18 replies to this topic

[Julio93]

http://www.gamespot....troller-6412843

 

 

Microsoft spent "hundreds of millions" designing the Xbox One controller, Xbox Accessories general manager Zulfi Alam told CVG in a new interview.

"The investments in redesigning a controller go into the hundreds of millions of dollars in tooling and R&D costs," Alam said. "Bearing in mind we started with something that people considered best-in-class, the pressure to do it right again was tremendous."

"Honestly, some of us felt like we were putting our career on the line," he added. "We were afraid we were going to burn through $100 million and come back with an under-developed controller."

The Xbox One controller, which will sell for $60 outside of console bundles, features a number of updates over its predecessor. These include new thumbstick shape and grip texture, a redesigned D-Pad, and triggers with haptic feedback.

In addition, the Xbox One controller automatically knows who is playing when the controller is passed to a friend, thanks to the pad pairing with Kinect. Lastly, the battery pack is inside the controller's body, allowing players more room to hold the pad.

For more on the Xbox One controller, check out the video below and GameSpot's hands-on reactions. The Xbox One launches in November for $500.

 

 

 

Wow....

[Hank Hill]

I have such a hard time believing this, part of my brain gave its life trying to figure this out.

[XxNightfallxX]

in theory, it should be one hell of a controller considering the apparent cost to make it.  Too bad I won't buy the xbox one to find out.  The supposed cost seems to be quite a stretch though..

Edited by XxNightfallxX, 13 August 2013 - 08:01 PM.

[Socalmuscle]

Took 360 game pad, tweaked it slightly, integrated battery, and called it a day.

Paid a few guys to do it.

In the end, probably spent $300,000. In total r&d.

Tack on some more for the robotics that tat the controllers. But they've probably had that equipment for mice, keyboards, etc.

Hundreds of millions... Lol

If they did... That's prob the real reason mattrick is t zynga now.

[Big Boss]

They probably counted the production costs.

[Rockodoodle]

Short MSFT.....  they probably did do a lot R&D and only came up with this..... They probably did countless focus groups and only did a few minor adjustments.  Heck, Sony's controller- is that really all that cool other than a share button?

 

 

 

Took 360 game pad, tweaked it slightly, integrated battery, and called it a day.

Paid a few guys to do it.

In the end, probably spent $300,000. In total r&d.

Tack on some more for the robotics that tat the controllers. But they've probably had that equipment for mice, keyboards, etc.

Hundreds of millions... Lol

If they did... That's prob the real reason mattrick is t zynga now.

[Doc]

it looks alright-ish but I haven't held one so I have no idea how good it'd be.

[grahamf]

How expensive are they?

 

And I think it's plausible that it makes games feel more immersive. I haven't used one, but I do (very occasionally) end up noticing that rumble feedback for an incident doesn't really feel like it matches. Like racing games where when you crash it's a steady brrrm while your car is doing summersaults and bouncing around. It'd be cool if I could feel vibrations that matched the engine and road noise.

[Mewbot]

Hundreds of millions of dollars on R&D.

 

The researchers probably spent it all on donuts.

[DéliopT]

Indeed, wow!

If they spent so much on redesigning a controller/accessories, i can`t imagine how much they spent for the actual console.

[ZombiCarolyn]

Hundreds of millions of dollars on R&D.

 

The researchers probably spent it all on donuts.

[grahamf]

Indeed, wow!

If they spent so much on redesigning a controller/accessories, i can`t imagine how much they spent for the actual console.

Honestly? it's a standard AMD chip and a simplistic cooling design. and it's a rectangle with straight sides. I imagine the Kinect cost significantly more than the console itself to design, and the console may have cost them less than the controller. I'm not including software though.

Edited by grahamf, 14 August 2013 - 08:10 PM.

[AndyG]

I sure hope that money went into the feel and grip because it sure isn't winning any awards in the looks department, at least in my opinion.

[DéliopT]

Honestly? it's a standard AMD chip and a simplistic cooling design. and it's a rectangle with straight sides. I imagine the Kinect cost significantly more than the console itself to design, and the console may have cost them less than the controller. I'm not including software though.

 

But they must have made a lot of HW tests (console and Kinect) - like with the controller. Wouldn`t that cost even more?

[Alex Atkin UK]

Short MSFT.....  they probably did do a lot R&D and only came up with this..... They probably did countless focus groups and only did a few minor adjustments.  Heck, Sony's controller- is that really all that cool other than a share button?

 

Not at all, the Xbox 360 controller uses a proprietary protocol but seems to be most closely related to Bluetooth as its restricted to very low bitrate for audio chat.

 

The Xbox One controller is based on WiFi Direct, a high-bandwidth protocol that allows lower latency and much higher audio quality for the headset.  I haven't seen it quoted by Microsoft, but some people claim it supports 5.1 audio from the headset itself.  If true that could be a very useful, being able to use headphones from the controller itself and even moreso in split-screen if each user gets their own POV audio, even if it reduced to stereo to save bandwidth.

 

You can say a lot about Microsoft, but their peripherals have always been pretty good.  While I have no plans to pickup Xbox One any time soon I WILL be getting the controller for my PC. 

 

Although I do think its a shame they didn't include a built-in speaker and touchpad like on PS4, as I find the speakers on Wii/Wii U really add to the surround effect and the touchpad could bring some of the usefulness of the Wii U touchscreen to the controller.  Using a tablet/smartphone for those things is far from convenient if you have a controller in your hands.

 

 

I sure hope that money went into the feel and grip because it sure isn't winning any awards in the looks department, at least in my opinion.

 

But anyone who buys a console or controller based on "its looks" is an idiot.  I know, I am that idiot as I bought the black Wii U mainly because I didn't want a white console looking all odd amongst all my black electronics.

 

I regret it now, such a rip off when the white console with a 32GB USB stick would be cheaper.

Edited by Alex Atkin UK, 16 August 2013 - 04:01 AM.

[AndyG]

 

But anyone who buys a console or controller based on "its looks" is an idiot.  I know, I am that idiot as I bought the black Wii U mainly because I didn't want a white console looking all odd amongst all my black electronics.

 

 

Yeah, i always judge a product by it's build quality than it's looks. I end up looking at at least 8 reviews before i feel comfortable about making a purchase. All though it seems that the mainstream gamer these days just want to be dazzled with flashy graphics than good gameplay, probably because many gamers just sell their games within a week of purchase.

[Mewbot]

Yeah, i always judge a product by it's build quality than it's looks. I end up looking at at least 8 reviews before i feel comfortable about making a purchase. All though it seems that the mainstream gamer these days just want to be dazzled with flashy graphics than good gameplay, probably because many gamers just sell their games within a week of purchase.

I've only ever sold one game, Nintendogs, and that was after about a year and a half and clocking it 3 or 4 times.

[Foot]

What Microsoft is saying to look good: Hundreds of millions = > $100,000,000

What they actually mean: We took teh Xbox 360 controller and make it better with Monay!!!

[Mewbot]

I still don't understand how they managed to spend hundreds of millions designing that controller, it's hardly different to the last one.

 

Maybe they went through a whole bunch of ideas, like a Wii U GamePad style controller, or a N64 style controller, who knows.

They still ended up choosing the most boring one ever, just the same as last time with rumble on a few buttons. *Yawn*