- It's no secret that I
don't play a ton of games on an actual Xbox, but what I am is an avid
Xbox controller user. Although confession time, my
weapon of choice, even though the Xbox One has been out for years now is still the Xbox 360 controller, but I am very hopeful that changes today. I'm getting hands on for the first time with the new Xbox series controller. And I guess I have to call it that, right? I can't call it an Xbox
series X controller, because it's the same controller for the series X and the series S. Immediately, the back
texture, it's real nice, but before we get too far into it, let's do a quick incomplete
history of Xbox controllers. Starting, of course with
this one right here. So this is the Xbox controller
S for small, presumably, it's got a couple of
memory slots on the back. Remember guys, controllers
were all wired in those days, so you could totally
put, memory cards built into your controller. It's got triggers on the left and right, so just no shoulder buttons
though, so just the triggers. And then on the front, it's actually which is kind
of crazy, not that dissimilar to a current Xbox layout. So just an Xbox logo in the middle that became a button one generation later. You still got your back and start as well as what did we use
these ones for actually? - [James] In Halo, that turns
your flashlight on and off, and maybe change grenade type. - Pretty cool, one
controversial innovation for this generation was
this breakaway cable. So we've actually already
been arguing about it off camera here. James is a fan, apparently
it saved his console from his dad tripping over it, but David and I are sort of more in the... This is a really strong connection, and I think console could
probably come off the cable. In fairness, David, we probably don't remember just how heavy the original Xbox was. Yeah, so maybe that's fine. Moving on the Xbox 360 controller is, in my opinion, one of the
most perfect controllers ever. It has a crappy D pad, the
finish on the thumbsticks is quite frankly, not very good, and you got to get kind of third
party, little rubber things to put over it. But the contour, in my small
adult large child sized hands, this controller just feels like home. Everything is easily within reach except the buttons you frankly don't really need that often like your Xbox button. Yeah, that makes its first appearance here as well as your back
and start in the middle, and of course in addition to the triggers, we now get shoulder buttons,
which has become pretty much the standard these days. - [James] Bumpers. - Bumpers, I'm not calling them that. - [James] They're called bumpers. - (mumbles) that. The breakaway cable makes
her return, but only sort of. By default Xbox 360
controllers were wireless so this is just for the people that go out and wanna save a buck, and or have slightly lower latency by using a wired controller. I mean, most people were
pretty forgiving about it, because it was cool to have a USB type A on the controller
allowing you to plug it in with automatically install
drivers on a Windows PC, and use it for games. I won't say that the experience
was entirely seamless on the PC, but it's
gotten a lot better now, at least we have that. Finally, they added an
accessory jack on the bottom of the controller allowing you to plug in a keyboard if
you had any use for that, or more commonly a
headset to which you owe the pleasure of all those
shrieking children in your ears, for all those years. For the Xbox One controller, Microsoft wisely didn't
really change much. It's got the same
smoother contour compared to the original Xbox S controller, and all they've really
done is update the headset, and accessory Jacks at the
bottom, add a charging port so you can charge with USB
micro B, terrible connector, but, yes, I know type C didn't
exist yet fine, whatever. And just like the Xbox
360 controller they stuck with double A batteries, which personally I prefer. Integrated batteries will make the controller lighter if you go with a lithium style battery, but what they also do is
make it a lot more work to change them out when the time comes, and you think about how long a console
generation last these days. You could very easily
wear out your battery in the time that you own it. Especially that's a good point, because your Xbox One
controller is actually going to work with the new series consoles. Now let's have a look at
these two side by side. Well, they really haven't
changed practically anything. Okay, I actually went
out of my way not to look at a ton of coverage of these, because I wanted my
impressions to be just fresh. But, wow, I can see why they went for intergenerational compatibility here, because if I was an Xbox user,
I would be outraged if I had to replace my basically
identical controller with another basically
identical controller. I mean, to be clear, I'm
not criticizing Microsoft for sticking with what works if it ain't broke, don't fix it, but, yeah, they have not changed much. Back to the texture though, that is markedly better, this
really grabs onto your hand, but not in like an uncomfortable way. It's not like sandpaper, but it feels both rougher, and yet somehow more premium even though the plastics feel pretty similar, like they're both reasonably stiff, this might be a little
more rigid actually, that feels pretty good. The thumbsticks look like
they have used, did they use the same multivan? I don't think they changed at all. One welcome addition is
a similar D pad style to the Xbox Elite controller. Well, one of the optional
versions of the D pad included with the Xbox Elite controller, it makes diagonal presses very easy while still having a really good feel for left right down up games. Like if you play old emulated
games like I do a lot. They've added a share button right in the middle of a controller, so you can share things
with people who give a shit. In all seriousness though, you press it to take a screenshot, long press it to record
a short gameplay video, or double press it to
check out the gallery, and through the Xbox app, you
can actually synchronize all that stuff with your phone
where it's much easier to share on social media or whatever. Now let's talk tactility, because that really is
what it comes down to for a controller there's. The feel in the hand, and then there's the feel of the buttons. And I want to go straight
back to the D pad actually, because that, here we go,
that is something special. One of the big problems with
the 360 controller for me is that the D pad is (mumbles)
it feels like a joystick with a big flat top on it quite honestly. There's no feel to it, you're just kind of motioning it around. Now the Xbox One controller
did improve this a lot. You can even hear it. (crinkling sound) It's not so mushy. The new series controller whole new level. I would even say it goes as far as to make it a little stiff. - [David] Compared to
a good controller like the switch pro one, or the
PS4 D-pad is pretty good. - The PS4 D pad is four buttons
David your fanboy showing? - [David] That's what a D pad is. - No. - [David] Those are good
for selecting items. Try playing Super Mario on that thing. - It's a little crunchy. - [David] Yeah. - Yeah, playing like
an Elder Scrolls game, or something like that. I'm navigating like, oh,
I know, I pressed that, but are they solving a problem
that they never really had? It's not like, it is better. I'm saying, yeah, this is clearly better, but if I was playing
retro games, that's rough. - [James] What about
fighting game where you are doing combos like you are rolling it like down-forward-punch in mortal Kombat or something? - Doesn't feel great. You hear that kind of crunchy
sound like the tactility of the diagonal is only
provided by the tactility of the down and the
directions like you hear that it doesn't sound like click, click, click, or even click click, it's just, (crinkling sound) it's not very satisfying for that. The Z axis on the
joysticks is really stiff. These are both new,
they feel very similar. So it might just be the newness. I don't think they really changed the feel of the ABXY buttons and over a decade now. These feel very similar. Type C charging another big
improvement I am a huge whatever the opposite of a fan
is, I'm a hater, okay. When it comes to micro B, I think it's a terrible
crappy, fragile port. This is a great improvement. And once again, double
A batteries are back. One thing to watch out for guys is that even though they look
nearly identical in size, the battery compartment is
ever so slightly smaller. So many third party like battery pack, like charge pack accessories,
and stuff like that will fit, but Microsoft is advising you that if it doesn't seem to
quite fit, don't say it, just go have to get a
new one, unfortunately. I wonder if even like these
covers are interchangeable. Now I want to try. Nope, yeah, that's not gonna work. Visually I can't even tell the difference between these things, but they are, yeah, there you go, now there's a little lip there. Yeah, that's a difference. The good news about the if it ain't broke,
don't fix it approaches is that the conclusion
for this is pretty simple. If you like the Xbox One
controller, you're gonna like the Xbox series controller, because it's basically the same thing just with a little bit of
additional functionality. This is gonna save a ton of waste, because your player one
controller, the one that comes with the console anyway, you're gonna have that share button like
who's gonna be hitting the share button and managing the frickin gallery when
you've got friends over. So all your secondary tertiary
quaternary controllers, can just be old Xbox One controllers , and there's no functionality lost. I think Sony is making a huge mistake with the forced non
intergenerational compatibility with the PS4 and PS five controllers. I get it you got some extra
special haptic whatever nonsense but I think game developers
are pretty smart. I think they could figure
out how to have like a use the rumble or something to simulate it, or something in an emergency. - [James] They have some
compatibility right? - No, so the you can use this on-- - [James] PS4 games. - Backwards compatible
games, so on PS4 games. - [James] Not on any new games. - That's not intergenerational
compatibility. That's the most arbitrary nonsense, that's taking something that works, and intentionally making
it not work like Sony shirt for your first party titles, you can just say, yeah,
requires X controller. It's not like there's no precedent for that, like Nintendo
does it all the time. You can't play this fitness game unless you buy $100 balance sport. - [David] Sony did it with Ape Escape. - Yeah, exactly, Sony
themselves has done it. Sorry, this is turning into a rant about why
Sony's controller strategy this generation is anti
consumer, anti environment, and basically just dumb. But that's just Sony for you. Remember memory stick, because remember. (crosstalk) Remember to subscribe, because I remember that to. See you later
Iām still not completely sold on that D-pad. It does seem better than I thought it would be and is light years ahead of the one on the 360, but Iām still not convinced it eliminates the issue of unwanted presses as well as the Bone or DualShock controllers do.