Let's design the perfect controller by combining parts from ones that already exist

[KiruTheMant]

*Cracks Knuckles*
Ahem.

The body of a PS2 controlled with the finger grips some Wildcatz controllers have, allows the smoothness of a normal controlled but a grip of a custom one,using the PS2 analog switcks with the Xbox button format,while using the R1/L1 format with Triggers. There would be 3 buttons,a Start, Select,and Freeze button,allowing one to totally freeze gameplay when it is essential they must leave but the game won't let them pause. On the cord would be an extender slow,where one could pull the cord apart and put in extensions, and likewise, the plugin would have Adapters for Consoles from NES to the PS3 so one could use this controller semi-perfectly for all consoles. The case would be removable and interchangable so if the case of a crack or a broken analog stick one could simply remove and replace.

 

[Laser Priest]

This immediately came to mind.

 

[AMMO Kid]

I really enjoyed the GameCube controller, but now I much prefer the 360 controller. I never was very fond of the Play Station controller, however, but I have grown to like it a little more over the years

 

[Ninjat_126]

I think the playstation controller is the most perfect controller.

Its fits so snugly in your hand, all the buttons are easily available.

I could bludgeon someone to death with the X-Box controller, its so bulky and the buttons are a mess.

The flat buttons on the Dualshock are just easier to use than the 360's face buttons. Not to mention the 360's D-pad.

I'd go for a Dualshock 3 (Ps3 controller). The Xbox triggers would be better than our current L2/R2, but I like shooting with R1 rather than shooting with triggers.

Kiru's idea of interchangeable components sounds good as well.

 

[Vivace-Vivian]

The 360 controller with the PS2 D-Pad. Done and done.

 

[Canid117]

The perfect controller already exists. It's the 360 controller.

The D pad needs work on that one.

 

[Grey Walker]

It entirely depends on the genre of the game.

FPS's are ideal for M+K (I'm not being a PC elitist here, I do have reasons for this) and RTS's, as well as top-down RPGs (Zelda excluded). 3rd-Person games are more suited to controllers (360 may be a better controller, but my PS3 controller works fine for me), especially 3rd-person shooters. I feel 2D platformers are more controller friendly as well.

Factor in the Metroid Prime games being ideal for the Wii and all the touchscreen games impossible to play on most systems (at least until the PSVita and WiiU come out) and you'll soon realize that there isn't ONE controller that can answer all this short of it changing its shape and input to suit the game at hand.

 

[Richard Po]

Why can't we just have all controllers work for any system?

 

[icame]

The perfect controller already exists. It's the 360 controller.

as game informer once pointed out when designing THEIR perfect controller, and based on the sales of the 360-style controller for PC, i think it's safe to assume this is correct

Horrible d-pad and no internal battery nullify that statement.

http://www.psu.com/forums/threads/5254-Xbox-360-The-Best-Controller-Ever-So-says-IGN.?p=87567&viewfull=1

i'm more inclined to agree with professionals in the gaming industry than some random person on the internet.

I would say fair enough if the 'professionals' you spoke of weren't IGN.

 

[Godhead]

How about a mouse and keyboard? It might not be excellent in any one field but it's rather good in all of them.

 

[Azaraxzealot]

The perfect controller already exists. It's the 360 controller.

as game informer once pointed out when designing THEIR perfect controller, and based on the sales of the 360-style controller for PC, i think it's safe to assume this is correct

Horrible d-pad and no internal battery nullify that statement.

http://www.psu.com/forums/threads/5254-Xbox-360-The-Best-Controller-Ever-So-says-IGN.?p=87567&viewfull=1

i'm more inclined to agree with professionals in the gaming industry than some random person on the internet.

I would say fair enough if the 'professionals' you spoke of weren't IGN.

well i don't know what your standard of a gaming professional is. but if IGN isn't considered professional, then your standards must be set in the PhD Department or something that conveniently aligns with your preferences.

 

[Grey Walker]

How about a mouse and keyboard? It might not be excellent in any one field but it's rather good in all of them.

As I said above, it's ideal for FPS's, RTS's and top-down RPGs, but it doesn't hold up as well in other genres.

 

[bl4ckh4wk64]

Well, if they had the 360 controller's ergonomics with the PS3's buttons I think that would be by far the best.

Oh, and to the people claiming mouse and keyboard are more accurate, it all depends on how much you practice with them. For example, I consider myself extremely accurate with a 360 controller (measuring based on CoD4) with a 65.4% accuracy, which is higher than mostly of everybody. On the PC, my accuracy is around 56. This isn't based on lag or anything, it's based on familiarity. I've spent more time with the 360 controller so I'm more accurate with one. I'm more used to how hard I should press one way or the other than how much I should move my mouse. It's different for every person.

Edit: I fucking hate these new captchas

 

[mjc0961]

I'd keep most of the regular 360 controller. The only things that have to go are the default stick grips. I'd replace them with the stick grips from the 360 controller with the twisting d-pad. They have that groove going all the way around instead of the four little nubs on the regular controller that wear down and then feel weird. The sticks stay in the same place too; I've gotten used to that weird "two sticks next to each other" nonsense the PS controllers have, but it doesn't mean I like it.
The d-pad has to go too, I'd replace it with something like the Wii Remote's d-pad as it's just the right size and it feels great (the only problem is that it's a bit high up on the remote; I blame that stupid speaker). I don't want the PS d-pad either: it's too large and the spaces between the buttons is too great, so hitting diagonals is a pain.
Everything else from the 360 controller stays.

Spoiler: Here is a really cheap mock-up of what I would want.

The triggers stay, those triggers are awesome. The bumpers stay too, I have never had any problems using them. The face buttons also stay as I find them to be quite perfect. They feel pretty good, they are given letters rather than shapes, and they are all a distinctly different color. I've seen Playstation games where I had to do some QTE thing, and they drew the button prompts so small that both circle and square looked like small reddish looking blobs and I couldn't tell them apart. They were draw too small to tell if it was a circle or square shape, and they weren't perfectly red or perfectly pink to tell apart that way either. Give me an obvious A B X Y which all look different and obvious green, red, blue, and yellow colors which are all very different colors.

So yep. If I could make myself a perfect controller, I'd go for something like that.

 

[mjc0961]

well i don't know what your standard of a gaming professional is. but if IGN isn't considered professional, then your standards must be set in the PhD Department or something that conveniently aligns with your preferences.

IGN isn't considered professional mostly because their reviews are usually a joke (copy/pasting a review for one version to all versions of the game, regardless of if the review is accurate for all versions; also, they sometimes just post blatantly untrue information in their reviews) and the sometimes don't quite care if their news reporting is accurate either.

Plus you forget that you can't prove your opinion to be correct just because other people, "professionals" or not, agree with you.

Now cough up my first post, forum. I wanted to add something to it.

 

[Torrasque]

360 controller is pretty perfect as far as I'm concerned.
I liked the feel of the PS2, but the triggers are awkward, and the joysticks were weird on the thumbs.
If you could swap the D-pad of a 360 controller with the left joystick, this would be the perfect controller.
Maybe a little bit wider with groves for the fingers so I wouldn't get cramps after playing for hours, but thats just me.

 

[Professor James]

For everyone talking about the Xbox controller with a different d-pad.

Spoiler: feast your eyes

The d-pad is raised so it's easier to use. The only problem is that for some reason they removed the colors of the button.

 

[Smooth Operator]

well i don't know what your standard of a gaming professional is. but if IGN isn't considered professional, then your standards must be set in the PhD Department or something that conveniently aligns with your preferences.

IGN is professional in the sense they get paid for what they do, but their sponsorship/paycheck comes from the very people who's products they review, so their credibility is near non existent.

OT: I would propose a modular setup, where components can be switched added or removed.
- interchangeable d-pad and nub, so you can put them where you want
- extendable nubs, turn the top and you can double their height turn it back to lock it down
- controller extendable in the middle + removable touch screen and additional battery pack, so you got something for the shitter/road and can still play games without extra weight
- analog triggers switchable to buttons
- additional handles, I for one got big fucking hands and normal controller are just lost in there so add some clip-on handles to fit everyone's hand

 

[spacepope22]

I bought a PS3 controller that has the L/R buttons of the 360 controller. It has an internal battery and a usb cable. I love it.

 

[LetalisK]

Thing on the left looks kinda good depending on its size, but what's the max DPI tracking on the mouse?

I believe it's a 2000 dpi mouse. Not that it matters, because it does a hack job of translating movement. It's still better than a thumbstick, though.

Now, if you want a more fluid experience, you get one of these:

The developer kicked ass with the XIM3. It does an amazing job at translating mouse movements and makes it feel exactly like on the computer. It's expensive, but mine has paid for itself because I can now rent games on a console instead of having to pay full price, often for games I don't want to play very long. It works on the PS3 too if you get an adapter. It's just not "officially" supported by the developer.