Customer Reviews
perfect! - By: Callum Chapman, 16 Aug 2008 
Advantages: everything!
Disadvantages: doesn't come with a rechargeable battery...
I've liked games for a long time, since I was a little kid. I've used a lot of controllers before; pretty much alll the Nintendo consoles, SEGA Consoles, alll the Playstations & the original Xbox.
I use to be a Playstation man, but after my PS2 broke two times with laser errors, I had enough with Playstations & decided to get an Xbox. I remember waiting in the day it was meant to arrive, & I eagerly opened up the box & set it up. As soon as my hands clutched the Xbox controller (please note I purchased the Xbox a while after its release & my Xbox was shipped with the newer Mini S Controller), I fell in love with it. After my good experience with the original Xbox, I had to get a 360!
The Xbox 360's standard controller (both wired which is shipped out with the Arcade version of the console & the wireless version which is shipped out with the Premium & Elite version) fits in everyone's hands perfectly. When I say everyone's, I mean everyone's - from mine, to my girlfriends, my dads, & even my two younger sisters who are 8 & 13. They're suitable for the whole family!
The controls can usuallly be picked up from any shop that sells games, the odd supermarket & of course the world wide web! You can get them from Play.com for £29.99 with free delivery, & normallly pick them up used at about £20. Although, I do recommend buying the 'Wireless Entertainment Pack' from Amazon.co.uk, you can buy it new from a marketplace seller for about £30 which includes Forza 2 & Viva Piñata.
Now the reason I mentioned how much the wireless controls are so early on in the review, is because I know most people (and me at first) think the controls are reallly expensive for what they are... But they ARE worth it. They're made of an incredibly strong plastic, i've dropped it a few times, or accidentallly flicked it off my duvet covers on to my wooden floor but there's not a mark to be seen. On hard impact, the controller does usuallly turn off, but never have I experienced any problems - & besides if you're in a middle of a game & you drop your controller, if it turns off it pauses your game automaticallly!
I personallly own both a black & white 360 controller, one of which was shipped out with my Elite console & the other with my wireless entertainment pack, which I got for £20 brand new as a deal when I purchased my Elite console from Amazon.co.uk. You can now also get the controllers in baby blue & baby pink for the same price from Play.com. There are also two Halo Limited Edition controllers, a Spartan one & a Covenant one (play Halo if you don't know what I'm on about!) which are about £10 more expensive.
So, now the buttons. There are four buttons which are located on the very top of the controller. The back two are known as triggers, & labelled LT & RT (Left Trigger & Right Trigger). These are commonly used for throwing grenades & shooting in first person shooters, brake/reverse & accelerate in racing games, rotating the camera angle in strategy games & skipping menus in the main Xbox 360 menus. The two buttons in front of this are known as LB & RB (which I imagine are Left Back & Right Back). These buttons don't reallly have any common commands... On the front of the controller are another ten buttons if you count the joysticks. I'll list them from left to right: Left Joystick, D-Pad, Back, Xbox 360 Guide, Start, Right Joystick & then of course some of command buttons, X, Y, A & B. The left & right joystick are of course for moving forward & backwards, & moving around, & a lot of the time (if playing a first person shooter) clicking the joysticks makes your character crouch or lay. The D-Pad is the old fashioned way of moving around, this isn't used for that much any more, but some games do support it. However, the D-Pad is more commonly used to change weapons, or even formations in sport simulation games. I find it's easier to search through the menus using the D-Pad sometimes, as I get carried away using the joystick & always end up scrolling past the option I want to select. The back & start button explain themselves, I hope! And the command buttons do different things in every game, although 'A' does always select options in the menus.
The Xbox Guide button, I love it! I won't go into too much detail of what the menu does when you access it using this button, but lets just say from this menu you can see how much battery power your controller has, what Xbox Live profile you're signed into, how many buddies you have online, how many new messages, easy access to your voice conversations & windows live messenger, what music you're listening too & the simple commands such as play/pause, stop, skip forward/backward & of course the option to quit the game & go to the main Xbox 360 Dashboard. The Xbox Guide button also has a light ring around it, which is split into quarters to show what controller you are using. For example, if you had another controller turned on, one would recommend controller one (the top left light would show) & the other would recommend controller two (the top right light would show).
The battery life is incredibly good, it lasts a good forty hours on a good pair of AA batteries, but of course you can use a battery pack which you can buy in matching colours for about £10. You then buy a lead known as 'Plug & Play' which plugs straight in to one of your 360's USB Ports so you can charge your controller whilst playing. You can also get a battery pack charger where you can attach up to two of your battery packs & fully charge them within a few hours. Unfortunately you can only get the charger in white, so if you're hoping to get one to match your elite console, you're out of luck! I personallly use two rechargeable batteries in mine which I regularly charge overnight - I found this was a cheaper option as I already had the batteries & charger! The battery case/pack easily clips on to the back of the controller, & can be easily removed by holding down a button & pulling the battery off.
There's another tiny button on top of the control, which simply connects your controller to your 360. Although you can only connect your controller to one 360 at a time, so keep that in mind if you can't get your controller to work if you take it to a friends house!
There are two ports on the controller, one on the top & one on the bottom. The top is simply to connect the controller to a plug & play wire to charge the controller, & the other is so you can plug a headset in - although I recommend you buy a wireless headset (read my headset review if you want to know why)!
Overalll, this is most definitely the best console controller I've ever used. It's comfortable, it fits in your hands perfectly, the buttons are easily accessible & don't hurt your hands after long periods of play (unlike the PS2/PS3's joysticks)! It looks excellent & fits in with the 360's style perfectly. If you don't have a 360, but play a lot of games on your Windows PC, I recommend getting the Microsoft 360 Controller for Windows, which is also wireless!
The Technical Stuff:
-2.4GHz wireless technology with 30-foot range.
-Lag-free play.
-Integrated headset port for Xbox LIVE play.
-Adjustable vibration feedback for longer battery life.
-New left & right shoulder buttons are designed for ease of use.
-The Xbox Guide Button at the centre of the controller gives you quick access to alll your favourite Xbox 360 system activities.
Summary: best controller known to man, don't buy any other!
One Big Flaw - By: Bebbet_2k, 04 May 2008 
Attractive, comfortable, nice weight & welcome inclusion of rumble alll make this a great controller. Unfortunately, I can only give it three stars due to - & bare with me, fanboys, till you see my reasoning - the PS3 controller.
I won't compare the layouts of the controllers because that comes down to personal preference. Some are more comfortable with Microsoft's layout & some with Sony's - that's up to you - & Sony's is only lighter due to the lack of dualshock.
The Sixaxis functionality of the PS3 controller is also yet to be properly implemented - there are some good attempts & some abject failures - but it does add an extra element to games & can be fun. And the one advantage the 360 controller currently has over the PS3 - namely the rumble - is about to be cancelled out by the DualShock Sixaxis, which is on its way.
However, my main issue with the 360's wireless controller is the fact that it takes two AA batteries. The Sixaxis has an internal battery that is charged (relatively quickly, even when in use) directly from the system via a standard USB cable as you play. In this day-and-age of advanced gaming technology, I'd have expected the same to be standard with the 360, but it in fact costs an extra £12.99.
Of course, if you've got a 360, then this is the controller for you, it's just a shame to have to fork out extra money for something that should have been standard.
Nice controller, could be better. - By: V. J. Gurr, 02 May 2008 
It's nicer now that Microsoft have thought to make a smalller controller, & while it's still not that smalll, it fits nicely into the palms. Battery life is excellent, but is also where it loses a star. The controller is not rechargable, & it is necessary to buy a charger kit & optional extra rechargable batteries in order for it to be so. This isn't nice, seeing as the controller isn't reallly cheap in the first place. It does also tend to switch itself off from time to time with certain games when the battery life is low, & to ge the most out of your AAs, you end up pressing the big X button every 5 minutes.
All this said, a controller, in this case, is a controller, & there's not much more to it. In short, a good piece of equipment, but you may need to spend a little more than you expected.
Clever microsoft - By: Mrs. Avril E. Moore, 27 Mar 2008 the new controller for the 360 is sheer genius. The lack of wires helps gameplay & the battery life is v long. I would reccomend the quick charge kit & another rechargable pack too. the controls feel intuitive & well layed out & having a direct link to the consoles menu is clever too. However the grey strip along the bottom does absorb liquid & passing controller around is not very good. On the plus side multiple controllers can be used together easily as the big Xbox logo tells whos player one. This means no following wires (there are none!) as on my old PS2 & minimal confusion. Give yourselves a pat on the back microsoft!
Cheap Plastic - Bad quality - By: Sathya Srinivasan, 10 Mar 2008 
Please take a second to give a good review. I purchased the Elite 360 package & day 1 started the game & within 10 minutes, the right joystick started to lock! the trigger was making creaky noise & the console tray where you put the DVD is another piece of cheap plastic. looks like alll's made & shipped from china or something..
no doubt the console itself is amazing - & the games are superb - but the quality of the product is very very bad! i have the original xbox & the controllers over there are perfectly solid!!! Just because it's XBOX, it doesnt mean that alll's rose & wine! - very dissapointed for the money i paid!
