Gadgetory

it's been four years since the launch of the Xbox 360 and three years since the ps3 hit the market to this day there's been endless debate on which console is number one each camp has hordes of fanboys ready to swarm to the defense against any attack against their preferred platform just visit news for gamers or any other game blog and there's bound to be a dispute or debate on the subject both devices are now well into their product cycle and the time for excuses is now over and in this series of videos I'll be comparing the devices on a level playing field where we are right now in fall 209 I'm going to be covering all the aspects of the devices hardware accessories price and functionality the user experience both online and offline we're also going to be comparing the top exclusive and multi-platform games of fall 209 it's all going to be covered in depth so get ready for 12 rounds of heavyweight game console action it's LP from TechnoBuffalo and welcome to the console war showdown so we're gonna start off this matchup with a thorough analysis and comparison of the controllers after all the controllers are the physical extensions that connect the machine to the man in a sense wow that was deep anyway game controllers have evolved quite a lot in the past thirty years and I remember being amazed by the 8-bit Nintendo controller after having used the clunky Atari 2600 joysticks I also remember going to school and the teachers asking me what happened to my hands after I had band-aids on my thumbs well I'll tell you what happened Super Mario Brothers Metroid happened the concave relatively sharp edge buttons on the 8-bit controller really brought the gaming community together almost like a gang sign that appeared in the form of blisters on your thumbs so here we are 20 years later looking at the ps3 and xbox 360 controllers and this time around they both actually look like something designed for the hand so which is the better controller the first Dual Shock is widely considered as the benchmark for modern controllers two analog sticks triggers for your index fingers and Rumble support pretty much every controller made after the DualShock has taken some aspects from its design and yes even the 360 controller has taken a lot from the Dual Shock controller the button layout is essentially the same with the exception of analog stick placement which was probably switched around with the regular d-pad to avoid patent infringement ok let's talk about form factor so here they are side by side and the 360 controller is obviously a lot bulkier and it's also quite a lot heavier than the ps3 controller when we take a closer look at the controllers we notice that the ps3 controller has a smooth surface while the 360 controller has a fine texture to it I've been using a Dual Shock controller since the original PlayStation days the first Dual Shock was a nice fit in the hand back in the day and the DualShock 3 also feels decent in the hand now but after having the Xbox 360 controller in my hands I have to admit that the DualShock 3 feels a bit tiny in the hand the Xbox 360 controller is a snug fit in the hand and it really feels like something made for an adult Microsoft has definitely had some top ergonomics engineers working on the controller it's large enough to support your entire fingers and it truly feels comfortable the smaller size of the DualShock equates to less support for your hands and fingers and you actually have to bend your fingers quite a bit to hit the triggers pressing the triggers on the 360 controller feels a lot more natural even though the dual shocks have always proven successful I would have liked to seen Sony make some bigger alterations economically to the DualShock 3 apparently the development budget was put into the six axis motion controls that really haven't gone beyond the novelty factor and admittedly very few games take good use of the motion controls I think it would have served Sony much better if the money invested in copying Nintendo would have been put in actually improving the form factor of the controller itself but the 360 controller isn't perfect either I have to mention I've been getting some pretty weird symptoms after using the controllers I've been experiencing some numbness in my middle finger and I figured that it's caused by the ridge under the back triggers that are pressed pretty intensely against some of the nerves on the joints of my fingers even though it may have given me an excuse to flip you guys the finger I'm pretty serious about this my fingers been numb for a week now and I could probably stick a needle in there not feel a thing I can't be alone on this anyways despite losing sensation in my middle finger ergonomics wise the points go to the 360 controller okay let's check out the build quality as you can probably hear the ps3 controller is a bit squeaky when a lot of forces put into it even though squeezing the controller may make it squeak a bit the buttons with the exception of the back triggers feel very solid and the DualShock 3 can definitely handle years of use I've been using this particular controller for a couple of years now with hundreds and hundreds of hours of gameplay and you can barely notice the wear and tear so it can't not be satisfied with the durability of the ps3 controller the 360 controller is definitely a lot heavier device but apparently heft brings solidity it's almost impossible to get the 360 controller to squeak when you squeeze it the plastics feel a bit tougher than the Dual Shock plastics and all of the buttons on the 360 controller feel very solid and it could probably fight off of air attack with a 360 controller okay just a small bear if a grizzly bear attacks you you're pretty much a goner anyway the point is I'm quite impressed with the solidity of the Xbox 360 controller so I have to award build quality also to the Microsoft variant as you have hopefully noticed both controllers are wireless the PlayStation 3 uses a Bluetooth connection and the Xbox 360 uses a 2.4 gigahertz wireless connection which are both good up to about 30 feet or 10 meters the Bluetooth connection is definitely more stable everyone said again I seem to lose connection with the 360 controller but it's nothing too serious battery life is about twice as good on the 360 controller you can get about 40 hours with Xbox variant while the Bluetooth controllers will last you about 20 hours on the ps3 but a very annoying thing is that you have to buy rechargeable battery packs for the 360 controllers which will cost you another 20 bucks per controller I think Microsoft saved money in the wrong place here the ps3 controllers are rechargeable out of the box and you can charge them from any USB powered device buying the rechargeable battery packs and charger is a bit of a hassle when the ps3 recharging is so effortless let's check out how the controller's buttons and layout translate into actual gameplay the 360 controllers left analog stick and d-pad placement are different but other than that the layout is pretty much the same in my opinion having analog sticks placed symmetrically makes for better dual thumb coordination I know it sounds kind of dumb but I think you know what I mean also there's a bit less strain on the left thumb when the analog stick is placed lower the tops of the ps3 analog sticks are convex on the tops of the analog sticks on the 360 controllers are concave I really can't differentiate which feels better because both feel very natural under the thumbs the analog sticks on both controllers are very responsive there's a slight dead zone on both controllers and by dead zone I mean an area in which the controller does not register movement the smaller the dead zone the more intricate movements will register which for example may result in more precise sniping but I would estimate that the dead zone on both controllers is pretty much the same the analog sticks on the 360 controllers definitely have a bit more resistance to them which I kind of like having more resistance in the analog sticks in my opinion makes for better control in for example driving games it's a bit easier to oversteer with the ps3 controller not to say that it doesn't happen with xbox360 controller as well I need to get me one of them logitech g27 racing wheels which actually cost more than my current car sad I know the ps3 analog sticks are definitely a bit looser which actually may translate into faster movement in for example first-person shooters possibly the biggest weakness of the 360 controller is definitely the regular d-pad in my opinion it pretty much sucks you notice this immediately when navigating the dashboard or typing text it simply put not very accurate it's too easy to accidentally hit the upper-left when you're simply trying to press up it really doesn't work too great in xbox arcade games where it's actually motivated the d-pad solution on the ps3 controllers is definitely a lot more accurate fast and responsive also one thing I have to mention is that the a and B X&Y and the d-pad buttons on Xbox 360 controllers are made out of a glossy plastic that makes them feel a bit sticky at times while the texture on the ps3 buttons feels a bit well not sticky the triggers on the ps3 controller are definitely one of its weak points the l2 and r2 triggers in the back bend down convexity which can cause slippage while they should be concave like the triggers on the 360 setting down the ps3 controller on a table will sometimes result in an unintentional trigger press which can for example enable rewinding when watching a movie and can really spoil the moment depending on the movie of course the 360 controller triggers are backed by a ridge that prevents this issue and the 360 controller triggers truly do feel a lot more like actual triggers which may add a little something to first-person shooters I also have to mention when for example shooting up the neighborhood in Call of Duty the vibration translates nicely into the triggers themselves on the 360 controller which adds to the effect of shooting a gun so the triggers are definitely better on the 360 I have to admit that I enjoyed both controllers immensely they're both in a sense damn good but there are pros and cons on both controllers and it had served Sony and Microsoft well if they got these controllers to mate to create something of a hybrid of the two and here's what it might look like anyways despite losing sensation in my middle finger I do have to reward the first round of this battle to the Xbox 360 because Sony in my opinion even though the DualShock 3 is great Sony has played it a bit too safe because they really haven't improved much on the controller from previous iterations so the Xbox 360 takes this round by a slight edge stay tuned for the next round where I take an in-depth look and analysis comparing the hardware this is LP from techno-bubble signing out