On his blog, Major Nelson posted detailed information on the Xbox One controller. In response to tons of questions about it, Xbox Wire wrote a story the breaks down all of the changes and new features of the controller. I didn't think the Xbox 360 controller could be improved, but it looks like the Xbox One controller does just that. There's a lot of questions surrounds the Xbox One right now, but one thing that shouldn't be questioned is the awesomeness of this controller.
The three things that absolutely wows me with the Xbox One controller are these three changes:
Controller is both wireless and wired
The Xbox One controller still uses AA batteries. That's fine. The compartment for those batteries are now in the interior of the controller, so you have more room on the underside of the controller for your fingers. But to help preserve battery life, you can also plug your controller into your console with a mini USB cable and the connection will switch automatically. That's huge, in my opinion. Xbox One owners won't have to buy rechargeable battery packs and charging stations like they had to with the Xbox 360.
Low power state
Another new feature that'll help preserve battery life is the low power state. Let's say you're watching a movie or walk away from your TV and you set your controller down. When you set it down, the controller enters a low power state that conserves battery life. Then when you pick it up again, it exits the low power state and is ready for use without having to turn the controller back on and resynch it.
Kinect pairs controller with player
There's plenty of things I dislike with the Kinect, but this one feature is actually really cool. Each controller uses invisible reflective technology and LEDs to send a patterned infrared signal to the Xbox One and Kinect. When it does this, the Kinect associates that controller with the person holding it. So let's say you're playing split screen and you change where you're sitting on the couch, the display will swap positions on the TV. That's awesome. Ya' know what? Maybe you're alright, Kinect.
To read more details on the controller, visit MajorNelson.com.
You can follow Senior Editor Lance Liebl on Twitter @Lance_GZ. He likes talking sports, video games, movies, and the stupidity of celebrities. Email at [email protected]
[Xbox Wire via Major Nelson]
