The Xbox 360 Wireless Controller with Transforming D-pad and Play and Charge Kit is a great option for gaming freaks who love to game the 360 way with response to a specific D-pad.

Review

Only after Microsoft saw the tussle of the Xbox’s huge controller with the convenient Xbox Controller S, did they learn that designing an appropriate controller design is an important thing. The Xbox 360 was released in 2005 and its game console controller was admired and appreciated by gamers and critics both. Although the direction pad of the controller is quite wobbly it is still regarded as one of the perfect inputs devices for game consoles in a long time.

The D-pad is all good except that gamers use it to select weapons etc, which is now no more uncommon. As the name of the Xbox Live Arcade has spread far and wide, the issue of the D-pad has also been resolved with the introduction of games that are classic and suitable to be played on the 360. The titles of these antiques were created without any analog stick so users prefer playing the games with a D-pad. However, the problem of the D-pad was easily visible and understood when the Mega Man 10 was played.

One of the basic problems of the Xbox 360’s D-pad is that there is a lot of bounciness on the top plastic part of it. The rounded stencil also does not smoothly fit in the casing of the controller perfectly. In short, the problems in the design of the controller make the gamer go for wrong directions accidentally and this exasperates the gamers.

Design

The direct addressing of the Xbox 360 D-pad took five years of Microsoft to transform with the Wireless Controller. The new controller is definitely a smooth and shiny silver matte plastic covered chrome D-pad which is not the only change brought about in the controller by Microsoft. Apart from this, Microsoft has also included analog sticks but these do not have a concave design with four points engraved in fact they are sticks with a tiny rim on the external edge. As for Microsoft, the design is durable and more comfortable but tests did not show any difference in fact it was observed that the tiny rips would wear down just like the four engraved points.

The new D-pad comes with a very stimulating design and it can be used in two ways, both by winding the rounded section of the controller. It has two original modes and one is surrounding the area of the Plus which allows opening to the directional part. Although the new D-pad does not make you feel the way you do when using the DualShock 3 controller but it is surely worthy enough and as per the advertisements.

When tested on the game accuracy, it was learnt that there is great need of a D-pad controller and the new one showed to be awesome and outdid in performance comparatively!