Microsoft - Special Edition Wireless Controller for Xbox 360 - Gold Chrome

I've been on the market for a PC gamepad for a while now and have had a generally terrible experience. Most gamepads out there for the PC are, quite frankly, terrible. Typically, they're flimsy, offer no control or customization in buttons, don't support joystick movement, and aren't supported by a lot of games. After a lot of research, I found this controller. Set up: For Windows 7, this is literally a plug and play. It's beyond easy to hook this up and start using it right away. However, I had some issues getting this controller to sync with the receiver on my main gaming rig. Everything installed without a problem and the wireless receiver was recognized, but the controller itself was not recognized. I followed troubleshooting guides and searched online through forums and could not find the answer I needed. I called Microsoft support and waited in queue for about an hour only to get transferred to Games for Windows Live to then get transferred to another tech support line of Microsoft Xbox Live. I spent a good 3 hours on the phone with only about 15 minutes of that talking to a live person and endured about 3 or 4 transfers. After all of that, I just hung up and didn't want to wait anymore. I tried everything. Uninstalling, reinstalling, manual setup through device manager, etc. Out of disgust from calling Microsoft, I was about ready to take it back when I thought I'd try plugging it into my work laptop. Everything installed and synced just fine. Hm.... strange. At that point, I decided to do some serious brain storming and remembered that I used to use the PS3 motioninjoy driver a while back. The Xbox360 wireless controller for windows also uses motioninjoy drivers. I uninstalled my PS3 motioninjoy drivers a while back so I figured that it had been removed from my computer. It turns out I was wrong. I decided to take a look through my drivers directory (...windows/system32/drivers) and was surprised to come across my old motioninjoy file "mijxfilt.sys." I deleted that file, removed the drivers for the Xbox360 wireless controller for windows, unplugged the wireless receiver, and restarted my computer. After I booted to desktop, I plugged the receiver in and literally in < 10 seconds, Windows installed the driver automatically and synced the controller just fine. That's what's "not so great" about this controller. Microsoft support blows. Nobody really knew where to send me and by the time I was speaking with an "expert" (as they like to say when they transfer you), there apparently was another expert that was more expert with the issues I was having. For a PC beginner, this might seem like a huge challenge if they have problems and they may end up feeling like I was after calling support. Controller use: Wow - this is an amazing controller all around. I purchase a lot of games through steam sales; a good bit of those games are console ports like Darksiders and I've been wanting to play with a good gamepad that feels exactly how it would on console. I was very impressed with the full support this controller provides. Despite the difficulties in my set up, I'm very happy that I kept this controller. If you're looking for the perfect PC gamepad and want the console feel, I highly recommend this one. You will NOT be disappointed.

The biggest plus of this product is that any xbox360 controller will work with the reciever, you don't need to use the one in the box! However, the one in the box is unnecessary if you already have an adequate number of controllers. I now have one too many. My PC is a layer one issue waiting to happen, wires everywhere, wired headphone,6 different USB ports in use at all times with an additional two that I sometimes use for something else... it's a mess, the last thing I need is another long wire snaking about producing emi (potentially) and generally impeding gameplay by tugging at the gamepad I am using. I have a 360 and I was looking online for a reciever that would let me use my existing wireless controllers with my PC. I have battery packs for the existing ones and get much longer endurance since I added them. So I looked online and basically found the same product without a controller I looked through best buy and found the above product, it came with a controller, it was only 10$ extra to get it relative to the online product which may or may not have a controller (controllers cost 50$ otherwise) and with RZ points it pays to get it. That said, the extra controller is only marginally useful to me. Now I know having a spare controller sounds like a good thing, and it is, unless you already have two. 360 controllers are nothing like N64 controllers, they are very very durable and will put up with years of abuse (the N64 controller lasted through about 3 months of perfect dark before the joystick went bad, the pelican ones were marginally better, but only marginally.... btw, perfect dark is available for download on xbox live marketplace fyi) so basically unless you have only one controller you just bought an excess controller that you may not need in this generation of consoles unless you go in for marathon halo games on your 360 and even then it isn't too much trouble to make one of the 2 controllers do double duty as both PC and XBOX Incedentally these controllers have a fairly long reach wirelessly, so using one that is former Xbox with a PC that is a room away from your XBOX will turn on the XBOX too unless you dissassociate it with the XBOX first . (Remove battery pack I think) Setup requires a driver cd, I am unable to figure out how to "normally" shut off the controller as the 360 menu method is unavailable, however if left unused for about 5-15 min it shuts off on it's own (they all do) I am unsure of the full versatility of the controller I have gotten it to work with borderlands and Skyrim, however there are games that it is not explicity supposed to work with, but not supposed to NOT work with. eHow has some workaround (use bing to find it) that supposedly just involves mapping functions like any other gamepad. This is probably the best result. <<< Supposedly there is some user-developed software out there that will allow it to do this globally, but I do NOT reccommend this, downloading random drivers and software from non-official sites is a great way to get viruses, bots, etc you name it, and this software is user-developed which either makes it Angelic or the Son of Set, and you may not even know until you lose performance, or personal information. Even if the software is solid, the site you get it from may not be... in addition it is very possibly illegal to jailbreak these things>>> I only make the above warning because if you are assymetric thinking enough to think of getting this you are possibly in the "early adopter/modder" mindset and you may have already considered installing a community made driver, however this is a small enough market that it may not police itself properly and thus the drivers may not always be what they seem i.e. let the modder beware All told, and all complaints aside, it is very responsive and you can stick the reciever behind the keyboard, out of sight, the reciever cord is short enough that it doesn't add to the tangle. The below reccommended product is a good alternative to standard batteries, and, if you now find yourself with two or more Controllers, not a bad addition, I got it quite a while before this.

I had to return my first two of these before I got one that was not defective. On the first one, the right thumbstick would get slightly stuck pushed to the right during normal play, which is a huge problem in first person shooters or any game where you're manipulating the camera. The screen would constantly "tip" or slowly slide to the right whenever I released the thumbstick. I tried pushing and pulling the stick out, but it would keep getting stuck. I exchanged it for a new one. The second one's right thumbstick would loudly squeak when I moved it right or left, but not up or down. Again I tried pulling and pushing the stick out, and even rapidly rotating it to see if the squeak would start wearing out or going away, but no dice. Fortunately, the third one I exchanged for was fine. I went through all the trouble because it seriously is a beautiful controller, and is my favorite of any I've had. It looks nicer than the washed out, silvery red or blue chrome ones at other retailers. Yes, it shows palm and fingerprints, so you have to wipe it occasionally, but it's worth it to me. The thumbsticks do have one other design difference-- instead of the little nubs on the up/down/left/right positions, it's just a solid rough ring on the top surface. It looks and feels like it's unfinished. Small gripe though; I rationalize it that the ring provides more traction for any direction you tilt the sticks. Other than the premium price (when were these controllers ever cheap to begin with?), I still definitely recommend it. Keep in mind it's only silver on the top, not the underside: less polishing needed.

My problem with the 360 controller was always the placement of the analog sticks. I prefer the PlayStation layout, but the Xbox sticks always worked better. This is true across every generation of these consoles. This particular one I picked up also came with the Windows adapter, which is why I'm giving it 5 stars. Unlike knockoff adapters, this one supports 4 controllers simultaneously within any game that supports the Xinput standard - pretty much every game with joystick support since 2008. It's also supported in older games that use the DirectInput, though not as well. Don't expect this to work with other platforms outside of Windows without some work (macOS) or at all (non-rooted Android). While wired Xinput controllers work with my Sony XBR850C (Marshmallow firmware), this doesn't even show up in AIDA64 as connected to the TV. Still, for my intended usage (console-style games and emulation on the big screen), this works great; the only thing blasphemous with this is playing PlayStation and PS2 games with Xbox controllers, but since we live in interesting times these days, why not? If you're a PC gamer, you don't want to spend money on Xbox One controllers (or PS3/PS4 controllers for that matter), you don't wired controllers (such as the excellent Logitech F310), and you want a wireless controller set that supports more than one player, this is what you want. However, if you're good with spending a little more and your PC has a Bluetooth adapter with great range, the Xbox One and PS4 controllers may be a better option.

This controller is very similar to the standard black and white controllers that have been produced for the Xbox 360 since the beginning. That said, this product does have some slight improvements on that traditional design: * Shoulder buttons feel a little more responsive than the traditional buttons. The standard controller's shoulder buttons always felt just a little squishy to me, but these are very "clicky." * The D-Pad is a little higher than the standard controller, and rotates to change from a strictly 4-way (up, down, left, right) pad, to a circular 8-way pad, providing easy diagonals, depending on what you like. * The best improvement, in my opinion, is the control sticks, which look and feel almost exactly like the Xbox One's sticks. Instead of being a thin, flat plastic pad with a rubbery cap, these sticks seem more substantial. The stick appears to to be thicker plastic and more durable, with a rubbery ring around the outside edge of the stick. I have had trouble with the rubber pad on the standard stick loosening up and coming off in the past (to be fair, the standard controllers did last 6 years under serious abuse from children), but I don't believe this will be a problem with the Special Edition sticks. All in all, the standard Xbox 360 controller has been, in my opinion, the best traditional controller on the market since the 360 was released. While the Special Edition controllers (camouflage, silver and gold chrome) are not groundbreaking, they do make small improvements on what has been the gold standard in the seventh generation of the console gaming world.

I bought this controller to play games on my computer. I use a Mac with Windows installed via BootCamp. This controller is usable on both platforms I use. I've been partial to Sony consoles over the years and have little use of any XBox. I love the Dual Shock controller on their products but found switching to this for computer gaming wasn't too weird. I'm having difficulty remembering the buttons (A, B, X, Y) due to unfamiliarity and don't care much for the direction pad (one solid piece, wherein a Sony Dual Shock are four separate "buttons" up, down, left, right, which felt sturdier). It is claimed that due to the offset joysticks that this controller is more comfortable and ergonomically correct. I didn't find it intuitive though that may be because the layout is completely new to me. All in all, I found hand cramping to be as frequent with this as any other controller I've used. Ultimately, if you want to do PC gaming there are no alternatives. This IS the controller you want. Particularly, any game marked "Games for Windows" MUST support it and most other and older games make it mappable. This is a great investment if you're a gamer.

This controller is designed really well, much better than the old Xbox controllers. It's very durable as well. Between me and my friends we've thrown, dropped, sat on, and hit ours several times and they still work like they're new. The connection works well at all times and it has excellant distance as well. My wii controllers get patchy connection at about 20 feet but this controller maintains a near-perfect connection. What really gets me about this controller is the price. I mean, come on Microsoft you already over charge for accessories as it is with the wireless adaptor and chargers and stuff. A PS3 controller costs $55.00 and you get a quality controller with a built-in rechargable battery pack and a free cable to charge it with. With this controller you would have to buy the controller and play and charge kit seperately which runs about $75 after tax. Also the standalone battery charger is another $20 as well. And if you don't buy these extra chargers then you have to pay constantly for extra AA batteries. I can't really recommend this at the time being because we're in a recession and this is the electronic equivilant of gas gouging. But if you really need a extra controller and you want the most durable and reliable Xbox 360 controller out there (and you can spare the extra money), then this is the way to go.

I actually bought this controller to use for PC games. I had been using a PS3 controller with some emulation software, because most PC games today just support an Xbox controller. Even my older Logitech PC controller generally doesn't work with today's games. But I got tired of the hassle of running the software, so decided the $40 for a controller to get rid of the aggravation was worth it. And that was so true! I got the wired one to avoid just swapping one set of aggravations for another. And I didn't want to mess around with a "compatible" one either, as I had run into problems with PS3 "compatible" ones previously. But I plugged this in and it just worked. I mean it, it just *worked*. Now even the controller hints on Tomb Raider make sense! And it surely made Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light game infinitely more playable. Throw in other PC controller games like Just Cause 2 and even Saints Row 2 (the only way to play it) and we have a cornucopia of great controller games. I tried The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing with it, but I think it plays better with the mouse and keyboard. But, all in all, this is the way to go with PC controller games - a stock, OEM Xbox 360 controller. Win all around!