Modular Xbox 360 Controller Fabricated With Bag of Rice

Tom Goldman

Crying on the inside.
Aug 17, 2009
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Modular Xbox 360 Controller Fabricated With Bag of Rice


Does the future of game controllers hold the ability to make them whatever we want?

It'd be pretty terrible if an injury or disability prevented a videogame enthusiast's ability to play. This is the personal reality for some disabled gamers every day. Controller mod group Evil Controllers is working on a solution with a prototype Xbox 360 controller made out of duct tape, a bag of rice, and 360 controller parts.

The bag of rice makes the controller fully moldable. Buttons and controller sticks can be removed and placed in any position. The controller provides even more freedom in that any function can be assigned to any button.

Steve Spohn, who has muscular dystrophy, thinks that a flexible controller design is a great idea. "When you're disabled, sometimes you're bed-bound, you're in a hospital, you're in a VA, and really, videogames are your escape and controllers allow you to get to them," he says.

Evil Controllers has also developed a method through which shrugging one's shoulders will perform a button function. That, along with the bag of rice controller prototype, could allow the disabled to play where they couldn't before. The controller is still in a design phase, but will potentially work for other consoles in the future if it goes into production.

The bag-of-rice controller is great for disabled people that want to game, but it could also be good for controller design in general. It's unorthodox, but what if Sony, Microsoft, or Nintendo came up with a controller that we could rebuild for every game? Something like that could be a similar, but different step from the motion gaming phase we're about to see the entire industry enter this year, and one that a more hardcore gamer could possibly get behind.

Source: PCWorld [http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/article/348992/charity_creates_xbox_360_controller_duct_tape_velcro_bag_rice/]

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Jared

The British Paladin
Jul 14, 2009
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Very intresting! Its certainly an intuitive way to work around with controllers!
 

kaizen2468

New member
Nov 20, 2009
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Nice invention, hopefully it gets funding and can be made available to those who need it. Perhaps refined a bit as well.
 

squid5580

Elite Member
Feb 20, 2008
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Hey why not? They took away our ability to set the controls ourselves. Why not let us make the controller they way we want it instead. I am sick of relearning the controller for each and every game because no one can work together and get along.
 

BlindMessiah94

The 94th Blind Messiah
Nov 12, 2009
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Cool find Gman. That would be awesome. If they made this I would stop complaining for a keyboard/mouse control system on consoles.
 

iHux

New member
May 19, 2010
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I want a console which turns on when I think "On". I do not have a disability I just do not like any physical work.
 

Aenir

New member
Mar 26, 2009
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Tom Goldman said:
The bag-of-rice controller is great for disabled people that want to game, but it could also be good for controller design in general. It's unorthodox, but what if Sony, Microsoft, or Nintendo came up with a controller that we could rebuild for every game? Something like that could be a similar, but different step from the motion gaming phase we're about to see the entire industry enter this year, and one that a more hardcore gamer could possibly get behind.
Eh. I'll stick to my Keyboard/Mouse.
 

Mozza444

New member
Nov 19, 2009
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Great idea, however as it is... well it looks like the buttons would fall off as you played and it be uncomfortable to hold..

Still this is going places.
Great for disabled people as the video explains, I'm sure video games as a form of escapism is a god send for somebody that is bed-bound.
 

More Fun To Compute

New member
Nov 18, 2008
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I think I would quickly get bored of rebuilding a controller for every game but I like hearing about people making existing games more accessible for people who would have problems with them.

Also, thumbsticks are thumbsticks wherever you put them so it wouldn't be a radically different controller. Just more comfortable I guess.
 

Buizel91

Autobot
Aug 25, 2008
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Aenir said:
Tom Goldman said:
The bag-of-rice controller is great for disabled people that want to game, but it could also be good for controller design in general. It's unorthodox, but what if Sony, Microsoft, or Nintendo came up with a controller that we could rebuild for every game? Something like that could be a similar, but different step from the motion gaming phase we're about to see the entire industry enter this year, and one that a more hardcore gamer could possibly get behind.
Eh. I'll stick to my Keyboard/Mouse.
good luck working them if you had a disability =P
 

Aenir

New member
Mar 26, 2009
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arc1991 said:
Aenir said:
Tom Goldman said:
The bag-of-rice controller is great for disabled people that want to game, but it could also be good for controller design in general. It's unorthodox, but what if Sony, Microsoft, or Nintendo came up with a controller that we could rebuild for every game? Something like that could be a similar, but different step from the motion gaming phase we're about to see the entire industry enter this year, and one that a more hardcore gamer could possibly get behind.
Eh. I'll stick to my Keyboard/Mouse.
good luck working them if you had a disability =P
There is a reason I only quoted the last paragraph. Because it was talking about people WITHOUT DISABILITIES.
 

technoted

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Nov 9, 2009
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I really hope to hell this works, I love the idea of giving everyone a chance to play video games and If I had the money and knowledge I'd gladly fund something like this.
 

Pandalisk

New member
Jan 25, 2009
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A brillaint Invention with a Good heart at the Centre of it all

This is much needed, the disabled need escapes from the Hardships of life, probably more so than us.