Joystiq reviews the Xbox 360 PC controller: "great hardware, weak software"

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Joystiq reviews the Xbox 360 PC controller: "great hardware, weak software"

Posted Feb 2nd 2006 2:00PM by Christopher Grant
Filed under: News

After running the Xbox 360 controller through its paces on Windows, Joystiq has concluded, "The hardware is strong. The software is weak." A combination of driver issues, poor game support for the controller's features, and no wireless options leads to an experience vastly different than the perfect integration between the controller and the Xbox 360.

As more titles embrace the controller and its feature set on the Windows platform, and as Microsoft's upcoming operating system Vista adds increased controller support out out of the box, the experience is sure to improve; however, these frustrations are one of the primary reasons PC gaming has decreased in popularity while console gaming has exploded.

Tags: Windows

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1. Not surprised at all here, since PC controllers are starting to become a "unwanted step-child" in PC gaming. Not too many people get them anymore and not too many developers have good support (or support at ALL) for them and/or don't have good drivers.

I see here that the Xbox 360 controller for Windows is no different from the rest.

Posted at 8:31PM on Feb 2nd 2006 by DA360

2. Actually, most games out today were developed before the controller was available, so of course they don't have support for the controller config yet. Wait a few months, especially by the Time Vista comes out...you will see that most gameswill have native support and configurations for the Xbox 360 controller.

Posted at 3:02PM on Feb 3rd 2006 by Jon

3. When Vista arrives, I believe we will see the Xbox Live functionality on the PC that MS has talked about. I bet you will probably be able to use the 360 controller even with the Live headset and it will all work great.

Posted at 3:05PM on Feb 3rd 2006 by Jon

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