XBOX One controller

[Mystictrust]

From watching the MS press coverage I have a feeling that Kinect voice commands will be a little smoother than they have been in the past. Watching the Project Spark stuff, the guy was talking pretty 'conversationally' with the game in order to do things. Coupled with how the new Kinect seems to be optimized to hear ONLY the voices of those in front of it, I don't think we have to worry about someone yelling 'XBOX, OFF' and turning everyones (and his/her) console off.

I agree. They've also optimized it so that it won't "listen" to the TV, so people can watch future xbox events and not have their console freak out when they give the Kinect commands on stage

I was impressed with the fluid voice control for Project Spark. I have to wonder, however, if Kinect is still going to keep the "You are the controller" tagline, or if they are going to rework that to better reflect Kinect augmenting the experience with an actual controller.

 

[Ordeith]

From watching the MS press coverage I have a feeling that Kinect voice commands will be a little smoother than they have been in the past. Watching the Project Spark stuff, the guy was talking pretty 'conversationally' with the game in order to do things. Coupled with how the new Kinect seems to be optimized to hear ONLY the voices of those in front of it, I don't think we have to worry about someone yelling 'XBOX, OFF' and turning everyones (and his/her) console off.

Currently that would be yelling
"Xbox, settings, turn off, yes."

 

[Coreldan]

The X1 subforum has been pretty quiet lately! We need more juicy news to discuss!

Meanwhile I got a weird idea. Early on when at least I wont be affording the Charge & Play-kit or whatever it's called, but my PC (or even Surface if Smartglass is of good use) is a lot closer than the console is to me. So could I hook up the X1 controller to the PC/Surface for power, but have it wirelessly control the X1

Although I don't think that I will run out of the cord on my couch, but I'm sure someone will. Especially when I was at my friends place last weekend with 4 of us playing the Xbox, we had to fiddle around a bit to have those with wired controllers close enough.

But really, if Smartglass on Surface can be used for something nice, even as a "keyboard" for the X1, then I would likely have it on the table right in front of the couch, thus I could just hook up the controller to the Surface for power (since it has a full USB port) and not have to bother having a cord hanging across the living room

But I guess chances are that if I hook it to the Surface, it will only control the Surface then and it won't be possible to have it connected to one device while controlling another.

 

[ncxcstud]

Theoretically you should be able to do that Coreldan. Unlike the 360 controller, the X1 controller is ALWAYS wirelessly connected. No data (as far as I can tell) is sent through the cord. It acts simply as a power cord.

 

[sinime]

I'd assume you could also use a typical USB wall charger to charge the controller while playing on XB1

 

[jhoff80]

Theoretically you should be able to do that Coreldan. Unlike the 360 controller, the X1 controller is ALWAYS wirelessly connected. No data (as far as I can tell) is sent through the cord. It acts simply as a power cord.

You actually have that backwards. The 360 wireless controller is always wireless, even if you have a play and charge kit connected. With the Xbox One, they specifically pointed out that the cable can carry data.

 

[sinime]

The X1 subforum has been pretty quiet lately! We need more juicy news to discuss!

Agreed... however I have no new juicy news

Anyhow, from a few reviews I read, I wonder how well the independent triger feedback actually feels/works?

 

[Coreldan]

I wouldn't expect much apart from just.. individual rumble motors on each trigger that can generate varying levels of rumble and shiz. I wouldn't actually expect any actual feedback per se.

 

[sinime]

I thought the triggers had force feedback as well, so developers could vary the resistance?

 

[Coreldan]

It's possible, but I find that pretty unlikely. Also I dont think I've read that anywhere except on like forums/comments that seemed to have taken the idea a tad far. I'm not much of an engineer, but it sounds really complicated/expensive/prone to break cos it's under so much use.

Rechecking any official'ish remarks about the controller, I find nothing regarding force feedback, just about individual vibration motors. If you find anything suggesting otherwise, please share!

 

[sinime]

I think your right.... Reviewers are calling it "force feedback" which to me means resistance like on the Force feedback steering wheel for the 360. But I guess they are just talking about vibration motors.

 

[Coreldan]

Yeah with force feedback I also think about those steering wheels that fight back But yeah, apart from some shady rumors, havnt actually seen actual force feedback get mentioned yet.

 

[sinime]

LOL, we'll get true force feedback on the XBOX Two

 

[Coreldan]

Hmh, having watched the unboxing video.. it seems that the controller doesn't come with a cable? So until you buy the charge&play-kit, your only option is to feed it some AA-batteries? Hmh, wonder if I should try to look for my old set of rechargeable batteries and the charger.. that said if I have to buy a new set like that, might as well buy the charge&play kit

On a closer look it does seem like there is something else in the controller bag than just the controller, but it doesn't quite seem enough to be a cord that would be several meters long.

EDIT: Apparently it uses AA-batteries too, not AAA.

Also, arn't the USB ports pretty inconvenient considering wired controllers/charging the wireless controller? You have the USB3 port on the side which is somewhat easy to access, but the other 2 slots are in the back. I guess you just need to put the charging cable to the back slots and leave it like that so you don't have to fiddle too much. The other weird decision is that I think it only has 3 USB slots total, thus if 4 play together, one can't charge his/her controller while playing. Although I suppose you could power a 4th controller through a PC or something if it goes to that.

 

[martinmc78]

Usb 3.0 at the back to plug in extra hard drives? I know I would love to get it linked up to my 2TB NAS.

 

[Coreldan]

Somehow I got the image that only the side USB port is USB3.0 from the video, but I guess it wouldnt make much sense to have the 2 back ones be USB2.0.

But yes, that too, if you hook up an external HDD, you're left with even less charging ports!

 

[Robert Carpenter]

Somehow I got the image that only the side USB port is USB3.0 from the video, but I guess it wouldnt make much sense to have the 2 back ones be USB2.0.

But yes, that too, if you hook up an external HDD, you're left with even less charging ports!

http://cdn3.sbnation.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/13454569/xbox_one_10.0_cinema_640.0.jpg

If you look closely you can see the "SS" labeling signifying the back ports are also super speed usb 3.0 ports.

 

[martinmc78]

Somehow I got the image that only the side USB port is USB3.0 from the video, but I guess it wouldnt make much sense to have the 2 back ones be USB2.0.

But yes, that too, if you hook up an external HDD, you're left with even less charging ports!

That is what usb hubs were designed for though.

 

[Keith Wallace]

Hmh, having watched the unboxing video.. it seems that the controller doesn't come with a cable? So until you buy the charge&play-kit, your only option is to feed it some AA-batteries? Hmh, wonder if I should try to look for my old set of rechargeable batteries and the charger.. that said if I have to buy a new set like that, might as well buy the charge&play kit

On a closer look it does seem like there is something else in the controller bag than just the controller, but it doesn't quite seem enough to be a cord that would be several meters long.

EDIT: Apparently it uses AA-batteries too, not AAA.

Also, arn't the USB ports pretty inconvenient considering wired controllers/charging the wireless controller? You have the USB3 port on the side which is somewhat easy to access, but the other 2 slots are in the back. I guess you just need to put the charging cable to the back slots and leave it like that so you don't have to fiddle too much. The other weird decision is that I think it only has 3 USB slots total, thus if 4 play together, one can't charge his/her controller while playing. Although I suppose you could power a 4th controller through a PC or something if it goes to that.

USB 3.0 is supposed to charge twice as fast as USB 2.0, so you shouldn't have an issue where 4 people need to charge their controllers at once, really. If all 4 are dying (not dead), you should be able to easily get by swapping chargers.

Also, if this is a standard microUSB, you could maybe use the wall charger from your phone, no? I've got USB 3.0 on my PC case, so I could perhaps plug in there and get USB 3.0 charging speed, and since my case sits right next to my bed (where I play from), I won't have to worry about a cable lying across the floor.

 

[jhoff80]

Unfortunately, Kotaku is reporting that it is a proprietary wireless connection again, and that the controller will not be using Wifi-Direct. I hope they're wrong, because that would be idiotic on Microsoft's part.