It's very sturdy and well built. Not too light, not too heavy. The buttons are responsive and it has rumble function built in. The D-pad works nicely & the rubber analog sticks are comfortable, as are the handle grippings. What do you think?
It got an edge on the bottom of the analog sticks part of the controller that never was that comfortable. Personally, I think the 360 has the most comfortable controller thusfar.
The dualshock has awkward analogue placements, still using the d-pad as the primary method of control and they're made out of a nasty material that's hard to grip. It has the worst triggers of any system at the moment, they're absolutely horrible for racing games. And the overall shape doesn't fit your hand that well, and also seems to constantly slide off surfaces because of how the weight is distributed.
I hate the dualshock, I would rather Sony released that boomarang pad with the PS3.
I find the 360 gamepad much more confortable. I can barely hold the Dualshock without getting my hands cramped due to the position of the analogue sticks. The D-Pad is nicer than the 360's, but since I don't use it much, it's just a minor advantage to me.
Sturdy? Are you kidding? The shoulder buttons aren't, at least. Seriously, back in my PS2 days, I literally went through about 4 PS2 controllers that all had broken shoulder buttons. The d-pad is in an awkward position. I remember I had a very difficult time using the d-pad back when I first got the console, because the left analog stick was totally in the way of my thumb, so I had to learn to adapt to that and had to deal with hand cramps until I got the hang of it. It's shape is kind of weird, also. The analog placement isn't as ideal for shooters. Also, dude, the grip wore off on one of my analogs, and I don't know what the heck was going on there, but it's like the place where you put the thumb on the analog had become like... all oily. It wouldn't wash off either, it was like literally something from the rubber. Totally weird and gross. I guess they were sturdy in the sense that you could probably drop it a few times and not expect it to break, but when I have shoulder buttons breaking in my own hands from just casually playing games, it's a problem. With that said, the controller has some good things about it too, but I'm not going to go over them here. Instead, I'm just gonna to say that I think all of last gen's controllers had some major faults. Gamecube and Xbox certainly did too.
If we're gonna name the best ever, I think the 360 controller ranks up there. If only they had fixed the d-pad before releasing it. I know they've changed it since, but I'm not crazy enough to buy the new one for $60. Honestly, I've always been incredibly fond of the SNES controller.
I can't really decide between the 360 gamepad and the DS3 to be honest. I probably spend an equal time using both (I use the 360 controller on my PC for racing and action games) and I find both of them equally comfortable, light and sturdy in my hands.
The only distinction I could really draw between them is that the 360 d-pad is atrocious compared to the DS3 d-pad but it has more comfortable triggers to make up for that.
I would say the 360 controller is my favourite, rubbish D-pad and all (although the transforming d-pad is at least a slight improvement). Functionally the Dual Shock 2 - and to a lesser extent the DS3, spoiled by its horrible triggers - has some great buttons (though I went through a few back in the day thanks to the R2 buttons regularly crapping out), but it's just not as comfortable to hold as it could be. I'd also prefer the d-pad and left control stick were switched, but it's not a big deal. Basically, give me a 360 controller with Dual Shock face buttons and you'd have a goddamn amazing controller.
@MEATBALL: Ok yeah that's another thing I'd like to change about the 360 controller. The ABXY buttons should be flat rather than curved gem type things and should have a slightly shorter throw.
It feels way too small in my hands and my thumbs hit when working the dual analogs often enough for it to be annoying. I have to side with the people saying the 360 pad is better.
The dualshock has awkward analogue placements, still using the d-pad as the primary method of control and they're made out of a nasty material that's hard to grip. It has the worst triggers of any system at the moment, they're absolutely horrible for racing games. And the overall shape doesn't fit your hand that well, and also seems to constantly slide off surfaces because of how the weight is distributed.
I hate the dualshock, I would rather Sony released that boomarang pad with the PS3.
I don't know about the DS2 being sturdy and all, at least not compared to the 360's. That controller is built about as sturdy as one can be. I don't play fighting games, so for me the dpad is a non issue.
Xbox 360 controller, diagonal analogue sticks with thumb grooves, triggers and comfortable palm grips are the reasons why I love it. My only gripe is the D-pad but I get use to it. One of the DS2 controller I had something wrong with the left analogue stick where it caused the character to slight veer off and the same happened to the original Xbox controller so I don't think they're built completely sturdy.
Despite it's unmatched functionality, the Dual Shock is a very poor controller. Very uncomfortable, awkward, and backwards.
It was understandable back in the 90's, since Sony needed to add analog sticks to their controller without making it incompatible with every PS1 game released at that time, but three generations later it's just inexcusable to have an analog stick under the D-Pad, having convex analog sticks and triggers, and having handles that stab your hand everytime you have to hold it.
@xaLieNxGrEyx: @Hizang: It's a shame that despite all the hate those controllers got from being different from the Dual Shock, they are actually a lot better designed, and certainly much more comfortable to use.
Not in my opinion. The thing is flimsy, I don't like the analogue stick placement, the L2 and R2 buttons are too squishy, the grips don't contour to my hands and it's not wireless. The DualShock 3 is slightly better since it's wireless and has a little more weight to it. The 360 is the best one from the console makers but it's D-Pad is pretty bad.
The Gamecube controller really isn't very good, it only worked because Nintendo create hardware based on functionality they might want for some of their games. I really liked the Wavebird in its heyday, but going back to it now, the thing is a goddamn monstrosity with ridiculous button placement, a d-pad that is far too small and things like the c-"stick" and z button are horrendous. The d-pad is also far too small.
Nintendo made it work in the games they had made specifically with its quirks in mind, but outside of that environment it's just not a good controller at all.
No it's not, the original Xbox came along and blew it away for comfort and FPS games with far superior hand fitting, analog sticks and placement. The 360 pad is the best, its only shortcoming is that damn dpad.
Halo was the first FPS on a console that controlled really, really well. Goldeneye did ok but Halo trounced it. The analog sticks of the PS3 still have a pretty bad deadzone.
(I don't really even like Halo, but credit where its due)
Edit: the Dualshock 2 is better than the DS3 though, my PS2 pad feels way more sturdy than my DS3 and it doesn't have them horrible 'triggers'
The dualshock has awkward analogue placements, still using the d-pad as the primary method of control and they're made out of a nasty material that's hard to grip. It has the worst triggers of any system at the moment, they're absolutely horrible for racing games. And the overall shape doesn't fit your hand that well, and also seems to constantly slide off surfaces because of how the weight is distributed.
I hate the dualshock, I would rather Sony released that boomarang pad with the PS3.
No I think the Xbox 360 control is just perfection aside from the D-Pad. The Dual Shock controllers always felt weird, especially the DS 3, the analog sticks on that thing are way too loose.
I do love the gamecube controller though, I found it to be the most comfortable controller I have ever used.
Hell no. Whenever I use a Sony controller I feel like it was designed by a midget with deformed hands.
The 360 gamepad is the best. It fits into my hands like it was hand-made just for me. The face buttons, the shoulder buttons and the triggers feel amazing. The analogue sticks are positioned perfectly, and have concave surfaces for grip and comfort. The only thing that isn't great is the D-pad, which you pretty much only use for things like weapon switching.
I'm really fond of the Dual Shock, but I can see why people prefer the 360 controller. Ultimately I think the Dual Shock was a bigger step forward for controllers, but the 360 controller is an incredible refinement of the dual-analog stick controller (even if the D-Pad is garbage).
I loved the original xbox's contour and design the best.. so I can't imagine me not loving the x360 controllers. (honestly haven't played more than 30 mins on a 360) period.
I prefer the 360 controller except for the placement of the left stick. Move that to where it is on the Dualshock and I'd be much happier. Having to hold my thumb up in such an awkward position for any length of time is painful. The 360 is better mainly because I like the weight and size of it, it feels good in my hands, but I have no real issue with the DS either, except for the triggers.
No, definitely not. It's made for midget japanese schoolchildren, and has been way too tiny for my hands since about the PS2's launch. Also having the two sticks on the bottom is horrendous, and an archaic holdover from the first stick-less PS1 controller design.
The 360 controllers is the right size just about, feels comfortable, has the right thumbstick where the thumb would rest naturally, plus the triggers are worlds better.
Honestly, I've always been incredibly fond of the SNES controller.
SNES is so classic. You can still see its influence today.
That! Though with modern controllers I've never really experienced a prefered controller between Xbox or Playstation, but back in the day the SNES controller ruled all.
I like my 360 controllers so much that I will be shocked and pissed if they change it next gen. Fortunately they have virtually no reason to do so unless they decide they need a fucking screen in it too or something.
Sony on the other hand, well, I had to laugh when they used the same controller for the third time. It was a great invention in its time, but that time was like 1997 or something.
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