XBox 360 Controller Info

[bapenguin]

Microsoft's Major Nelson (http://www.majornelson.com/) talked to a member of the XBox 360 accessories team to get the technical details in regards to the wireless controllers, play and charge kit, and other upcoming accessories like the camera.

A few things to note on the play and charge kit:

To charge your controller when the console is off, plug in the controller first, then powerdown the console. The controller will charge while the console sits in a low power mode, once the controller is charge the console will shut off completely.
You can use the play and charge kit on any USB enabled device for power. The play and charge kit transmits no data, so it can not be used on a PC.
There will be a quick charge kit coming to charge batteries without the need of the XBox 360 console.


You can download Major's full podcast here (http://www.majornelson.com/2006/01/02/show-156-the-first-one-of-the-new-year/).

There's a very interesting interview with the two men behind the True Skill system as well. They talk about how the system compares to ranking systems like ELO (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ELO_rating_system). They also talk about how the system punishes team killers and griefers while not punishing their teammates.

[fitbabits]

I like Major Nelson!

[A-Team]

I wasn't up for listening to the two guys from Microsoft talk about statistics and the TrueSkill system, but the discussion between Nelson and the accessories guy (Mark I think) was interesting. Like Nelson said, the team should consider adding an LED of some sort so that people could tell if their mic was muted or not. At the very least, they could an an on-screen indicator to show that it was muted.

I also like the idea of being able to purchase a steering wheel and a camera, but I can't see myself buying either for awhile (assuming that both accessories make it out this spring).

[bean19]

My friend uses his PC to recharge his controller.s. . . so I know that works.

I guess what he is saying is that you can't use the Play and Charge Kit to make your X360 controller work for the PC. Correct?

[bapenguin]

My friend uses his PC to recharge his controller.s. . . so I know that works.

I guess what he is saying is that you can't use the Play and Charge Kit to make your X360 controller work for the PC. Correct?

Yeah, exactly. Their documentation on some of this stuff has been pretty poor, so I guess some people are doing cleanup duty on what can and can't be done and how exactly some things work.

[fitbabits]

Yeah, exactly. Their documentation on some of this stuff has been pretty poor, so I guess some people are doing cleanup duty on what can and can't be done and how exactly some things work.
I agree that some of the documentation on the wireless controllers and the console itself is lacking. It's a shame really, as almost everything else was flawless.

[netcraazzy]

To charge your controller when the console is off, plug in the controller first, then powerdown the console. The controller will charge while the console sits in a low power mode, once the controller is charge the console will shut off completely.

I picked up 2 play and charge kits last weekend and the first thing that had me scratching my head was how to charge the damn thing when the xbox is off. I also had quite a bit of trouble getting the controller to re-sync with the 360 after one of my battery packs went dead yesterday.

[netcraazzy]

Like Nelson said, the team should consider adding an LED of some sort so that people could tell if their mic was muted or not.

Yeah I can't believe they omitted that feature from the 360 headset. I liked pressing a button to mute/unmute the mic a lot better than that crappy slider switch too.

[Lutheran]

Where in the xbox dashboard is there an indicator on how much charge is left in your wireless controller? I read about this somewhere so I figured I would verify it here , is it true or not as I can't find that anywhere in my 360's dash.

[A-Team]

Where in the xbox dashboard is there an indicator on how much charge is left in your wireless controller? I read about this somewhere so I figured I would verify it here , is it true or not as I can't find that anywhere in my 360's dash.
Hit the Xbox Guide button and have a loot at the upper-left corner of your screen. You should see a white battery indicator.

[Lutheran]

Excellent bro thanks a lot

[A-Team]

Excellent bro thanks a lot
De nada senor.

[KDups]

I also had quite a bit of trouble getting the controller to re-sync with the 360 after one of my battery packs went dead yesterday.

Ditto! And I really did need this info, I've been confused about my Play and Charge kit since I got it. Sometimes the controller was charged for a good many hours, other times it craped out on me after 20 minutes. Good to know how to properly charge the damn thing.

[Montolio]

Hey bapenguin,

I don't know if the posters in this thread know or not but the .wma version of his show opens up the websites he refers to while you're listening, which I think is pretty cool. You do have to make a change in WMP though...options, security tab and check the box next to run script commands if present. Your link goes over to the .mp3 version that also has the distinction of being the only place Major Nelson supports blog comments on his blogcast.

I like the comfort of the new headset but I agree with A-Team and netcraazzy about the missing mute features. What I really want is a wireless headset to match this badass wireless controller. Judging from the comments in this thread I don't think it was talked about. I don't know since I can't seem to download it at the moment...either my work PC is having problems or the link is borked for some reason. I put my money on my POS work PC heh.

[diggable]

It's nice to know about these chargeable controllers, and it would be much nicer if I HAVE A 360 to charge the controllers with!

At least I can start charging the wireless controllers ... *snicker*

I went to Best Buy today, thinking that the Best Buy leak for more 360s is true. NADA!

*sigh*