Introduction
Xbox360 Controller is the predecessor of the original Xbox controller. The first original Xbox debut with its Xbox console in the year 2001, the first gaming console launched with the Microsoft. Xbox360 gaming console is a big success for the Microsoft Corporation after their first debut with Xbox original in the year 2001 (Andrews & Baker, 2006). Xbox 360 controller is by far the best gaming controller of the Xbox gaming console generation. Since then, Microsoft made improvements to their gaming console and introduced to the market Xbox360 in the year 2005, completely built from scratch, not just an improvement of the Xbox original, but a new model with new features on it (Isokoski & Martin, 2007). A detail of close examination in the next section of the paper will observe the evolution of the Xbox360 controller from its predecessor identifying its major milestone improvements.
Xbox360 controller
Evolution of Xbox360 controller started after the debut of Xbox original controller with its gaming console in the year 2001. Xbox360 controller is more robust and fun to play with compared to its precursor the Xbox original controller or the controller S pads: a small and a lighter version of the Xbox original made only for the Japan market (Alnowami et al,, 2012). Likewise, Xbox360 controller was built from scratch, which gave room for improvement to enhance the gameplay control of the user and hardware functionalities. Both the design and the interface defer with Xbox original or the controller S.
Improvement and milestone
Typical Xbox360 contains eleven digital buttons, a D-pad, and a pair of a trigger, and analog stick for the functionality control. Its predecessor was huge and bulky. Xbox360 made was smaller and comfortable in the hand compared to their replaced counterpart. Most of the auxiliary pads in the Xbox original have been moved (Jakobsson, 2011). To begin, the start and back buttons in the gaming console have been moved to a central place to ease access for the user. The Xbox360 controller version is either corded or wireless .The wireless version has a battery pack that is rechargeable allowing the user to roam with the pad while at the same time play. More importantly, the wireless and corded Xbox360 controller version are compatible with personal computer and the various operating system from Windows XP to latest version, Windows 10 (Chiang & Chen, 2012). The original Xbox controller had no bumpers, later introduced in the Xbox360 controller’s version. The Xbox360 contains a guide button at the centre of the pad for the guide menu when gaming (Andrews & Baker, 2006). The Xbox360 controller also contains 3.5mm jack pin hole for the headset with activated voice control by the user. The pad can also be connected to Xbox messenger kit contain a keyboard allowing the user to type and even chat with other users since the Xbox360 console came with an added networking connection feature.
In conclusion, Xbox360 controller is still considered one of the best controller designed by the Microsoft for Xbox gaming console. It is robust, light, and comfortable in the hand compared to its predecessor. Added to that, its contains added features which lacked in the previous version of Xbox controller. It not only function on the Xbox gaming console but can also be used in the Personal computers because it is compatible with all Microsoft Operating system. The buttons are also well positioned which give the user more control when gaming.
Reference
Alnowami, M., Alnwaimi, B., Tahavori, F., Copland, M., & Wells, K. (2012, February). A quantitative assessment of using the Kinect for Xbox360 for respiratory surface motion tracking. In SPIE Medical Imaging (pp. 83161T-83161T). International Society for Optics and Photonics.
Andrews, J., & Baker, N. (2006). Xbox 360 system architecture. IEEE micro, 26(2), 25-37.
Chiang, I. T., Tsai, J. C., & Chen, S. T. (2012, March). Using Xbox 360 kinect games on enhancing visual performance skills on institutionalized older adults with wheelchairs. In Digital Game and Intelligent Toy Enhanced Learning (DIGITEL), 2012 IEEE Fourth International Conference on (pp. 263-267). IEEE.
Isokoski, P., & Martin, B. (2007, June). Performance of input devices in FPS target acquisition. In Proceedings of the international conference on Advances in computer entertainment technology (pp. 240-241). ACM.
Jakobsson, M. (2011). The achievement machine: Understanding Xbox 360 achievements in gaming practices. Game Studies, 11(1), 1-22.
