another one that’s even more boomerang-y?
God damn I didn't think peripherals would trigger feels but here we are. I ran one of their X6 keyboards for nearly five years and still kept it for five more as a backup. That whole Sidewinder product line was unreasonably good for their time and didn't deserve to die.
Really fun backstory on the original Duke controller. tl;dr - the original industrial designer had to work backwards, because the circuit boards had already been designed too large. 😂
Remember the laugh when we saw it and Microsoft so proud of it. Oversized of confidence, not easy to handle.
Since, Microsoft got one the best UX team dedicated to disabled players, Sony and Logitech followed them.
I remember playing Motocross Madness on the Freestyle using the accelerometer. A bit wonky, a bit messy but ultimately quite fun. Felt a bit like a one-trick pony (didn't like the d-pad much), but nice experiment anyway.
This greatly resembles a Saturn controller(or a six button Genesis). Frankly, I am surprised they would have gone for a button layout like this. It seems to me like such a schema was abandoned by the rest of the industry for good reason.
It's interesting to see unique prototypes like this.
Wow, that is quite strange. I'd never heard of them. I'm surprised Microsoft made controllers outside Xbox. I guess my mind just filled in the blanks for an incomplete view.
How good was the controller? Is the joystick dpad thing as awkward as it looks? Is it as big as it appears to be at a glance?
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Wym, the duke was fine 😄
https://images.app.goo.gl/z7vjoXgKDcrphrvd9
Not many games supported it though and thus they treated it like a d pad to mediocre results as you know. )
This one on the other hand looks very unnecessary 😂
Now I am thinking how did people grip the console. Those big hands would be in a lot of pain
Mind you, I can also catch and hold a basketball upside down.
It failed.
It didn't feel as smooth as the spaceball, and most games treated it like a d-pad.
https://pennyarcade.fandom.com/wiki/Penny_Arcade_Bumper_Stickers
...how long until Microsoft starts reprinting them like they did with the og xbox controller
I want one
https://www.engadget.com/2018-03-23-xbox-controller-retrospective-hyperkin-duke-gamepad.html
Since, Microsoft got one the best UX team dedicated to disabled players, Sony and Logitech followed them.
It's interesting to see unique prototypes like this.
I don't think I had that one in particular but Microsoft had a few 6 button style sidewinder controllers.
How good was the controller? Is the joystick dpad thing as awkward as it looks? Is it as big as it appears to be at a glance?
They used the same dpad on a few "game pads" as they were known before controller was really a term.
I remember this one with 4 buttons and the triggers were a highlight, but the lack of a start button really hurt in some games.