| | | I was thinking of this as an Xbox Series X|S controller, but it does say "Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, Windows 10/11, Android, and iOS." https://www.xbox.com/en-US/accessories/controllers/xbox-wireless-controller#compatibility-disclaimer
Ordered from Walmart with delivery from local store selected, and saying free same day delivery. Then around noon they said delivery would be delayed two days. Sounds like they don't necessarily have items shown in stock? So maybe Amazon's still hanging in there, drat.
Trying this for the wide-looking grips, after finding the narrower-looking ones on the 8bitdo Ultimate (see entry 1753) were causing me some wrist pain in driving games (where I'm clutching gas with the left hand, because the ol' right shoulder protests if I hold buttons with the right hand : PPP).
If this doesn't work, it's back to arcadey driving with the DS4 d-pad and bumpers. = D |
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| | | | (Maybe Walmart's looking up a bit because Amazon's vague UPS "next business day" pickup from my 1:30 AM return request turned out to be some time when I wasn't looking that same day: as I went out to take some of my own stuff I'd been boxing up to ship at the PO, there was the UPS shipping label they were supposed to bring as a back-up in case they arrived when I wasn't home (I was), laying in the snow beside the doorway (couldn't leave the package on the doorstep for them to collect because it was wet out all day of course and my external apt door has no cover). This all seemed so lovely and futuristic in theory. ; D) |
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| | | | (It did at least get me the return label faster than Amazon's "mail me a label" option, and it's still less of a pain than printing a label at the local library...so I'll probably just try it again next time anyway. : P) |
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| | | | (Next time--since package theft is a thing here anyway--I think I'll leave a sign on the door saying "UPS: I AM HERE, PLEASE KNOCK LOUDLY," because OF COURSE the night before we had got a little snow for the first time in over a month, and also of course it then got just warm enough that the snow was melting off the roof and falling to the ground all around my apt in soft thuds--so if they had knocked SOFTLY, and BRIEFLY, it might have sounded just like more snow clumps. Why they would knock that lamely I don't know, other than that the whole effort seemed really half-crumpeted. : P It's poor coordination, too, because I still have not received any notification from either UPS or Amazon that anyone came by at all. ; PP Amazon has a feedback form for "based on your return experience, would you recommend Amazon" (:p) on the page for the return, but all you can do is check off from a list of things, and "didn't hear driver knock" isn't one of them; you can also pick a reaction face from smile to frown; I chose the middle one : |.) |
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| | | | (Huh! Walmart has shipped the controller via FedEx from another Walmart halfway across the state. This is on their own dime!) |
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| | | The controller comes with no cable, and two Duracell AA batteries.
For $24.99, Microsoft will happily sell you a USB-C cable and rechargeable battery for it: https://www.xbox.com/en-US/accessories/batteries-chargers/play-and-charge-kit
For AA batteries, they say "use only AA batteries that have an "LR6" designation (alkaline batteries)"--so no lithium batteries, I guess. : P https://support.xbox.com/en-US/help/hardware-network/controller/using-batteries-in-xbox-wireless-controller
(Their "Elite" controller, which costs three times as much, comes with a built-in rechargeable battery.) |
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| | | | Oh yeah the controller was left on my doorstep in the early afternoon, (they'd said 1-5 pm delivery window), no signature required. |
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| | | A quick start guide with just pictures in the box showed how to bind the controller to an Xbox console; after that, the final page said https://www.xbox.com/accessories-app, which redirected to https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9NBLGGH30XJ3?rtc=1&hl=en-us&gl=US
First you gotta hold the little ))) button on top of the controller for three seconds or so to have it try Bluetooth pairing--then you just use "Add device" in Windows' Bluetooth & devices settings panel as normal.
The downloaded "Xbox Accessories" program detects it at that point, but says you have to connect with a USB cable to configure it. : PP
The program has a 2.9/5 rating from 3,927 ratings on its download page. The top comment is
"4.0
Blinding Light
I want to be able to turn off the xbox button's light. It is super bright."
It is--I'll have to put some Gorilla tape over it if I end up keeping this thing.
The program can update the controller's firmware--slowly, and set up profiles with remapped buttons. |
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| | | | Steam just calls it "XInput Controller." : P |
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| | | | Holding that bright X button for 7 seconds or so turns the controller off; holding it for a second or so turns it on. |
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| | | It feels really heavy in the grips, like they just used the heaviest vibration motors they could find.
The round, concave d-pad is really clicky, and feels...surprisingly comfortably placed, considering the asymmetric layout. HM. If it works out okay for driving games, maybe I'll have to try some Sonic on this beastie, too. |
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| | | The Xbox Accessories utility can only set up the controller while it's connected by USB-C cable, which it doesn't come with. You can swap buttons--but not with the triggers. You can swap the triggers, but only with the other trigger. ; P And none of it matters anyway because the Profile you create and set up these mappings with...stops working as soon as you disconnect the USB cable!!!!! It doesn't work wireless! WHAT. So yeah, you can remap buttons with it as long as you're cool with playing wired with your "Wireless" controller. COOOL. What a total failure. So I chucked it and just set the buttons up in Steam and ran the indie game I was trying to play as a non-Steam game through Steam. Problem solved.
The other problem solved is that I'm pretty sure now I just can't do the analog stick and a gas button together on one hand. But my right shoulder also doesn't tolerate any kind of prolonged button holding with my right hand--it's gun-shy from years of systematic punishment and just tenses up or something and goes all to heck. SO.
Now, the controller itself feels impressive. ITs so dense, like mined out of fused metal stardust under the highest pressures. How did they make the vibration motors in the little, wide-angled grips THAT heavy?? And the sticks are like buttah. The big, clown-shoes-y, dog-bone-wide, creaky plastic DS4 feels like an animal balloon by comparison.
Zoinks, Scoob! But it's an animal balloon I can manipulate without pain, so that's what I'm gonna have to go with, twitchy d-pad steering down the road and all. It's so much more chilled out in the hands, like it doesn't care how you hold it, it's just glad to be there. I'm used to it, obviously. Well, this is what I'm stuck with, so might as well have fun with it.
Gonna have to walk the dense star meteorite across town to the high concrete tower of woe I mean Walmart and try to return it. (Ah yeah that's supposed to work, just take it to the Customer Service desk in the store. There was also some "curbside pickup outside the store" option where "don't worry! we'll supply the barcode" and I'm just not sure what any of that meant really; and it wasn't their "Recommended!" solution like the return to store ie Customer Service desk option was. I still have to show them a barcode off the return info email they sent me. : P)
The whole AA batteries thing still kinda gets me. When was the last time you saw a pair of coppertops. |
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| | | (The Customer Service desk in Walmart was easy to find with prominent signage; I handed them the box, which they cut open (oh, so I didn't need to bring it back in the original shipping box), opened the controller's box and asked if there was anything wrong with it, I said no it was fine, just hurt my wrist; they asked if I had a receipt, I think; I said no I've got this barcode and showed them the barcode in the return info email Walmart had sent me, they scanned it, punched some things into their computer, waited a bit, handed me a paper receipt for the return (:p), and that was that.
While there I thought I might as well check out their game section, the first time I'd even been in a game section of a store since at least when the pandemic began (still masking and looking like a weirdo). It was okay I guess, nothing exciting. Biggest sign (1.5 ft high?) was for Tekken 8. In the PS section, loads of official controllers (forgot to see how well-stocked their Xbox controllers were ; D), and some ultra-expensive 3rd-party ones (Wolverine for $250, asymmetrical layout). Big clearance sections; they stock PS4 and PS4 stuff, but like for Nintendo, only Switch stuff I think, like we're supposed to think only Switch has ever existed. ^ ^_) |
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