If you primarily game on the Xbox One or PC and experience a lot of different genres, I’d recommend picking up an Elite controller.
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To further engage your salivary glands, Major Nelson will be hosting an official unboxing of the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller via Periscope today at 9AM PT/ 12PM ET.
You can use the controller with your Xbox One console and, if you get exhausted of it, you can always plug it into your computer.
The first thing I noticed when I picked up the controller to pair it with my console was how heavy it was compared to the standard gamepad. The customization it offers comes at a steep price, costing over twice as much as the standard $60 controller.
One of my biggest complaints about the standard controller is how stiff the right and left shoulder buttons are. You can switch between two D-pads (a traditional option and a rounder one) and three types of thumbsticks: traditional short ones, taller ones with the traditional dimpled head, and tall ones with rounded heads for smooth spinning. For most people, the Elite controller is overkill. But it’s a $150 solution. I wasn’t a fan of the other four analog sticks (they’re too high up for my tastes), but the two d-pads are both excellent, as are the paddles (more on that later). Sleek, shinny and elegant at the same time, this state-of-the art controller ensures that you will have a total kick from all of your favorite games. Microsoft says that with all four levers attached, a pair of included Duracell AAs and standard thumbsticks, the Elite weighs 348 grams, give or take 15.
However, you don’t have to use the paddles. These paddles can be mapped to function like any other button on the controller, including pressing the digital pad, clicking the analog sticks, and pulling the pressure-sensitive triggers (but not pulling the analog stick in any given direction). It makes using the controller a bit quieter, too. Nevertheless, the only time you notice it is the first games you play with it, since the hands and arms get used to its ergonomic design very quickly.
The Elite controller represents the top console gamepad the company has ever developed, but it does not come at an inexpensive price.
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The Xbox One Elite Controller goes on sale on October 27 for $149.99 (£119.99). While it doesn’t appear to be available in the United Kingdom as of yet, Microsoft has it priced at $80 in the USA, so expect it to be a good chunk more expensive when it reaches these shores.
