Product Face-Offs
Microsoft Wireless Xbox 360 Controller for Windows
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| Dimensions (L x H x P) | NC | ||
| Poids | 264 g | ||
| Boutons | 4 | ||
| Gâchettes | 4 | ||
| Connexion | USB | ||
 See all specifications | |||
| Drivers nécessaires | Yes |
 Hide specifications | |
PC Compatible
Nothing could be simpler than connecting this Xbox 360 controller to a PC. All you need to do is download the appropriate drivers from the Microsoft site.
The downside, though, is that you'll need to spend about 20 euros on a USB receiver to use it wirelessly.
The downside, though, is that you'll need to spend about 20 euros on a USB receiver to use it wirelessly.
Pierre-Jean Alzieu
Test date: September 03, 2008
Test date: September 03, 2008
This is the wireless version of the Xbox 360 controller, which uses 2.4 GHz WiFi to communicate with Windows, which means players can sit wherever they like without worrying about the length of the cable. Power is supplied by two AA batteries placed in a module which is then attached to the pad.
This is one of the simplest pads we're looking at in this roundup, with only four buttons, four triggers (two analog), two analog sticks and one directional pad.
The handling leaves nothing to be desired though, as each button has been perfectly placed to fall directly under your fingers.
In-game behavior
Here too, it's difficult to find fault. The drivers work perfectly, both for sports games and first person shooters. Furthermore, this is the only pad we tested that works with Crysis, even though we still think that the pairing keyboard + mouse actually works for this particular game. For everyday usage, whatever the type of game tested was a treat - and much more fun than with any of the other pads we tested.
The Xbox 360 already has a great reputation, and we can only confirm it: this really is the best PC gamepad on the market. Even if the competitors have sketched out some good ideas on paper, we'd very much like to see them become reality on Microsoft's product to make it even better.
With the Saitek pad we also tested, for instance, you can swap the location of the direciontal pad and the stick - it's neat, but hardly indispensible. Thrustmaster, meanwhile, has tried to make as light a pad as possible, which is one of the few suggestions that we would make to Microsoft.
The only reason to advise against this product is that it doesn't have programmable buttons that you can set yourself. Its competitors have preset profiles for different games, and/or the option to map complicated functions onto a single shortcut, but you can't do either with this model, which is sure to wind dedicated players up.
On the fun side, the pad comes in three colors, black, pink and white. Maybe some other, slightly more original colors wouldn't go amiss either. If a good desginer got hold of this pad and really styled it, it would be absolutely perfect. Still, without any genuine faults and had an excellent price, we can't really fault it.
This is one of the simplest pads we're looking at in this roundup, with only four buttons, four triggers (two analog), two analog sticks and one directional pad.
The handling leaves nothing to be desired though, as each button has been perfectly placed to fall directly under your fingers.
In-game behavior
Here too, it's difficult to find fault. The drivers work perfectly, both for sports games and first person shooters. Furthermore, this is the only pad we tested that works with Crysis, even though we still think that the pairing keyboard + mouse actually works for this particular game. For everyday usage, whatever the type of game tested was a treat - and much more fun than with any of the other pads we tested.
The Xbox 360 already has a great reputation, and we can only confirm it: this really is the best PC gamepad on the market. Even if the competitors have sketched out some good ideas on paper, we'd very much like to see them become reality on Microsoft's product to make it even better.
With the Saitek pad we also tested, for instance, you can swap the location of the direciontal pad and the stick - it's neat, but hardly indispensible. Thrustmaster, meanwhile, has tried to make as light a pad as possible, which is one of the few suggestions that we would make to Microsoft.
The only reason to advise against this product is that it doesn't have programmable buttons that you can set yourself. Its competitors have preset profiles for different games, and/or the option to map complicated functions onto a single shortcut, but you can't do either with this model, which is sure to wind dedicated players up.
On the fun side, the pad comes in three colors, black, pink and white. Maybe some other, slightly more original colors wouldn't go amiss either. If a good desginer got hold of this pad and really styled it, it would be absolutely perfect. Still, without any genuine faults and had an excellent price, we can't really fault it.
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Wireless
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Ergonomics
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Precision of sticks and triggers
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Good handling controls under your fingertips
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A little heavy at 264 g
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Extra wireless adaptor costs €20
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No customizable profiles
This is without doubt one of the most comfortable pads we tested for this survey. Even better, it performs excellently in almost every type of game. The only downside is that using it wirelessly on your PC will cost you an extra 20 euros for a USB adaptor.
