tal, 4 months ago

Problem is that even on a premium product, cost is gonna be a factor. Well, and weight.

I can think of a bunch of features that could be supported in a controller. Problem is, not everyone is gonna want everything, and if they put it on the thing, everyone is gonna pay for it. On the XBox Elite Series 2:

• Interchangeable thumbstick hats: Yes
• Interchangeable D-pad hats: Yes
• Interchangeable thumbsticks (a la the Thrustmaster eSwap): No
• Rumble motors: Yes
• Haptic force feedback (a la the Playstation’s DualSense): No
• Gyros (a la the Playstation’s DualSense): No
• Force-feedback triggers (a la the Playstation’s DualSense): No
• Hall Effect triggers: Yes
• Hall Effect thumbsticks: No
• Extra back buttons: Yes, 4
• Extra face buttons (a la SCUF Envision): No
• Force feedback thumbsticks: No (I’m not aware of anyone that makes these, but force feedback joysticks were once a real thing, useful with flight sims simulating pre-fly-by-wire aircraft, like the Microsoft Sidewinder Force Feedback 2)
• Pressure-sensitive buttons (a la the Playstation’s DualSense): No
• Bluetooth LE: Yes
• Wired: Yes
• RGB LED: Yes (though apparently the XBox hasn’t historically provided access to this and Steam Input does; I don’t know if this has changed).