Xbox Series X|S Arctic Camo Controller Appears On Microsoft Store

No dual sense or competitor to Sonys controller …

Yay, another controller that is still light years behind.

Decent looking controller

I'll wait for it to hit Game Pass.

All I want Microsoft is the halo elite controller not all these others. Please.

@Wheatly I actually think it’s the game at fault when you need gyro. For example in halo I have never felt like I needed gyro because the aiming is perfect imo but other shooters I feel like I need it. What do you think?

@Baler As someone who's first Halo game was Halo CE's PC release with mouse and keyboard, I'd say gyro is always superior to analog for any kind of shooting/aiming, no exceptions. Once you're used to mouse or gyro with totally free movement aiming, a spring-centered analog stick is always objectively substantially worse. At the moment the only online shooter I play is Splatoon (gyro based, no aim assist, just like PC games), and most of the rest of similar things is on PSVR2 (gyro/inside-out camera tracking/IR tracking (No Man's Sky stick vs free actual aiming, no comparison, Pavlov (shooter) no comparison, etc.)

I honestly just don't enjoy a first person aiming game with sticks at all anymore. I made the mistake of playing Halo Infinite mid-Splatoon binge, and......yuck. Such janky aiming.

Still kind of mad at XB for holding up gyros from becoming industry standard. I expected they'd fix that this gen.

Why a new controller? With games at 30 FPS on the “most advanced” console ever made - the priorities are all mixed up….
Just saying that anyone interested in a better controller would be the same group who would want 60-120 FPS

@AlwaysPlaying

I don't think controller color patterns are taking any resources from game development.

One studio (working independently of xbox game studios) chose to delay 60 fps mode instead of the entire game. I don't think that calls for shutting down production from unrelated departments.

@Wheatly @NEStalgia I know what you’re saying and I have a switch and a pc but halo mcc with an elite 2 controller I find i don’t miss gyro at all.

@Baler Yeah I couldn't agree more. I always hate gyro, it's like yeah, I really want my aim to start going all over the place any time I happen to move or change my position while holding the controller. I could maybe see how some people might like it on a handheld, but as far as home consoles go, it feels awkward.

All this talk about gyro reminds me of the Wii motion controls era, they would have loved it. The fact that a lot of people consider dual stick controls an upgrade over the old motion controls in Metroid Prime Remastered says a lot.

@JayJ Actually the Wii was superior for aiming, technically, with the IR sensor. Superior to even gyros, pretty much mouse control in the air. I don't love the Wii for a variety of reasons but technically its aiming was the ideal, today only seen on VR because it uses a similar IR tracking system for absolute aiming.

Aiming a gun by actually aiming the gun is always going to be better than a 2-axis self-centering analog directional control. But you're also not wrong about CURRENT gyro implementations going off center. In Splatoon you have to re-center it with the button often, though I'd still take that over trying to aim with sticks only.

WiiU actually had a superior tech there, it used a magnetic centering that was aligned to the earth's core to keep it from going off center so much. Expensive tech. Very underused. And underappreciated.

One thing you have to remember is the only reason using sticks to aim works at all is virtually all console games use aim-assist internally. Because the inputs are really not suited to aiming, the game is actually helping you aim automatically, while PC shooters tend not to do this, it requires mouse precision, and in Splatoon's case it also uses no aim assist.

If you were to play on a controller with no internal aim assist and play the games the same way PC mouse/VR/gyro players are playing you'd be throwing your controller through the TV.

@NEStalgia Yeah there is a good reason why the Wii was the only time I enjoyed using motion controls. Heck there's some old light gun shooters that I still like to play on Wii just because the motion controls were so good with the IR sensor.

@Somebody I have plenty of nonsensical ideas when a new color controller is announced… like why is this even a news story?

@JayJ Microsoft new jingle “a controller so good you will dream of Wii”

@NorthwestEagle amen brother - I have a bag of AA’’s waiting to be recycled…

From the thumbnail I briefly thought it was a clear controller and was excited.

@NorthwestEagle I'm sure there's some people who want all sorts of things, but if it's a non-issue for me I have no reason to be concerned about it.

@AlwaysPlaying You now they have these things called rechargeable batteries right? They come in all sizes, even AA!

@NorthwestEagle I greatly prefer Microsoft's approach to letting you choose your own rechargeable battery solution. Personally I like using rechargeable AA's and swapping them out when needed. I never need to plug my controller in or worry about it's charge. Meanwhile on Playstation I always need a spare charged controller available.

@NorthwestEagle AA is better in my opinion. Buy rechargeable AAs and throw them out when they degrade. I would rather throw out cheap rechargeable AAs then buy a new controller or take apart and replace the battery. And I could always buy a charge pack from a number of brands.

I always have at least 4 AA batteries fully charged and ready. Never have to be tethered to a charge cable no matter how long I play.

@Somebody - I couldn't agree more about the rechargeable AAs.
I drop like $12 for 8 every generation and never have a dead controller.
I just shake my head when I see people recommending a second PS controller or a long usb cable to charge it while you play because you only get 4-6 hours out of it.

Another one to the collection then...hopefully I'm not the only one who finds these things a bit of an addiction.

Replaceable batteries are better, especially when the built-in battery life is so poor as in PS4 and PS5 controllers, that permanently die after a short time. Microsoft sells rechargeable packs that you can get using Microsoft Rewards points or you can buy rechargeable batteries. That's infinitely better. The Xbox Elite Series 2 Controller has a built-in battery but its life (and the cable) is so long. It reminds me of the Wii U Pro Controller.

I like the Wii IR pointer, It's perfect as in arcades but I don't think that the Switch or PS gyroscopic technology is good enough although it could be included as an option in Xbox controllers. Games with precise and intuitive aiming are what we need even if it means aim assist and, of course, being able to reduce those awful dead zones that makes aiming much less precise because your finger has to pull the stick further from the centre.

@TheSimulator ?

After Redfall I can see why they quietly launched this one - they are aware with the backlash around an excess of controllers.

Probably one of the better looking ones I've seen.